The Sikh Connection

Though Bidar is not a very heard of place at the national level, in the state though it is known for being the most backward districts for various reasons. Historically this place has been a part of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region administered by the Nizams till its Independence through Police action on 17th September 1948, along with its other sister districts of Gulbarga, Raichur and Koppal. Modern systems of administration were introduced here very late unlike the other districts of the state which belonged to either the Madras or the Bombay Presidencies of the Raj. Even post independence, developmental projects never came to this region in the same proportion as the other parts of the state. Weak political heads never bothered beyond getting elected to the legislature. Being the farthest place from the state capital did prevent good administrators from getting posted here. Even if posted they didnt hang around this place long enough to make a difference. An ideal cocktail for what Bidar District is today.

Over the years the image of the district has taken shape of a far off, backward, dry and a hot place where only the damned get posted to be punished. A posting to Bidar sometimes invokes a feeling of sympathy for those who seem to have got there for no fault. Surprisingly though the tag of being a dry and hot place are far from true. Bidar has a rainfall that is on an average scale with the rest of the state though lacking in any irrigation project worth the mention. The city of Bidar is one of the coolest places of North Eastern Karnataka for bieng geographically located on a plateau. But unfortunately it still carries this tag of being the 'Kaalapaani' of Karnataka's administrative setup.

Of all the things that people have heard about Bidar, I guess the Sikh connection of this city is the least known. Bidar has one of Karnataka's largest Gurudwaras and a sizeable Sikh population may be a matter of surprise to many. Historically it is said that the first Sikh Guru, Shri Guru Nakak visited Bidar during his tour of the southern part of the country. The city was then reeling under a drought and Guru Nanak is supposed to have moved a rock on the ground, to give the people of this city a natural fresh water spring, which to this day is flowing round the year. The Shrine thus built here, came to be known as the Guru Nanak Jhira. It is the only Gurudwara with a fresh water spring in the country. Its a very important place of Sikh pilgrimage and thousands of Sikhs from all over the world visit this place everyday.

I am again continuing this post after a gap of nearly six months. The intention with which I started this post was to write about a very important Sikh festival that was hosted at the Bidar Gurudwara in the month of October. It was the Guru-Ta-Gaddi, the 300th anniversary of the Guru Granth Saheb. Though the actual festival was held at Nanded in Maharashtra, Bidar being just a 4 hr drive from there, attracted all the pilgrims from Nanded. It was a massive gathering for nearly one week, nearly a lakh every day and for the police it was a challenge to manage the crowds.

Now after six months so much has changed, I got my transfer from Bidar to Dakshina Kannada (Mangalore ) on the 2nd of March. Before I start off with the Mangalore edition of our lives I'll just sum up the last phase of our Bidar story in the next blog.

Basavakalyan- A piece of history

The funny part of Bidar to me professionally is that it seems like a light place to work, not much of a Law and order burden, hardly any political pressure being out of the radar of the powers at Bangalore and a relatively challenging place as far as getting people to work is concerned coz of the laid back attitude of the general populace and my own subordinates. The reason perhaps is because of its historical connection with the Nizams administration. Being away from the state capital has also led to rampant corruption which is silently taken as apart of everyday life by the people. Not that there is any less corruption in the rest of the country, but i guess theres atleast some resistance in most places. Two thirds of my energies are wasted in trying to monitor my own men rather than any real policing job. Its almost a year now since we've been here, but little did i realise that the quality time we got for ourselves despite this situation was hardly anything compared to the earlier places we stayed... untill Deepu really started complaining that she was getting bored. We just realised that apart from our regular visits to the Bidar fort and the Gurudwara along with guests who visited us sometime, we hardly took time out explore either the district or even the nearby places. We almost started to beleive that this is all about Bidar and resigned to our fate till perhaps the next transfer.

On 14th of this month I had a mojor police deployment in Basavakalyan town in view of the Ganesh procession. For those who haven't heard of this place, its a small town on the south-western part of the district and is about 75 kms from the district headquarter Bidar. Bsavakalyan being a communally sensitive place ( like almost all towns in this country and getting to be ) and also had a history of a small communal skirmish last year during the same procession, I decided i'll camp at that place for this year so that I am available within minutes, if theres really some trouble again. As all these processions go all through the night I had to stay overnight at Basavakalyan and when I broke this to Deepu, she said she would come along too. So we left for Basavakalyan that evening and halted at the Inspection bungalow for that night. One funny thing about Government Inspection Bungalows here (or anywhere perhaps) is that all of them look so much similar. Once you are inside the room, you tend to forget the place where you are except for the fact that you are in an IB. They are all panelled with wood saving only the roof, no natural ventilation and atleast two split airconditioners chilling you to death. You could really get claustrophobic if your alone. So here we were two of us wondering about plans for the rest of the evening. After having dinner at the guest house itself we decided to watch a movie on Deepu's laptop. As usual, halfway through this movie called "Get Smart" I was lost into deep sleep. I should definitely thank the people of Basavakalyan now that I didnt have to really bother about the rest of the procession and had an undisturbed sleep for the rest of the night.

I was woken up by a call from my Officer at 5 a.m. telling me that the procession concluded peacefully. Now we had the whole morning to explore to ourselves. Deepu woke up by 7 and both of us quickly got ready to leave after a short walk aroung the inspection bunglow. Our destination was the Basavakalyan fort which we decided to visit 10 months back.

To recollect a little bit of history, Basavakalyan earlier known as Kalyani was the capital of the Western Chalukyas between1050 to 1195 A.D. It is now known as Basavakalyan after the great Saint Basaweshwara or Basavanna. He was a great revolutionary who is known to have established a spiritual democracy called "Anubhava Mantapa" in 12th Century. The Anubhava Mantapa is also known as the worlds first Parliament. Basavanna's main aim was to establish a society where there is dignity of labour, spirituality, creativity, free thinking, no caste or creed. In the process Basavanna founded a new Relegion called " Lingayata". Today the Lingayats form a separate caste within the Hindu fold. Basaweshwara served as a minister in the court of Bijjala, the Chalukyan ruler.There are a number of relics relating to this period all around Bsavakalyan town. In 1270 AD Basavakalyan fell to the Kakathiyas and in 1322 AD it was taken over by the Thuglaqs by Mahammed Bin Thuglaq. Between 1347 AD and 1619 the rule of Basavakalyan passed on from the Bahamanis to the Barid Shahis and finally in 1656 AD it was taken over by the Mughals. In 1724 AD the Mughal rule was succeeded by the Asif Jahi Nizams of Hyderabad till the momentous day of 17th September 1948 when the Nizams districts were releived from the Nizams rule by resorting to Police action of Independent India.

So now you can expect what a treasure this place must be for a history seeker. Unfortunately we just had time for the Basavakalyan fort that morning. Even more unfortunate was the news that, being a general holiday the fort would be closed to tourists. I then had to get in touch with the Archaeology authorities and get it opened for a brief visit. What we encountered after we entered though those massive fort gates was nothing short of treasure. All that history that I had written here about Basavakalyan was unfolding like the pages of a history book by every step we took. The massive fort walls with remnants of the Hindu rule embeded all over, the Palaces, courtyards, the dancing halls, the ramparts with beautifully carved cannons all telling us the tales this place has gone through. To top it all it was nice cool and cloudy morning. We finished our short walk through by 10 AM and left for breakfast at a nice Kamat Restaurant on the national Highway. Returned back to Bidar by noon.

What a relief !

I have conducted a few elections before, but not like the one this has been. The elections to the State Assembly this year were a new experience altogether. From the moment they were announced on the 2nd of April to the 25th of this month, the day of counting., it was all targets , deadlines, planning, reviews and meetings after meeetings. Offcourse I haven't been in the thick of an election of this magnitude earlier. The extent of co-ordination required was huge. It was an experience to remember and when its all over, it seems so simple. I would actually love to bring in all the details of the election process on this blog, but i'm sure there would be no takers for an excercise as boring and dry as an election to state assembly, more so when all of us know that we eventually end up electing the better among the worse offered to us.

The last blog on places in and around Bidar did draw a few comments that were very encouraging, and that has made us more aware as to do a more genuine and truthful reporting on the places that we visit. We take up this responsibilty with more seriousness to make this blog more and more informative. This time offcourse, having not visited any place during the last month, i'll restrict to this much. Shortly we'll start our discovery weekend trips and enrich this blog regularly.

We start off again!

Itz been about 90 days since the last post and it also seems like ages. A lot of water has flown down the.... what river flows in Bidar ?... may.. be Manjira. Well the district is so dry you forget about the those fast flowing rivers and the vast expance of the sea of coastal Karnataka. Nevertheless with all the limitations of rain and water, Bidar is still a very beautiful place and a place to really go around and discover. A very historic district of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, its been in the thick of medieval history since the 12th century. The Town of Basavakalyan, earlier known as Kalyani, was the capital of the later Chalukyas in the 10th century. It became famous as a centre of wealth and prosperity, a seat of learning and an abode of spiritual wisdom. Even today, Basavakalyan is remembered for the saints who made this city their home-Basaveshwara, Akka-Mahadevi, Channabasavanna and Siddharama.

The fort city of Bidar offcourse is famous for the largest fort of southern India. Built by Ahmad Shah Bahmani between 1426 and 1432 A.D, has five Darwazas(gates) with imposing bastions leading into a little town nestling within the ramparts. After a drive through the town fort and the royal fort, all you can do is just run your imagination free, as to how this great capital city of the Barid Shahi rulers must have looked about 600 years back. It is offcourse difficult to delete the filthy streets, the overflowing drains, the overpopulated town to aid your imagination, but is still a marvellous experience. Its also shocking to learn how the city has degenerated to its present state.

We still have a lot to see and discover in this treasure house of history. We''ll continue to do it as and when we get some time and keep the experiences posted on this blog.