Bonded in History

Author:
Publication: India Today
Date: September 20, 2004

The ASI is doing more than just conserving monuments at the Kumbhalgarh Fort. Officials have for long wanted to shift out about 400 people living in two  small villages inside the fort-one inhabited by Muslims, the other by tribals. The Muslims are descendants of the artisans employed to build the fort. The tribals trace their lineage to the captains in charge of security of the fort. One day, ASI officials who were trying to prevent vandals from defacing the fort were attacked by the miscreants. The Muslim villagers rushed to save the officials and handed over the attackers to the police. "Had it not been for the villagers, I would have been lynched," says D.C. Sharma, conservation assistant.

The ASI has now employed about 100 villagers in the project. Some months later, a Muslim villager helped the ASI and the police recover an idol stolen from the Juna Bhelwara temple inside the fort. The tribal villagers, on the other hand, voluntarily provide drinking water to the workers at the conservation site. With such bonding, the ASI is considering a proposal to convert the two villages into heritage sites with owners running traditional goods shops. Of course, they will have to shift their homes to some other place. The villagers are happy and want to cooperate. "My son earns more now by running a restaurant in the village," says Dungar Singh Ranawat, a tribal villager whose ancestors looked after the security of Kumbhalgarh Fort for centuries.
 

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