The 3rd Gorkha Rifles or Third Gorkha Rifles, abbreviated as 3 GR is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It was originally a Gurkha regiment of the British Indian Army formed in 1815. This regiment recruit mainly Magars and Gurung tribes. They were present at a number of actions and wars including the siege of Delhi in 1857 to the First and Second World Wars. After the Partition of India in 1947 the regiment was one of the six Gorkha regiments transferred to the Indian Army as part of the Tripartite Agreement signed between India, Nepal and Britain at the time of Indian independence. Prior to independence, the regiment was known as the 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles. In 1950 the regiment's title was changed to 3rd Gorkha Rifles. Since 1947 the regiment has participated in a number of conflicts including the 1947 and 1971 wars against Pakistan.
3rd Gurkha during the march to Kabul.
View of Almora, with soldiers of 3rd Gurkha Rifles, 1895.
The Gurkha Rifles in front line trenches at the Battle of Mughar Ridge, Palestine, November 1917
3rd Gorkha Rifles Bicentenary postal stamp issued in 2015
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas, with the endonym Gorkhali, are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India.
Nepali soldiers; drawing by Gustave Le Bon, 1885
Monument to the Gurkha Soldier in Horse Guards Avenue, outside the Ministry of Defence, City of Westminster, London
A khukuri, the signature weapon of the Gurkhas
Kaji (equivalent to Prime Minister of Gorkha Kingdom) Vamshidhar "Kalu" Pande and Chief of the Gorkhali Army; one of the most highly decorated Gorkhali commanders