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Gorkhas are the soldiers of Nepalese nationality recruited in British Army, Indian Army, Gurkha Contingent Singapore, Gurkha Reserve Unit Brunei, UN Peace Keeping force and war zones around the world. Historically, the terms "Gurkha" and "Gorkhali" were synonymous with "Pahadi", and derived from the hill town and district of Gorkha from which the Kingdom of Nepal expanded under Prithivi Narayan Shah which subsequently also lead to formation of Gorkhaland and Indian Gorkha ethnic group in India. The name may be traced to the medieval Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorakhnath who has a historic shrine in Gorkha. The word itself derived from Go-Raksha, raksha becoming rakha. Rakhawala means protector and is derived from raksha as well.
Ethnically, Chhetri or Khas, Thakuri, Gurung and Magar mainly were the Gorkha tribes who united erstwhile Gorkha kingdom and fought against the British invasions. But today, Gorkha soldiers mostly belong to the Gurung, Magar, Rai, Limbu and Sunuwar, and a handful of Chhetri; there is no ethnicity based restriction to join. There are Gurkha military units in the Nepalese, British and the Indian army enlisted in Nepal, United Kingdom and India. Although they meet many of the requirements of Article 47of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions regarding mercenaries, they are exempt under clauses 47 similar to the French Foreign Legion.
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