Temples to a dacoit and his sidekick

He was one of the most dreaded dacoits of India. For close to two decades, he eluded the police of several states and he was finally shot dead only after the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took the initiative and sent a Gurkha regiment that the dacoit could be killed.

This dacoit became a legend not only among the people but also among fellow dacoits. He was India’s answer to England’s Robin Hood. Even after his death he continues to draw awe and inspiration so much so that even Indian cinema’s superstar Amite Bacchant has confessed that the dacoit was his hero when he was a young.

Today, both the dacoit and his side kick, a Brahmin turned dacoit, have temples dedicated to them and they are still worshipped not only by their descendents but also people of the area.

The dacoit is Man Singh and his sidekick is Rope. Both of them were dreaded dacoits of the Chamber and both have temples dedicate to them in the Galion region. These must be among the few dacoits in the world to have temples built after them,  

Man Singh was the archetypal dacoit of the Chambal ravines. He ruled the Chambal Valley between 1940s and 50s.His close aide,  Roopa, a Brahmin-turned-dacoit, who took over the dacoit gang after Man Singh was shot dead, too has a temple in his name.

Interestingly, both the temples are not far away and the temples are similar in design and architecture to any other North Indian temple. They have a  rising shikhara, portico and the inner sanctum sanctorum. The deity in the sanctum is Man Singh in one and Roopa also known as Roopa Singh in the other.

Even to this day, villagers in the valley trudge long distances to pray before the marble busts of these two, perform prayers and seek their blessings.

The priest ate the two temples conduct regular worships and also perform arti. Prasad is also given.

Man Singh and Roopa for the people then and even today are Baghis or rebels and not dacoits. The then State Governments had registered over 100 cases against Man Singh accusing him of everything from murder to dacoity, kidnapping to possessing illegal arms. Police records of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan say that Man Singh was involved in 1112 dacoities, 185 murders, 90 encounters with the police and killing 32 policemen. A Kshatriya, Man Singh took to dacoity after he killed five Brahmins of his village in 1928.

When India became independent in 1947, a general pardon was announced, and for a brief spell, Man Singh  returned to his village. He was feted by his village and given the title Raja Man Singh. But, he soon tired of the regular life and went back to the ravines. His right-hand man, Roopa, and other members escaped but Man Singh and his son Subedar Singh were killed in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh in 1955.

Roopa then took over the reigns of the gang. His real name was Roop Narain Sharma. He joined the gang of Man Singh when he was still young.

He ruled over the Chambal for five years after Man Singh’s death. He was more merciless than his mentor and he is credited with 200 murders. He was killed in an encounter in 1959

The temples to both Man Singh and Roopa were constructed in 1980s and are located in Khera Rathore in Chambal. Both Man Singh and Roopa were born in this village. 

What is astonishing is that while the names of Man Singh and Roopa are well known even today, the man who pumped bullets into Man Singh is forgotten. Of Course, it goes without saying that there is no temple to him.

The Gurkha who killed Man Singh was Babbar Singh Thapa of the Gurkha Regiment.  He had put together a team of 17 Gurkhas to hunt down Man Singh.  They tracked the dacoit to a village called  Lavan in Bhir, Madhya Pradesh.
Man Singh and his son Surendra Singh were killed in the encounter. Babbar Singh was awarded, the prestigious President’s Police Medal for gallantry, by the then President Dr Rajendra Prasad. The Madhya Pradesh Government awarded him Rs 1000.
Babbar Singh died on February 20, 1993.

The temple that inspired the design of Parliament building in Delhi

This is the temple that inspired the British architects to construct the Parliament building in New Delhi.

While Delhi is easily accessible and the impressive Parliament building one of the most photographed monuments in India, the original circular structure has long been forgotten and it is consigned to pages of history.

Though the circular temple is a part of the tourist map, very few venture to see it, partly of its inaccessible location and partly because of  its setting in the dreaded Chambal Valley, the once infamous home of  dacoits.

The temple is just 40 kilometres away from Gwalior, one of the major cities of Madhya Pradesh. Gwalior is very well-connected by rail, road and rail networks.

This is the temple of Chausath Yogini in Garhi Mitawali. This is a temple of Shiva. It is situates atop a 100 feet hillock amid the Chambal Valley.

The Shiva temple is attached to a circular verandah which has 64 different rooms leading to a vast courtyard. When you first see the temple, you think it is a miniature Parliament. The architecture of both the Parliament building this Shiva temple resembles each other very closely.

While British architects-Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker- designed the Parliament building, this temple was designed by the Nag rulers of the area.

The Shiva temple inside the circular structure is also circular in shape. The temple is 170 feet tall. According to an inscription found here, the temple was constructed by Maharaja Deva Pala.It is also known as Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple.

Locals will tell you that Garhi Mitawali is part of the famous Golden Triangle of Chambal Valley which ahs more than 60 important archaeological ruins. Many of the temples are in varying stages of ruins. They belong to the Nag and Gupta rulers.  

The Golden Triangle, in ancient ages, housed a university which taught the tenets of Hinduism. A small town, Bateshwar, was the center of  university education. The students were housed in 100 different temples.

The circular temple of Mitawali  was believed to be the place where astrology and mathematics were taught. This was easy as the rays and shades of the Sun fell n the temple in distinct designs and patterns. By the way, there is a temple dedicated to the Sun god at Ainti village which is three kilometers from Mitawali. The students were housed at the temples of  Padavali and Kakanmath too.

Locals swear that the architecture of the Sun Temple at Padavali is much superior to that of the Sun temple at Khajurao. The only difference, they say, is that this village is much more inaccessible and unknown.

In this temple, the statues are housed outside the Sun shrine. This is also called Garhi or fortress. There are scores of carvings related to Rama, Krishna. Dashavatars of Hari, Shiva in dancing form or Nataraja and Mahabharata. They were built by the Guptas.

The beauty of these carvings is that they look like they have been executed a few years ago only and not centuries earlier. There are a few erotic images too.

Fifteen kilometers from Mitawali is Kutwar or Kuntidar, the native of Kunti-the mother of Pandavas. There are no sings of the ancient ruins here except a well which is believed to be more than 3,000 years old.  There is also a dam built by the Scindias who ruled the area with Gwalior as their capital.

Twenty kilometers from Kutwar is the village of Sehonia where houses the magnificent Kakanmath temple.

The temple is pyramidical in style and construction and the stones are kept in such a way that they form a pyramid. No cement or any their bonding materials has been used and this is a wonder in architecture.

The temple is believed to be more than one thousand years old. There are idols and statues of several Hindu God and Goddesses around the structure which rises majestically to a height of one hundred feet.

Sehonia is also a centre of Jain pilgrimage. You can visit all these places in the Chambal by basing yourself at Gwalior. All these places come under Morena district. There are more than 100 temples in the valley. Eminent historian and archaeologist Alexander Cunningham visited many of these temples and old cities and stayed in Gwalior for five years.   

Want to know more about the legendary dacoits such as Paan Singh Tomar and the beautiful temples. Take a private taxi and go around the Chambal and enjoy its natural beauty. They are a visual treat.