Losing height

FOR 13 years this village has fought spiritedly. Farkhande village8217;s struggle has been not to improve its present but to preserve its p...

FOR 13 years this village has fought spiritedly. Farkhande village8217;s struggle has been not to improve its present but to preserve its past. About 4,500 residents of this 400-year-old village in Jalgaon have come together to save a 232-year-old monument.

The Jhulte Manore Shaking Minars built by Chand Momin measures 1180.63 sq metres and resembles monuments from the Mughal period. Though declared an ancient and historical monument by the state government under the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act 1960 in 2001, today it is in urgent need of repair8212;one of its minar has already fallen off.

The monument8217;s main attraction were its shaking minars, rising 35 feet high in the sky. If you shook one minar, the other would shake too. If you kept a glass on the wall in front of the minars and shook one of them, the glass would fall off. Between the minars, were two domes.

Two doors at the base of the minar provides access to the top. Fifty-six spirally placed steps in a narrow and dark passage lead to the top of the minar.

But one of these towers collapsed on March 22, 1999. Due to pressure from villagers, the then district collector had declared a fund allocation of Rs 2 lakh to renovate the structure and rebuild the fallen minar. However, the money is yet to be given. 8216;8216;We have tried to get the state government to take over the site and look after the monument. Our appeals have fallen on deaf ears,8217;8217; said Sanjay Bagad, who is spearheading the campaign.

The monument, even in its damaged state, gets quite a few visitors. But Farkhande residents don8217;t encourage them to shake the surviving minar. Ever since the minar collapsed, villagers have appealed to the government, they8217;ve gone on a day8217;s hunger strike before the district collectorate but it8217;s got little results.

8216;8216;We have written to the government to take over the monument and preserve it. They have to do something otherwise the remaining minar will collapse,8217;8217; said Suresh Baliram Patil, former sarpanch headman of the village. Bagad, Patil and another resident Shaligram Patil have set up the Jhulte Manore Bachao Samiti.

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If you go merely by appearances then dusty Farkhande doesn8217;t look the type that would care of its heritage, much less campaign to protect it. Located 60 kms from the cash-rich Jalgaon city, Farkhande residents work hard for a living. Though a majority of its residents have agricultural land, rapid degeneration of soil and severe drought has left them in debts. In happier times they grew sugarcane and bananas. Only one farmer in the village grows Bt cotton.

There have also been some disputes between the Hindus and the Muslims on the ownership of Jhulte Manore. Five years ago some visiting maulvis built a dargah within the monument compound. This led to some tension and the Muslim families left the village. At present, there are only two Muslim families in Farkhande. But the village is not letting poverty and squabbles loosen its grip over the past.