Name dropping

At the beginning of the last century, a large number of Hindus in undivided Punjab stopped using their surnames.

At the beginning of the last century, a large number of Hindus in undivided Punjab stopped using their surnames. They did so under the influence of the Arya Samaj, as a protest against the caste system. Among them was my grandfather. Consequently, since then we have carried no indicator of our gotra at the end of our names.

Despite this 8220;name-dropping8221;, I have been curious about the family8217;s antecedents. Our family name had been 8216;Vohra8217;. It appears that our clan had a pronounced militant trait. During the revolutionary phase of our freedom struggle, there were at least four of them. The star, of course, was Bhagwati Charan Vohra, who died while fabricating a bomb, which was to be used in the attempt to spirit Bhagat Singh out of jail. Bhagwati8217;s wife, Durga Devi, posed as Bhagat Singh8217;s wife to give him the cover of a respectably married man, when he escaped to Kolkata after assassinating Inspector Saunders.

My father, Virendra no surname! was the youngest of the lot: just 18 and one of the first to be arrested in the Saunders case. He was later involved in the plot to do in the Punjab governor. Then there was Hans Raj Vohra, one of those who roped my father into the band. There was also one Dev Vohra, of whom I had not heard earlier. He who wrote to me after my father8217;s demise: 8220;Virendra was the one who prompted me to shoot at Abdul Aziz, the government prosecutor in Bhagat Singh8217;s case.8221; Dev failed to kill his man and was finally arrested, but no charge could be proved.

More recently, the Vohras have attained high ranks in the army. A neighbour, Jagat Vohra, who retired as a lieutenant-general, tells me that at one time he and three of his brothers 8212; Inder Mohan, Raj Mohan and Satish 8212; were all serving generals, which must be something of a record. There were others, too, including Vir Abhimanyu Vohra, who retired as vice-chief of the army.

In fact, the latter8217;s name has a curious link with the mythological origin of the Vohra legend. As is well known, at a critical stage in the Mahabharata war, young Abhimanyu was asked to lead his troops into the chakravyuh formation of the Kauravas, and destroy it. Since they were going to battle the vyuh, they were, according to this story, known as 8216;vyuhers8217;, changed later to Vohras. Unfortunately, in this particular case, the troops failed to keep up with their general, who died fighting alone. The latter-day Vohras have given a better account of themselves!