Study of two portraits.

 I am not trained as an artist but I love to sketch. 

The tribal people and the landscape of my loving Jharkhand has induced me take up my pen and pencils to do the following scribbles on paper. 

I hope you would love this:

Portrait of an old Santal tribal in the woods of Santal Parganas.

A old Asur tribal poses for me in front a cluster of saal (shorea robusta) trees in Netarhat.

My sketch.

I am not trained as an artist but I love to sketch. 

The landscape of my loving Jharkhand has induced me take up my pen and pencils to do the following scribble on paper. 

I hope you would love this.

Landscape. Few homes nestled in a valley of Lugu Pahadi.

 

SITAGARHA/SETAGARHA (PAHADI) HILL. HAZARIBAGH. JHARKHAND. EAST INDIA

Subhashis Das

                         Setagarha pahadi                    

The etymology of the term "Setagarha" suggests that it is not Sanskrit or Hindi but austric Mundari in origin stemmed from the confluence of two Mundari words "Seta" meaning a dog and "garha" suggesting a burial. "Setagarha" therefore means "a burial of a dog". 

Dogs in the ancient times all across the world being the closest to humans have been found to receive burials as horses and humans. The burial of the dog has yet not been located here.

Sadly PWD or the one concerned for erecting signboards for villages is/are oblivious of this understanding as it/they has/have erected a signboard with a wrong name of "SITAGARH" for the village and in the process wrongly associating the village and the hill with Sita of the Ramayana has/have transformed their entire meaning and history. 

 The signboard provides a wrong name "SITAGARH" for the village in place of its original name "SETAGARHA" converting the meaning and history of both the village and the hill.

The Setagarha pahadi perhaps the largest hill in Hazaribagh district is located about 12 kms SE of Hazaribagh town. The Hill has received its name from the adjacent village of the same name is also known with varied names as Chandwar, Zulzul as per the villages in the vicinity. 

At the South Eastern side of the hill is a village called Burhanpur which has now been featured in the archaeological map of the country as excavation by Archaeological Survey of India (Patna Circle) here has revealed a large Buddhist monastery and numerous sculptures of stone featuring the Buddha, several Buddhist Goddesses as Tara etc, many votive stupas and other artifacts.

Top: The mound prior to the excavation. The bottom image: On-going excavation by ASI Patna.

Earlier the villagers had collected many Buddhist statues and other relics in-situ from the site (image below). Most of the statues were found to be beheaded suggesting destruction some time in the past . 

      

  The hill resembling a recumbent pregnant woman from the North Eastern facet was sacred even to the tribals during its pre-Buddhist era. Evident from several prehistoric tribal megalithic sites as those of the ones in Jabra Road, Rola/Chano (now destroyed), Birbir, Odarna and Gurua (now destroyed) etc have been found to be aligned to this Hill. 

I stand within the Birbir megalithic site discovered by me some two decades ago with the Setagraha/Zulzul pahadi at the background.

The sacred grove or the "mandar" of the village and a sacred stone beside a sacred tree lies towards the east of the hill at the side of Burhanpur (Image below).

Rains are about to come: a study in photography.

(Click left to blow up the photographs)

The threatening sky before the rains.

The threatening sky before the rains.

The rains are about to come.

The rains are about to come.

The rains are about to come.

The erosion art on the soil created by flowing rain water 

Jharkhand Megaliths now included in History books of Jharkhand. MEGALITHS OF JHARKHAND/ Megaliths of Hazaribagh

...and God said let there be VIRUS

Subhashis Das

    God was sleeping; resting actually; fagged out owing to her age, some trillion or zillion years…or…maybe... alright you morons, she is ageless if you want in that way.

    Enjoying the light and the heat from the sun she had created trillions of years ago, one fine morning she fished out her notebook. Flipping over its pages she came to the page in which she had catalogued her creations. One particular planet drew her attention.

    Earth.

    Now lemme see in which solar system have I placed this sphere, God ruminated. Ah yes it’s in here. What a fool I am (finally she realises).  Wasn’t this planet my crowning glory, my supreme most one I created? Yes I now recall... putting in it my most beautiful creation, the humans in it; let’s see how the humans and the other inhabitants are doing down there.

   Well here’s Jupiter, Mars and yes there; that’s Earth, my dear old blue planet. Let’s peep in.

   Man oh man! It’s blue alright but I did not create this planet in this manner. Had I created this planet or was this done by that abysmal son of a “b…” Satan?  My my… why are there so many humans around…are those tall eye sores their dwellings? Darn! Where have most of my animals, birds and fish that I had created, gone?

     Look at the rivers, lakes, oceans and mountains, I created eons ago? They are so grubby and filthy. Where are the forests which I had crammed this sphere with?

    God let out a deep sigh of soreness …aagh! I can’t even breathe this air that I had once created. Oh God (dash it that’s me)! the air is contaminated.  

   Who devastated my darling blue planet?  Lemme see. God shut her eyes and images of humans hovered in front of her.

    Why…it’s these “God blessed”… (But that’s me. Alright cut the God out from it)…okay… so its these “blessed humans” who have been polluting my waters here, deforesting all my forests and what have you. They are also killing and eating up all of my animals, reptiles and fish for their tang and pushing them to extinction. Tch tch what a mess my people have made here.   

  They donot seem to know me who on "earth" I am. They believe that this planet is theirs and therefore they could do whatever they wish to with it...huh? They do not seem to know that I am the boss around.

   Alright they need to be punished for their greed and lust. I shall have to do something that would do justice for my wounded darling blue planet and in the process fix her. I need to clean the air, the waters, and the ruined mountains. I shall have to let the trees flourish here without much restraint and even let my animals, birds and fish multiply in joy for which I need to teach these humans a lesson. I need to set this planet right.

    They ought to be punished for their act. No?

    I mean this punishment should be in the form of a therapy. Therapeutic punishment; how about that? Well then to begin with, how about sending down some bacteria to harm them?

    Mmm…the brains I have planted inside these humans are smart; I have already tried to reform them by sending down bacteria but they have invented medicines to kill it. So I shall have to try something else…

   Lemme see…what if I send down some virus...well, they had curbed on the earlier ones I had send down. Virus seems to be good idea...but this time it better be a tougher one. Hah ha! A tougher one then.  Tough virus, as a justice; so it be then...

   I know these humans would pop in a name for it… say…mmm…Corona...Corona Virus may be… But many would die of it as per the decree I created for life …well humans will invent medicines for this too… but it will take them time.

   In the meantime my beautiful planet will revive when all the humans will remain locked in their abodes. I shall clean up the air, the waters, and the lands. I would have the animals grow along with the woods. My Earth will become beautiful once again.

   But would humans learn to respect me and my creations even after such a large devastation of their lives? Hmm... I don’t think so. These human beings I created as my finest creation are real nitwits. Well let them suffer for a while as I rest...

   “Secretary,” yelled God. “Get somebody to clean up my bed cover. These humans are lethargic; they do not even change in paradise.

   Aagh!  This God damned, sorry damned back ache...

=======================================================

THE ICONIC CANARY (KANARI) HILL OF HAZARIBAGH.

   Subhashis Das

THE CANARY (KANARI) HILL viewed from different spots

    Canary Hill is certainly synonymous with Hazaribagh town.

    People tend to call it Canary Hill relating it to the Canary birds which they believe that the hill once was their abode, little knowing that the Canary is not an Indian bird. I was told that the term like several names of villages and rivers in Jharkhand Canary too is an austric Santali word meaning "arrow head". 

    Searching in the dictionary, "Santali-Hindi Shabdkosh" by Swarnalata Prasad of the Tribal Research Institute, Ranchi, I tracked the word and I found that the word "कानारी" or Canary or (Kanari) indeed meant  "तीर का नोक" (Page 302) which translates into English as an "arrow head" and not as the Canary bird as commonly believed.  

    Therefore discarding the colonial origin of Canary as the name of the Hill that associates it with a non-Indian bird, I prefer to call it with its original name of KANARI.

    Many also believe that the towers atop the Hill is a gift of the Britishers which incidentally is wrong as these were built by the Forest Dept after the Independence.

   

The mysterious Canary (Kanari) Hill.
Shrouded in mystery this photograph of the iconic Canary Hill is clicked by Mritunjay Sharma.

    

    From the twin towers atop the Hill one gets an awesome view of the surroundings and even of the Hazaribagh town. Behind the Hill is a guest house, another spectacular creation of the Forest Dept. A beautiful pavilion is situated here which is another view point from which one gets a view of the forest around and of the hills in the horizon. .

    Around the Hill several prehistoric habitation sites, megalithic sites and even Buddhists sites have been found that suggest that the hill was significant even to the ancients. The Hill is enclosed by several rivers as the Jagadishpur, Sindoor and the Galgal among many.

   Canary Hill lay barren, devoid of any trees in the late 19th century but today the Forest Department working wonders has certainly converted the Hill into an amazing forested hide out home to several species of birds, insects and trees etc. 

    Canary once featured prominently in Bangla literature and there was a time in the 50s, 60 and 70s, Hazaribagh or more significantly speaking Canary Hill and the Gibraltar House close to the Hill was the favoured destination for the shootings of several Bangla films. 

    Come winter, the National Park and the Canary Hill was infested with tourists arriving in loads from Bengal.

    Today although the tourists have deserted the Hill yet the locals seeking solace, bird and insect photographers in quest of their subjects, archaeology hunters and lovers desiring a little space of their own flock to the Canary Hill.

    Below are few photographs that may give you an understanding of the beauty of the iconic Canary Hill.

Click left on the photographs to get the blow up of the images. 

Various shades of the iconic Canary (Kanari) Hill from different angles.

The mysterious Canary (Kanari) Hill.
Shrouded in mystery this photograph of the iconic Canary Hill is clicked by Mritunjay Sharma.

Below the guest house on the circular path are these sacred shrines .

Around the Hill: The wonderful pathway with an overhead branch performing as a gate. Sadly the "gate" has fallen down in a storm.

Around the Hill: The snug little temple that one can still behold in the wooded forest of the surroundings of the Hill.

Around the Hill: The red-green Forest Dept bamboo hut in the now defunct Forest Dept nursery beside the eminent banyan in the surroundings of the Canary Hill.

Around the Hill: The eminent banyan that still exists adjacent to the now defunct Forest Dept nursery in the surroundings of the Canary (Kanari) Hill

 

Around the Hill: The yearly Story Telling session is held beside the famous banyan tree adjacent to the Canary (Kanari) Hill

Around the Hill: The picturesque road that circumbulates the Canary (Kanari) Hill.

                                          

Around the Hill: Left: A bench on a large boulder and stairs to reach it. Right. A natural stone structure resembling a large animal.

I stand reclining on the balustrade during the monsoon. The stairs behind leads you to the pavilion and the guest house.

The guest house and the pavilion from below

Prantik sits on the steps of the guest house

Young Prantik; years ago.

View of the woods from the guest house in the rainy season when its green all around. Try spotting the Silwar Hill in the horizon.

The watch-tower/pavilion (1) during the spring season.

The watch-tower (2)

The watch-tower (3) during the monsoon. The Silwar Hill is faintly visible in the distance.

The benches of the pavilion awaits your arrival

The view of the guest house from the watch-tower in the winter months

The fork of two roads as viewed from the pavilion in the summer.

...and that's a Golden Oriole perched on a dried branch.

The canteen as seen from the guest house.

The steps that bring you up and down from/to the drive. Its all green in the monsoon