Arabi Sahib led a detachment of sepoys equipped with modern flintlock muskets. The Malla kings of Kathmandu, particularly King Jaya Prakash Malla, welcomed this foreign force, hoping their firepower would lift the Gorkha siege. Arabi Sahib’s strategy was straightforward: use European-style volley fire to cut down the Gorkha fighters, who relied on khukuri and bow. In 1767, the combined Malla-Arabi Sahib force marched toward Kirtipur. Initially, the tactic worked. The Gorkha charge was mowed down by disciplined musket fire. The valley kings celebrated what they thought was a decisive victory.
In a final, furious assault, the Gorkhas breached Kirtipur’s walls. The aftermath is legendary in its brutality. Prithvi Narayan Shah, enraged by the earlier defeats, ordered the noses and lips of all male captives above the age of 12 to be cut off. was among those mutilated before being executed. surja mulk arabisht
The Gorkhali army, lacking heavy artillery, found Kirtipur’s steep slopes and resilient defenders impossible to crack through conventional assault. Desperate to break the stalemate, Prithvi Narayan Shah faced a new threat. The British East India Company, alarmed by his growing power and its potential to disrupt their trade routes to Tibet, sent a contingent of musketeers under the command of Captain George Kinloch. However, the more famous figure associated with this campaign is Arabi Sahib (also referred to as Arabshah), an Anglo-Indian soldier of fortune. Arabi Sahib led a detachment of sepoys equipped