How Dehradun was Lost & Won
The decade from 1804 to 1815 was perhaps the most tumultuous in the history of Dehradun. In the space of ten years, three sovereign powers juggled the fortunes of the Valley. The dice of destiny finally came up trumps for none other than the British East India Company, which was glad and more relieved that the doughty khukri wielding Gorkhas had withdrawn beyond the Kaali River across the frontiers of Uttarakhand. But this did not happen without the British losing face after several bloody reverses in the mountain fastness of the Himalayan ranges. For all the splendid isolation the Doon Valley had experienced for centuries, the start of the nineteenth century catapulted the region into the maelstrom of unbridled imperialistic pursuit by two adversaries, neither of whom was native to India. The East India Company juggernaut heading north westward from Bengal was ponderously moving across the Gangetic Plain, subduing by force or subterfuge the local chiefs and rajas. Their grip on the af...