Gurkha are people from Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 who take their name from the Gorkha District

Gorkha District

Gorkha District of 288,134. It is the location of the Manakamana Temple. Also, the temples of great sage Gorakh Nath and goddess Gorakh Kali temple is located in district, after which the district got its name. Four major rivers run within and along it, they are Chepe, Daraudi, Marsyangdi and...

. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army

Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

's Gorkha regiments

Gorkha regiments (India)

The Gorkha regiments have been serving in the Indian Army ever since independence in 1947, when the Tripartite Agreement was signed. The regiments primarily consist of soldiers from India's Gorkha community and from the Gorkha tribes of Nepal...

, the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

's Brigade of Gurkhas

Brigade of Gurkhas

The Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective term for units of the current British Army that are composed of Nepalese soldiers. The brigade, which is 3,640 strong, draws its heritage from Gurkha units that originally served in the British Indian Army prior to Indian independence, and prior to that of...

 and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri

Kukri

The kukri is a curved Nepalese Knife, similar to the machete, used as both a tool and as a weapon...

, a forward-curving Nepalese knife. Former Chief of staff of the Indian Army, Field Marshal

Field Marshal (India)

The rank of Field Marshal is the highest possible rank in the Indian Army. Only two Army appointments have been made by the Government of India since independence in 1947. An equivalent rank existed in the British Indian Army before 1947...

 Sam Manekshaw

Sam Manekshaw

Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, MC "Sam Bahadur" was a Field Marshal of the Indian Army. His distinguished military career spanned four decades and five wars...

, once famously said about Gurkhas: "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha."
In the Gurkha War

Gurkha War

The Gurkha War , sometimes called the Gorkha War or the Anglo–Nepalese War, was fought between the Kingdom of Nepal and the British East India Company as a result of border tensions and ambitious expansionism...

 (1814–1816) they waged war against the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 army.