The Man Who Conquered a Mountain- Dashrath Manjhi

There are many instances in human history when man braved the hurdles of nature which seemed impossible at first. Mountains are seen as modest hurdles which always stood as a challenge to man, that’s why climbing the tallest mountains has been considered a venerated act. But what if one would be told that a man once worked religiously and devotedly for 22 years? And took down a mountain with the help of just one hammer and a chisel, and it was done, all for love.

Manjhi was a man who conquered a mountain for the greater good, Source: Pinterest

Stone and temperature are correlated. It’s a natural science that dictates the terms of human philosophy as well. Theories have been born when a stone hardens into a hard mass of golden or molten bronze due to the conspiracies of temperature and natural surroundings. Mountains are not made overnight. Each particle must enter into a combined reaction of the union to become something stronger and intimidating. It's not easy for a human to become a mountain. The heart would have to be ignored and the mind needs to be hardened with resolve. Only then the cruelties of nature could be endured.

It is said that breaking a mountain is an impossible task and needs combined and concentrated effort. Years ago, a man was born to make an impact and to change all the set conceptions about the resiliency of nature and the powerlessness of humans from it. True, nature is resolute, it gives and takes but humans are also children of nature, and sometimes, conflicts do arise, leading to a disagreement as the human wants to carve out nature’s identity. The greatest example of alienation between cities and villages.

Dashrath Manjhi was never a man who was born, being too sure of himself. He was a simple man, devoted to the faith of his caste who were Mushars, the traditional labourer caste in the hierarchy of caste structure. The Mushars are considered the masters of shovels and hammers, what made Manjhi a legend is that he used his identity as a tiller and labourer to write a chapter in the history of human strength and perseverance, and it all sprouted from love. The love that he bore for his wife who was killed by a mountain.

Dashrath Manjhi was born in 1934 in the Gehlaur village of Gaya district. Manji had quite a disturbing childhood as a result of which he ran away from home during his early teen years, only to work in the mines of Dhanbad in Jharkhand. However, the maturity of adulthood gave insight to Manjhi as he returned to his village and was married off to a woman called Falguni Devi. Falguni was the reason behind Manjhi’s popularity as the ‘mountain man’.

The village of Gehlaur was surrounded by a column of Mesoproterozoic hills which were a part of the southern Rajgir hills. The hills were reported to have 1.6 million years old and were in the living memory of every generation of Gehlaur natives. The hill used to alienate the village from other surroundings where the Mushars were employed like in road construction and so on. Hence every person from Gehlaur had to cross the hill on foot after a long and risky trek to reach the other end.

Dashrath Manjhi, Source: Indiatoday

Manjhi was living a grateful married life with his wife Falguni. The couple seems to have compensated for the chasm of darkness in their respective life and every day, the dutiful wife that Falguni was, she used to bring Manjhi’s lunch to him while he worked laboriously. Unfortunately, one day while bringing lunch, Falguni slipped while crossing the gigantic hill, and by the time she was found by Manjhi, the mountain again came in the way of Falguni to reach the nearest hospital. Falguni Devi succumbed to her injuries while on the way to the hospital. Manjhi considered the mountain who killed her twice and swore to uproot the mountain, with just a tiller and a hammer.

It was the year 1960 when Falguni died and after 22 years, Dashrath Manjhi carved out a fine road from between the unyielding mountain, connecting his village to medical care, and providing access to hope. Though Manjhi’s past attitude and his endeavour of undertaking to bring a mountain down with just a hammer and a chisel made him a subject of mocking ridicule in the village, it was the love and the anger of losing his wife due to a mountain that made the man resilient and unfazed of nature.

Manjhi’s unimaginable pursuit and success gained him popularity which was only material to him. The Bihar government proposed his name for Padma Shree and in 2016, a stamp came out as a tribute to the mountain man from Bihar, who died in 2007 as a result of gallbladder cancer. Manjhi was a simple man who just wanted to avoid the misfortune that he suffered by losing a loved one due to the mountain which was suffocating the development of Gehlaur. Today, Gehlaur is popular as the home of Manjhi and of the mountain which was his enemy.