Ghost at Vaidya Khui - Pragpur (HP)

 

 

Naani continued another day with a new story with all of us kids listening attentively………..

 

Scene 1

 

"The sleepy little town of Pragpur was founded in the middle of the 18th century to honour the princess of the Jaswan clan. The latter ruled this territory after their break up from the mother Kingdom of Kangra in about 12th century. The powerless Jaswan clan was occasionally lorded over by the more powerful Kangra kingdom of Katoch. Also the Muslim/Mogul armies passed by it to conquer the Kangra Fort a few times in the history. Otherwise Jaswan have had a peaceful existence.

The Suds/Soods who call Jaswan/Pragpur etc. home, arrived in Jaswan after the Muslim atrocities in the plains of Punjab reached an alarming proportion after Ahmad Shah Abdali's multiple invasions. Each times, Muslim armies left Lahore, the West Punjab's capital intact, as it was a Muslim majority city. Instead they headed straight to Sirhind, the Eastern Punjab's capital, seat of governance and a Hindu city. They came after the material wealth of the very prosperous Hindu community and to kidnap women and children for trade in Baghdad & Basra markets. The Suds/Soods left the Sirhind town immediately after his last invasion around 1761 AD.

 

The kind Raja of Jaswan welcomed them and resettled the Suds/Soods in many areas including Pragpur. Prior to their arrival, the land owners of this area hadn't had much luck with prosperity as much of the land was hilly tract which was unable to produce good crops.  The Suds/Soods were expected to change that with trade and clever money management.

Here the Suds/Soods earned more money, opened up Shimla trade, built palatial houses for themselves and invested in infrastructure to make life more meaningful. The surrounding villages had a mix of Brahmin, Rajput, Dogra and other craftsmen's population base. They had been there for ages. The landowners were a bit more prosperous but others eked a meagre life. The Suds/Soods never interfered with the social make up of the area, rather mixed freely with them. With their emergence as prime traders in Shimla, the Suds/Soods brought additional wealth to this area.

 

Pragpur & Girlie

Pragpur and Girlie are twin towns, only three miles apart (both are equally prosperous) but in between lays a wide seasonal stream - Nakki, which during the rainy season made crossing difficult. During other times the streambed is dry, hence it is crossed most of the time without getting your feet wet. It is during the rainy season that one has to wait for days to let the fury of the stream to subside before crossing could be made. If the rains continued for a while then the crossing was difficult during the duration.

 The twin towns are both Sud/Sood towns with population base sharing cultural, religious and social events.

  

Scene 2

 

Towards the end of the nineteenth century Bansi Lal and his family of Brahmins also lived in the town of Pragpur and looked after the religious and cultural needs of the population base. They also maintained the local Thakurdwara. Bansi Lal was old hence he had handed over most of the affairs of the Thakurdwara to his sons and he looked after the religious needs of the people by visiting them and or functioning as a priest at weddings, birthdays and other social events. He at times was gone for days as communications were harder and religious functions like weddings lasted days. There he could eat, talk and laugh his heart full as Suds/Soods welcomed him with open arms. For his services he was rewarded well, hence he preferred this line of work as opposed to acting as a priest at the Thakurdwara.  He always let his family know in advance that he would be gone for days.

 

One such occasion was in the month of Ashoj (September-October), in which each family remembered its ancestors and offered feast and gifts to a Brahmin family. This religious remembrance - the "Sharaads" lasted fourteen days.

 

The more prosperous Suds/Soods offered bigger feasts and more gifts. During this time, the Brahmin priests were in great demand. They usually went from house to house feasting and collecting gifts. Pundit Bansi's son looked after the interests of Pragpur people and Bansi himself went out of town to places wherever he got invited to. This season he was invited to Garlie's Sud/Sood community. For the foregoing he would be gone for days; hence his wife packed his clothes but did not pack food and water, as Girlie was only a few hours walk.

On the third day of the Sharaad period, the Brahmin took leave from his family and set out to cross the stream Nakki before the rains came and made crossing difficult. The rains were not waiting for the old Brahmin to get started. It came earlier than expected hence the Brahmin hurried to cross the Nakki. Hardly did he know that the large catchments area of the stream had already received heavy rains and it was beginning to flood. As he reached the banks of the stream, seeing too much water, the Brahmin decided to wait for the rain to stop and water to recede before he crossed it.  Since it had been raining continuously, he decided to take shelter under the big "Barh"- Banyan tree beside a shallow disused well popularly known in the area as "Vaidya Khui". People usually waited under this tree when the Nakki was in a flood state and crossed it when it subsided.

 During this period, it so happened that it rained for many days and nights, making Nakki crossing difficult. The poor Brahmin kept sitting on the banks of the stream waiting for it to recede.  It was in no mood to recede.

 

First day of his wait, the Brahmin felt hunger pangs in his stomach, as he had not eaten anything since morning, assuming that he would be feasted on his arrival at Girlie, he tried to ignore the hunger pangs. The day passed into night and the Nakki and the rain showed no sign of abating. It was a difficult time for the poor Brahmin's stomach. But he managed to get over that by imagining food being served at the feast and he savouring all that tasty food.  He was daydreaming.

 

The household he was heading to in Girlie had invited multiple Brahmins to the feast; hence missing Bansi Lal was no big deal. They assumed that he was unable to cross the stream and may have returned home.

Here at his own house they all assumed that old Bansi was at Girlie. In fact he was waiting on the banks of the Nakki.

Returning home unfed was not in the nature of old Bansi. He was a determined sort of person. He wished to wait out the rain and reach his destination ultimately. On the second day it kept raining and the stream stayed in spate. Hunger pangs in his stomach did not disappear, but he kept thinking of the food awaiting him on the next Sharaad day at another house. These thoughts kept his mind off food a bit. He drank water, lots of water to fill his stomach. It was a ruse to trick his stomach.

By now the Brahmin had gone without food for three days and he felt weak and was unable to walk around. The rain showed no sign of abating and the old Brahmin showed no sign of relenting. He kept on thinking more and more about the food he would savour at his destination.

 Like this fourth, fifth, sixth days passed. By then the old Brahmin had gone very weak. It was still raining and the Nakki stayed in spate. He could hardly breath and could not open his eyes. Lack of food for seven long days on 60 years old Brahmin had done a job. He could not think straight. Some paranormal thoughts began to come to his mind. He began to dream himself in the company of Angles in the lands of milk & honey.

Whatever was happening to him was not something which normal human beings experience. He was close to his death, but his mind would not leave the thought of food.

 

Completely weakened, he breathed his last under the tree on the seventh day of his wait".

 Naani paused a bit and began to see reaction on children's face. They were attentive, but could not understand the connections in the story. That part was coming next:

 

Hence Naani continued:

 

"Old Bansi's spirit had become a ghost. Since his thoughts were in food, hence his spirit continued to search for food

 

His family found him a day later at the Vaidya Khui after the rains had stopped. Only then they realised that he had waited for the Nakki to abate for so many days. They performed his last rites and served food to the whole village to calm down his soul.  But unfortunately it would not calm. His spirit resided at Viadya Khui up on the big tree and searched for food.

The ghostly spirit did not bother anybody, as the old Brahmin was a gentle soul. This spirit's only preoccupation was to find food hence it would descend down from its imaginary abode up on the tree at night to grab the food, if it were left under the tree. His family to calm his spirit down would regularly leave food there. Over a period of time others including the neighbours began to do the same. At times people reported seeing a shadow at night walking around the trunk of the tree searching for food. This spirit had no quarrel with anybody hence it bothered none. But travellers passing by it, late in the evening or at night, often reported its presence.  They were scared first but often ignored it. Smarter people of the twin towns who did not believe in ghosts and spirits often ignored it. Most people aware of the spirit/ghost at the tree would not pass by it after the nightfall. This phenomenon although well known at Pragpur as well as Girlie, was unknown outside the twin towns. Out of town travellers who passed by it at night were unaware of the gentle spirit residing on the tree.

 

At this Naani Stopped and she would begin another day, but kids would not let her stop in the middle. Then she continued ………

 

Scene 3

 

Bhola & Nathu were the two roughnecks of a village few miles east of Pragpur. They terrorised the villages in their vicinity and often took away things, which did not belong to them. People in the villages did not like them but being Brahmins, they refrained from harming them.

Unknown to the Pragpur residents, they had set their sites on their habitat for their next nefarious act. Their plan was to break and enter the house, which was nearest to the pathway leading to the Nakki. This act they would undertake on the "Amabasia Night", when it was pitch dark outside. The aforementioned pathway outside this house would make their quick get away easy. The Nakki stream was dry at that time of the year hence they would walk right across it. They surveyed the area and zeroed on the house of Lala Pirthu Ram, a prosperous merchant of Pragpur. He had built a palatial house for himself and his family. All outside appearances also lead the two burglars to believe that their take would be good. They planned it well and stored their tools of trade in the vicinity. All they needed was a fix on the number of inhabitants in the house on the day of the burglary. They also wished to know approximately where everybody slept at night. Pretending to be firewood collectors in the jungles, they began to visit the area to sell the firewood they had collected. In this way they managed to have a good fix on people residing in the house.

During their sale and haggling they became aware that Lala Pirthu Ram would be away in next few days. They also found out that one of his sons slept at the business location to keep it safe from burglars and his other son had quarters upstairs in the house. The mother slept downstairs closer to the family's strong room. Hence the burglars decided not to touch the rooms where the mother or others slept but would enter the house via the other rooms. Since lighting at night was primitive hence they were sure that as soon as the oil lamps inside the house went off, it was pitch dark inside.

 

Soon when everybody went to sleep, the burglars went to work to break and enter. The tools they had hidden in the vicinity became useful. In addition they wore disguises.

 

Quickly they were inside the house and they began to grab anything of value. Their movements outside and inside the house were so quite that nobody either in the house or in the vicinity heard anything. Very soon Bhola & Nathu had their fill and decided to make their getaway. They quietly left the house with loads of stolen goods on their heads and took the pathway to Nakki via the Vaidya Khui.  They rejoiced over an easy job they had done.

 

For a moment they rested at the Vaidya Khui.

 

The Brahmin's spirit up on the tree watched them and decided to do something about their misdeed. It came down the tree and listened to them converse on the flawless job, they together had pulled. The pious man, the Brahmin and his spirit did not like what they had done and began to make noises around the tree. It startled the two burglars and they began to look around. That was when they began to see a paranormal object going around the tree and making noises. At times it would take different shapes. The forgoing surprised the already scared duo. In their past career of thievery they had never witnessed anything like that. Their faces turned white as that paranormal shape approached them. There was only one thing left to do i.e. leave the loot and run as fast as they could. That was what they ended up doing.

As they were running away, the spirit began to chase them. It would take abnormal shapes and sometime get ahead of them and sometime fall behind them. This paranormal happening continued until they reached the banks of the Nakki and only then it left them alone. But the duo kept running until they reached the other side of the stream. It was a good half a mile run.  They stopped only after reaching the other side. Huffing and puffing, they looked back. As they looked they saw nothing. Now they began to wonder whether a ghost or a spirit had been chasing them all along. This was their first paranormal experience.

The lesson, which the old and dead Brahmin's spirit taught them, would not to be forgotten easily. The duo forgot about their loot at the Vaidya Khui, as they dared not to go back, lest the spirit chase them again. So the loot remained there until the next morning when the word spread about burglary at Lala Pirthu Ram's house. That family found everything intact where the burglars had left it. The family was glad to get their belongings back but began to wonder, who the burglar's were.

Unable to forget their experience, Bhola and Nathu came back a few days later to Pragpur and admitted that they were the burglars. In fact they came to relate their paranormal experience they had witnessed at the Vaidya Khui. Their admission of guilt and promise of future good behaviour stood heavily in favour of Lala Pirthu Ram not reporting the crime to the authorities.

 Since then it was well known that at the Vaidya Khui tree at night, the old Brahmin's spirit still searches for food. Quite a few people have witnessed that. Hence it had become a custom for the Pragpur people to leave some food under the tree whenever they can. Also the legend of the old Brahmin's spirit had been allowed to perpetuate. It helped to prevent future burglars from their misdeeds or children running away from their homes at night etc. Nobody for a long time would dare to go to the Vaidya Khui at night.  They all were afraid of running into the dead old Brahmin's spirit.

It is a hundred years since this incident; the town of Pragpur has grown into a much larger town. A motor-able road passes in front of the same tree; also part of the shopping district and hustle and bustle of the town has been relocated to the area of Vaidya Khui and the tree. The above tale has been forgotten. The Vaidya Khui (the well) has been filled up, although the tree is still intact. The new settlers are completely unaware what happened there only a few generations back.

 

So the Naani finished her tale and we all went to sleep a bit happy that a spirit stopped two burglars from getting away with their loot. Crime has its own unique ending. In this case two burglars were refined.

 

We would hear another story next time when Naani is back.

 

 

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