History and Society in Sonepat

It was last Sunday that Revanth had invited me to Sonepat to explore its monuments. Revanth was a fellow history enthusiast, and a third year at Ashoka. He was documenting the monuments there, and he and I were headed for the initial trip to check out the town and see what we could see.

Leaving campus at 9, we walked to the highway where we caught a share auto heading to Sonepat. The share auto had two rows within it at the back and space for two next to the driver. Packed in there, we got to the town in about 20 minutes. Revanth was pretty impressed with the layout of the town on google maps, and its grid structure, but that was the last time either of us were pleasantly surprised by the town. 

Our first stop of the day was the tomb of Khwaja Khizr, behind the Khwaja Khizr park. The tomb dates back to the time of the Lodis, and is not too elaborate in construction. In front of it is a 4 acre public park that provides access to the monument. 

The tomb of Khwaja Khizr, 1520's Lodi era

The monument is accessed by a flight of stairs and a large gateway that leads to a large courtyard. In front of the stairs is an open to sky brick platform with two tombs. Built between 1522 and 1524, this tomb was built for the Sufi saint Khwaja Khizr son of Darya Khan Sarwani. There are a lot of floral motifs used around the structure.
The park was filled with people of all ages, divided according to age roughly. The young boys (and the occasional girl in their group) were playing their own games, the older boys were playing cricket, and the old women were sitting and talking amongst themselves. 

As we entered the park, a group of young boys were playing with a puppy, running around with it, and picking it up and moving it around on the single pathway approaching the monument. The pup could hardly move, and would waddle after the boy who clicked his fingers at the dog, jumping backward as he did. Revanth approached them and took some selfies with the pup, and struck up a conversation with them. As we moved towards the monument, he noted that the boys playing there were all upper caste, with names like Sharma and Khatri. In rural - or semi-rural as Sonepat was - Haryana, caste discrimination is pretty high. 

Just then a ball from the older boys who were playing cricket struck Revanth's bag. The boy who'd hit the ball came forward to apologise, but Revanth was not too upset. 

As we climbed the steps of the monument, an old lady, one of a group sitting at the base of the monument, asked him if he was ok, having seen him get hit. She then asked him why he hadnt gone on to scare or threaten them a little. We later talked about this, and realised this sort of thinking is practically absent in South India where people are just generally much nicer. 

The tomb structure has inscriptions all around, and over every door structure. The floor was covered in pigeon shit, which of course I had to step on when i went in.  

The tomb of the Sufi, with another tomb beside it, not visible in the photo

After we left the monument, stopping for a while at the buffalo pen next to it, and watching two bulls fight, we walked through the town. Both of us were amazed at the lack of aesthetic the town had to offer, and the essentially rural quality it had. There were hardly any vehicles on the road, E-rickshaws plied quite regularly but apart from them there were not too many cars or other vehicles. Houses were small, and only the upper caste had big houses. People were relaxing by the roadside, smoking hash and cigarettes. 

We walked along the streets, getting thoroughly confused in the maze-like alleyways. Hardly any of the monuments on our list were marked on Google maps, and some had multiple generic markings. We ended up at a main road just as it started to rain, so we took an auto back to Delhi road where the share autos ply towards Ashoka. 

Of course, just as we reached Delhi road the sun came out. So we went into a roadside cafe and had a snack. Realising it was economically unfeasible to return to the town area, we asked about the Durga mandir, that was originally a mosque (not in that way, but the temple was a mosque). 

Tucked away in a narrow gully by the main road, the minarets of this temple peek out from behind houses. When we first tried to enter, we passed the entrance to the gully. When we arrived, we almost missed the temple. The front of it has a large boards covering the minarets and domes, which confused us. As we entered, an old man greeted us with 'Ram Ram'. The next exchange had us very confused. "Whats in the temple?" he asked us. We both weren't sure what to respond. "Nothing" he replied himself, and left. 

In an old area called Mohalla Khan lies the mandir/masjid. The area's antiquity is vouched for by the intricate doorways seen around. The mosque was built during the decline of the Mughals in the 18th century. It was in use till the time of partition, when the Muslims (of then-Punjab) crossed over to Pakistan. Even after it became Haryana, the mosque remained in disuse. Of late, it has been used as a Durga temple, though slowly all evidence of its history are being erased. 

The inside shows no evidence of a mosque, and the entrance area just outside the temple/mosque is filled with other constructions. The whole place is tiled up, and it could well be a twenty year old temple if not for the minarets and the domes. 

It seems from a few articles that I later went through, that its only in the last decade that the inside was modified and the front covered. The first link, though with terrible grammar and bad photos, gives one an idea of the place in 2013. 

Revanth was insistent on a good photo of the domes. So we went around the side streets. Finding a decent location on a slope, we clicked some. But he was not satisfied. If only we could enter one of these houses and go to a terrace, he reminisced. Finally he built up the courage when two children entered a house. He asked them for those inside and they were quite nice people. A woman came and talked to us, and she gave us permission. Though there was also a man, it was the woman who seemed to have more say. As we noted, the women of Haryana seemed much tougher and able to hold their ground better, than women in the South, for the most part. They let us go to their terrace and take photos of the domes. After reading the article in the second link, I'm not so confident they will survive for many years to come. 

We then left for college, thanking the owners once again. We would definitely be back another day, to complete our quest to explore Sonepat's monuments. 

The domes and minarets as seen from the back, from a stranger's terrace, 18th century Mughal

Places: 

Khwaja Khizr tomb and park 

Badi Masjid

Links: 

https://www.gounesco.com/badi-masjid-sonipat/

https://bagichablog.com/2017/08/25/durga-mandirjuma-masjid/

https://www.nativeplanet.com/sonipat/attractions/khwaja-khizr-tomb/#overview

Remembering Jallianwala Bagh on its Centenary

"When brother spills the blood of his brother and exults in his sin...when he tries to keep the bloodstains fresh on the soil as a memorial of his anger, then God in shame conceals it under his green grass and the sweet purity of his flowers." (Tagore, 1920)

The Jallianwala Bagh (wikipedia)

It has been 100 years. 87600 hours. 36500 days.  10 decades. One hundred years.  In that space of time, India has been governed by 4 monarchs of the British crown (not to mention the hundreds of Princely states with their own rulers),  21 Prime Ministers, 7 British and 14 Indian(15 depending on your count) and experienced multiple social, political, and economic upheavals; been split into multiple states;undergone revolutions of many kinds;and achieved independence; but the event that occurred a century ago was one that occurred within the framework of another movement, but shook the nation by the inhumane injustice it displayed; and it was not forgotten.

In 1914, a new leader entered the political field, M K Gandhi. This lawyer from South Africa began conducting a new type of resistance to British rule, Satyagraha, across the country that left an impact on the leadership. The British brought in the Rowlatt Act in 1919, that extended wartime measures. Protesting this blatant breach of an individuals rights, Gandhi organised a Satyagraha, the Anti-Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Indians supported it. Two men were deported in the ensuing Satyagraha. To protest this, a meeting was held, (though there was a rule on against public meetings). In Amritsar. In the Jallianwala Bagh.

We all know what happens next. Dyer. Jallianwala Bagh. The peaceful public meeting. The tanks. The firing on innocent human beings. And in the end, bodies everywhere.

An issue of Young India, published in 1924, but on the events of 1919-22. describes the Jallianwala Bagh, from a letter written by Gandhi to 'Navjivan', which paints a very clear picture of what it looked like then:
"The name Jallianwala Bagh is a misnomer. 'Jallian' is a surname, and the original owner of the place was a 'Jallian'. The 'Bagh' is today the joint property of about 40 partners. It is not a 'Bagh' or garden but a dunghill. It is hemmed in on all sides by the back walls of houses and people have made it a convenient place to throw house-refuse in from back window's. It is an open space with three trees and a tomb, and is accessible by a narrow lane. General Dyer used this lane to approach the Bagh. The people who were attending the meeting in the Bagh on the 13th April were thus penned up, and had no way of escape except at three or four places by jumping walls. Thousands escaped with their lives by jumping the walls on that fateful day. "
There are bulletholes that can still be seen on those back walls a century later.

The immediate result in Amritsar was that a curfew was brought in, and repressive measures put in place. Martial law was in place from April 15 to June 9 in Punjab. The nation was abuzz with news of the tragedy.
 There were around 20000 people in the Bagh, and "fifty soldiers fired 1600 rounds in 10 minutes". Dyer admits to this.
International media, especially in England, widely reported the incident. However, peoples reactions were mixed.
There was a trial with 4 British men and 4 Indians, headed by a Lord Hunter, which found him guilty. He was sent home and denied pension. Yet some in the House of Lords and many in the House of Commons approved his actions, and he was presented with a purse of 20000 pounds in England, and a sword, inscribed with 'saviour of the Punjab'.
When Gandhi visited the Punjab in October, the Governor accused him of being the cause of Aprils massacre!

The week of the massacre the following year was observed as National week, falling at the time of the Khilafat movement.


In the Young India Issue of August 1920, a meeting in Britain of the Labour party is reported, favouring the freedom struggles in South-East Asia.They condemned the actions in the Punjab and passed a motion to that effect.
Tagore in the same issue calls the massacre "a monstrous progeny of a monstrous wave which for four years had been defiling Gods world with fire and poison, physical and moral" and refers to these "orgies of triumphant powers" , but in the end, he implores people not to retaliate with violence.(Tagore was a strong critic of the massacre, having given up his knighthood in May 1919 in protest.)
In November 1920, they attempted to buy the Bagh, for the nation, at the cost of 5,36,000 in 6 instalments as a memorial. The Jallianwala Bagh National memorial Act was passed in 1951, which made it a national memorial for all.

The important thing about this attack is that it instigated the common Indian against colonial rule. The massacre was one of the most influential reasons for Gandhi to launch the Non-Cooperation movement the following year.

Is there more for us however, at this site? More than the memory of a fateful day? Perhaps, it tells us to remember, that sometimes, though we may face terrible circumstances, rulers who oppress, who deal lightly with massacres, not giving it the importance it needs, diverting blame, in the end we must remember, we have the power, collectively.

 The British government has been requested time and again to provide an apology for the incident. Today it has been one hundred years, but last week, the British PM, Theresa May, did say she "Deeply regret it".  But after so much time and begging is an apology now going to mean anything?

"To err is human and it must be held equally human to forgive....if we...would like...to be forgiven than punished. Nor does this mean that we may not ask for General Dyers dismissal. A lunatic cannot be kept in a position from which he can do harm to his neighbors"
MK Gandhi, 1920, Young India.