The Gurkhas: Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous

A brass replica of the bronze Gurkha statue that stands watch on Horse Guards Avenue, London.

If you visit the Gurkha statue at Whitehall, you will read beneath it the words: 'BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE, MOST GENEROUS OF THE GENEROUS, NEVER HAD COUNTRY MORE FAITHFUL FRIENDS THAN YOU.' They are written by Professor Sir Ralph Lilley Turner. Sir Ralph was a young officer in the 3rd Gurkhas, who fought in Palestine in World War One and won the Military Cross. What's more interesting is the fact that before the war Sir Ralph joined the Indian Educational Service at Queen's College in Benares (now Varanasi). After the war he became a Professor of Indian Linguistics at Benares Hindu University and went on to become an expert in Indo-Aryan languages, including Gorkhali. (His four-volume magnum opus 'A Comparative Dictionary Of The Indo-Aryan Languages' is still in print, published by Motilal Banarsidass Publications, New Delhi). His is just one story of how officers in the Indian Army have always learnt the languages of the men and women they command in battle. Though, ironically, courage is a language that needs no translation.