Why Shaktiman's foot is caught in India's grave history
In the past two days, some very interesting news has emerged from Dehradun.
After a lull, the slain police horse, Shaktiman, is back in the headlines. This time around, the brave horse is not in the news for the torture it underwent or because of its tormentors who are roaming free.
There is a twist in the tail, literally. It is about a memorial that the Uttarakhand government erected to mark the services of the dead horse in Dehradun, but developed cold feet when it came to unveiling it.
The fate of the Shaktiman memorial now hangs in balance as chief minister Harish Rawat does not want to have his name engraved on the unveiling plaque. He says he is leaving the task to the good sense of the next government.
In the first place, Rawat has not done anything new because horse memorials are not uncommon in India, at least, it wasn't during the British Raj and the under the rule of the princely states.
The Shaktiman episode takes me back to the lanes and by-lanes of Hyderabad, which incidentally have more to offer than biryani and haleem. Several historical gems of Hyderabad are tucked away in the old city and the erstwhile cantonment in Secunderabad.
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| After a lull, the slain police horse Shaktiman is back in the headlines. (India Today) |
Of them is a little known place called Ghode Ki Qabr (grave of the horse) in the old city area, ironically called Nai Basti (the new settlement) adjoining Shah Inayat Gunj.
There used to be a white grave of an unknown horse, which, over the decades, has been painted in different shades and has been turned into a mini-shrine, much like a mazar.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the area around the grave was desolate with banyan trees and some huts, but now it is a rather bustling locality, and the mazar has shrunk to a small part.
Ghode Ki Qabr has several stories associated with it. It seems this place was actually a graveyard for dead and incapacitated horses during the reign of the Nizams.
According to another version, the grave is of a faithful horse, which could not bear the loss of its master and died grieving next to his grave. Whatever may be the truth, it is certain that the grave belongs to ancestors of Shaktiman and still stands there.
While Ghode ki Qabr is relatively well-known among inhabitants of old Hyderabad, very few people know about another horse grave in the cantonment area in Secunderabad.
Unlike Ghode Ki Qabr, the history of this grave is documented and there is an epitaph for the dead horse and his master, a British soldier.
The unique horse-master grave commemorating the memory of Lt John Moore and his horse Sultan is located at Plassey Lines in Bowenpally. The two died while jumping over a well and as per Moore's wish, he was interred with his horse, which, like Shaktiman, was part of an army regiment (Native Cavalry).
Moore was just 26 when the incident took place. This happened in July 1807, while the commemoration tablet was erected by the general officer commanding the Madras area in 1913.
It has been reported that Rawat has refused to be associated with the Shaktiman memorial after it was pointed out to him that the statue of a horse without a rider is apparently a bad omen.
In any case, it is only a statue, not a grave like Ghode ki Qabr or the grave of Sultan in Secunderabad cantonment.
By following a 19th century British tradition in "native India", and one made popular by the Nizams, CM Rawat has made sure he is in good company. It could earn him a place in the hallowed history of horse graves in India.