Musings of a Wandering Heart

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A lake and a temple


Travelling on a deserted road in Rajasthan, we were looking forward to reaching Deegh, the summer palace of Bharatpur kings. Suddenly at a village oddly named Ghata, we came across a beatiful rock formation. 

The slope made a natural slide for rainwater. Possibly the water gathered in the foreground after streaming down the rocks.

Curiosity got the better of us and we deboarded the vehicle. The serene location took our breath away.

It had this little old temple on the banks of the lake. The temple was almost in ruins but it had a queer beauty to it. Amidst other green trees, there was a solitary dry tree, reflection of which gave the landscape an additional dimension.

The lake and the temple reminded me of hundreds of other places I had encountered through my travels across India. Once upon a time, every village, every city and literally every settlement of whatever size had its own fresh water source. And we had all this till recently. But all this is being lost and lost faster than we can imagine. 

However, exceptions do exist even today, by way of a few gems like this left untouched. The place is on the state highway towards Deegh when one travels from Delhi - Kosi Kalan - Deegh. It is some 25-30 kms before reaching Deegh.




We - myself and three other friends - had gone there on a beautiful winter morning. Although I remember the still lake waters and the quaint little temple on its bank, I ALSO remember the natural rock formation.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A hope and a prayer ...



The Narmada waters playfully cut through the rock bed, stretching from one bank to the other only to rush with a loud noise into the depression created by its own force.


This serene spot went under water in 2007, depriving future generations an opportunity to enjoy its beauty. It is unlikely that the people displaced from the villages near it will forget the place in this lifetime.


I recently read a beautiful book, a travelogue named 'Narmada Samagra: Rafting through a civilisation' by Anil Madhav Dave. The excellently written and presented book has a small yet touching paragraph about the author's sentiments about Dharaji. I identify with it entirely and hope against hope that some day, his words indeed come true.     

मैंने अनायास पीछे मुड कर धाराजी के अंतिम दर्शन किये, प्रणाम किया. मन ही मन निवेदन किया, "हे धाराजी! मेरी पीढ़ी अपने स्वार्थ के लिए तुम्हे डुबो रही है. हो सकता है, सदियों बाद तुम फिर बाहर आ जाओ, फिर तुममे घूम घूम कर कंकर शंकर बनने लग जाये."

(Roughly translated, it reads: I turned around and took a last darshan of Dharaji, offered my prayers and thought, "Hey Dharaji, My generation is submerging you for their selfish motives. It is possible, centuries later, you will be exposed again ... and every kankar (stone) rolls into your vortex to become a shankar again.")

The profound hope ends with a kshamayachna on behalf of the mankind. He says:

"अपनी पीढ़ी के इस अपराध के लिए हे धाराजी तुम मुझे माफ़ करना."

(Please forgive me for this sin of my generation.) 

AMEN

Unique tradition lost in history

This was the feature published in Hindustan Times on March 27, 2007 in the Indore edition. We had carried the story days before the authorities were set to start impounding Narmada waters for the Omkareshwar Hydel project in Madhya Pradesh. Here is part two of the two part series.

UNIQUE TRADITION WILL BE HISTORY SOON

Come April, when the 520-MW Omkareshwar project of Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC) is expected to be functional, not only would the mersmerising waterfall at Dharaji be submerged under the project reservoir, it will also submerge a tradition unique to the Narmada banks.



Dharaji (Dist Dewas) March 26: Mansingh Devda is one of the two brothers famous for retrieving Baanling from the vortex - known as Dhawdi Kund - formed due to speeding water gushing down the nearly 50 feet roaring waterfall at this pilgrim spot on the banks of Narmada. But, it will soon be a thing of the past.

Sitting in his spartan hut playing with his youngest child, Mansingh is probably mulling that his son would not be able to continue with Bhagwan ki seva (worship of the Lord) like he and six generations before him, as the whole area would be submerged under the reservoir of the Omkareshwar dam sometime in April.

But he has no regrets. "This was destined. Long ago, a mahatma had predicted that we would be able to carry out this work (bringing out the Baanlings from underwater) only for seven generations. Mine is the seventh generation," Mansingh told Hindustan Times.



Mythology has it that demon Banasur, wanting to invoke Lord Shiva, prepared and worshipped one crore Shivlings at Dharaji. He immersed all of them in the Narmada after the Lord was pleased and hence the Shivlings are known as Baanling. Speciality of the Baanling, according to scriptures, is that it does not require any kind of pranpratishtha (installation rituals) and one can directly worship it.

Prod the 40-something Korku Thakur and he recalls a tale, short on reason but strong on faith. The head of the family six generations ago was fed up with animals destroying his crop every night. Once he decided to keep a vigil and saw to his amusement five cows in his farm. He caught hold of one of them by the tail, deciding to follow so as to reach the owner. The cow ran towards water and jumped straight into the Dhawadi Kund, the farmer in tow.

The cow reached a sage in a cave behind the waterfall. The saintly figure offered to compensate his loss. Not sure of what to ask, the farmer asked an assured fish catch daily and that every stone he retrieves from the place be treated as Lord Shiva (har kankar shankar ho). Pleased with his simplicity, the sage assured him a single fish every day round the year and also the boon to retrieve Baanling from the Kund for seven generations. 

Since then the family tradition has continued. And even though they could have charged a humoungous price for the precious Baanling, neither Mansingh nor his brother ask for money and instead accept whatever the devotees give. On an average, Mansingh and his brother take out about 15,000 Baanlings annually from the Kund. The Baanlings are either oval or perfect round and the size varies from a few inches to a few feet tall (some as big as 8-10 feet). "People come from all over India asking for it."

Mansingh claims he has neither been given compensation nor any notice about the status of his kuchcha house when water starts rising early next month. Ask him how he feels about not being able to bring out Baanlings in the future, Mansingh points to the river and sighs in his philosophical best, "Woh jaanti hai sab. (Narmada knows it all). If Dharaji was predicted to vanish, nothing can stop it."

(Concluded).

Monday, March 15, 2010

Submergence of a culture

This was the feature published in Hindustan Times on March 26, 2007 in the Indore edition. We had carried the story days before the authorities were set to start impounding Narmada waters for the Omkareshwar Hydel project in Madhya Pradesh. Here is part one of the two part series.

AT DHARAJI, DAM WATERS WILL SUBMERGE A CULTURE

Tucked away amidst hills with dense deciduous forest, Dharaji was in news in 2005 when a large number of devotees were swept away by the water released from the dam upstream. With the reservoir for Omkareshwar Hydel Project set to fill, leading to submergence of Dharaji, it would not be a mere physical loss of land mass going under water. With it would end congregations of lakhs for the Bhootadi Amavasya, a unique cultural heritage, and ultimately the submergence of a place endowed with spectacular beauty, writes Nivedita Khandekar in a two part series.



Dharaji (Dist Dewas), March 25: Here, the Narmada cuts its way with full force through volcanic rock formations on both banks. It crafts an array of towers - showing the horizontal marks cut over ages - which rise bang in the middle of the flow, one besides the other before forming 3-4 cascades spanning a distance of about a kilometre. And then surprisingly, a short distance away, the ever-in-hury' water gives way to a deep placid flow.

An unfortunate tragedy in 2005 saw many pilgrims being washed away by a huge tide on Bhootadi Amavasya. Ironically, the tragedy occured as there were very few lights at night and the pilgrims could not see the water released from the dam to generate electricity at the Indira Sagar Project.


Though lakhs of people visit every year, the place has remained unsullied due to the sheer lack of accessibility.

This being the last year before submergence, word spread like wildfire and drew even more crowds from across the country as a holy dip here on Bhootadi Amavasya (intervening night of March 18/19 this year) is believed to get rid of the problems of the mentally ill and those 'possessed.'


Waters of the Omkareshwar reservoir would engulf it from April this year when the 520 MW Omkareshwar project executed by Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC) is expected to be functional. An inventory of loss due to submergence can be revealing. Loss of mounds on the bank having layers of geological and archaeological (and even palaentological)  importance in their bellies, cultural - including archaeological and architectural - loss, vanishing of serene spots and last but not the least, the voiceless flora and the fauna in the submergence area.

The first to change would be the very pillars of culture - way of life and way of thinking. "Change? Its a loss of cultural heritage. The unque culture of Narmada bank is changing and soon would be lost," says priest Uday Singh, whose family has been looking after the Shiv Temple here since the time it was constructed some 250 years ago.

For the people on the banks, it was never a mere river. Revered as maiyyaji (mother), the Narmada is part of their emotional mindspace. This concept may change too, with time.

Echoes Sadanand, a saffron-clad sanyasi from Punjab, who is doing Narmada parikrama (circumambulation), "These people are building chakravyooh (vicious circle) for themselves. They (dam builders) are displacing not just people but uprooting an entire culture."

Thousands of people undertake the Narmada parikrama every year, wherein they trek on both the banks clockwise. People living on the banks feed and take care of the well being of the parikammawasis (as these pilgrims are called). "When these people are sent to live in villages far away from the water edge, their attitude changes drastically. Who will look after the parikammawasis then?" asks Mahamurakhdasji, who has been staying at a dharmshala near the Shiv Temple for the past week.

There are several people fighting for the rights of displaced people, but few to speak on behalf of the rich flora and fauna that would go under water. Who will speak on behalf of natural wonders like Dharaji, symbols of manifestation of culture and religion?

It couldn't have been more telling. Dharaji which today reverberates with the sound of water speeding through the several small but crooked gorges to fall into a deep kund with defeaning noise, is headed towards silent submergence.

(To be continued)