कांगड़े दा टीला ओ माता, गर्वे सिंघे घेरिया। अकबर कांगड़े चढ़ आया ओ मेरी माँ। सुत्ती ऐ की जाग दी तू, जाग अम्बे रानिये। गर्वे ने पाई लिया घेरा ओ मेरी माँ। A very famous bhajan from Kangra of Mata Bajreshwari Devi, remembered often across north-west India today, talks of the Kangre da Tilla or the Mound of Kangra, referring to the place where Bajreswari Devi is present. She is popularly also know as Kangra Mata, and the legend is that the place was set up by burying the kaan or ear of an asura who was killed by the Pandavas on the orders of the Devi. There are such bhajans for other major temples in the region as well, but as a history enthusiast, this one often draws my attention. The story of Kangra is as much the story of the civilizational wounds that the plains experienced; or perhaps it was worse, given how many times temple desecrations were made a conscious strategy. This song, at some level, seems to pass on the memory of one such gory experience that was witnessed by the peopl...
Barselas of Mandi (Picture Credit: The Off.Info) We are told innumerable stories about what the custom of Sati or widows burning themselves on the funeral pyre was. A horrible practice interestingly, and one that needed to be abolished from the face of this earth given its sheer cruelty and misogyny. However, of late, a lot of revisits have happened that certainly question the prevalence of the custom itself. Professor Meenakshi Jain has written a tome on the subject, and other books exist too. It is interesting however to revisit some of the so called narratives to understand just how frequent or how extensive it really was. Banning something that was neither widespread in geography or in demography seemed a great case being built up to promote India as a backward, barbaric civilization - that is a near certainty that needs not much evidence to prove. Let me in that case also quote an interesting anecdote recorded by a British traveller G T Vigne, while travelling ac...