1000 Ton Gold Treasure Hunt at Daundiya Kheda, Unnao - ASI Begins Excavation for Buried Treasure

- Harish Jharia

An unknown sadhu Swami Shobhan Sarkar of Sri Shobhan Ashram, Daundiya Kheda, Unnao, reportedly had a dream that the ex-local ruler Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh talked to him. The raja told Shobhan Sarkar in his dream, about a huge golden treasure buried under a mound in the premises of the royal fort situated at Daundiya Kheda, Unnao, now in ruins.

This information about sadhu’s dream has not been disclosed by Swami Shobhan Sarkar himself, who has not come in front of cameras or spoken to the media as yet. Instead, his disciple Swami Om ji Awasthi is speaking on his behalf. The spokesperson has informed that the highly respected local seer Shobhan Sarkar had told the Union minister Charan Das Mahant that the country’s financial troubles will be eradicated if the gold was excavated and deposited in the government treasury. 

It is further reported that consequently, the central government directed the district magistrate of Unnao on September 3 to for making arrangements for the excavation. On the directives of the district administration and the government, a team of the ASI officials surveyed the area indicated by the saint. The ASI spokespersons subsequently said that they had found signs of the presence of the nonmagnetic / nonconductive material / metal at 15-20 metre depth. Some TV channels reported the depth as 15 – 20 feet.

Eventually, Shobhan Sarkar performed a pooja at the spot before the sunrise and excavation started by ASI personnel on 19 October 2013. By that time the unknown village Daundiya Kheda of Unnao district, captured a prominent place on the world map. TV crews journalists of print media from all over the world, converged at this hamlet inhabited by poor farmers and farm laborers. 

What are dreams:

The sadhu says that he has seen a dream and talked to Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh. Firstly you cannot see anybody without light and without your eyes open. You cannot see the king if he is not present in front of your eyes and thoroughly illuminated for the human eyes to form an image on the retina. In fact dreams are sensations of the thoughts that human brain keeps thinking in deep sleeps. If the sadhu has dreamt about a treasure-trove, that means he must be thinking about some treasure buried underground. It has nothing to do with any real treasure. 

Read more about dreams: Do we really see and watch dreams while sleeping…? 

Is the story of treasure-trove dream true or fake:

This is the first question that flashes in our mind when we come across this medieval theory of a sadhu dreaming about a treasure-trove of a king who lived 160 years back. The king appears in person in the year 2013 and tells the sadhu about the exact location as precise as the area of a small room ie 10’ x 10’. 

The most unbelievable part of the episode is the unit of weight declared by the sadhu and that is in ‘Tons’. The sadhu claims that the treasure has 1000 Ton gold. In other reports TV news bulletins were also talking of 2500 Tons of gold. It looks as if all of these people are making fool of we Indians and the Indian government has acted in yet more thoughtless way by ordering the excavation.

Now, it is left to the readers to decide whether the treasure-trove story is true or fake.

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Kedarnath Temple - a victim of human encroachment and abuse

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Have you ever wondered what was the government doing when thousands of pilgrims died at Kedarnath Shrine? What was the real reason for the abrupt devastation of the villages and carnage of human lives? Here are the answers for your questions on this natural disaster failure of government, in this article.   

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             The devastated Kedarnath shrine

- Harish Jharia

The Kedarnath Temple is located at a height of 3,583 m (11,755 ft), situated at 223 km from Rishikesh and is believed to be constructed on the shores of Mandakini River, a tributary of Ganges. Mandakini River has since changed its course and currently the temple is practically standing in the middle of the riverbed. The riverbed is situated at the bottom of huge valley with high mountains and a glacier at its sides. It received mammoth amount of water and silt as a result of prolonged heavy rains and melting of glacier snow, flowing along the huge mountain slopes.  

            Kedarnath temple 150 years back

Because of the above mentioned geographical conditions in the valley, the river might be flowing 6 to 10 foot deep in the rainy seasons. That might be the reason that the architects and builders of Kedarnath temple constructed it at a 15 to 20 foot high solid platform from the riverbed level. The plinth height of the temple is clearly visible in the photograph taken approximately 50 years back somewhere around 1950-60.  

        Kedarnath temple 50 years back

Kedarnath temple is an impressive stone structure constructed at some unknown period.  Some schools of thoughts believe that the structure was constructed in the 8th Century AD, when Adi Shankara visited this place. Some other scholars think that the Kedarnath temple was built by the Pandavas in Mahabharata period. 

               Kedarnath temple before floods 

Whosoever might have built the temple, but it is sure that it was definitely built exclusively for religious purpose. It was not built for tourism and with commercial motives.

              Kedarnath temple after floods 

Let us list out the ways Uttarakhand people, its governments and the governments of the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh of which Uttarakhand was a part, kept exploiting the Hindu religious shrine that ended up in the recent disaster and human massacre:

1. The Kedarnath shrine was left unattended and left free-for-all to buy land around the temple and construct various structures, making the shrine a crowded place.
2. All types of commercial activities were permitted in the structures constructed around the temple making it a market place. 
3. No free space was left around the temple and the buildings were constructed in close proximity of the temple, thereby, reducing the dominance of the highest seat of Hindu religion. 
4. The roads leading to the Kedarnath shrine were unprotected as there was no proper reinforcement provided at the edges and along the slopes down to the deep valleys. 
5. Even sufficient margins were not left between the road and the deadly edges of valleys for safety against falling of commuting vehicles and damages to the road due to landslides at the edges. 
6. The houses, shops, hotels and dharmshalas of Kedarnath town were built right at the edges of the river banks and that of the valleys making them vulnerable to devastation due to floods and landslides.  
7. No stone or concrete structures were built around Kedarnath temple that could have diverted the flow of water, stones, pebbles and rubbles away from the temple structure. 
8. The height of the base platform (15’ to 20’), on which the temple was built, had not been maintained through the last known 150 years. Resultantly, tons of silt was allowed to deposit on the earth / riverbed elevating its height almost equal to the base platform of Kedarnath temple. 

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How the ‘Indian Joint Family’ System Emerged and Eventually Broke Down: A Different Perspective

 Pindari Horseman: Courtesy Wikipedia Website

© Harish Jharia

Somewhere between 17th and 18th century the joint family system predominantly became a part of the Indian family life. It flourished even in the 19th century and continued for decades even after independence of India from the British rule. 

I think the institution of joint family might have established for the first time, out of compulsion of security and safety of the frequently migrating families from one kingdom to the other. Such frequent migrations were taking place during the continued wars between native rajas, Muslim invaders, and the British forces after the downfall of Mughals.

Huge crowds of people had to migrate from the invaded areas to the nearest safe places. Or else, continued staying back depending on their militant capabilities, strength and wealth to defend them and safeguarding the chastity of their women folk.  These states of uncertainty and insecurity in public life forced the members of the affected families to keep themselves integrated together. Bigger families with a dozen plus members were considered much safer than the smaller families of 2 or 3 members. 

The crowds of migrating families were attacked by dacoits and other professional looters like Pindaries. Pindaries were believed to have been engaged by native kings for supplying food, other requirements and logistics to their armies; whereas, their main profession was looting travelers, their homes and even whole villages that were not protected by any kingdom.  They were believed to have indirect protection from the native rulers and were suspected of sharing booties of loots with some small rulers, Malguzars and Jagirdars. 

There was almost no social security, in those days, because of unchecked plundering and looting of families and homes. Resultantly, people used to construct big houses enclosed from all the sides with a courtyard in the center and rooms around it. Each couple of parents had 5 to 12 children and members of three to four generations used to live together in a house. Most of the houses used to have members as many as 20 to 40. The adult males were well trained in martial arts and fighting with all sorts of weapons including firearms in order to combat with looters, dacoits and other invaders.   

The fear of insecurity was at its climax until the permanent establishment of the British Raj. The law and order situation improved when the British government imposed strict laws and enforced them forcefully. Around the end of 1816, Lord Hastings was assigned the task by the British Empire to exterminate and eliminate the professional looters Pindaris. As per the details available on Wikipedia Website, a huge army of more than 120,000 men and 300 artillery cannons was deputed under his command. 

Hastings fought the Pindari war for a year from January 1818 until the beginning of 1819. It is reported that at the end of the Pindari War, the Pindari chiefs surrendered to the British forces and their activities of theft, looting and plundering were completely stopped.  

The system of joint family continued to survive even after Indian independence until around Nineteen Fifties to Nineteen Seventies. The main reason behind the continuance was inadequate social securities in the rural areas where the law enforcement regime of the Indian government was ineffective. The Malguzars, Jagirdars, small kings like Rao Sahebs and Ex Maharajas were running their proxy governments and the Indian police forces had no direct control over these royal and semi-royal families. 

Nevertheless, the joint family system started breaking down in the urban areas where there was no control of these ex royals and the social security was much better. We wrongly thought that the mentality and attitude of the new generation had changed and the love, affection and compassion in the youngsters had vanished. Nevertheless the reason was different. It was the requirement of the day for the youngsters to venture out for earning their livelihood. At the same time there was no compulsion of being together all the time to fight with any intruder. 

In olden days, we followed the system of joint families because of the requirement at that time. Today, we have developed the new system of satellite families and a nucleus family with the parents keeping themselves equally attached to their youngsters. Nevertheless, we will have to be extremely careful against any chances of our parents landing in Old Age Homes. 

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Disclaimer: This article is written based on my personal observations and on the information collected from the media. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on athletic or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in. 
- Harish Jharia
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eNovel: Patthar Kii Ibaarat (Script of Stone): Opening Page

This novel has been rewritten and published by Notion Press, Chennai...

it has already launched in the market 

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The 1st ever Hindi action thriller written in a book form:
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You may buy “Patthar Kii Ibaarat” from any of the following shopping sites...

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Exclusively written for “Discover Life”

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उपन्यास: पत्थर की इबारत : 
“Patthar kii Ibaarat” (Script of Stone)

© Harish Jharia
  
We usually discuss about human life. We strive to solve our day-today problems. We investigate and uncover secrets of the complex phenomenon of human nature. We scan our present days, we stir our future and turn back the pages of our past to reveal hidden treasures of our civilizations.

Yet, we just forget about the human life that survived for centuries, before the days recorded in our history books and religious scriptures.

Let us not ignore those prehistoric days when the human race learned to live a life that was different from their primitive days and that eventually laid-down the foundations for the civilization that we inherited.

Let us visualize the life, thinking, feelings, sufferings and struggle and the environment in those days well before the institution of religion came into being and the contemporary holy god-men discovered the entity of God the almighty in different divine ways at different places on this planet.

Come along, mount on-board the time machine and get navigated to the ages as far back as 2500 years from now...

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उपन्यास: पत्थर की इबारत (eNovel: Script of Stone)

"Discover Life" पर पेश है यह उपन्यास जो सीरियल में प्रकाशित किया जा रहा है…

© हरीश झारिया

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Is Religion Relevant Today?

© Harish Jharia

With my deep belief, regards and respects for all the religions in the world including in my own religion Hinduism, I recognize this widely asked question, in a global perspective, as to why this question is arising in the minds of people in current times.

Why have we started analyzing religions under scanners? Is it because modern operators of different religious bodies, institutions and organizations, are drifting from the fundamental guidelines based on which the religions were formed?

Commercialization of religion, use of religious inclination for terrorism and dividing the world community are the negative aspects of practicing religions. Some people are exploiting religions for antisocial and inhuman activities that go against well-being of human kind for which the religions were discovered.

Initially the basic purpose of introducing religions was to civilize the barbaric humans in prehistoric era. Different religions were discovered by different ‘god-men’ at different parts of the globe. However, I firmly believe that all the religions were introduced almost at the same period… same century.

All the religions preach right ways of life and the code of conduct for all the religions are also almost same:

1. Be good, do good, speak good
2. Don’t betray
3. Love your neighbor, coworker, clan
4. Get social recognition for men-women living together
5. Marry someone other than your blood-linage
6. Follow decency
7. Don’t steal property of others
8. Earn your own livelihood
9. Provide shelter to week people
10. Oppose torture against other living beings
11. Etc…etc…

All the religions preach almost same philosophy; nevertheless, followers of different religions claim their own religion as better than the other. People have reduced going to the places of worship, they try to avoid following traditions as most of then do not match with the modern lifestyles.

Practicing religion has now limited itself to celebrating festivals with pomp and show and in extravagant style with the least religious formalities. They buy new clothes, get their houses painted, and few people even venture out on pilgrimage.

In view of the above the importance of religion appears to be for keeping the followers together and share celebrations and struggles of life with one another. Successively people are getting used to the new point-of-view towards religions. People of different religions, races, faiths and regions are coming closer to one another and now it is the HUMANITY that is reigning supreme and dominating over all other age-old discrimination aside.

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