My trip to Mandala, MP

Mandala, MP
The old name of Mandala (Madhya Pradesh) was Mahishmati Nagar before 1500AD.It is situated at the bank of holy river Narmada. On observing the ruins of the buildings of Mandala region, it appears this place must be one of the prosperous and religious cities of India. Number of old temples and palaces tells their past on their own.

Private buses are available for Mandala within an interval of every 10 minutes from Right Town Bus Stand, Jabalpur and the bus takes about 3 hours from here to Mandala. On the way, there is a famous temple of Sharda Devi ( Saraswati) in the village Barela, and Rani Durgawati Smarak near the Gour river. In the nearby forest the outdated arms and ammunitions are being destroyed by our Army time to time.There are several tributaries of Narmada fallen from Vargi dam are flowing in the villages of this region. The span of Vergi Dam is up to Mandala. The other main spots on the way are Tikariya and Narayanganj where bus halts for few minutes.

On reaching Mandala Bus station, I took Riksha and reached Sahabhuj Fort. Only one main circular Hall of around 10 meters diameter has been repaired. The office of Archeological Survey of India, in Mandala is in these ruins with a staff of a caretaker and his subordinate. Like in other government offices nowadays, the trend of employing D-group on contractual basis is very common in ASI also. As per my perception this contractual employment is not making them to be responsible for their duty as they do not feel security of job so they keep themselves busy in their supportive job with precautionary motives.

Satkhanda(seven story building) is just near to Sahabhuj palace. However, now, there are three floors only. The ground floor is not in good condition and its maintenance is unsatisfactory and its surroundings are dirtiest.

At as walking distance from here there is old Vyas temple and Sheetla Mata temple. The idols of God and Goddess  in these temples are of Archeological importance. Viz.:

In Mandala there are number of Ghats.The most famous Ghats are Rapta and Sahastra Dhara. The Sahastra Dhara Ghat is being developed by Department of Archaeology, of MP Government. Here is an old temple which has been renovated well. On the other side of the bank of the river the view is more pictorial. Number  of falls from the bank falling into the river Narmada makes the view beautiful. However, on completion of the development program in hand of the state govt., we hope the view would be more attractive.

On observing the river bed, it appears that a layer of slab of hills has been placed on the muddy base. Here I felt as I was walking on the surface of the moon. It was difficult to walk on it because of the pointed stones.

 Ramnagar-Chaugan,is  at a distance about 20 Kms. from Mandala city. The Rani Mahel and Dal Badal Mahel at a distance of four Kms. are worth to visit. However the road is in a bad condition.

The palace of the Diwan of the Gond King Hradaya Shah known as  Rai Bhagat Ki Kothi at Mandala –Dindori road is in a huge campus.

These forts spell it selves the glory of their own times.

It is a matter of giving attention why tourists visit is so poor to these places. As per my experience the main hurdle is the lack of good means of approachable transport to these sights and bad conditions of roads.

V.N.Sondhi

Massage to youth

I write my views/thought after giving enough time to think over it and forces me to write then I do it and send to the right corner with expecting 50% probability of taking right action by the person sitting there is of right attitude. In case he is indifferent and/or corrupt (misuse his power), the action would not be taken and the matter would go to the dustbin. This 50% probability does not discourage in case the things are not materialize as ought to be and does not stop to your sensitive personality to work further. I am very confident in this regard as I achieved so many positive responses from very high profile persons in the Govt. with right action on my efforts. However, so many have been ignored but this has not discouraged me .Subject to condition, the fundamental aspect should be very clear that there should not be involvement of personal gain in any form viz. to earn fame and prestige in the society, to get position/power and monetary gain. The day these are involved the original thinking to do something right will lost.

My philosophy is this that  you have power  you must utilize for good cause and in case you do not possess power, utilize your fundamental right of expression in a democratic manner given by our Constitution. Do your duty and be happy as you can speak to your heart and mind that you have played your part up to maximum possible extent and so need not to be heavy in case the right action has not been taken.

So, it is a massage to youths that never stop your duty and utilize your fundamental rights in a democratic manner, given by our Constitution for the betterment of the society and do not discourage yourself in case immediate results are not seen in positive direction. Some other time a right person may take over the charge. Try it further and never develop the attitude HAMARE KARNE SE(LIKHNE SE) KYA HOGA, HUM KOI PRDHAN MANTRI HAIN. You know the right approach is more important than holding a powerful position. It does not mean that one should not try to achieve power; it should be in right hands.

Transformation of Agricultural land and Forest

Kindly share my observation if you can spare some of your valuable time:

At the time of calculating Agricultural produce, we must calculate the Agricultural loss also due to transformation of fertile agricultural land into the concrete jungle of Educational hubs, Commercial complexes and Industrial units. This phenomenon may be seen throughout the country. The main reason is that these agricultural lands have good infrastructure of roads and the land owner are getting attractive price of their land and / or becoming partner of the businessmen in this trade. (This transformation of agricultural land into Educational hubs is not counter balancing in the form of producing Skilled Human Resource as most of them are not giving Quality Education)

On the other hand the scene is different. In the forest area the deforestation is on peak throughout the country which has affected the production of forest products. However agricultural land is increasing in such areas. In the Chambal Ghati the forest on the BIHADS (Hills of mud) are being cut and the BIHADS are being done plane gradually for the use of agricultural production.

In many other parts of the Madhya Pradesh, the scene is more or less same. The trees of CHIRONGI are being invisible. The trees of MAHUAS, SHARIFA (SITAFAL-custard fruit) ,and other tress on which the wild life(birds and animals) was dependent have been cut and they are not getting food and shelter as the migrated people mostly, have done encroachment and made their own huts and the rich have made their resorts. They have done SIKAR of the poor and helpless wild animals. The elite class of the village call SIKARI-Bahelias and give shelter to them and permit to do SIKAR and exchange of it they get benefit out of it. Poor /poor tribal are cutting wood to sell for money as their land gone to others due to one reason or the other. It is another story, you will find KALARY(wine shop)in every village of MP.  I reported about some places to the forest Department of Jabalpur region personally to stop encroachment but they did not bother. We can understand the reason of vested interest of Babus-Businessmen, Politicians and now Aam Admi also.

The solution is to compress South pole (by ELECTORAL REFORM)) and North pole( by REFORMS IN EDUCATION INDUSTRY) of our corruption sphere i.e. to implement efficiently one after the other. However it is not easy. For this we need leaders of creative leaders of the caliber of freedom fighter.

-------------

Kindly,do survey of the villages (eg. from Indrana to Katav Ghat and up to Amoda of Majholi Tahseel, Dist. Jabalpur,Amargarh,Imligarg,Sindursi of Bahurivan Tahseel, Dist. Katni,MP. The encroachment and migration in the forest of this region has destroyed the forest, its beauty and so wild life, and brick Bhatti in Indrana are in progress eating trees as fuel. This is one example. No one is bothering as our system has become like that. What else one can expect in Mafia Raj.I discussed in details with Dr. P.Jalil( Forest Conservation and Research Institute, Badsha Halwai,Jabalpur)he might also be  helpless as the things may not be in his hands.

You may laugh that some social worker plant trees in the streets of Majholi Tahseel but cutting of trees in the forest is not stopped.

In this tribal area of Katav Ghat, only 5% STs are residing and rest of the population migrated time to time after partition. Among these 5% of STs only 2% are original residents and the 3% of STs have also migrated from other tribal areas due to one reason or the other. The agricultural land is mostly in the hand of rich OBCs(viz.Patel,Sahu etc.) and minority community(Musslims in Murkuru village) and some extent in the name of SCs. 

Kakanmath Shiva temple,Dist. Muraina

Kakanmath Shiva temple,Dist. Muraina

Many of the monuments are in the interior of villages in MP. These monuments must be approachable for a common man at its glorious time. Presently I am quoting Vankhandeshwar in Dhanshula, Tarainy and  10 Km. in its south of it (crossing the river Kwari) KAKAN MATH of 11^th century AD in the District of Muraina,Village Sihonia ( in 11th Century it was the capital of Kushwaha kings), MP which I visited on 13th July 2013.

Luckily, Late Prof. Ram Singh Tomar born in Dhanshula  and on account of his emotional touch and for the betterment of the children of the surroundings of his village he established a Vidyapeeth at Vankhandeshwar and reconstructed Vankhandeshwar Temple of 11^th century as well as developed forest in its surroundings. However, no such volunteer emerged for the nearby temple of Shiva the Kakan Math. This monument is surrounded by agricultural land. However the Kakan Math is under the supervision of the Archaeological Survey of India, Gwalior Region, .
On observing the Kakan Math and its broken statues, the heart breaks of any art lover. How much rotten religious learning and mentally sic was Aurangjeb the Mughal emperor? Is it not against the humanity to kill the belief of other religion by force? Anyway it is History and we may take lesson from History to take right decision always to keep its result in our mind. Whatever Auranjeb has done we cannot roll back, however we can protect it up to maximum possible extent. But I became very disappointed to observe the Kakan Math and ruins of its surroundings. This monument needs a special care as it is in delicate stage. The repairing work is stagnant and incomplete. Its surroundings need decoration by the Horticulture wing of the Dept. of Archeology. There is no facility of Public Transport to reach these monuments. However this is a common problem in MP state. The Department of Road Transport was buried long back in this State. The Departments of Archeology and Tourism may study jointly and find out some solution for the tourists.

                                                               Kakanmath Shiva temple

As usual no board has been put by the Department of Archeology, describing the history of this ancient heritage. In the name of care taker an old handicapped man was in the temple. If this huge campus is decorated by horticulture and tries to give its original glory, it is one the most attractive sight for the tourists as well as the religious people. A token ticket should also be imposed on such monuments so that some amount for maintenance could be obtained. ....