Historic Site: Fansi Tungri, Pahari Baba Mandir.
Kumhari Toli, Ranchi, Jharkhand.
Well within the bustling city of Ranchi, there stands a gently sloping hill with a winding fleet of stairs that start from almost the edge of a modern concrete road and meander at their own pace, up and along the curves of the hill, till they reach a white squat building that shelters from the sun and the rain, an old Lingam of the Hindu god Shiva that is said to have been around since even before the city was born.
Each day as dawn comes, residents from near and far, some bare of feet and panting for breath, make their way up these stairs to pay humble obeisance or to ask for boons from the deity – affectionately referred to as the Pahari Baba, the divine ascetic of the hill.
During Shivaratri – a major Indian festival celebrated in honour of Shiva – the place teems with devotees, and it would not be wrong to imagine women of marriageable age waiting patiently in queues, to pour cups of milk and water over the Lingam, so as to be blessed with husbands as strong and loving as the god himself (see Farbound.Net snippet: Tears of Shiva).
Or of snake charmers, holy men and ascetics with matted locks mingling with the crowd to seek alms and offer blessings in return. Next to priests clad in saffron or white shuffling about breathlessly between prayers and handing out blessed edibles.
Fansi Tungri, Hill of Hanging.
In the mid-1800s, however, if a native-born was going up this hill, it very likely would not have been to ask Shiva for his blessings but in shackles and chains, pushed and shoved by armed guards to where stood a hangman with a noose in hand. Known in the local dialect as Fansi Tungri – the hill where people are hanged, the top of this hill was where criminals and prisoners of war were swiftly executed.
During the mutiny of 1857 and its aftermath, the men executed here were those who had participated in the great Indian rebellion – a much discussed and publicised political upheaval to have occurred in the British empire.
The Hill of Hanging: A Farbound.Net Wallpaper.
If the Lingam was around then as the locals will let you know with absolute surety, the captives, particularly the Hindus among them, may have possibly paid their last respects there before being dispatched to the afterlife. In that era, there was neither the white squat temple that one finds today nor the stairs leading up to it, and the earthen hill had overlooked a countryside, uncluttered by houses and buildings.
Once the property of the Raja of Palkot.
In fact, the hill was then the personal property of the Raja of Palkot, an ally of the British, and to be found some distance away from the British town of Ranchi. Only in 1908, was it granted to the Ranchi municipality to be developed as a recreational park with a set of lodges for stay, and later became a religious destination. The spot where the executions took place, now lies silent and forgotten, obscured by thick vegetation and a mixed variety of trees.
In its place stands a 293-foot flagpole that flutters the tricolours, with its base rooted close to the temple. The flagpole stands in commemoration of those executed during the rebellion and to honour them as freedom fighters. A political and national point of view India inherited from V.D. Savarkar and his book, India’s First War of Independence – that reinterpreted the mutiny of 1857 as a war for independence.
The temple is open on all days and can be visited throughout the year.
