In a strange twist of fate, nine British soldiers who died fighting rebels in the 1857 freedom struggle near this village are now worshipped by the descendants of the villagers. The locals, who believe the souls of the nine soldiers protect them from evil spirits, have turned the memorial plaque into a shrine with lit candles, incense sticks and red sacred thread.
Nearly 121 km from Agra, in the Gangiri block of Aligarh district on its border with Kasganj, the memorial plaque at Shairpur village commemorates British cavalrymen from two highly decorated regiments — the 6th Dragoon Guards, also known as the Carabiniers, and the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, who for their participation in the events of 1857 came to be called the Delhi Spearmen.
Engraved on the plaque are their names — Captain George Wardlaw, Lieutenant John Hudson, Lieutenant Sydney Vyse, Privates Joseph Barrett, Robert Chapman, Walter Cossar and Allen Eastwood of the Carabiniers, and Privates John Dyson and Henry Frampton of the Delhi Spearmen.
Surrounded by rice fields, tall shrubs and several trees including a peepal, the ramshackle memorial silently narrates the story of a bloody battle fought here on December 14, 1857.
The structure for the nine soldiers, known locally as ‘Kalajar’ since the war was fought near the Kaali river, has shrunk to its current size of 20 sq ft after villagers took up the surrounding land for cultivation.
However, what remains is of occult significance for locals. “On every holy occasion, local villagers, particularly women, worship this stone plaque. They tie sacraments at the peepal tree behind it, light earthen lamps and incense sticks and offer flowers to the dead soldiers’ souls,” said Jai Vir Singh, headmaster of the primary school at the village, just 30m from the grave. “It is certainly ironic that the descendants of the rebels who fought and killed these men offer them prayers today,” Singh added.
Others assign specific powers to the dead men. “We offer prayers here as we believe the souls of these men protect our village from evil spirits. Every year, the families of these soldiers also visit our village from Britain to pay homage to their ancestors who were buried here,” said Pushpender, a local villager.
BD Rana, son of the former local MLA Netram Singh, believes that the place is of historical importance and the government should take steps to conserve it. “During the Raj, this entire area was part of the Gungeree cantonment. Some five kilometres away, there is another tombstone protected by the ASI, but not much information is available on it,” Rana said.
Experts, however, play down the historical significance of the site. “As the tombstone indicates, there must be a graveyard of British soldiers in the area, but that doesn’t mean it is of historical significance. Scores of Britishers were killed by Indians and their bodies were buried at several places during the events of 1857,” remarked MK Pundhir, medieval archaeologist from the Centre of Advance Studies in History, Aligarh Muslim University.
“Worship of the tomb is a mere superstition. Since there is a peepal tree behind it, villagers over the years must have started worshipping the tombstone as well,” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Agra / by Arvind Chawhan, TNN / August 09th, 2015
With an aim to add sheen to its Heritage zone scheme the Uttar Pradesh Government is all set to put up plaques on the buildings of Lucknow where once historical personalities lived in bygone era.
The Chief Minister’s office has asked the Tourism Department to prepare a plaque that could match the flavour and history of Awadh and identify the houses once inhabited by historical personality – may be artist literature or even freedom fighter..
“This is a small gesture that will help people to identify the buildings where say once Premchand lived or where Mir Taqi Mir wrote his gazals. People might have passed through these buildings without knowing the historical importance of those structures,” a senior official in CM’s office told The Pioneer here recently.
The idea to have plaque at important buildings has been borrowed from London’s Blue Plaque. This plaues, which are in blue in colour, are put up on the buildings where famous people had lived and worked. It celebrates the architecture of London’s streets and the diversity and achievements of its past residents. London’s blue plaques scheme, founded in 1866, is believed to be the oldest of its kind in the world.
The official said that the scheme is aimed at to celebrate the link between people and buildings. “The buildings carrying plaques will invoke interest of the people about the person and the building where he lived. This will not only add to the historical importance of the city but also help the Tourism department to give added tinge to its Heritage zone scheme,” the officer said.
The Chief Minister’s office has asked the Tourism Department to prepare a detail proposal including the design of the proposed plaque. It has been asked to rope in historians like Yogesh Pravin to identify the buildings of city where the celebrities of olden era once lived.
There are over 50 litterateurs, artists, freedom fighters and people associated with films were either born or worked in Lucknow. From Mir Taqi Mir to Begum Akhtar, from Prem Chand to Sri Lal Shukla and from Pahari Sanyal to K.P. Saxena all have their share of association with Lucknow. Then there are people like Amrit Nagar, Kaifi Azmi, Bhagwati Charan Verma, Mirza Hadi Ruswa, Josh Malihabadi, Jan Nisar Akhtar and this list is endless. This scheme only aims at identifying the buildings where they lived.
“The buildings tell a lot about the character of the person who lived or worked there. Some of them may be dilapidated but they are rich in history,” he said. “The Plaque will not offer any kind of special protection to buildings, but will raise awareness of their historical significance. This in turn can assist in their preservation,” he said.
source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / The Pioneer / Home> State edition> Lucknow / by Biswajeet Banerjee, Lucknow / Saturday – July 25th, 2015
On the 69th Independence Day, Lucknow division of the department of Posts will commemorate contribution of women freedom fighters of Uttar Pradesh through a display of postage stamps. UP’s first philatelic museum at the General Post Office is coming up with a separate Lucknow gallery titled ‘Shaan-e-Awadh Lucknow’, where a wall would be dedicated totally to these brave women.
The centrally air-conditioned gallery exhibiting some rare stamps issued on Lucknow city in different frames will be open for public from August 15 and include postage stamps featuring Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Jhalkaribai, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Rani Laxmibai, etc.
“The idea behind this initiative is to not only showcase the rich culture, heritage, cuisine of the state but also to commemorate journey of UP’s women freedom fighters,” said Vivek Kumar Daksh, Director of postal headquarters (UP). “We are also planning to release a coffee book table of the collection on the day of inauguration which will include details of achievements of women who are role models,” he added.
Besides these stamps on women freedom fighters, special covers of Munshi Naval Kishore, Asrar ul Haq Majaz, Kathak maestro Pandit Lacchu Maharaj, stamps of academic institutions like Colvin Taluqdars, Isabella Thoburn College, La Martiniere, KGMC, Loreto Convent, 200 years of Hazratganj, Vidhan Sabha and other historical monuments will also be on display.
The philately museum will display around 140 postage stamps issued on UP, while 22 of these would be exclusively on Lucknow. Each frame will have stamps put up chronologically according to the date of issue.
Along with sorting out the rarest and most valuable stamps, postal department officials are also busy giving the gallery a unique heritage design. Wntrance of the gallery will be a replica of Rumi gate, while ceilings will bear images of rare and oldest stamps of Lucknow using acrylic paints.
“The idea is to show the rich culture and heritage of Lucknow so the gallery would display souvenirs for visitors which would define the historical relevance of postal services in India and its strong connect with Lucknow city,” said R K Prasad, chief post master, Lucknow GPO.
In addition to the collections available with philatelic bureaus across the state, the postal department will also invite Lucknow’s philatelists to donate their collection to the museum.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home News> City> Lucknow / by Uzma Talha, TNN / August 02nd, 2015
A mighty fracas is raging between the descendants of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in Calcutta and an Iranian woman who claims to be married to a scion of the Awadhi family. Hemchhaya De investigates the rumpus
REGAL ROOTS: Shahebzade Wasif Mirza and his family pose before the portrait of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah;
A king-size portrait of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah will catch your eye the moment you step into the grand, old living room of Wasif Manzil on Talbagan Lane in Calcutta. “That’s my ancestor,” says Shahebzade Wasif Mirza, a dignified septuagenarian, pointing at the portrait — the pièce de resistance in a room bristling with Awadhi heirlooms.
“Satyajit Ray once asked me, ‘Why did the Nawab choose to move to Bengal after his kingdom was annexed?’ At that time, he had just made a film called Shatranj Ke Khiladi,” recalls the patriarch, a registered descendant of Wajid Ali Shah (1822-1887). “I told Ray that perhaps the Nawab felt he would get the respect he deserved only in Bengal.”
For Shahebzade Mirza, it’s a matter of family honour that he takes on what he calls “pretenders” to the Awadh legacy. In recent months, he has been fighting a fierce battle against Fay Ary, an Iranian woman who divides her time between Monaco, Paris and Dubai, and claims to have married a direct descendant of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his second wife Ronakara Begum.
Fay Ary
But she refuses to disclose her late husband’s name for “fear of being drawn into family feuds.” Ary also wishes to do something for the underprivileged in India through her charity organisation, Royal Awadh Cultural and Heritage Foundation (RACH).
“All this sounds very nice. But she calls herself Her Royal Highness Princess Jehan Ara Fay Ary. I have the complete family tree and she figures nowhere. I’d like to know where her imaginary kingdom is located,” says Mirza. In a recent letter to the French ambassador to India, Jerome Bonnafont, he complained against Ary and RACH. “Our objection is to the use of our family’s name …for large monetary gains,” wrote Mirza.
Fay held a charity auction in Paris this May where her “personal collection of jewellery” went under the hammer. “We don’t know what she auctioned as her Awadhi legacy. And we don’t know where the proceeds are going,” says Ibrahim Ali Khan, a descendant of a 19th century Awadhi vizier, who heads the Royal Family of Awadh Foundation in Lucknow.
It all began a couple of years ago when Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah — who reportedly claimed to be the Awadh rulers’ “direct descendant” — came under media glare. Abdullah, who’s on the RACH advisory committee, was accused of faking his nawabi heritage and arranging Awadhi banquets for foreign tourists in collusion with “unscrupulous” travel operators in Lucknow. It was also alleged that he charged tourists hundreds of dollars for banquets and mujras (dances) at his Lucknow home. His partner in this enterprise is said to be Prateek Hira, who heads a tour operating agency called Tornos India and is also associated with RACH.
Hira maintains that Khan and others have launched a malicious campaign to defame Ary, Abdullah and his agency. “Abdullah is well respected in Lucknow,” says Hira.
■ Shahebzade Wasif Mirza, descendant of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (1822-1887) of Awadh (Oudh).
■ Fay Ary, an Iranian who claims to have married a direct descendant of Wajid Ali Shah and his second wife Ronakara Begum. Ary runs a charity, Royal Awadh Cultural and Heritage Foundation (RACH).
■ Ibrahim Ali Khan, a descendant of a 19th century Awadhi vizier, who heads the Awadh Royal Family Foundation in Lucknow. Does not support Ary.
■ Jafar Mir Abdullah, who is described as Wajid Ali Shah’s direct descendant and is on the RACH advisory committee.
■ Prateek Hira, who heads a tour operating agency called Tornos India and is associated with RACH.
Fay Ary gained some publicity in Lucknow around this time after announcing her charity projects. “She wants to do something for the poor — like arranging cleanliness drives in various Indian cities and providing slum dwellers with clean drinking water. She sought my help to implement the projects,” says Hira.
Ibrahim Ali Khan and others tried to blow the lid off what they called a “nexus” between Abdullah, Hira and Ary last year. “The issue was almost dying down when a freelance journalist from Delhi wrote to Hira and threatened action against his activities. He wrote to me as well,” says Khan.
Fay didn’t take it lying down. In an email dated June 29 this year, she wrote to her friends in Lucknow, Dubai and Paris, “A very nasty activity is being undertaken …(by a journalist)… for want of some money to sustain himself …ignore this man who keeps changing his name to fool people.”
Speaking from Paris, Ary expresses her “anguish and disappointment” over the “concerted efforts to pull down RACH.” “I claim nothing from the Indian government or from the Awadh families. I auctioned my own jewellery in Paris. I am hankering after no title. All I wanted to say to these people was that I had the resources to do some good work in India,” says Ary.
She wants to start her “slum cleanliness drive projects” in early October. She will also host a gala event in Dubai this November to seek support for her charity work. “People who claim to be true nawabs in India should stop bickering and do something for their country.
There seems to be another point of clash between Ary and Shahebzade Mirza. Ary told the media last year that she would renovate Nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s mother’s grave in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The Nawab’s mother, Aliya Begum, went to England to plead with Queen Victoria for returning Awadh to her son. On her way back, she fell ill and died in Paris in 1856 and was buried in Père Lachaise. Ary wants to project her grave as a site of historical significance.
The Shahebzade Mirza family, on the other hand, wants to rectify an inscription near the grave which says that her son Wajid Ali Shah was killed by British forces in 1856. “The Nawab died of natural causes in 1887. We have written to the French consulate in Calcutta to do something about it,” says Mirza. A spokesperson from the French consulate, who prefers not to be identified, confirmed receiving the letter.
“I accompanied Fay to the Paris cemetery this year. She is planning a renovation,” says Abdullah, the controversial ‘nawab’ who refutes all allegations against himself. “She doesn’t lay any claim to the Awadh royalty. She is herself related to Farah Diba Pahalvi, the queen of the last Shah of Iran who ruled till 1979.”
Abdullah also goes on to say that he will go on hosting banquets for tourists in order to interact with people and entertain them. “I tour the world and get invited by top officials. I will also continue to be part of RACH and the commendable work it does,” says Abdullah. “I never claimed to be a descendant of Wajid Ali.”
Agrees Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, a British scholar who’s writing a biography of Wajid Ali Shah. “Abdullah does not really claim descent from Wajid Ali Shah, but from Nawab Mohammed Ali Shah, who ruled Awadh from 1837 to 1842,” she says. She adds that it’s important to remember that “Wajid Ali Shah’s descendants are not the only descendants of the royal family of Awadh.”
“Each Nawab, from the time of Asaf-ud-daula (1775 to 1797), had a number of wives, and inevitably, a large number of children and grandchildren. These people are also descendants of the Awadh royal family. On Wajid Ali Shah’s death he left about 45 sons, and a larger number of daughters, and the descendants of these sons and daughters can obviously claim direct descent from him.” On Ary, she says that unless she is prepared to reveal her husband’s name “we can’t really check out her claim.”
Indian historian Ravi Bhatt, who penned a book called The Life and Times of the Nawabs of Lucknow, begs to differ. “Just as Nagpur is famous for oranges and Benaras for silk, Lucknow is known for its nawabs,” says Bhatt. “Every Tom, Dick or Harry calls himself a nawab these days. But let me tell you there is no descendant of the Awadh royal family in Lucknow now,” says Bhatt.
Meanwhile, Shahebzade Mirza is gearing up for the next round of battle. “We hope the French government will act on our complaint against Ary. The war is far from over.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta,India / Front Page> 7 Days> Story / Sunday – August 23rd, 2009
Bithoor, known for its historical importance since ancient times, will soon be beautified by Kanpur Development Authority (KDA).
According to KDA officials, a proposal for beautifying the historical monuments, including Dhruv Tila, Nanarao Memorial etc, has been sent to the Government of India for its nod.
KDA’s town planner, Ashish Shivpuri said that a detailed proposal has been prepared for developing Sita Rasoi and Valmiki Ashram as heritage blocks. Bithoor is a hub for pilgrimage where pilgrims from all over the country visit to see the two places.
“A detailed report for the beautification of Dhruv Tila, Nanarao Memorial, Sita Rasoi and Valmiki Ashram has been sent to the Central government for its approval. As soon as we get the approval and the budget, we will start the work. As Bithoor has a lot of historical importance, the proposal aims at regaining the old glory of historical buildings and religious places. We are also planning to develop accommodation facilities in Nanarao Park,” Ashish said.
Besides being beautified, these places will be also be equipped with parking area, food court etc. This step will help attract more people to the township, he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / TNN / July 07th, 2015
Writer Neelum Saran Cour tells KUNAL RAY why she finds the 125-year-old Allahabad University so fascinating.
Neelum Saran Gour prefers to be called a storyteller, even though she is a renowned author, translator, academic and chronicler of various facets of Allahabad city. Her fiction and academic writing appeared in several national and international anthologies. She has been Writer-in-Residence at the University of Kent and Stirling, and conducted creative writing workshops for Sahitya Akademi.
Gour’s new book ‘Three Rivers and a Tree – The Story of Allahabad University’ (Rupa) recounts cherished moments from the 125-year-long existence of the much feted institution, where she works as Professor of English. Excerpts from an interview.
Do you think of yourself as a raconteur of Allahabad’s history?
I did not consciously set out to be a raconteur of Allahabad’s history. It was my readers, reviewers and critics who fixed that label on me. I wrote of people, relationships and perennial situations and my readership wasn’t confined to any particular interest group. And I’ve written on many cities that I’ve lived in and enjoyed – Kolkata, Lucknow, Canterbury. But Allahabad is my enduring world, the frame that now holds the canvas on which I ply my brush. Looking back, I realise that while my motley short stories travelled in content across many locations, my novels have been Allahabad-specific. It was after an NDTV Just Books interview with Sunil Sethi, after the publication of my fifth book, ‘Sikandar Chowk Park’, that I received a proposal from Marg Publications to guest-edit a pictorial volume on the history and culture of Allahabad and I accepted it. The volume, ‘Allahabad Where The Rivers Meet,’ turned out to be popular with Allahabadis scattered all over the world. I guess that was when this mantle of Allahabad historian was placed on me. I am no historian, just a lore collector. Recently, I compiled local stories, oral history and nostalgia narratives to a Facebook site about Allahabad. My next two books, a novel and a short-story collection, both due for release soon, are consciously Allahabad-intensive. So are the books I plan to write in the coming years.
We are shaped by cities we live in. How has Allahabad, a so-called small town, shaped you?
Writers have travelled to distant locations, seeking creative stimulus or spent lifetimes balancing culturally disparate homelands. But I have travelled vertically, not horizontally in space, delving into the visceral layers of my city’s life. This has made me experience its pulse-beat, its interlay of history, the rhythm of its languages and dialects, its interior anecdotage and shared chatter, its collective memories, even the idiom of its wrangling, things which have nourished and supported my writing.
Categories such as big-city and small-town mean nothing to me. In this so-called narrow compass – I believe it’s called Middle India now – I find all the ingredients of authentic inspiration – struggle, love, conflict, lust, compassion, betrayal, courage, death. If anything, the slower pace of life has given me more quality time for work and a larger measure of interpersonal connectivity with people. The core experiences and situational configurations of life remain much the same, the rest are variations on these essential themes. Yes, till a few years ago, a writer from Middle India lost out on general visibility, but the Internet has changed all that. I would say that while my cerebral positioning is place-neutral, my empirical placement has now become intensively local.
You are also a fiction writer. How do you separate the two when you are writing history?
I call myself a story teller, not a hard-core historian. Which means that my mental reflexes highlight the human drama, the play of personality, the serendipitous revelations and the excitement of seeing processes and patterns fall in place, and meanings emerge, however tentative. This is not what a rigorous historian does. I hear historians quip that all history is fiction, in the sense that it is filtered through human subjectivities and is necessarily conditioned by them. In my fiction, I deal with the possible as my intuition prompts, writing from emotional intelligence as it were; I deal with the proven or the probable as available data indicates, only allowing a certain controlled free-wheeling of imagination.
Your new book is about the Allahabad University, where you work as Professor of English. How did you ensure objectivity while writing this book?
I have tried to maintain a careful balance, to take an impersonal view from the outside and also provide an engaged insider’s perspective. My university possesses a monumental and legendary presence even when it is long past its prime and has been reduced to a majestic, sagging edifice, resonating with stories. This book was specifically intended as a celebration, to commemorate 125 years of the Allahabad University a couple of years ago. A celebration it definitely is, an attempt to preserve an institution’s living narrative, its great moments, its faces and voices, even its echoes and ghosts. There is always the risk of falling into the trap of romancing the past but I have tried, to the best of my power, to guard against my own subjectivity and write with candour, and in places with brutal honesty, while including well-documented details in support. I have tried to capture the reverberations of historic events as they were felt in the university, to assemble its picture gallery of personalities, and to give the reader some taste of the vibrant campus, its pranks, student agitations, social life, humour, its striking memorabilia; and subsequently its complicated entanglement in the politics of the region and the transformation that overcame its character. No one can claim that the Allahabad University is anything like the iconic institution it was. But rather than categorically deride the compromised present I have tried to decode the process of its decline and trace its laboured and confused attempts at re-invention in altered times.
There are many written histories of metropolitan centres such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Have we been rather unfair towards mofussil centres/small towns vis-a-vis written documents of their past?
On the contrary, there are well-researched histories in the regional languages, written by insiders as well as travellers passing through. It would be worthwhile to retrieve and translate some of the local histories into English to facilitate better awareness.
Does Allahabad still possess a unique cultural character?
Allahabad now provokes extreme reactions – great affection in those addicted to it, and violent criticism from many who despise it, even while living in it. Yes, it has its own style, its rarefied and residual interblend of Indic, Islamic and British culture that still survives in shrinking pockets. Something of its famed literary temper, both folksy and purist – highbrow, continues in patches. The patois, the tall stories, the cussed argumentative character continue. Allahabad has witnessed the recession of the Colonial world and is now undergoing a seismic shift from a city defined by the classes to a city brought to revise its identity by the masses. But that is the direction taken by any democracy worth its name.
This book is an attempt to preserve an institution’s living narrative, its great moments, its faces and voices, even its echoes and ghosts.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Friday Review / by Kunal Ray / July 10th, 2015
When engineer Ashrya Srivastava sat talking art with her childhood friend Meenakshi Srivastava, an MA student at Lucknow University’s Arts College, both the 23-year-olds were shocked to find that 63 Indian art forms were on the verge of death. Determined to revive and propagate them, the two roped in friends from different fields. Dr Anitya Srivastava (24), who had just finished her MBBS and commerce graduate Naghma Parveen (21), joined the cause.
The four young girls have now formed a group called ‘San Rachna’ and are organising an Indus Valley inspired ‘galiyara’ (art aisle) on July 8, at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Park to bring art forms other than just the popular Madhubani to the city’s notice.
“Starting with awareness, we will move on to conservation and lastly the revival of these indigenous art forms, since there are only a handful of people practicing them,” shares Anitya.
“Art forms like Kohvar and Sohrai were practiced by tribes from Chhattisgarh and focused on women issues. They are now almost defunct, since the tribe itself is slipping into extinction. The Basholi and Guler paintings, primarily from the mountains with a hint of Mughal and Rajasthani influence, are also dying. There are scores of such arts that will fade into oblivion, if people are not made aware of their existence and urged to follow them,” she says.
Ashrya recalls, “Two years ago, I was pursuing engineering in Allahabad when a foreigner at the Kumbh Mela asked me where ‘my’ indigenous Indian art form was amid all the western abstract art that had taken centre stage at the mela. He had a point, we had lost track of our cultural heritage.”
The girls have been managing all the funds themselves for the upcoming live demonstration of art and culture under ‘Ek Shaam’.
“We have done it all on our own, from designing the logo to preparing everything. We have put in all our internship stipends for this traditional galiyara setup, which will have painting, pottery, music and dance, all orchestrated by students. It has all been possible under the guidance of senior artist Asha Srivastava,” said Ashrya.
After three months of six hours of intense research daily on the history of art, the girls are now all set to revive indigenous art forms of India.
“As we sat studying our cultural heritage, we came to know why particular colours are used, what season and area they depict, and the various arts forms practiced and styles used, both in art and dress codes. It was all new and interesting information and we wish to bring out from within the yellowing pages of old books,” say the two girls.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India /Home> City> Lucknow / by Yusra Husain, TNN / July 07th, 2015
Located on the busy Faizabad-Ayodhya Road, and at a stone throw from the Circuit House, Ram Bhawan over the past few decades has become a household name not only for residents of Faizabad, but also for millions of Netaji fans, who virtually started equating this building with a temple, which safely housed their ‘son of the soil’ in exile for almost three years, until he passed away on September 16, 1985.
It was here that Gumnaami Baba alias Bhagwanjee stayed from November 1983 till his demise. Recollecting the days spent with Gumnaami Baba as a tenant in his house, Thakur Shakti Singh said, “It was around mid-1983 that my father was asked by Dr RP Mishra, surgeon at the district hospital, to rent him the small quarter in the back which has separate entry and backdoor. He said it was for his ‘dada’ who wants peace and quiet for his spiritual practice which he cannot get at home.”
Shakti further stated that after initial reluctance, his father agreed to give the room to the ascetic. After moving in, Bhagwanjee had a very strict policy when it came to meeting visitors. It was only in the late evening hours if at all that interactions were allowed to a chosen few, after he had finished his ‘sadhana’ for the day.
Moreover, all of these chose few came to believe that the Baba had some special power. “Once a person entered the premises of Ram Bhawan, his mental faculties seemingly became completely overwhelmed by Bhagwanjee. Interaction only happened from behind a cotton-curtained window between two rooms. Even though the door in between was open, no one ever dared to enter or even peek inside. The only person who had full access round-the-clock was his caregiver, late Saraswati Devi Shukla, whom Baba used to call ‘Jagdambe’.”
Shakti Singh added that even he himself who was living in the same house could never gather the courage to attempt making eye-to-eye contact with him. “One time even a Police Officer friend of mine expressed great curiosity and a wish to investigate and unveil the mysterious Baba,” Shakti Singh recalled. “I told him he was most welcome to raid my house anytime he pleased on any pretext whatsoever. He arrived the very next morning, with force, and strode right up to the boundary wall before abruptly turning back without a word and leaving! That evening, Baba asked me why my friends hadn’t come and introduced themselves. Then he laughed, long and hard.”
After Bhagwanjee’s death, Lalita Bose, the niece of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose came here in February 1986. As soon as she came at Ram Bhawan, and saw the items in Bhagwanjee’s room, she started crying piteously, and said that there things belong to her uncle (Netaji). Later she urged the district magistrate to intervene, and even had a meeting with the then UP chief minister Veer Bahadur Singh, who after assuring help, said, “Ma’am even I have some limits,” and suggested her to move the court.
After the matter was brought to the notice of the court, the district administration was asked to shift 2760 articles kept in Bhagwanjee’s room (containing books, literature and other artefacts) were shifted to the district treasury in as many as 25 sandooks (huge trunks).
“A few weeks after the death of Gumnaami Baba, I observed few children playing around that room. Immediately, I asked them to give a description of the person they had seen (in this place). Simultaneously, I also hired an artist to make the sketch as per the inputs provided by the children. The artist took considerable time to give final and accurate shape to his creation, and when he turned the canvass towards us, we were surprised to see the startling similarities between the photo of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and that of Gumnaami Baba,” recalled Shakti Singh, with a rare radiance in his eyes.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Simha, TNN / July 07th, 2015
Ramsevak Kol, a tribe from the Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, stands head and shoulders above other Indians. Genetic studies prove that he is one of the descendants of King Guha of Ramayana. An international team of researchers consisting of geneticists, anthropologists, archaeologists and historians have found that Ramayana, written 10,000 years ago, is a chronicle of events and characters recorded by Sage Valmiki and not a work of fiction.
The mystery behind the characters in Ramayana has been solved by a team led by Dr Gyaneshwer Chaubey, ace genetic scientist of the Estonian Biocentre in Estonia. A three-year long research by Dr Chaubey and his team drawn out from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Delhi University, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur and Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas has found that the Bhils, Gonds and the Kols, categorised as Scheduled Castes and Tribes by the modern day administrators of India are the true descendants of characters featured in Ramayana. The peer reviewed scientific paper authored by the team has been published by PLOS ONE, a respected scientific portal.
The Kol tribe, found mainly in areas like Mirzapur, Varanasi, Banda and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, are the descendants of the Kol mentioned in Ramayana, according to Dr Chaubey and his team. Remember Guha, the chieftain of Sringiverapuram who helped Lord Rama, Sita and Laksmana cross the Ganga during their journey to the forests? “Guha, the Nishad King, is the ancestor of the present day Kol tribe we found in these regions. This ancestry was established by genetic studies. These groups of people carry the basic indigenous genetic traits of India. Ramsevak and thousands like him spread across the States of UP, MP, Odisha, Chhattisgargh are the true descendants of Lord Rama and his contemporaries,” Dr Chaubey told The Pioneer from Tartu in Estonia via video conferencing.
Dr Chaubey and Prof VR Rao, an anthropologist in Delhi University, said that the studies proved that these groups of people have maintained their genetic continuity for more than 10,000 years. “This again sets at rest the Aryan invasion theory. There is no inflow into the genetic traits of these tribes from outside elements,” said Saroj Bala, a specialist in Vedic and Ramayana studies, who shot into fame by calculating the date of birth of Lord Rama based on planetary positions.
Prof Rao said the studies confirmed that the characters mentioned by Valmiki in Ramayana are real life characters. “King Dasaratha, Rama and others were not fictional characters,” he said. Dr S Kalyanaraman, an Indologist of repute, said the Kols are the iron smelters about whom there are mentions in Indus Script excavated from the banks of Indus as well as River Saraswathi.
“This paper by Gyaneswer Chaube and team is an attempt to explain the roots of Hindu civilisation which has been distorted by creating false ethnic identities by the categorisation of people,” said Dr Kalyanaraman. He said a comprehensive study incorporating all tribes should be undertaken which would prove that the breaking up of essential unity of Bharatiya identity based on caste and ethnicity are academic fiction with no basis and a distortion of the history of ancient India.
source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / The Pioneer / Home / by Kumar Chellappan, Chennai / Monday – June 15th, 2015
Apart from a ‘gulab vatika’ (rose garden) and ‘aushadhi vatika’ (medicinal garden), Kukrail now boasts of a ‘parijat vatika’.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated the Van Mahotsava on Wednesday and 21 parijat (Adansonia digitata) trees were planted at the spot. All trees were more than eight feet in height and the one planted by the CM was about 17 feet high.
“Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) had planted a parijat tree at Lohia park. Now, I can see a depression in the earth around the tree which shows that people have started paying obeisance to the tree. We are planting it on a large scale so that more people may know of the mythologically significant but long-forgotten tree varieties,” said the CM.
At least 21 parijat trees were also planted in Jhansi on the same day.
The Ramayana and Mahabharata mention around 156 tree varieties and some of the prominent ones have been selected by the forest department for plantation across the state depending on soil and weather conditions.
Parijat is an exotic tree and remains green for almost six months. It is said to be one of the gems from the ‘samudra-manthan’. Believed to have been brought to earth by the Pandavas, it is also called ‘kalp vriksha’ as it helped them win the battle of Mahabharata.
Similarly, Kadamb (Anthocephalus cadamba) is mentioned in the Mahabharata as a tree dear to Lord Krishna who played the flute under a ‘kadamb’ tree on the banks of the Yamuna.
Apart from parijat and kadamb, trees like ‘Sita ashok’, ‘tamaal’, ‘maulshree’, ‘tulsi’, ‘harsingar’, banyan and peepal that are mentioned in folklore will be planted extensively at religious ‘parikramas’ and on government land. The chosen tree varieties have huge environmental and medicinal significance as well.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / July 02nd, 2015
