Roha-Sumri!
The name itself is very
evocative I thought, even as I was being driven to that hamlet one October
morning in 2018, 44 kms south of Bhuj, Kachchh; the plan was a simple, three-day
stay at Jeevan Sandhya, one of the oldest ashrams for the senior citizens and
inter-action with them. I came across a
small booklet at the ashram, a compilation of articles in Gujarati.
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| Jeevan Sandhya Ashram |
As I read through, I
realized the opportunity for doing some of my own research; with an air of expectancy,
the ‘simple plan’ turned into a busy schedule!
Centuries back, Roha was a jagir, comprising 51 Roha-hamlets, the best being Roha-Sumri; Sursinhji Gohil was the jagirdar, the Raja of Roha and the district prospered so well under his benign rule. The booklet revealed a land of utmost beauty - both natural and geographic - that must have existed those days. The sparsely populated Roha-Sumri nestles in a depression among surrounding hills, the highest having a table top that became a site for a huge palace for the royalty, with a nearly 5 km fort on either side.
Today, this hill with its historic fort serves as a stunning backdrop to Jeevan Sandhya ashram, established in 1955 by a visionary and renovated in 2000.
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| The Fort on the hill with the Ruins of the Palace |
The Present
Interactions
with ashramites who came from all strata of society, sharing meals with them,
and of course, the prayer sessions were revealing. Some vented their
frustrations with family members; others talked of earthquake, of loosing
entire families, them being left alone. One gentleman was into speculating the share market and lost his
millions to his brothers who kicked him out!
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| Sumri: Morning Dew |
Every morning and evening, we strolled through the dusty, narrow lanes and
by-lanes of Roha-Sumri. One observes a
scattering of untouched ruins of once-beautiful small buildings done in by the
earthquake, their surviving inhabitants having migrated elsewhere, many to
Mumbai; a sudden appearance of an empty house here or a carved dome there, or a
well preserved front porch of a long-abandoned dharmashala, speaks volumes of the heritage value of the
architecture and design elements of those glory days.
The
hamlet offers peace and tranquility 24x7 with hardly any vehicular traffic;
the appx. 1200 people of mixed communities look after fields or run small
businesses. The open spaces house the cattle. There
are several temples and large groups of peacocks strutting about leisurely,
their number probably more than the humans!
At least three migrant
families, two of them being the Vyas and Sachde families have later re-grouped
in Mumbai and established temples of their kuldevis
or family deities and kshetrapals on
their devastated lands at Roha-Sumri, complete with modern-day holiday
facilities housed within the huge bungalows.
The area abounds in dry scrub land forest and wildlife including deer, civet cats, hares, snakes and
mongooses; at least three leopards are known to inhabit the hills; occasionally,
I am told that they visit the hamlet to drink water from the avadas or make a killing of a cow!
Back to the Past – The Palace
The
Raja jagirdar Sursinh Gohil
commissioned hundreds of shilpis (artisans)
to begin building of the Palace and a Fort atop the hill. The Palace included a
huge Durbar Hall, the Queen’s quarters, the jharokhhas
(balconies) and separate quarters for servants, stables, a separate building
for mehfils and a huge water tank - just
to name a few elements. Remnants of the
delicate filigree work and carvings with exquisite design exist even today but
amidst the ruins; apparently, the quake of 2001 has not caused any further
visible damage.
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| For the mehfils.... |
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| ..a peep through its window reveals a series of arches |
As
a result, it’s not all rubble. A one hour walk cum climb to the Palace and a
walk-through the ruins leaves one awe-struck. The evidence of all structures is
recognizable – the huge nakas or
gates, the balconies, walls, rooms, water tank etc. are still visible.
One wonders: If the ruins could be so beautiful, how magnificent must be the Palace itself?
One wonders: If the ruins could be so beautiful, how magnificent must be the Palace itself?
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| The Storage Tank for water |
Romance in the Air
Sursinh Gohil married his
daughter Princess Rajba to a refined, intelligent gentleman from outside
Kachchh; he also gave in gift, a maid (dasi)
named Monghi to the Princess so that she could be cared for at her new home;
the just-married gentleman fell head over hills for Monghi and thus started a
life of secret, unspoken love in those days of social taboos and reputation. To
give vent to his feelings and pain arising out of unfulfilled love, the
gentleman started writing exquisite poems and love songs, often from the
balconies in the palace; the said gentleman transformed and Kavi Kalapi was
born!
In his poetic outpouring of
love, Princess Rajba became ‘Ramaba’, and the other angle of the love triangle,
the beautiful Monghi, transformed into ‘Shobhna’. Who lost and who gained
thereby? In an ironical twist to the tale, the Gujarati literature today stands
enriched by Kavi Kalapi’s poetries.
Essence of Roha-Sumri as an Entity
With
such a myriad of facets of history, beauty and the heritage value experienced
at Roha-Sumri, how should one summarize the range of emotions so inflicted?
What
really is ‘Roha-Sumri’? The answers could be more confounding than the question
itself.
Is it just a district of 51
hamlets ravaged by Time? An area further devastated by the recent earthquake?
Or, is it the re-establishment
of destroyed landed properties by three now-prosperous families as large and beautiful
family temples, fully equipped as holiday homes for their progeny?
Or should one perceive it as a
period when it was a royalty with all its glory of nature, wildlife and heady
economic boom?
Or perhaps, as a period when
there was palace intrigue of silent, unspeakable but heady romance between the
three protagonists that led to outpouring of unrequited love through some of
the best Gujarati poetries and the birth of a genius, Poet Kalapi?
Was it a period of a
renaissance for Gujarati literature brought about accidentally by fate? Whatever
it was or is, one thing is certain. Kalapi’s yearning for unfulfilled love
turned out to be a gain for Gujarati literature!
An informed visitor is sure to
experience and even feel a strange, heady concoction of all facets of
Roha-Sumri – love poems, architectural heritage, ruins of built infrastructure
and human lives ruined!
From its high perch, the magnificent ramparts of the once-palace, continues to be a mute witness to centuries of history and happenings in Roha-Sumri, even as Jeevan Sandhya ashram in its lap gives hope to those in the evening of human life!
A couplet or two about Waqt, Time, by late Sahir Ludhianvi would probably serve as an apt conclusion to this piece – at least I sincerely hope so!
waqt se din aur
raat, waqt se kal aur aaj
waqt ki har shai
gulaam, waqt kaa har shai pe raaj
waqt ki paaband
hai, aati jaati raunake
waqt hai phulon
ki sej, waqt hai kaanto kaa taaj
aadami ko
chaahiye, waqt se dar kar rahe
kaun jaane kis
ghadi, waqt kaa badale mizaaj.
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| The Author at the Site |
