Faizabad :

Located on the busy Faizabad-Ayodhya Road, and at a stone throw from the Circuit House, Ram Bhawan over the past few decades has become a household name not only for residents of Faizabad, but also for millions of Netaji fans, who virtually started equating this building with a temple, which safely housed their ‘son of the soil’ in exile for almost three years, until he passed away on September 16, 1985.

It was here that Gumnaami Baba alias Bhagwanjee stayed from November 1983 till his demise. Recollecting the days spent with Gumnaami Baba as a tenant in his house, Thakur Shakti Singh said, “It was around mid-1983 that my father was asked by Dr RP Mishra, surgeon at the district hospital, to rent him the small quarter in the back which has separate entry and backdoor. He said it was for his ‘dada’ who wants peace and quiet for his spiritual practice which he cannot get at home.”

Shakti further stated that after initial reluctance, his father agreed to give the room to the ascetic. After moving in, Bhagwanjee had a very strict policy when it came to meeting visitors. It was only in the late evening hours if at all that interactions were allowed to a chosen few, after he had finished his ‘sadhana’ for the day.

Moreover, all of these chose few came to believe that the Baba had some special power. “Once a person entered the premises of Ram Bhawan, his mental faculties seemingly became completely overwhelmed by Bhagwanjee. Interaction only happened from behind a cotton-curtained window between two rooms. Even though the door in between was open, no one ever dared to enter or even peek inside. The only person who had full access round-the-clock was his caregiver, late Saraswati Devi Shukla, whom Baba used to call ‘Jagdambe’.”

Shakti Singh added that even he himself who was living in the same house could never gather the courage to attempt making eye-to-eye contact with him. “One time even a Police Officer friend of mine expressed great curiosity and a wish to investigate and unveil the mysterious Baba,” Shakti Singh recalled. “I told him he was most welcome to raid my house anytime he pleased on any pretext whatsoever. He arrived the very next morning, with force, and strode right up to the boundary wall before abruptly turning back without a word and leaving! That evening, Baba asked me why my friends hadn’t come and introduced themselves. Then he laughed, long and hard.”

After Bhagwanjee’s death, Lalita Bose, the niece of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose came here in February 1986. As soon as she came at Ram Bhawan, and saw the items in Bhagwanjee’s room, she started crying piteously, and said that there things belong to her uncle (Netaji). Later she urged the district magistrate to intervene, and even had a meeting with the then UP chief minister Veer Bahadur Singh, who after assuring help, said, “Ma’am even I have some limits,” and suggested her to move the court.

After the matter was brought to the notice of the court, the district administration was asked to shift 2760 articles kept in Bhagwanjee’s room (containing books, literature and other artefacts) were shifted to the district treasury in as many as 25 sandooks (huge trunks).

“A few weeks after the death of Gumnaami Baba, I observed few children playing around that room. Immediately, I asked them to give a description of the person they had seen (in this place). Simultaneously, I also hired an artist to make the sketch as per the inputs provided by the children. The artist took considerable time to give final and accurate shape to his creation, and when he turned the canvass towards us, we were surprised to see the startling similarities between the photo of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and that of Gumnaami Baba,” recalled Shakti Singh, with a rare radiance in his eyes.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Simha, TNN / July 07th, 2015

Ramsevak Kol, a tribe from the Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, stands head and shoulders above other Indians. Genetic studies prove that he is one of the descendants of King Guha of Ramayana. An international team of researchers consisting of geneticists, anthropologists, archaeologists and historians have found that Ramayana, written 10,000 years ago, is a chronicle of events and characters recorded by Sage Valmiki and not a work of fiction.

The mystery behind the characters in Ramayana has been solved by a team led by Dr Gyaneshwer Chaubey, ace genetic scientist of the Estonian Biocentre in Estonia. A three-year long research by Dr Chaubey and his team drawn out from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Delhi University, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur and Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas has found that the Bhils, Gonds and the Kols, categorised as Scheduled Castes and Tribes by the modern day administrators of India are the true descendants of characters featured in Ramayana. The peer reviewed scientific paper authored by the team has been published by PLOS ONE, a respected scientific portal.

The Kol tribe, found mainly in areas like Mirzapur, Varanasi, Banda and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, are the descendants of the Kol mentioned in Ramayana, according to Dr Chaubey and his team. Remember Guha, the chieftain of Sringiverapuram who helped Lord Rama, Sita and Laksmana cross the Ganga during their journey to the forests? “Guha, the Nishad King, is the ancestor of the present day Kol tribe we found in these regions. This ancestry was established by genetic studies. These groups of people carry the basic indigenous genetic traits of India. Ramsevak and thousands like him spread across the States of UP, MP, Odisha, Chhattisgargh are the true descendants of Lord Rama and his contemporaries,” Dr Chaubey told The Pioneer from Tartu in Estonia via video conferencing.

Dr Chaubey and Prof VR Rao, an anthropologist in Delhi University, said that the studies proved that these groups of people have maintained their genetic continuity for more than 10,000 years. “This again sets at rest the Aryan invasion theory. There is no inflow into the genetic traits of these tribes from outside elements,” said Saroj Bala, a specialist in Vedic and Ramayana studies, who shot into fame by calculating the date of birth of Lord Rama based on planetary positions.

Prof Rao said the studies confirmed that the characters mentioned by Valmiki in Ramayana are real life characters. “King Dasaratha, Rama and others were not fictional characters,” he said. Dr S Kalyanaraman, an Indologist of repute, said the Kols are the iron smelters about whom there are mentions in Indus Script excavated from the banks of Indus as well as River Saraswathi.

“This paper by Gyaneswer Chaube and team is an attempt to explain the roots of Hindu civilisation which has been distorted by creating false ethnic identities by the categorisation of people,” said Dr Kalyanaraman. He said a comprehensive study incorporating all tribes should be undertaken which would prove that the breaking up of essential unity of Bharatiya identity based on caste and ethnicity are academic fiction with no basis and a distortion of the history of ancient India.

source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / The Pioneer / Home / by Kumar Chellappan, Chennai / Monday – June 15th, 2015

Two stones with Persian and Hindi inscriptions dating back to 1854 were found during the cleaning of Surajkund Park in Old City, Lucknow.

Officials supervising the work said the writing in Hindi says that the pond was cleaned and renovated by Rai Tulsi Ram around 161 years back.

However, the Persian inscription on the second stone was not clear. Officials said the script would be readable once the stone is cleaned.

Four wells in four corners of the kund were also ‘unearthed’ during the cleaning operation, said Rajeev Kumar, OSD, Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).

The pond was cleaned as it was full of polythene bags and filth. However, locals highlighted the historical importance of this water body, stating that the kund was an ancient structure and constructed by Suryavanshi kings.

Historian Yogesh Praveen said Surajkund was mentioned in Mughul era books as ‘Shamsi Talab’.

But the historical aspect of the pond was lost with the passage of time.

“Despite its historical importance, the pond has been lying dirty in the absence of proper care,” said Mahant Sachin Shastri of Surjakund Park and temple.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities / by Hindustan Times, HT Correspondent / June 17th, 2015