- Gujarati News
- Local
- Gujarat
- Kutch
- Anjar
- Seven Hundred Years Ago, The Population Of Kumbhariya Village Was More Than Two Thousand, Today Only 20 People Live! That Too To Serve The Gods
AnjarAn hour agoAuthor: Piyush Ahir
- Copy link
Village Library
- Mithya Rah Na Devrishi Vani: The curse of saints and sages destroyed the village known as Chhoti Mumbai.
- There was also a gold market, a lock factory, and an English school in this village
- With a population of 20 people and more than 35 temples, the village soil is buried in inexhaustible treasures but the water has dried up.
Gurjar Kshatriyas from Rajasthan i.e. people of Mistry community settled the village on the land given by the Maharave of Kutch 5 centuries ago, hence the name Kumbharia! The village of Kumbharia, which once suffered from Jahojlali, was completely destroyed due to a curse and when Divya Bhaskar’s team visited after finding out interesting and unknown things, there was a festivity everywhere.
An English school turned into a village ruin
Seven hundred years ago the population was more than 2000
Ruins are ruins except for a few temples and only six surviving houses… Seven hundred years ago there were more than 2000 inhabitants, today only 2 people live. But as if the rubble of the house has collapsed! A ground report was done by Divya Bhaskar at Kumbhariya village, 18 km from Anjar. In which the facts that raised tears came to the fore.
Now only the temples remained intact in the village
The Maharao of Kutch allocated land for living
Approximately 600 years ago, people of the Gurjar Kshatriya community known as Mistris came from Rajasthan to Dhaneti in Bhuj taluka and the then Maharao of Kutch allotted land to these highly skilled artisans. The village was named Kumbharia as people of the Mistry caste lived on that land keeping Kumbh.
During Gaekwad’s time, railways and education were greatly expanded
About 300 years ago during the reign of Raja Gaikwad of Vadodara, the prevalence of railways and education increased greatly and as the people of Kumbhariya village could lay railway tracks well, artisans were called for the development of railways in Gujarat and other places on condition of good remuneration. So those artisans worked there and brought a lot of wealth to the village and stored it in their houses, and there was a very rich agriculture as a sweet water river flowed in this village.
Kumbharia village was addressed as Chhoti Mumbai
The village at that time had more than 35 temples, a Jharukho with Chabutra for keeper, two separate English medium primary schools for girls and boys, a state-of-the-art 2-storied library, 16 gold shops, 11 large gajan raskus shops, vaults and lock making factories. Because of this, people from nearby villages but also from rich towns like Anjar used to come to this village for shopping. and addressing Kumbharia village as Chhoti Mumbai.
Stones are also made of fossils
Looking at the condition of the surviving houses in this village, speaking to the local residents, it was found that people have demolished the old houses in search of buried treasure. Due to which only stones are seen as remnants of those houses today. Those stones are also made of fossils. According to the locals, when houses were demolished in search of treasure, many people also received treasure. Today only 6 houses and a population of 20 people live in this village. Which is also engaged for the service of more than 35 temples in the village. In which there are 4 houses belonging to Mistry, 1 Brahmin and 1 blacksmith-carpenter caste.
The curse of Mahant made the village miserable
Talking to Mahant Amardasji Maharaj of the ancient Khakhchok temple of the village, he said that these incidents took place about 100 to 125 years ago, (1) According to folklore, Mahant Tilakdasji Maharaj spoke to the villagers to bury him near a well known as Kamaro Kuvo. But the villagers did not believe this and cremated the mahant in the nearby crematorium, along with this cremation, the water from the Kamaro well dried up and the water disappeared from the village floor, (2) Another legend has it that a mahant named Alkhia Bawa came with 300 idols. The traders were asked to take the responsibility of organizing the Jamaat, but the Mahant was angry and cursed when they did not accept it. (3) According to another folklore, Ramcharandasji Maharaj was cursed to become a forest after a rich man of the village insulted him and asked him to leave after giving 60 koris as alms. The duration of these curses is 100 years, so now the old days of the village seem to be drawing to a close. (4) Nitingiri, the priest of the Nageshwar temple in the village, said that seven hundred years ago, Lakhigiri Dada was in the village, but for some reason he went to the village of Mandukhe with his head turned upside down and took samadhi while alive. As soon as grandfather left, the plight of the village started.
Even today, at the auspicious time, we give milk in the village
In this regard, village elder Savitaben Damodarbhai Rathod said that there was a Naga Bawa in the village. He was only a milk father but at one time no one gave him milk. So, because of his curse, the village has become like this today. So even today, when any auspicious work is done in the village, we first give milk to all four directions of the village. Only then do good deeds.
Studying but still not getting the correct conclusion
Jaideep Singh Vaghela and Dhruvaraj Singh Ghanshyam Singh Vaghela (Jakhotra) of the Kutch Research Society, who were present in the ground report of Divya Bhaskar and have been studying the village for the last 6 years, said that they have studied the village from different angles for the last 6 years. But it seems there is still time to draw conclusions about the exact history of the village. The area is a must see for its antiquity, it is full of fossils and the richness of the Mistry is evident when looking at the village.
If you get the water of Narmada, you will get rid of the curse
In this regard, Sarpanch of the village Laljibhai Lakhabhai Ahir said that after the earthquake, a new village has been built first from the river. In which people of different castes live. Due to lack of water, the village is dependent on dry farming and drinking water is obtained from Sinugra. It has been 100 years since the curse of the village and it has been announced that a sub-canal of Narmada will emerge from the village. If this sub-canal is opened, the old days of the village will return, the agriculture will be very prosperous and the curse will also be freed.
At the time of the Maharao’s daughter’s marriage, Jana, who came from Mumbai, was given a funeral in Kumbhariya
Speaking about this village which is easy to navigate and wealthy, the principal of the primary school Kaushikbhai Patel said that at the time of the marriage of the daughter of the Maharao of Kutch, the jaan from Mumbai was brought to Kumbhariya and ghee was stored in the well of the village for it. The primary school in the village was established in the year 1888, which means English schooling started in the village 134 years ago. It is also known from the village that the people of a generation ago spoke English well. There was so much wealth in the village that Muslim Theban people were brought to the village to guard it, it has been heard while walking around the village.
I have seen the village fall, and even moved
About this, about 88-year-old Dayarambhai Naranbhai Rathod, the elder of the village, said that there was a very prosperous agriculture in the village, I was also connected with agriculture. The village was so rich that there were about 1000 houses, none of which were single storied, only 2 or 3 storied houses were seen, but in Samvat 1996 i.e. 79 years ago there was such a drought that we had to leave the village and move elsewhere. Wherever the railway line went, the natives of the village reached there, so even now there are a large number of villages in areas like Raipur, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, Calcutta, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh. I was also a victim of migration and lived in Chhattisgarh for almost 35 years.
Locks and safes made by village artisans were popular at the time: two keys were required to open
Vilasbhai Rathod, a native of the village, said that at that time there were lock and safe making factories in the village. The craftsmanship of the craftsmen was so high that the robbers could not break the lock or the safe. Alas, even if the key was found, it could not be opened. Because like today’s technology even then 2 different keys were needed to open a lock or safe.