GANDU BABA

http://pratilipi.in/2008/06/the-role-of-dalits-in-the-1857-revolt-badri-narayan/

Matadin Bhangi, a sweeper in the British army at Barrackpore, who is claimed by the dalits to have spearheaded the 1857 revolt since he was the first to make Mangal Pandey, the mainstream nationalist originator of the revolt, aware of the fact that the cartridges were greased with cow fat, has been overlooked by the official record of the revolt. ²³ However that he was not a figment of the imagination of the dalits can be proved by the colonial archives that show that he was hanged to death for participating in the revolt. In the same vein there is another myth about a dalit hero of the 1857 revolt which is popular in the oral memories of the region adjoining Kanpur and Bithoor. This is the myth of Gangu Mehtar who is also known as Gangu Baba. The people of that region say that Gangu Baba was a Bhangi who worked as a drum beater (nagarchi) in the army of Nana Saheb. He was built extremely powerfully and was also a wrestler. He himself owned a wrestling ring where many youths practiced wrestling under his tutelage. During the 1857 revolt Gangu Baba fought against the British along with his students at a place near Satichaura and killed many of them. After the revolt was quelled he was arrested by the British and hanged to death. ²⁴ The story of Gangu baba has transcended from the real world into the ethereal world and there is a popular story about him that is still circulated among the people in the region where he died which establish his supernatural qualities. According to them, after his death when some workers of the British were in the process of constructing a culvert on a drain very close to where he was hanged, his ghost used to materialize every night and smash the construction work that had been done in the day time. The British engineers were puzzled about the identity of the revolutionary Indian hero who had the courage to stand up to them even after the defeat of the Indians in the 1857 revolt. One night Gangu Baba appeared in the dreams of the engineer and told him that the culvert would be completed only after a small pond (chabutara) was constructed at the place where he died and the British had prayed at it. Following his instructions the British constructed a chabutara at the place where he died. It was only after this was done was the culvert successfully completed. ²⁵ Babulal and Mohanlal, two residents of Sudarshannagar in Kanpur narrate in unison that nearly one and a half centuries ago a pond was constructed in Chunniganj, the site of Gangu Baba’s martyrdom, where people lay flowers and offer prayers. It is believed that if they do so before launching a new venture, it will be accomplished successfully. After the venture is successfully completed the devotees once again visit the site to express their gratitude by ringing a bell and offering sindoor. As the belief of the people grew a fair started being organized there, which has now become a regular feature of that region. At present the fair is held near the Bhangi basti in Kanpur. On 3 November 1972 the local people got together and installed a statue of Gangu Baba at that spot. Everyday incense sticks are lighted and flowers are placed with great respect at the feet of the revolutionary hero. ²⁶

Gangu Baba’s story that is popular in the oral history of that region has now become an important part of dalit history that is being used by the educated section of the dalits for asserting their collective dalit identity. The story has been reinterpreted and recreated to fit it into their meta narratives describing the heroic qualities of dalits. Their narrative is as follows:

“Gangadin alias Gangu Pahalwan was a fair complexioned six footer with a wide chest and long arms. His ancestors lived in village Akbarpur, district Kanpur Dehat. Gangu was a highly skilled wrestler and he had set up a wrestling ring and a beautiful garden on a 110 acre land in the village Sattichaura. After the demise of Bajirao Peshwa, when the second Nana Sahib Peshwa became the king of that region, he expanded his army and soldiers from the lower castes were also recruited. Gangu Baba joined the army as a nagarchi.  He used to beat the drum when the soldiers did their march past each day and also practiced all the skills of a soldier along with the others. Later he was promoted to the post of a commander (subedar). Gangadin was one of the most loyal soldiers of Nana Saheb and fought steadfastly against the British shoulder to shoulder with him. Nana Saheb’s army in Bithoor also consisted of a number of soldiers belonging to the Giri castes of the Naga (naked saints who smear ash on their bodies) community. In their company Gangu took to spiritualism and started seeking the company of saints who followed the tenets of Sant Kabir and other nirgun (formless) saints. This also gave him the sobriquet of Gangu Giri.

“When Nana Sahib took control over the canon of Bithoor the name of Gangadin alias Gangu Pahalwan was the most prominent one among his body guards. In addition to fighting, Gangadin was also the Nagarchi who played the huge drums to herald the beginning of a battle. After the arrival of the British these drums were replaced by brass trumpets known as military bands, which were blown at the beginning of a battle. The trumpet blowers and drum beaters also participated in the fight along with the other soldiers. The posts of drum beaters in armies have traditionally been held by Bhangis, an untouchable lower caste to which Gangadin belonged.

“One day in the middle of the 1857 revolt when Gangudin was at the Sattichaura wresting ring a platoon of Nana Saheb’s soldiers came to inform that the British army was on his trail. After some time the British soldiers led by Captain Havelock reached the wrestling ring where they confronted Gangudin and his followers. Ganga taunted the captain by saying that he and the other soldiers were not like the Rajas and Maharajas who ran away when the British army attacked their forts and palaces. They were the original settlers of Bithoor and the land was theirs. Nana Saheb might have come from Poona but the soldiers were local inhabitants. Bithoor belonged to the ancestors of all the Indian soldiers and they would fight till their last breath to defend the land of their forefathers.

“As the British soldiers started firing on Gangu and his soldiers he pulled out his sword from its sheath and pounced on Havelock. But just before he could chop off Havelock’s head the British soldiers surrounded him and directed their forces at him. Bloody and injured, Gangu jumped on his horse and started running towards the pond in Chunniganj. Unfortunately, he fell from his horse on the way. The British soldiers tied him to the horse and dragged him to the makeshift prison for Indian revolutionaries that had been set up in Kanpur and locked him up there. ”

“On the dawn of 5 June 1858 some British soldiers arrived in the prison and tied up Gangu’s mouth with a black cloth. Then they took him to the British Civil Surgeon John Nicholas Tresidar, who conducted his medical check up and photographed him. He was then taken to the forest of Chunniganj with his head covered with a black cape. There he was hanged to death on a neem tree. One end of the rope used as a noose was tied to the tree while the other was tied to a horse. The reins of the horse were then pulled hard which made it start galloping at full speed. This tightened the noose around Gangu’s neck and killed him instantly. When his family members heard of his death they took his body with them and buried it in the wrestling ring so that the future generations could worship him. ”