Ram Deen Pandey and Empress Market Karachi

[ghazi52]

The Empress Market is a historical building and its 1857 war is also linked to independence. Before independence, 90% of the population in the Empress market and its associated areas was non-Muslims, including British Raj's official and their family and other than that, from the Goa,Madras, Indian Christian, Persian and Bombay Marathi resident. That is why you will also see the 'Dar Mehir' of Parsi, churches of Catholic Christians and schools, parks and desks built by the Persians around the Empress market.

Before the independence, entrance was forbidden to local people in the Empress Market. Victoria Bughi run on the streets surrounding the Empress Market, which used to carry high ups of British rulers at night. This whole area used to be quite clear.

In 1839, the Empress Market was called Camp Bazaar. Market map engineer Mr. James Standchen had prepared. On 10 November 1884, the building was founded by Governor Bombay Sir James Ferguson. This building is built from Jodhpuri Red Stone, its height is 140 feet, 4 galleries in the market, its part is 130 feet long and 100 feet wide.

280 stalls were built in the market, but its situation is quite different now. Crossing the sides of the Empress market, the building had deepened the beauty of the building. The tower on which a large clock was mounted, whose voice used to determine the time people who were in the area who were missing the clock. But now this clock tells you the right time just twice a day, it's the time where it had been stuck to its clock years ago.

The construction contract of this building was given to 3 contractors, including Mr. Dalo KJJ, JS Eddie and Mr. Wali Mohammad Jeon, and the construction of this building was more than 1.5 million rupees. Commissioner Sindh Mr. Perchar inaugurated the building on March 21, 1889, and as the Silver Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated this year, the building was named Empress Market.

An old picture of the Empress Market

We have mentioned in the beginning that the construction of the building also relates to the war of Independence of 1857. The fact is that in 1857 the 21th Regiment troops of Karachi-based British army led a plan under the leadership of Raman Pandey, according to which 21th Regiment troops had to occupy the entire county on one night. The military officers had to make regular declaration of freedom by killing them, but some of the messengers belonging to the 21th Regiment gave it to the British government, after which the British took Ramesh Pandey and 14 rebels involved in the project Soldiers arrested

On the middle of the 13 and 14 September 1857, the rebels were executed in the empty field at the spot of the Empress Market, to participate in the support of war freedom, while 3 other rebels including Raman Pandey were shifted to the bowl. Later, the pieces of these bodies were thrown into a pit, which were executed, pieces of bodies were thrown and thrown into that pit.

According to the information, the park will be built at the place of possibly cross-photo

According to leading researcher Gul Hassan Colati, the Empress Market was built in the same place. The aim of the construction of the Empress market was not to provide people with the convenience of buying and selling, but the fact was the opposite, it happened that after this incident, local people used to come here in the night's historical and have a red flower bouquet in that place. Did it. Seeing this situation, the British government was worried that it would not be gradually memorable for the martyrdom, and it was not a tent of a new rebellion, so here the Empress market was built and the British succeeded in its purpose.

Now some of the people are rarely aware that it is memorable to Ramadan Pandey and other martyrs. A few years back, the people of the civil society did light candles and said that it would be remembered every year but unfortunately this could not happen.

All the extensions have been terminated on the side of the Empress Market. The information is that the park will be built at the location of the passage. Sindh Government has earlier changed the direction of Miran Ali Shah in the direction of Vijayan Ujud, such as Jahangir Park in a beautiful park. Now this park made Karachi Metropolitan Corporation or Sindh government, but can the park name Raman Pandey be parked? Or any head for this, filed a petition filed by the Chief Justice, Justice Saqib Nisar in the court and requested that the proposed park should be named Raman Pandey Park.

 

[ghazi52]

A forgotten story of rebellion in British Raj
Rahul Aijaz

“Once upon a time” the British ruled in the Indian subcontinent. I find this phrase “once upon a time” rather interesting in our context. It creates a distance between the events of the story and the reader: distance in time, connection or direct relevance. Today, the history of the sub-continent is talked about like some sort of mythological narrative or story-bookish tale, but the events did not occur “once upon a time,” but only a handful of decades ago. Maybe a couple thousand years from now, we can tell stories of the Raj as “once upon a time.”

It has been over sixty years since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Traces of the Raj can still be found here, in the land and in the minds of the people. Many famous places date back to the British rule and are still functional like Karachi Cantonment Railway Station (1898), Frere Hall (1865), National College of Arts (1875) in Lahore and a large number of market places all over the country.

The British helped develop Karachi city and turned it into a metropolis. They built places for public welfare like markets, museums, etc. Likewise, Empress Market was built in 1889 (one of the traces of the Raj that still exists). The British claimed the market was a gift from Queen Victoria (who had just recently celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1887) to the people of Karachi.

But what most people today do not know are the events that took place at the site of Empress Market well before its formation. Was what lies beneath the grand structure that has stood there for over a century now all in the name of British Raj and public welfare?

The year 1857 saw the Indian Uprising against the British rule. It started in different parts of the Indian subcontinent and soon posed a threat to the East India Company and the British rule. Mainly local soldiers (designated as ‘sepoys’ back then) conspired to overthrow the British. The whole rebellion caused a great amount of trouble to the authority and subsequently caused the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858. Consequently, the Indian subcontinent was directly governed by the Queen.

Karachi was a whole different territory though, and a very important one. The British realized the significance of its location, specifically the port that could be used for trading; thus they rapidly developed upon the city. Inevitably, Karachi became an important city in terms of political and military power as well. The British established major sections of Karachi as their military cantonment. Among them was the Saddar town where Empress Market stands.

During the 1857 Uprising, Karachi also played an important role. The infantries stationed here also schemed to attack the British military. But what no one knew was that two of their own soldiers would betray them and inform the British of the upcoming attacks.

According to a Sindhi writer Gul Hasan Kalmati, on the night of 13 September 1857, the rebellion was plotted, but two sepoys informed the British army of the 21st Native Infantry Regiment’s plan to attack them and escape to Delhi.

Rebels caught one by one

The rebellion was led by Hawaldar Ram Deen Pandey and Hawaldar Suraj Bali Tevari and all in all, forty four people were involved, but before they could carry out the plan, the British army surrounded the cantonment area. Half of the rebels escaped while the other half surrendered. In the following days, three were found and shot dead. Their bodies were cut into pieces and thrown in the sea. By 16 September 1857, the other nineteen were arrested from different areas of Karachi.

On 17 September, the British army, 14th and 21st Regiment gathered at the site of Empress Market, which was just an empty ground back then with a post office, a horse stable and Saddar market nearby.
Fifteen arrested rebels were hanged, while Suraj Bali Tevari, one of the leaders of the rebellion, was blown from the gun along with two other accomplices (a method of execution employed by the British where the soldiers found guilty of mutiny were tied to the mouth of cannons and fired, literally blowing their body into pieces).

A view of Empress Market

Similarly, Ram Deen Pandey was also blown from the gun on 23 September 1857 and consequently, all bodies were thrown in the drain. The remaining twenty-five soldiers were court martialled and exiled to the Andaman Islands. The prison and the Andaman Islands acquired the name ‘Black-water’ (or Kala Pani) by the Indian prisoners.

The Great Indian Rebellion was successfully controlled, but what followed was quite interesting as the people who had witnessed the assassinations kept coming back to the site to offer prayers and flowers. As years passed, the number of people increased. The place was slowly turning into a memorial and the British authority noticed.

Grand structure of Empress Market

Dark stories buried beneath

In 1884, the foundation stone was laid for what was to be called ‘Empress Market.’ One of the most famous architects of the day, James Strachan designed the magnificent structure in Gothic style. With a large open-air courtyard in the center, it has four galleries, each sixty-four feet wide. Every gallery has a clock and the height of the main tower is one hundred and forty feet.

Empress Market still stands today, serving its purpose. As one shopkeeper in the market suggested, it was built for the people as it was easier for people to get everything they wanted at one place (probably one of the earliest modern supermarkets in India).

The grand structure still stands today, but underneath are buried many stories of war, rebellion and assassination. The reason we think of these events today as something that happened “once upon a time” is because we tend to think that they do not have any direct effect on us, but they do. The effects started one and a half centuries back.

The stories that we narrate today are because they are still relevant and once they stop being relevant to us, they will naturally fade into history and then if we ever come across them again, we will say, “Yes, we were ruled by the British… once upon a time!”

 

[Crystal-Clear]

very informative , Thanks.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Just a glorified Walmart