Battle of Jaithak

The Battle of Jaithak is the subsequent battle fought by the 53rd division of East India Company after the Battle of Nalapani against Nepalese forces. Nalapani had cost both sides dearly, but in Nahan and Jaithak, further West, they were to suffer more. Kazi Amar Singh Thapa’s son, Ranajor Singh Thapa, was in command there. Nahan had been left undefended. Ranajor Singh had orders from his father to retire to a position north of the Nahan town, and to occupy the surrounding heights and the fort of Jaithak, situated at a point where two spurs of mountainous ridges meet, and the peak at the intersection rises to a height of three thousand six hundred feet above the level of the plains. Major-General Martindell, who had assumed command of Gillespie’s forces, took possession of Nahan on 24 December 1814 and immediately set about preparations for the attack on Ranajor Singh’s positions.

Two detachments were formed to occupy different arms of the ridges: one from the north with 738 men commanded by Major Richards, while another from the southern and nearest ridge to Nahan with a thousand men led by Major Ludlow. The result of the first day’s battle at Jaithak was almost a repetition of the first day at Nala Pani for the British. They were the very troops who had fought at Nalapani - British grenadiers, not just the native sepoys. During the night of 25 December, Major Richards, having furthest to go, set out an hour earlier, taking his troops on a wide sixteen mile detour to the north, to get into position for the attack on Ranajor Singh’s ridge early the next morning.

Major Ludlow, who led the attack up the southern slope of the ridge, left the camp at midnight and came first upon the enemy. He fell in with Ranajor Singh's outer picquet at three in the morning, at about a mile's distance from the point to be occupied. The defending party retired and the Major's advance guard pushed up the hill in pursuit, exposed to its irregular fire. At the top of the hill was a village and a small ruined temple of Jumpta, where they met with a second post of the Nepalese, which similarly retired. This was where they were assigned to await the attack by Major Richard’s party to the north. On reaching it, a halt was called until the rest of his detachment should come up and enable him to secure himself.

However, a little further on, a small, lightly defended Nepalese was seen, which the British grenadiers in Ludlow’s force, having found easy victories earlier that day, entreated to be allowed to attack in order to avenge the humiliation they had suffered at Nalapani. This was a questionable move as it meant abandoning the original battle plan. Ludlow saw, indeed, that the stockade itself was of no great strength, and he thought it might be carried by a coup-de-main before the Nepalese should have time to reinforce its garrison. The occurrences at Nalapani ought to have suggested greater caution.

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