ANGLO SANSKRIT HIGH SCHOOL EMINABAD (2020)

  32° 2'31.94"N 74°15'44.33"E

Date of Visit:- 23 August 2020

YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION 1908 

Anglo Sanskrit High School Eminabad was built by Diwan Amarnath foreign minister of Kashmir in 1908.

Dewan Amarnath family was well known all over northern India because of the close connection of many of its members with the Jammu and Kashmir State for years. From the commencement of Maharaja Gulab Singh's reign until the death of Diwan Amar Nath in 1917, they practically monopolized the office of Diwan of Prime Minister and thus incurred responsibility for much of the good or evil repute attached to the rule of the Dogras in Kashmir.

A Samadhi or Tomb present in Tapiala Dost Muhammad Khan (2019)

 (All pictures and research belong to the author and should only be used after written permission)

Date of  visit:- 09 November 2019

Front view of Tomb

Tapiala Dost Muhammad Khan is a small town located 11.7 km on Muridka-Narang Mandi Road. In ancient times Grand Trunk Road passes through this town. I also found some remains of the old Grand Trunk in Tapiala. 

Remain of Old of GT Road Road 

 

GT Road from Tapiala (mausoleum) made the onward journey to Pul Shah Daula with an ancient bridge on Nullah Degh. 

 

There is an old, isolated mausoleum standing in an ancient graveyard of Tapiala Dost Muhammad Khan. Long ago, I read about this mausoleum in a book, "The Silk Roads Highway of Culture and Commerce" by Vadim Elisseeff. But not much written about its history. In the Urdu language, 'Tapi' means tree and the meaning of 'Tapiala' could be derived as' the town full of trees. 

 

The second question that came to mind was that who was Dost Muhammad Khan. 

In history, the most prominent personality by this name was of Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 – June 9, 1863). HE was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he became Emir of Afghanistan from 1823 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. An ethnic Pashtun. However, the present tomb is not related to him as the Afghan king died in Afghanistan and has a burial tomb present in Herat. 

 

Meanwhile, we met an elderly guy from Tapiala. He was aware of the history of this place. He shared that Dost Muhammad Khan was a local chief appointed by Mughal Darbar.

 

The tomb's outer facade was plastered recently with cement. It has a double-dome roof, that is present almost in all Mughal mausoleum in the sub-continent.

Inside there were three graves present.

Three Graves

The most interesting thing found in this tomb was fresco paintings on the walls and roof.  One more thing which I noticed inside that there were no Islamic inscriptions are written on the tomb. That is one of the common elements seen in the Islamic architecture of tombs. I also observed that some portion of the paintings were erased and redrawn. The object is redrawn and added later with different types of fruit shapes.

Fruit Painting

Fruit Painting

 

After the decline of Mughals in Punjab, Sikh’s were the main ruler and Tapiala Dost Muhammad khan lies in the area where Sikhs have dominancy.

 

There is a possibility that the current structure might be converted into some Sikh samadhi for some period. Locals also told that in past it is also used for storing crops and excavated many times by treasure hunters. The graves which I found inside were not that old some local saint after pre-partition was buried there along with his family members.

 

The fresco paintings found inside are in very bad condition and can be erased if proper care not done. Hope the concerned department does some needful action before this site disappears completely.

Fresco Painting (image 1)

Fresco Painting (image 2)

Fresco Painting (image 3)

Who were Minas? and a remnants of Sikh Bardari Standing at Heir Village

04-04-2019

Minas is title given to Baba Prithi Chand, elder sons of Guru Ram Das; and his followers Mina emerged as major sect which ran in parallel to 6th Sikh Guru and had their own Guru lineage unto 3 successions after Guru Arjan Dev. The sect was excommunicated from mainstream Sikh community.

The title Mina means a deceitful hypocrite. The title was given by Guru Ram Das to Baba Prithi Chand; because he refused to accept his father decision of choosing Guru Arjan Dev his next successor. Guru Ram Das said Gursikhs not to associate with him. Minas remain hostile and hatched conspiracies against Guru Arjan Dev and played important role in martyrdom of Guru Arjan. They also tried to plan murder of Guru Har Gobind but failed to do so. After death of Guru Arjan, Prithi Chand declared himself sixth Guru parallel to Guru Hargobind.

Minas did not believe in authority of last five Gurus and have their own lineage. Following are Gurus common to mainstream Sikhs and Minas belief:

1.    Guru Nanak

2.    Guru Angad

3.    Guru Amardas

4.    Guru Ramdas

5.    Guru Arjan  After fifth Guru, Minas believe in following three Gurus:

6.    Guru Prithi Chand Mina

7.    Guru Meharvan Mina

8.    Guru Harji Mina

Minas have contributed literary but as outcast from Sikh religion the literature have no importance in Sikh Religion. Prithi Chand had written a Basant Ki Vaar under title Mahalla 6. Prithi Chand dies in 1618 and Mehrvan(b 1581) became his successor. He had done literatry work including Janamsakhis, Sukhmani Sahasranama etc. He was succeeded by Harji Mina. Harji had control of Golden Temple in his hand. He had written Goshti Guru Miharvaan. Hariji died in 1696 and no further lineage is noted in history.

Mina Gurus didn't get much support or fame in 17th-18th century due to which Mina literature got faded away. With advent of time, Minas get merged into mainstream Sikhism and no separate sect existed as of now.

After declaration of Guru Arjan Dev as fifth Sikh Guru, Prithi Chand started to live in a village called Hair in Lahore. This village is located few kilometers from Dera Chahal. He established a Gurdwara there in competition to challenge the power of Harmandir Sahib.

Mughal Emperor Jhangir executed Guru Arjan Dev g in 1606, there were conjectures that it was done by influence of Prithi Chand.

At present in Heir village, a desolated pre-partition edifice still standing, locals called it ‘Baradari’. Nanak Shahi brick used in its construction, however the original wooden roof fallen years back, supportive column of reinforced brick also added which were not part of original construction. It was used as bethak (common room) by Sikh community living in past.

Chathian wala, the town in Pakistan, where once Gulabdasi Sect used to Live

27-03-2019
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Text Wikipedia.

Chathian Wala is a town and Union Council of Kasur District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Kasur Tehsil and is located at 31°18'0N 74°31'0E.

Before partition of Sub-continent, the town has rich population of Sikhs living in it. One of the famous personalities of Chathian wala remembered in history was Gulab Das. Das was a Sikh Jat who founded the Gulabdasi sect. The sect was based on Hindu–Sikh asceticism,. Although the Gulabdasis were neither Hindu nor Sikh, following the Partition of India, they were expelled from Chathian Wala by the now Muslim-majority populace in Pakistan. The sect subsequently fled to India where they settled in Haryana

Piro Preman (1832–1872) was the first female Punjabi poet. Little is known about Piro's life. She is believed to have been sold into prostitution in Heera Mandi, the red-light district of Lahore. She escaped Heera Mandi and went on to become a devotee of Gulab Das at the Gulabdasi Dera in Chathian Wala (in present-day Pakistan

Most of the information about Piro comes from her own autobiographical verses, the Ik Sau Sath Kafian or the "One Hundred and Sixty Kafis (160 Kafis)", written in the mid-nineteenth century. In 160 Kafis, Piro describes a series of events in her life after she began living with Gulab Das in Chathian Wala.

Piro and Gulab Das shared an intimate relationship despite social and religious pressures. The two were interred together at a tomb in Chathian Wala. The remnant of this Samadhi like tombs still exists in Chathian Wala. There was one another story that Piro is poisoned and Gulab Dass also committed suicide by taking the same poisonous milk.

 

Samdahi's  in Chatian wala

The Inside View of Samadhi

The Inside View of Samadhi

The Inside View of Samadhi

The Inside View of Samadhi

Another view of disorted Samadhi

Inside View of Samadhi

Inside View of Samadhi

Giani Ditt Singh (ca. 1850–1901) was a historian, scholar, poet, editor and an eminent Singh Sabha reformer.^]Singh wrote over 70 books on Sikhism, the most famous of which is Khalsa Akhbar. His Dayanand naal mera Samvaad and Durga Parbodh are considered major texts of Sikh philosophy.

There is little information regarding the early life of Singh, despite a resurgence of interest in him caused by the desire of some people to recast his life as that of a dalit hero. Anshu Malhotra has argued that such a recasting says more about the motives of the present-day researchers than it does about the effects of social status on Singh himself.

While Singh's date of birth is generally recognised as being 21 April, the year is variously stated as 1850, 1852 and 1853. He father, Diwan Singh, was a weaver whose knowledge of the Nyaya and Vedanta religious philosophies was passed on to his son. The family origins lay in the Chamar caste of leatherworkers, from which they had moved to self-identify as members of the relatively ritually clean Ravidasi weaving community, described by Malhotra as an "upwardly mobile section of the Chamar community".

After initial schooling given by his father, Singh was sent at the age of 8 or 9 to be taught by Gurbakhsh Singh and Lala Dayanand in the village of Tiur, Ambala district. There he studied Gurumukhi, Urdu and Persian, as well as prosody, Niti Shastra and Vedanta, until aged around 16. Gurbakhsh Singh was an adherent of the Gulabdasi sect and his pupil's next move was to the Gulabdasi centre at Chathian Wala, near Lahore.

Formally initiated into the sect of Sant Desa Singh, he became a Gulabdasi preacher. Not long afterwards, he came under the influence of Bhai Jawahar Singh, formerly a follower of Gulabdasi sect, who had joined the Arya Samaj

Singh wrote prolifically, producing both prose and verse. He wrote books and pamphlets on Sikh theology and history and on current polemics.

Well-known among his works are:

·        Guru Nanak Prabodh

·        Guru Arjan Chariltar

·        Dambh Bidaran

·        Durga Prabodh

·        Panth Prabodh

·        Raj Prabodh

·        Mera ate Sadhu Dayanand da Sambad

·        Naqh Siah Prabodh

·        Panth Sudhar Binai Pattar

·        Abla Naari

He also published accounts of the martyrdoms of Tara Singh of Van, Subeg Singh, Matab Singh Mirankotia, Taru Singh and Bota Singh.

House of Giani Ditt Singh Still exists in Chathian wala, but most of the portion of this building has fallen with passage of time.

 

The Vicinity in which Giani Ditt Singh used to live

                             

Escap Tunnel 

Another Old Pre-Partition Sikh Haveli