This is the personal web space of Pt. Suresh Kaushik. Astrology is his favourite hobby. Many famous astrologers of Chandigarh are his students. He is fond of Horticulture and history. Religion and Spirituality is the main strength of life.
The fort of Ahmadnagar which was the main centre of political activity and the residence of the Nizamshahi Sultans of Ahmadnagar soon became the prison for royal prisoners when the fort passed on to the Moghals.
In 1681-82 Yesubai and her daughter Bhavanibai were imprisoned in the fort of Ahmadnagar. She was released from jail by the efforts of Sambhaji. However, she was again imprisoned in the fort of Ahmadnagar after the capture of Sambhaji and was there till the death of Aurangzeb.
Tulaji Angre was kept behind the bars in the fort by Peshwa Nanasaheb. Similarly, the imposter of Sadashivaraubhau was also locked up in this fort where he later died.
Peshwa's famous nobleman Sakharam Hari Gupte was detained in the fort of Ahmadnagar under the orders of Nana Phadnis. For siding with Raghoba Dada, Chinto Vitthal Rairikar was also imprisoned in the same fort. Morobadada Phadnis, cousin and a rival of Nana Phadnis. was kept in this fort. He opposed the submission of the tort to Daulatrao Shinde. whereupon he was removed from Ahmadnagar to the fort of Ratangad.
Nana Phadnis who was instrumental in imprisoning many Maratha noblemen in this fort was himself locked up in the fort by Daulatrao Shinde. He was brought to the fort by deceit and was immediately imprisoned. He was asked to pay a ransom of two crores in 1798. However, he was released on promise of paying Rs. 10 lakhs and an additional sum of Rs. 15 lakhs on his being restored to the post of Phadnavis. He was released from the Ahmadnagar fort on July 15, 1798.
Two Divans of the Shindes, viz.,Baloba Tatya and Sadashiv Malhar, were imprisoned in the fort where both of them breathed their last. Bhagirathibai Shinde died in the fort on August 15, 1799 while in captivity.
Chhatrapati Shivaji IV of Kolhapur was locked up in the fort of Ahmadnagar. He died in the fort on December 25, 1883 as a result of a kick he received from his bodyguard Mr. Green. At the time of his death there was no one by his side excepting the bodyguard mentioned above and a doctor. The event created a stir in Maharashtra and raised a storm of protest against the British. Ultimately it led to the imprisonment for 101 days for Lokmanya Tilak and Agarkar at the Dongri prison. During the Second World War German prisoners of war were stationed in the fort. They were employed on works of excavation.
During the Quit India Movement of 1942 many of the leaders of the national freedom struggle were kept under confinement in the fort of Ahmadnagar among whom could be mentioned luminaries such as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Barrister Asaf Ali, Dr. Sayyad Mahmud, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant, Acharya Shankar Rav Deo, Shri P. C. Ghosh, Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Acharya Kripalani, Acharya Narendra Deo and Dr. Hare Krishna Mehtab. Though the British Government kept the news of their confinement in the Ahmadnagar fort a closely-guarded secret, it ultimately leaked out. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote his famous work ' Discovery of India ' while in confinement at the Ahmadnagar fort.
During 1942 Quit India Movement, Shri Achyutrav Patwardhan, a great freedom-fighter, a socialist and a social reformer, did under-ground work at Ahmadnagar in a distinguished manner.
Though the fort now is under military command it attracts a large number of tourists as a place of historical interest.
Ahmadnagar was a walled city with 11 gates. Walls around are still seen at some places but in a dilapidated condition and a few gates still exist. In what follows is reproduced an interesting description of these walls and gates as it appears in the old AhmadnagarDistrictGazetteer published in 1884:-
" The city walls built of stone and mud masonry below and white mud masonry above are twelve to thirteen feet high, six feet broad, and about three miles round. The walls were built about 1631 (H. 1042) by Sarjekhan, one of Shah Jahan's (1627-1658) nobles. The city is entered by eleven gates, the Jhenda and the Bava Bangali gates in the east, the Malivada or Railway and Fergusson gates in the south, the Nepti and Nalegaon gates in the west, and the Delhi, Tophkhana, Sarjapur, Mangal and King gates in the north. The Jhenda or flag gate is eleven feet wide by seventeen high.
The wall, which stretches on both sides, forms the wings of the doorway and is built with stones four feet from the ground, and for the remaining eight feet with burnt bricks and mud masonry, pointed with mortar. Inside a stone-stair leads up the wall to the flat top of the gateway to command a view of the ground in front when the gate was shut in times of danger. The Bava Bangali gate, 335 yards south of the Jhenda gate, is eleven feet wide by fourteen feet high. Except for two side bastions of stone below and brick and mud above, it is built like the Jhenda gate.
About 1,035 yards south-west of the Bava Bangali gate, an ornamented structure about 12'6" wide by 19'6" high, is the Fergusson gate built for easy access to the municipal market by the Municipality in 1881 and called after Sir James Fergusson, Bart., K. C. M. G., Governor of Bombay. About 300 yards west of the Fergusson gate is the Malivada gate, eleven and a quarter feet wide by thirteen feet nine inches high, with an open archway somewhat in the Gothic style, built of ashlar masonry. The gate has two strong stone side bastions, each about seventeen feet high. The parapets of the bastions which are about three feet high and are furnished with gun-holes are of burnt bricks and lime. The parapet over the flat part of the archway has openings for guns and is ascended by a stone-stair. The doors are of teakwood, about four inches thick, and like all the other gates have a small window to pass through at night, when the doors are closed from nine to five in the morning. Malivada is the strongest of the eleven Ahmadnagar gates. Close to the west of the doorway let into the wall in the centre of an arched recess specially built for it, an oblong inscribed black marble tablet, surmounted by an antlered stag's head and the Gaelic motto of the regiment, contains an inscription in memory of the officers and men of the 78th Highlanders who fell at the storming of the city on the 8th of August 1803.
To the right or east of the gateway close to the city wall is a plastered tomb (8' X 4' X 4') built in memory of an officer of the First Regiment of Madras Native Infantry who fell on the same occasion. The tomb which is kept in repair by the Public Works Department is enclosed by a wooden railing (14'6" X 8'6" X 7'8"), with square wooden bars fixed at six-inch intervals. The Nepti gate, 894 yards north-west of the Malivada gate, is nine feet wide by seventeen feet high and is much like the Bangali gate. The Nalegaon gate, 363 yards north of the Nepti gate, is nine feet wide by ten feet high, and is much like the Jhenda gate except that it has no bastions. The Delhi gate, 406 yards north-east of the Nalegaon gate, is twelve feet wide by fourteen feet high and has an open archway over the door, as in the Malivada gate. Like the Bangali gate it has two bastions of stone below and mud above. The Tophkhana gate, 359 yards north-east of the Delhi gate, is 10'6" wide by 12'6" high; it is like the Bangali and Nepti gates with bastions. The Sarjapur gate, 572 yards east of the Tophkhana gate, is eleven feet wide by fifteen feet high and is much like the Tophkhana gate. The Mangal gate, 410 yards north-west of the Sarjapur gate and 440 yards east of the Jhenda gate, is 10'6" wide by 14'6" high and is much like the Sarjapur gate. Between the Sarjapur and Mangal gates a small gate, three feet wide and six feet high, has been opened by the municipality for easy access to the municipal beef market. About 132 yards east of the Mangal gate near the Brahman cistern is the King gate about twelve feet wide opened by the Municipality in 1881. This is an old gate said to have been closed after the British occupation of Ahmadnagar (1803) to stop disputes between the people of the city and the privates of the Native Infantry Regiment which was stationed outside and close to this gateway. Besides these eleven two new gateways ten feet square have been opened in the city wall near the mission chapel for the convenience of the American Mission and one for the Collector's bungalow.".
Of the eleven gates, viz.,Jhenda gate, Bava Bangali gate, Fergusson gate, Maliwada gate, Nepti gate, Nalegaon gate, Delhi gate, Tophkhana gate, Sarjapur gate, Mangal gate and King gate only Malivada gate and Delhi gate are still in existence and those have been declared as historical monuments. Other gates have been demolished under the road-widening schemes.
Gram Devta or the god of homestead or the village itself, often called Khera or Kshetrapal and is most important in my village Bakhli. Although it is worshipped on every Sunday yet the Sundays of Savan and Magh Mas have more utilisation. People light a deepak of desi ghee and offer sweet rice(Meethe Chawal) on every Sunday in front of east facing idol. Kacha Doodh(unboiled milk) is very important for pooja. After worship prikrama is so meaningful.
In the month of Savan and Magh after distampering( whitewash) the Kheda a White Flag is hosted on the top of the gumbad of the shrine, Havan and Yajna with Gaytri Mantra and Khada's Mantra for goodness of whole villagers is completed by the heartly devoted villagers. Feed Brahmans and Kanya, then Prajapati- Saand with Cow. This is always done twice a year after the harvests are gathered in and also on other occasions. Villagers enjoy this Bhandara specially.
Gram Devta is also worshipped at marriages. The bridegroom, before proceeding to' the bride's house, takes a Prikrama of his own village and worships the Gram Devta, and again worships the god before he enters his house along with his bride.
When a son is born, the mother of the new born child lights lamps and affixes with cowdung five columns of the panni or Durva grass called bearn alongwith flowers to the shrine. Milk of acow which has calved is first offered as oblation to the Gram Devta to avert anymishappening. Some old experincehand women of the concurned family carry their young babies to the temple of this deity to ensure longevity of life.
The various scripts used in village BAKHLI (ºããŒãÊããè ) of Distt. Kurukshetra are :
Devnagari for Hindi, Sanskrit, Haryanvi and Bangru, Gurmukhi for Panjabi, Persian for Urdu, Roman for English, and Lande( Hindi Munimi) for book keeping(bahi khata).
After the migration of muslims in 1947, the use of Urdu has gradually given place to Hindi by villagers. Use of Urdu is now limited almost nill to the older and new generation, yet is known to Patwaris only.
The displaced persons who settled in the village area after the partition of the India speak Panjabi specially migrated Sikh families( Labana).
In Government offices and educational institutions, Hindi is spoken by the majority.
The younger generation mostly uses Hindi, English and Hinglish in speech and Hindi and English in writing; The business community still more or less uses lande in maintaining their account books.
Pandit Suresh Kumar Kaushik of Bakhli(Pehowa) has keen interest in many Languages. He studied Hindi, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, English, Tamil, Russion, Lande, Panjabi, Rajasthani(Marwari), Marathi and Gujrati.
