MeraPahad Community Of Uttarakhand Lovers

Incidents after Death of Shridev Suman

History of Tehri King Narendra Shah -75
History of Tehri Kingdom (Tehri and Uttarkashi Garhwal) from 1815 –1948- 267 
  History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) – 1516
By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)
    Suman died at the age of 28 years, 2 months and 10 days.
    Chief Minister Maulichandra resigned after the death of Suman. Tehri State established committee for detailing the death of Suman and appointed retired Session Judge Surendra Nautiyal the head of the committee. Badri Datt Pande was heading the enquiry committee on behalf of Lok Parishad. The State Government established the death enquiry and at the same time, took action auctioning the properties of Suman for collecting a fine of Rs.200. Mother of Suman went to put her plea before the Lok Parishad committee in Dehradun. Tehri government terminated the local Malgujar for his incapability for stopping the mother of Suman to Dehradun.
 There was restlessness among freedom fighters at all India level. By that time, it was clear that Suman did not break his fast on11th July.  Jawaharlal Nehru criticized the killing of Suman by cruel Tehri authorities.
After studying the report of the Suman Death committee, the permanent committee of Lok Parishad reached the conclusion that the state government arrested Suman without any sound reason. The treatment by Jail authorities towards Suman was malicious, revengeful and totally inhuman. The Permanent   Committee found that jail authorities did not allow Suman to meet his relatives for 69 days.
 It was clear that King Narendra Shah was cruel in nature who did not stop his staff and he did not allow Suman to meet him in person.  Narendra Shah was totally opposite of Bolda Badrinath (Speaking Badrinath) but in reality, was a demon.
 
References
1-Dabral S.P. Tehri Garhwal Rajya ka Itihas Bhag 2 (new edition), Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda, (1999) page 73 -74
2- Bhakta Darshan, Suman Smriti Grantha p 153
 Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, 2020
 

Various Social Reform Acts in Tehri Garhwal

History of Tehri King Narendra Shah -77
History of Tehri Kingdom (Tehri and Uttarkashi Garhwal) from 1815 –1948- 269
  History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) – 1518
By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)
 In Jaunsar and nearby regions, there was tradition of the polyandry system that is one wife and many husbands.  The Pratinidhi Sabha passed a bill for stopping the polyandry system.. Since, the tradition was suitable for the region and was there for many centuries.  There was another system that the father of a daughter used to take money from the groom side and in that system, many times father used to marry his daughter to an old or disabled man too. Many fathers used to sell their daughters to outsiders too.  The Pratinidhi Sabha banned girls marrying outside of Garhwal.
   In the above regions, there was a simple system of divorce. Pratinidhi Sabha regularised the rules for divorce and started charging Rs, 25 the Divorce Charge.
 Pratinidhi Sabha also passed a bill for stopping children marriages.
References
1-Dabral S.P. Tehri Garhwal Rajya ka Itihas Bhag 2 (new edition), Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda, (1999) page 76
 Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, 2020

Badrinath temple Management

History of Tehri King Narendra Shah -80
History of Tehri Kingdom (Tehri and Uttarkashi Garhwal) from 1815 –1948- 272 
  History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) – 1521
By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)
 Garhwal King was called ‘Bolda Badrinath 'meaning 'Speaking Badrinath Deity’.  Up to 1497,  the Shankaracharya  Establishment used to manage Badrinath temple. However, in the Jaikrti Shah period,  Ghamand Singh started controlling Shrinagar palace and he killed Mahant of Badrinath and offered the management to  Gopla Namburi and made him Rawal. From that day, Rawal used to control the management and tax free villages.
 In  early British period, indirectly, Rawal was parallel King for those villages .Rawal took law and order subject in his hand too (court etc)  and started looting the temple assets . British Government   took action and handed over the management to a local committee (2) The head of that committee used to be DM. However, the said Committee left the management in the hands of Rawal.  Hindi people started a movement against Rawal’s wrong management and their looting. British Government handed over the management to the Tehri King. Tehri  King also handed over the real management of Sadavrat villages (tax free villages) in the hand of local committee. 
Tehri King appointed Rawal and Lekhwar for managing the temple and Villages. Since Tehri was far away from Badrinath and law and order was in the hand of British government it was not possible for Tehri King to administrate temples and Sadvrata villages. Again Lekhwar and Rawal became the real managers and they again started mismanaging and looting the temple assets  (2)
The conclusion is that there was mismanagement and  corruption among mangers of Badrinath temple (Sdavrata Villages income)
References
1-Dabral S.P. Tehri Garhwal Rajya ka Itihas Bhag 2 (new edition), Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda, (1999) page 77
2-Shaligram Vaishana ,  Shri Uttarakhand Rahsya p 149
 Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, 2020

Decision for Avoiding Epidemics

History of Tehri King Narendra Shah -82
History of Tehri Kingdom (Tehri and Uttarkashi Garhwal) from 1815 –1948- 274 
  History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) – 1523
By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)
 There was attack of smallpox in Garhwal in 1939 summer. The disease spread in villages with speed. There was a citizen meeting held on a Kotwali Maidan in Tehri and the people urged the government to take necessary action for avoiding the small pox. Government took necessary actions such as arranging separate arrangements for patients and cleanliness in the cities (2).
 Kirti Shah established a Kushthagrah for leprosy patients near Uttarkashi. Narendra Shah wanted to establish a Kushthagrah ( hospital and boarding house for leprosy patients )  at Semal Tappad or hilltop near Tehri. The citizens opposed the planning . 93)
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References
1-Dabral S.P. Tehri Garhwal Rajya ka Itihas Bhag 2 (new edition), Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda, (1999) page 80
2-Karmabhumi 29th May ,  1937
3Karmabhumi , 25th December 1939
 Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, 2020

Other Reasons for People’s Dissatisfaction

History of Tehri King Narendra Shah -84
History of Tehri Kingdom (Tehri and Uttarkashi Garhwal) from 1815 –1948- 276 
  History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) – 1525
By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)
 There were other reasons for people’s dissatisfaction in Tehri Kingdom.
 There was sizable increase in literacy.  There were 100 Government Primary schools and 160 private schools out of 260 Primary Schools in the state. It was essential for private school to register the school in beginning by paying fees for Rs. 15.  The villagers had to spend money for building etc. There was scarcity of teachers to. The state used to provide teachers with difficulty. (2)
           
Hard Rules for Land sales and Purchase-
There were very hard rules for land sales and purchase in the state.  The people had to pay hefty commission to the government and hefty bribery too for selling the land. Karmabhumi reported (3) that farmer had to pay 34 % the land selling price as commission to the state.

 There were taxes on wine production and gambling. The state was pleased for the sales increase of wine and turnover on gambling. . The state used to offer gambling on contract to outsider.
  Dissatisfactions among people by forest administration-
There high restlessness by new and newer rules about forestry.  The government used to sell tress at lower rates to the contractors than villagers. The Government used to take penalties from the nearby villages for forest the fire.  The same forest wood was costlier in Tehri Garhwal than Haridwar.
Government not supporting Famine  hit people 
 Garhwal has water sources but many times, there is scarcity of rainfall in the region that used to created famine.  In 1940, there was heavy hailstorm and people lost standing crops. The Tehri administration never too decision to support people in need. The Kingdom did not offer tax free too.
   Export and Import Tax –
 People were dissatisfied on export and import tax too.
  Government sold the road on contracts for running buses for public. The Bus contractors were more interested in increasing income than services to the travellers.
The state police was more active in catching the freedom activists than paying little bit attention of protecting the people.  There used to be murder in main centres but police never took those incidents seriously.
 The political agent toured Tehri Garhwal from 15th January to 18th January 1941 and 8th February to 11th February 1941. The police too care that dissatisfied people could not reach to the Political Agent of British government.
 Opening of High Court – The high court offered a punishment to a criminal for death by hanging .This was first decision by court to hang a criminal till death.
 Bara –begar or free labour for Officials.  As per government gazette the free labour from the villagers was stopped but in villages Patwari and police were regularly using villagers for labour. People were dissatisfied by the system too.
  Government was appointing outsiders on higher post of the state services. This was also a dissatisfying point. (1) 

References
1-Dabral S.P. Tehri Garhwal Rajya ka Itihas Bhag 2 (new edition), Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda, (1999) page 80
2-Karmabhumi 31st March, 1941
3- Karmabhumi 31st March, 1941
4- Karmabhumi 1st November 1946
5- Karmabhumi 19th September  1939
 Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, 2020