The 'Indian Order Of Merit': Before 1911, for British India's fighting men it was the equivalent of the Victoria Cross – and one Gurkha soldier won it 4 times

A walnut wood box engraved with the emblem of the 5th Gurkha Rifles; carved in Kashmir before 1947.

Until 1911 the IOM was the highest gallantry award Indian soldiers were eligible to win. Many contemporary military historians see it as the equivalent of the Victoria Cross. If that is true, Kishanbir Nagarkoti of the 5th Gurkha Rifles performed a feat that is unequalled in military history – and is likely to remain so for all time. He won the IOM four times, all them fighting an enemy that was clever, cruel and gave no quarter on India's wild and unforgiving north west frontier: the Afghan. Sepoy Kishanbir Nagarkoti won his first two IOMs in 1878 and 1879; promoted to Naik, Kishanbir Nagarkoti won his third IOM in 1879; and almost ten years later a grizzled Subedar Kishanbir Nagarkoti won his fourth IOM in 1888. He retired at the age of 44. But his story has served on as a lesson for the Indian Army's 5th Gorkha Rifles.