Etawah
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ETAWAH
Contents |
The district: an overview
By Dr. Vishwapati Trivedi, IAS
drvtrivedi@gmail.com
General
Etawah District in Uttar Pradesh consisted of four tehsils: Etawah-Bharthana-Bidhuna-Aurayya.
Later Aurayya was carved out as a separate District.
Bordering Agra.
Name
The ancient name of Etawah was Ishtikapuri. There are several evidences of this fact, but one that is very commonly quoted is from “Bhavishya Puran”. Wherein it is quoted in the Chapter 4 that a traveller named Ropan has written this in his memoirs that he came from Jagannathpuri to Ishtikapuri to meet with a Buddhist monk. The other belief is that from Bateshwar (In Agra) to Bhareh (Panchnad) in Etawah the road was called “Isht Path” because there are many temples and maths relating to Lord Shiva, and since Etawah was in this area, it was called Ishtikapuri.
History
It is believed that in the doaba between the River Chambal and Yamuna there lived the famous Bakasur the demon. He was killed by Bhim (one of the Pandava) and thus peace was established in this area. It is also believed that the Pandavas of Mahabharat had conceived their battle strategy in this area. Many believe that the Pandavas spent their fourteen years of forest penance in this area.
During the Muslim rule this area was always a headache for the Rulers. There are many firsts that happened in Etawah during the Independence Struggle in 1857.
Rivers
Etawah is is a district with many small and big rivers. Yamuna, Chambal, Kwari, Sirsa, Senger, Ahnayya, Purha, Arind and Pandu are the known ones.
Yamuna is the biggest River and flows in the North West of Etawah and traverses 120 kilometers through Etawah before going to Kanpur. River Chambal also flows in the area and directly falls in to Yamuna. This, during the monsoons, restricts the flow of Yamuna, which as a result backs up and the spread of water grows from 400 feet wide to almost 1400 feet wide.
The rising water, slow flow deposits silt and the area is known as some of the most fertile banks. According to some literature, the old name of Chambal in this area was Charmanvati.
The area is well drained being a slope, but the water retention has made a many area are infertile and are like moorlands. There is a lot of keekar and bamool trees grow. The attempts at keeping the forests safe from over cutting due to the fact that Bamool was used for tanning the leather and the Chamaar caste population was the largest in Etawah there were plans made by the then Collector in 1888 and named after him as Fisher Forest and its protected area was increased to include the banks of Yamuna and Chambal.
Population
As per the 2011 census, Etawah City population increased by 21% from 2001. From 211460 in 2001 to 256,790 in 2011.
However, the entire Etawah district had a population of 1,581,810 in 2011.
Communities
The largest number according to some estimates/literature is of vv Chamaars and their sub-castes Jatav, Dohre etc. Next are Ahirs (largely Yadavs).
Then come the Brahmins.
There are three types of Brahmins, one is Kanyakubj.
Amongst the Kanyakubj Brahmins there are there are two strains Shatkul and Panchadar. Shatkuls are Katyayan, Kashyap, Shandilya, Sankritya, Upmanyu and Bhardwaj. Kanyakubj Brahmins are rated by their Biswas.
Those with more than 16 biswas are Shatkul Brahmins and below that are called Panchadar Kanyakubj Brahmins. The other Brahmins are Kanojias.
The main sub-caste in this are called Saavarn, and they claim to be descendents of Surjandev who was given 145 villages by King of Delhi Sultanate Gyasuddin and gave him the title of Choudhary and he was thereafter known as Choudhary Surjandev. He was appointed Deewan of Chauhan Raja Sumer Shah. Savarn Brahmins are also fighter class.
Then there are Merha (Dube). They were given the title of Choudhary and some who were in to worship were called Purohits. In 1857 the Choudharies gave full support to the Revolutionaries and Freedom Fighter and in the process lost their Zamindary.
Then there are Sangiha Chaturvedis, who sided with Rao Jaswantrao and defended the area against the Revolutionaries and were given the title of Khairkhwah (Wellwisher), and some of them still have that certificates.
The others are Sanadhya Brahmins. The word Sanadhya means ‘san’ or worship by penance and ‘adhya’ meaning full-of. They have been purified by their penance and high standards of purity in living. They are of two types one are three and a half houseowners and the other are ten house owners. And then there are Gaur Brahmans, Saraswat Brahmans (who were primarily priests for the Khastriyas).
Next major caste present is of Kshatriyas. Amongst them the main are Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi, Rishivanshi and Agnivanshi. Although fourth in numbers they are a powerful class. Main ones write Senger, Chauhan Parihar and Kachuwaha Khstriyas.
The Sayyad Muslims are also proud and very old residents of Etawah and Phaphund area. Shah Zafar was a famous person who was killed in 1556 during the rule of Islam Shah by his commander Hemchandra (later called Hemchandra Vikramaditya).
Zafar was a great friend of Swami Sahajanand ji. Even now, the prasad is first sent to his grave (makbara) and the clothes (chaddar) offering is first sent to the priest of Garuddhwaja Mandir.
Many shia (sayyads) who settled in Etawah went to do high ranking assignments in Hyderabad, Zahrul Hasan became the Chief Secretary of Hyderabad Nawab. His son Dr. Sirajul Hasan who was a LLD degree holder became a high court judge in Hyderabad. Sayyad Ali Hasan became finance minister in Hyderabad. And then became the Prime Minister of Indore. His daughter Tahira Begum was married to Mehdi Yaar Jung who was the Governor of Gujarat.
Due to these connections a number of brahmin and kayastha families relocated to Hyderabad also.
There is a branch of muslims, Punjabi sheikh. They are resident in Katra Sahib Khan in Etawah Town.
Hindi literature and Etawah:
Poet Gang is the oldest remembered poet who was also a Darbari in Akbars court. He was from a village called Iknor and was a Bhatt Brahmin. He was a friend of Rahim Khankhana and wrote several poems in his honor:
“Prabal Prachand Bali Bairam ke Khanlhana…….”
He was a great Govind (Krishna) follower and never aquiesed to falttering Akbar. Once when Akbar asked him to praise him in his poetry, Gang wrote quiet the opposite. Akbar then asked him to be trampled to death by an elephant and his family was rolled to death in a sugarcane crusher.
After the Deen-i-ilahi of Akbar, during the reign of Jehangir and Shahjehan hindu faith was confused. Once Raja Bhagwant Deo of Bhareh (Etawah) went to Benares to meet Goswami Tulsidas. There he expressed his concern and desire to keep a Sanskrit scholar with him. Tulsidas ji recommended Pt. Neelkanth Bhatt. The King immediately sent for him and brought him to his Kingdom. There he wrote Bhagwant Bhaskar.
Hindu Code and Vyavahar Mayukh first written by Neelkanth Bhatt, a Dashast Marathi Brahman in Bhareh, a principality in Etawah. His creation was a guiding principle for the Hindu Code in the Bombay Region wherever there was diversion from Mitakshara. The fact was accepted by the Privy Council. The book was named Bhaskar Bhagwant, after the King Bhagwant Deo. These have been published by the Gujrati Printing Press, Elphinstone Circle, Mumbai.
There were many illustrious personalities in Etawah who promoted Hindi over centuries.
One known person was Pandit Raghunath Prasad Trivedi son of Kamla Prasad Trivedi. Born in 1888 he rose to become the District Judge of Etawah. He used to run a school for the Mehtar community (those who carry excreta on headload) in Katra Shamsher Khan. He later opened a School for Chamaars (lowest caste) in Chandausi. He was famous for first Hindi translation of the judicial forms. He was also known for creating pamphlets to explain the legal points in Hindi, and distribute them widely. He convinced the High Court to carry out many amendments to facilitate the use of Hindi in the Courts. Raghunath Prasad Trivedi never signed his name in English and was known as Ra Pra Trivedi, picking the first letter of his Hindi name and writing in English.
The famous poet Shri Gopaldas ‘Neeraj’ who wrote the famous song “Karwan Guzar Gaya Gubar Dekhte rahe….” was born in 1922, in Ekdil in a Saxena family.
Collectors
The most famous Collector of Etawah and also the first one was A.O. Hume who was the progenitor of the Indian National Congress.
Aggregator: Dr. Vishwapati Trivedi, IAS. LIC Building, Shastri Chowk, Etawah (UP). E mail: drvtrivedi@gmail.com
Reference: Etawah Janpad Ke Sau Saal (1975) by Kripa Narayan Pathak. Published by Ram Prasad and Brothers, Etawah.
Mausoleum of the Snitcher
Apr 25 2015
The tomb that's hit with shoes for luck
Faiz Rahman Siddiqui
Mausoleums and tombs are usually sacred places where people of all faiths go to seek blessings. But in Etawah's Chugalkhor ka Maqbara (Mausoleum of the Snitcher), there's a story with a `sole', literally. Instead of offering flowers or burning incense sticks, devotees rain blows on the dilapidated tomb with shoes and slippers.
This unique method of `paying obeisance' at the 500-year-old grave is usually done by people praying for a safe journey on the Etawah-Farrukhabad-Bareilly Highway .
Legend has it that the king of Etawah waged war with the king of a place called Atteri. Later, the king of Etawah came to know that his courtier Bholu Saeed was responsible for the war. The king announced that for his betrayal, Saeed his betrayal, Saee should be beaten with shoes till death. Since then, the custom of beating the grave with shoes prevails.
One Iqbal, a local who was awaiting his turn turn to hit the grave, told TOI: “I am headed for Bareilly and have come here to hit the grave of Bholu Saeed five times to save my family from evil influences during the journey .
Situated at a distance of 3km from Etawah district headquarters, the tomb is in a dilapidated state. “I have never seen anyone burning incense sticks, candles or offering `chadars'. They just beat the grave with shoes or slippers and pray before embarking the journey,“ Bilal, a resident of Datwali, said.
“It is a rare sight. Unlike other `maz aars', Chu galkhor ka Maqbara has no caretaker. Passengers request the driver to stop, and they pay obeisance to Bholu by hitting his grave with slippers,“ said Ravi, a taxi driver.
Sati Math
What is the story of Sati Math, why is it important for locals? Here's everything you need to know
The history of Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh is associated with the Mahabharata civilization, but due to lack of proper preservation and documentation, many historical sites are in a bad condition. One of these important sites is the Sati Math, where widows of hundreds of Hindu generals performed mass Jauhar. It is believed that this happened during the invasion of Jauhar Mohammad Ghori, when these heroes took a fire bath to protect their chastity.
Most of the Sati monasteries have [deteriorated] due to the onslaught of time, but some monasteries still remain which the local conscious people have tried to preserve with their limited resources
The expansion of these Sati monasteries is spread over an area of about hundred bighas, where there is also a Hanuman and Lord Shiva's temple. There are regular religious events here, in which a large number of local people participate.
According to historian Arvind Dixit, in 1193 AD, there was a fierce battle between Mohammad Ghori and King Jaichand of Kannauj in Chandawal (present-day Firozabad), in which Jaichand was defeated. After this, Gauri attacked Etawah and the fort of Asai located near it, which was resisted by King Sumer Singh of Etawah. In this war, 22 major chieftains of Ghori and [a very large number of Sumer’s soldiers] were killed. The widows of Hindu soldiers who died while fighting on behalf of King Sumer Singh performed collective Jauhar to protect their chastity.
These brave women belonged to different castes and sub-castes and their burial places are still located in Chhipati Mohalla in the south-west of Etawah city. These places are called 'Satiyan' in the local language and there is a tradition of worshiping in auspicious works like marriage. On Kartik Purnima, the descendants of these Sati come to worship with suhag material.
Politics
1991-2019
Swati Mathur, Etawah, where ‘gathbandhan’ clicked in 1991, April 28, 2019: The Times of India
ETAWAH: At the peak of the Ram Temple movement in 1992, the BJP victory march was stopped dead on its tracks when Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kanshi Ram entered into an alliance. The slogan of ‘Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram, hawa main ud gaye Jai Shri Ram’ rent the air and the BJP was trounced. Yadav, then, emerged as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Their alliance was not sudden. In 1991, Kanshi Ram, who had by now failed to register a win in two consecutive Lok Sabha elections in 1988 and 1989 from Allahabad and East Delhi respectively, decided to enter the fray once again from Etawah, backed by Mulayam from his home turf and Yadav bastion. Kanshi Ram defeated his nearest BJP rival by over 20,000 votes. Twenty-seven years later, the party’s leaders have changed and so has the constituency. Etawah, however, is once again the laboratory where BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav are putting to test the social experiment first tried by their parties’ founders.
Present-day Etawah, however, has undergone sociological change. From being the Yadav-dominated constituency it was some decades ago, it is now a reserved seat home to over 4.23 lakh Dalits. After the last delimitation, a bulk of the Yadav population has shifted to neighbouring Mainpuri seat, promising to increase, local analysts say, Mulayam’s victory.
The BJP’s presence, however, has remained constant. In 1991, BJP was a runnerup. In 2014, it won Etawah. This time, there is a head-on battle between BJP’s Ram Shankar Katheria, the party’s incumbent Agra MP, and Kamlesh Katheria, the son of former Samajwadi Party MP Prem Shankar Katheria, who is the mahagathbandhan’s consensus candidate. Congress has fielded BJP turncoat and sitting MP Ashok Dohare.
Even as the alliance hopes to garner a chunk of the Dalit, Yadav and Muslim votes, there seems an upper caste consolidation around the BJP. Opinions are also divided on rural and urban lines. While the rural populace gives an edge to the gathbandhan, large urban sections still swear by Modi.
In the rural parts, disenchantment runs deep. Ram Kumar, a farmer in Aminabad said, “We don’t know who benefited from demonetisation. All we know is that we are still plowing the land.”
“Promises every government makes are never to better our lives,” says Virendra Singh, another farmer.
An equally vocal segment, however, maintains Modi’s leadership has steered the country in the positive direction. “Modi ji has made sure India’s position and perception in the World has improved,” said Aslam Khan, a tea stall vendor.
