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The almost hidden places of Kutch, Baladia by Shonal Jesani

A trip to India is like visiting to a whole new world. It is an experience you may never forget, with its many different cultures, traditions, cuisines and people.

It is a vast country spanning over 3 million square kilometres, which embraces a backdrop of the wonderful Himalayas. India harbours one of the eight wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal, which in itself is an elegantly designed monument and stands in the heart of Agra.

When in India, many of us will usually travel to our gaam, Baladia. There we normally go to see the Temples and are more often than not caught up in the hustle and bustle with the people of the gaam. We venture out, but the furthest some of us have ever been is not far beyond the city of Bhuj. A wonderful gaam as it may be, we never see the real beauty of it and experience it as the true people of the village do. The new sports ground which has been built at the edge of the gaam is a place to see as people gather there to watch the teams play cricket.

Within and outside Baladia there truly many exciting places to visit. Kari Tarav in Chateri, the Gangaji River near the Shiva Mahadev Mandir in Baladia and the wonderful beaches in Mandvi are all more traditional places to visit.

The Shiva Mahadev Mandir holds a truly amazing story behind the origination of the temple. For before the temple stood there it was mere farmland on which a Shivaling (Symbol of Shiva) was found while the farmer was ploughing. The Shivaling began to bleed with the impact and from then on it was known as the worship place of Lord Shiva. A new addition to the temple is that of the grand murti’s of Lord Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh and Hanumanji which are visible from a huge distance away.

A few non-traditional places to visit are the gaam’s water reservoir and what I would say are like great canyons, the “Vijya Sagar” dam. It is located on Mandvi Road between Daisara and Mandvi and lasts for about a 2 km radius. It is usually full of water but most of it had dried out on our trip in December. It is an amazing place to visit with spectacular views to the horizon and beyond.

As a personal experience I would like to mention the “Shri Vijeswar Sarovar”, although it located in Manukwa, it is only a short trip away from Baladia. The legend goes that Lord Shri Swaminarayan noticed a man drowning in the lake and courageously pulled him out. There now stands a momentum of that courage, a beautiful landscape of where the lake meets the steps up to the temple which is considered a blessing.

On Airport Road going towards Khawada you will find the biggest dam in Kutch, “Rudramata” dam. When it overflows the water runs in to the “Vijya Sagar”. When “Hamisar”, a dam in Bhuj overflows, the water runs into “Rudramata.” All the dams are interconnected and they run like the veins of Kutch.

On your next visit to Baladia be sure to check out a bus map or take a guide, someone who is familiar with the village, and explore to your heart’s content. Get on a bus or train (heading out from Bhuj) to many wonderful cities such as Gandhidham and Rapar. Rajkot is one great city to see with its golden sand and amazing history, you will find a land full of ancient Palaces of past rulers. Bhuj also connects you to a network of trains running to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and as far as Delhi. Ahmedabad is a city of new found trend and also old traditions. Go there to find a wide collection of clothing and wedding garments which are marvellously elegant. From Ahmedabad you can go to Surat where the old tradition is the way of the people. In its wonderful scenery you will find some amazing Temples and some old stories which get your imagination going.

Chateri

Mandvi

Shri Vijeswar Sarovar Manukwa

Madev Mandir

Written By Karsan Govind Sonara

Baladia gaam’s Jagir, Aayas Shree Nath Sampdray Bawa, the owner of the estate of Baladia was given the estate by the Kutch maharao as a gesture of goodwill. The Aayas Shree nath Sampdray Bawa were known as ‘kaan phata jogi’, they were called this because of the infamous slot they had in their ear lobe where they used to adorn a round hoop earring. The Jagir used to control all of Baladia, including all residential homes and farming land. There is not much history known about Aayas Shree Nath Jogi, however there is a resting place in Fuleshwer Mahadev, for this reason we assume Aayas Shree Nath Jogi was the first in line.

There is a Baldeshwar Mahadev temple in a beautiful hill just outside of our village and for this reason our village is known as Baladia. On the left hand side of Shivalay there is a beautiful resting place carved out of stone which we assume belong to Jagirdar, the people who own the estate. Next to this there are two more resting places which belong to Ratannath Bawaji and the other one is Aayas Shree Balnath Bawaji. There is also a small beautiful resting place carved out of stone which belongs to Aayas Shree Umarnath Bawaji. In the culture of the Jagir’s when they passed away they used to lay to rest the deceased in a sitting down position. When a Jagirdar passed away they would get their burial place on Baldeshwar Mahadev hill and their family members would build a tomb like shrine on their resting place called a Chhatedi. There was quite a few small burial places surrounding Shivalay. Over the years, as time has passed many of these small burial places have been removed in order to improve and enhance the Shivalay garden which have been landscape in a nice way.

Since a lot of this history has been passed through the generations and not recorded, from our elders we have obtained the information that we now have, however after Fulnath Bawajis there is little knowledge of the Bawajis that followed, although we know some of the names Shevanath, Ratannath, Balnath, Umarnath and Kanhaiyanath who is still with us, and you will often see him in Baladia in their traditional dress, which is typical a jobho dhoti and a pagri, (turban).

All these jogi bawajis (the individual people who owned the estate) used to live like bachelors but used to keep mistresses. They didn’t used to have children but they used to have disciples which were given to them as adopted boys from a young age. These boys were given to them at the age of five to the Jagirdar of the time, they would then provide the child with a good education and prepare and train them to look after the Jagir. Of all the adopted children, whoever was the brightest was nominated as the new ruler of the Jagir. At the age of twenty they were initiated with a ceremony for the cut ear, so that they could wear the hoop earring within the slot in the ear lobe. They used to believe in Shankar, Guruji and Aaashapura Mataji, they used to do puja for all of them.

They lived their life as vegetarians and were very good horse riders and hunters. In recent times they had stuffed a tiger’s head in their residential quarters which they had hunted down in a river near Mahadev which was like a jungle before Vikram Samvat 1996 which is approximately 80 years ago which was the year known as chhanvo, because of the memorable drought. The used to possess a range of weapons and there was a small army who used to take care of the village and all the farmland which was in their estate. In their army they used to have some Shidi, a tribe original from Africa. The Jagirdar used to take one sixth of a farmers annual income if the farm was within their estate, which was known as Bhog or Lagan. Every house and house holder had to pay their Lagan as well, much like council tax. After India’s Independence in 1947 all this authority was taken away from all the Jagirdar.

We have collected this information with our best ability, if we have made any error please let us know so in future we can compile better information for future generations. If any of our Baladians have got any information or any old photographs to accompany the above article we would like to hear from you.