BOAT PUSHERS AND RIVER OF BLOOD

BOAT PUSHERS AND RIVER OF BLOOD

BY WARVET

 ‘Eden Garden claimed as a Waqf Property’ sceamed the headlines of a National Daily! The iconic cricket stadium of Calcutta, that Mecca of Indian Cricket immediately took me on a nostalgic trip of all those nail biting matches we enjoyed in our childhood. It seemed insane. This claiming spree in vogue currently. I always thought the stadium was named thus as it must have appeared as the proverbial ‘Garden of Eden’ to the one who had christened it. However as I delved deeper in its history later to my utter suurprise, I found it was named after George Eden - the owner of the property that was his house once upon a time. George Eden or Lord Auckland who was the Governor General of India (1836-1842) and is imortalised in my Shimla due to ‘Auckland House’ - the prestigious school.

 The etymology of the names of places is an interesting subject. In my vocation, I have stayed in a large number of places in India. All our places are interesting to the extreme - what with their varied history, geography, geology, unique people, rich customs and traditions, flora and Fauna. I always start exploring the place by first delving deep in its Name.

 Meerut, where I spent most of my time derives its name from ‘Maya rashtra’ - The Kingdom of Maya - Father of Mandodri and thus Father in Law of none other Than Ravan! People remember their ‘Damaad No 1’ proudly and the most interesting memorial I found for him though weird are ‘Ravan ke Gilaas’ - hidden deep in the old city. Actually those are 2 huge iron tanks that were installed by British when they brought drinking water from Upper Ganga Canal to the city.

 

Bikaner was named after Rao Bika, the founder, exotic sounding Darjling derived from ‘Dorje + Ling’ or ‘Thunder Bolt + Land’ in Tibetan, Jammu is named after Raja Jambu Lochan who founded the city in 14^th century CE!

Srinagar takes you back to the Hindu origin of Kashmir and means ‘City of Wealth’. Down south Anantnag is called ‘Islamabad’ by locals sometimes. It offended me deeply as an affront to Indian sensibilities. Till I brought it up with the ‘Wizard’ who clarified that this Islamabad was far older than the one across the LOC!  It was founded by Islam Khan, the then Afghan ruler of Kashmir. Later the Dogras changed it to Anantnag after the holy spring (Nag) in the location. Towards the North is Baramulla - I thought it was named after 12 Mullahs. However, ‘Wizard’ told me it came from ‘Varmul’ or ‘Varah + Mula’ or ‘ Wild Boar' + 'Root/origin' and refers to mythological parable of Lord Vishnu taking the form of wild boar who struck the hill at the location making way for the water of huge lake ‘Satisar’ to drain and leave behind the beautiful Kashmir valley for inhabitation by the humans! You find large No of commercial enterprises belonging to Kashmiri muslims by name of ‘Varmul’ in the town! 

I lived close to now infamous and still the most coveted area of Srinagar - “Gupkar Road’. I wondered for a long time  what it meant till at the very beautiful Jyeshtha Mata Mandir, in the lap of Zabarwan ranges I read the history of the temple. During the ‘Sagar Manthan’ when ‘Amrit’ was extracted, the pitcher containing the elixir was hidden by the Devtas in a secret cave ( Gupt Gaar)  in that location and thus the corrupted name today! Isn’t it interesting!! Bizarre sounding ‘Half Chinar’ Locality in Srinagar is actually Hatf (7) Chinars!!!

 While in Chennai (Madras) I used to cross a street called ‘Wall Tax Road’ on my way to work. It was one of the most bizarre name I had come across! Till one day I discovered there was a wall erected there by British East India Company in 18^th century to protect the city from punishing raids of Haider Ali. They raised the money for wall by taxing the locals. Now there’s hardly any remnant of that improtant bulwark but the road that came up in place of wall is called ‘Wall Tax Road’! 

Tezpur - that crucible of Assamese culture and talent - goes back to ‘Dwapar era’. Its believed that Grandson of Lord Krishn, Anirudh was here on a hunt and fell in love at first sight with Usha - the daughter of Banasur - who ruled that area. Banasur imprisoned Usha in Agnigarh -  a fort surrounded by a moat of fire (Agnigarh still exists as a park hillock). Lord Krishn doted on his grandson and could not bear his lamentations - He waged war on Banasur. A fierce battle ensued on banks of mighty Brahmaputra. It was a carnage on both sides and so much blood flowed into the river that it turned red with blood (Tez in Assamese)!

 

Hisar in Haryana - that desert town adjoining Rajasthan got its name from ‘ Hisar Firoza’ or Fort of Feroze Shah Tughlaq. Hisar in Persian means Fort ( Bala Hisar of Kabul ?!!!)

Closer home, Shimla is full of places with interesting, exotic and  mispronounced or corrupted names. ‘Shimla or Simla’ itself derives name from ‘Shyamala Devi’. ‘Smitri’ a locality in Dhalli, was actually ‘Cemetry’ - There's ‘Ghoda Chowky’ which was a tonga stand, ‘Tolland’ may have been ‘Toll End’, ‘Kasumpti’  may have been ‘Kusum Patti’ - with blooming wild flowers instead of the hideous concrete structures now. ‘Takka Bench’ on top of ‘The Ridge’ or the spur was a spot with birds eye view of the ridge. There was a bench there during the Raj and to sit on it you paid a Takka!

 From this bench you can see the 'Scandal Point'. "The' Scandal comprised of the dashing young Maharaja of Patiala scooping up the 16 year old daughter of the bada laat or viceroy's daughter  from his galloping steed and escaping to his principality. From here to 'Little Shimla' (Chhotta Shimla) - called such as it housed the smaller secretariat - The one of Punjab Government - You cross the gully called 'Khyber Pass' touching 'Oak Over' the Maharaja Patiala's abode, now - CM Residence.  ‘Kandaghat’ on way to Shimla is called so because during Raj, there was a weigh Bridge (Kanda) here for weighing the wooden logs on way to timber markets in plains. There's a place called ‘Wakna Ghat’ close by. I wonder if its called so because ‘The Sahib ‘ who stayed there used to take long ‘Walks’ everyday! Further down, is Dagshai which originally was Daag Shahi meaning - 'Branding Royal'. The cruel Nawab of that place used to brand the prisoners with red hot iron! 

There used to be a little obscure Cantt 10 km from Palampur called Alilaal. Later I realised it was 'Al Hilal' or persian for 'The Moon' named such by a Nawab who had made a mansion there for vacations. The mansion was later bought by Maharaja Hari Singh who named it as 'Tara Garh' after his wife Maharani Taradevi who belonged to Kangra District and stayed there during her later years.

Few months back, I had a free Sunday in Delhi and decided to visit the Haveli in Chandni Chowk area where ‘The Bard of the East’ Mirza Ghalib spent his last days in penury. It was my visit to the area after 20 - 25 years. As I emerged from the Metro station, I walked past the Gurudwara into the main street that was cleaner, less congested, less polluted. It was sans the infamous overhead jungles of electric cables. The footpaths were done in sandstone with decorative cast iron lamp stands and dividers were also beautiful. A Gypsy girl was performing stunts on the rope, a quack was cleaning the ear of a locan baniya sitting on a stool on footpath, and the salesmen cajoled you to enter their shops. I went past the famed ‘Ghantewala Sweets’ and came in front of the colonial Townhall. A Life size statue of Swami Shradhanand - The Shuddhi Movement wala Freedom Fighter looked at me. The Gentleman was killed by a religious fanatic. Now the pigeons were making use of his stautue to relax in the winter sun. I reached a street named - ‘Ballimaran’. 

What a strange name! I thought.. I could not decide whether it was Hindi or Urdu or English! Anyway I turned into the gully that had a ‘Mohabbat ka Sharbat’ shop beyond which the world changed into a land of overhead jungle of electric cables, and skull caps. The shops and people were all muslims and it looked like I had entered the original Shahjaehanabad. After exploring the humble dwellings that were endured by our beloved Mirza saheb in his last days, when there were no takers or Royal patrons for his esoteric poetry, I dwelled for a long time on the name - ‘Ballimaran’. Thanks to Google, one day I found its origins in the original inhabitants of that area. It was during Tughlaq era when a shallow canal was there. The boatmen didn’t need to use oars and they pushed the boats ahead with bamboo poles (Balli). So they came to be known as ‘Balli Maran’ and the area got the Name!!!