Little England – In India
Yes, it’s about Little England in India. It lies due west of Patna, erstwhile Patliputra, on the southern bank of Ganga. No native was to be seen within the Cantonment. Typical English cottages, churches, dotted the exclusive home of the English. It must have been truly reminding the “Fringie” of his native home. Thus it was pronounced as Little England. Its name today is Danapur. Its claim to the famous sobriquet has long ceased to exist. Today it has a huge bustling market for primarily agricultural produce. This produce is carried in varied forms of modern as well as primitive transportation to the market in Danapur. Thus Danapur, which was the exclusive domain of the white man is today in ruins, reduced to a free for all thoroughfare to a continuous stream of local peasants. Apart from this Danapur possesses some unique features that need highlighting.
The Company, East India Company, after having consolidated at Calcutta, was engaged in exploring new frontiers for trade. The region of Tibet, “The Forbidden Kingdom”, was already under the cross hairs of Russia, China & the Company. (The Company was urged to consider Tibet as a potential backdoor to China). In quest of dominating the Gangetic region, Robert Clive’s campaigns culminated in the defeat of Suraj-ud-Daula in 1757 at the Battle of Plassey. In the run up to this final victory, Clive engaged in smaller skirmishes. One of them was the battle near Danapur. Company naval vessels are said to have navigated up the Ganges. At this place the Rajah of Arrah, though fought valiantly, was vanquished. With the War Reparations/Indemnity demanded & received by Clive six massive barracks were constructed. These, since long have housed the erstwhile Headquarters of Bihar & Orissa Sub Area. The building will last several more centuries if maintained. In fact these structures ought to qualify for the title of Heritage Buildings. Once in control of the Gangetic plains, the Company compelled the locals to cease growing any other crop other than Indigo.
Most of the Cantonment is enclosed within inside a walled enclosure. Actually it’s not a wall but a flood bund. Towards the north the wall protects the Cantonment from the Ganges, while towards the south it provides protection from the Devaniya Nala. All sluice gates are locked & reinforced with sand bags during the monsoons. Thus, during the rains, the water within an area of approximately 2 kms long & ½ km wide accumulates & converts the Training Area of Bihar Regimental Centre into a marsh. All houses are prone to water seepage due to capillary action.
The National Highway cuts across this walled area west-easterly. The highway is very busy with the bulk of the traffic consisting of trucks. The author has seen how the traffic in Bihar in general & Patna in particular pay scant regard to traffic rules. However one is astonished see how the same traffic behaves within the jurisdiction of Bihar Regimental Centre. The speed is restricted to 5 kmph! There is no overtaking even by light vehicles. No one dare blow the horn. Once, in a social gathering, a Justice of Patna High Court complemented the Commandant for doing the impossible, i.e. taming the traffic of Patna. However he revealed that the Commandant’s men on duty at the road smacked his car with a cane for trying to overtake! Obviously, the Honorable Justice preferred not to engage in litigation with this soldier for fear of losing it, temporarily, against far more forceful arguments of a recalcitrant opponent!
Another unique feature of Danapur is the annual migration of the Open – Billed Stork. They come to feast on mollusks, frogs & insects in the marshes on either side of the Ganges. Roosting in the Pilkan trees, they occupy every conceivable place that can accommodate crude & hastily built nest. They add their own cacophony to the prevailing noise of vehicular traffic. The ground is quickly littered with their droppings. Soon the trees are bereft of their foliage & instead of cluster of leaves; all that remain are numerous nests. Over the years some of these trees have actually died due to the nesting. It is here that they lay eggs & raise their chicks, feeding them on the abundant food supported by the marshes. During strong gales, that frequently blow, several nests fall on the roadside. The chicks & their guardians do not abandon the nest & their fledglings. The author has learnt that some locals quickly carry away the vulnerable birds for the pot! Unless more trees are grown alongside the road to replace the dead & dying trees, these birds may well abandon their centuries old itinerary.
Ganges is the most unique feature of Danapur for several reasons. On a quiet sunny day one can be rewarded with the sight of the Indian Dolphin emerging for just a second over the heavily silt laden water. Often these docile creatures get ensnared in fishermen’s nets – to await the fate similar to that of the fallen Open Billed Stork.
Another heart rending sight was that of an infant floating downstream close to the bank. Was it an unfortunate fate of a girl child – quite possible? The author witnessed a number of such infants finding more love in the ample bosom of the Blessed Ganges than in that of their own mothers’; being gently rocked in nature’s cradle of waves, lest it wakes, in eternal sleep; not needing its mother’s milk or warmth or shelter or clothing. The feeling of the all too overpowering & boundless love bestowed by this inanimate mother, as opposed to that of the biological mother, grips my senses. Come let us pay tribute to these infants. No words can better convey our sentiments more than Charles Lamb in his poem:-
On An Infant Dying As Soon As Born
“I saw where in the shroud did lurk
A curious frame of Nature’s work;
A flow’ret crushed in the bud’
A nameless piece of Babyhood’
Was in her cradle-coffin lying;
Extinct with scarce the sense of dying:
So soon to exchange the imprisoning womb
For the darker closets of the tomb!”
The only difference was that here, in Danapur, it was not
“Nature blind (that)
Checked her hand & changed her mind,”
It was a human hand invariably, and that makes the sight even more poignant!
Contrast, dear reader, human deed so unkind,
To the large heart in the bosom of Ganges, so divine!
Should not we then seek solace in Nature when in grief
Rather than in the cold hearted humans we tend to seek?
Almost throughout the year, sandy banks of the Ganges accommodate those whose earthly journey & suffering has ended. Rarely does one see the placid banks free from the funeral pyre of the departed. On these very banks the author has bid adieu to many a valiant & young officers who fell during the capture of the forbidding heights of Kargil!
All day & night sailboats glide smoothly; upstream & downstream, navigated deftly & with great ease by locals, ferrying humans, livestock, food grains, & building material between Danapur & a huge island in the north, called the Diyara, in the middle of the Ganges. Quite often, nocturnal & sometimes daylight traffic between Diyara & Danapur is sordid & murky. The boats & Diyara provide a safe haven for the rouges from law.
Yet another feature, indelibly associated with the Ganges is Chhatt Puja. It is on the banks of this benevolent river, its unlimited benevolence we have just described, that people from far & near gather to perform their rituals. Weeks before the event, the exalted & lowly, saintly & sinners alike, set up their pre-designated barricades, tents, flags & durries & mats on the bank. The affluent lay out chairs, car batteries & loud-speakers to belt bhajans across the Ganges during this pooja. On one occasion, Smt. Rabri Devi’s family chose Danapur for this pooja. The most unique feature of this puja is that the Sun God is worshipped not at sunrise, but at sunset. The faithful ignore all barriers & trespass all over the Cantonment to scale the flood bund to gain access to the holy Ganga. An atmosphere of revelry pervades Danapur. Food is cooked, puja performed, men women & children stand waste deep in water, facing westwards with folded hands & take holy dips.
After the puja, it’s back to normal business. The very banks that were used for the holy Chhatt, is a scene of locals squatting, during daytime. The very water, holy water that was used for the holy dip, was then shown the posterior by the “washers”. Attempts to shoo off these people invited threats that can scarcely be ignored. Once again, from the roof of the Flag Staff House yet another discarded infant is making its final solitary journey, gently rocked by the waves, slowly brushing past the river bank while the Blessed Ganga searches for the final resting place for its beloved child. Did one hear the Ganges speak?
O heartless dwellers of this holy land,
See what I scribble with my waves on this sand,
Hypocrites, Hypocrites, Hypocrites, art thou,
Have thee not enough land under a bough,
To rest in peace thy seedling somehow?
I care for thy infant more than thee all.
Nay, I have place for entire humanity in my shawl.
You lower your offspring, to the mercy of crows, vultures & jackals?
Pestilence, floods, death & annual misery shall befall
& finally you shall account for your sins in Lord’s Great Hall.
Danapur is a huge grain market & it is still growing. The well known Congressman, Mr. Sitaram Kesri hailed from this market where he owns a fairly big house. Lt Col NK Sinha, ex RIMCOLIAN & Commandant of Kumaon Regimental Centre, uncle of HE the Governor of J&K, Lt Gen SK Sinha, lives in a sprawling bungalow that today, cries for heavy maintenance. Endowed with a hyper-active brain & vivid memories, NK is not hampered by his poor eyesight & equally poor ocular power, he narrates rare gems of past history. Once when racially slighted by a British officer in the Mess, he challenged him to a duel of Boxing. While narrating NK clenched his strong fist & said, “With or without gloves?” Prudently, I stepped aside & out of reach of NK. Much later I read in the newspaper that NK, on his way to Guwahati to be with his nephew, the Governor of Assam, halted at Kolkata to personally hand over a financial reward to a courageous young man in West Bengal!
And so, for time being, we take a break from the reminiscences of the author’s stay in Bihar.
Little England – Revisited (For a Pious Cause)
Welcome to Little England again – this time for a brief visit. How can one tour Danapur without revealing some more astounding historical facts & equally astonishing coincidence?
The Sub Area Headquarters at Danapur has its own places of religious worship. The Gurudwara is a hundred yards from the main office. The structure is a very old Temporary Hut that should have been demolished long back. Luckily, as the hutment has been allocated for a Gurudwara, the Sikh community of the Cantonment has maintained it well. Otherwise, it is as modest as any other temporary shed. One would easily ignore looking at, leave aside entering it. How come, in the past, when it was not a Gurudwara, it did not face demolition? Here, we could come to some interesting revelation, not without referring to “Autobiography of a Yogi”, authored by Shri Paramahansa Yogananda.
“In the autumn of 1861, I (Shri Lahiri Mahasaya) was stationed in Danapur as an accountant in the Military Engineering Department of the Government”. As per a telegram received, he was transferred to Ranikhet, where an army post was to be established. Here he learnt from locals that great saints blessed the region. Providentially, he heard a call for him & he climbed towards Drongiri Mountain & soon darkness descended. In an area dotted with caves, he met his Guru, Babaji, who blessed him with Diksha & the ancient secret of Kriya Yoga with instructions to teach it to others. As it was already late the disciple begged leave as he had urgent business to attend the next day. To this plea, he was told that, “The office was brought for you, & not you for the office.” Details of this meeting may be read by those interested in the book referred. Babaji instructed him to teach his disciples the majestic promise from the Bhagwad-Gita; “Swalpamapyasya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat – Even a little practice of this dharma will save you from the great fear, the colossal suffering inherent in the repeated cycles of birth & death”. Shri Lahiri Mahasaya was thus with Babaji for ten days & was deemed lost by his office. On returning, a telegram awaited him – to return to Danapur! His posting to Ranikhet occurred by error! He, a father of two boys, Ek Kauri & Do Kauri, went on become a highly revered saint of Varanasi.
Having returned to Danapur, Shri Lahiri Mahasaya attended office in the very same barrack which today houses the Gurudwara. What was this hutment used as before it became a Gurudwara, I enquired? It was a Mandir!
The local devotees of this great saint, on learning about this, requested me to allow them to hold a prayer inside this sacred hutment on their Guru’s birthday. The Sikhs & their Granthi gave us the permission with two conditions. Firstly, Shri Lahiri Mahasaya’s photo will not be placed above or alongside the sacred Guru Granth Sahib. Secondly bhajans would not be accompanied with clapping. These were happily acceded to. Shri Lahiri Mahasaya’s photo was placed on the ground beneath the platform of Guru Granth Sahib. There was no clapping. The devotees had this to say, “For us, Guru Granth Sahib is our Guru. We will do as the Sikhs’ Guru desires”. Thus, for the first time, Shri Lahiri Mahasaya blessed all his disciples in the very humble hut that this great saint worked in, as an Accountant, under the benevolent grace of Guru Granth Sahib!
It may interest the reader to note that Kriya Yoga is believed to have been handed down from Lord Krishna to Yuyutsa, & thence to Mahavatar Babaji whose successive disciples were Shri Lahiri Mahasaya, Shri Yukteshwar Giri & finally Paramahansa Yogananda. Each of these saints had several other disciples. Today Kriya Yoga is practiced by many all over the world.
Thus we end our brief journey through Danapur that was once Little England; that was once a bitter battleground for Clive & the Raja of Arrah; that is still the itinerary for the Open Billed Stork; that was the office of Shri Lahiri Mahasaya.
