Bygone Doon by Pradeep Singh

  Passes, the silent witnesses to geopolitics and cultural exchange, are the portals through which has marched humanity in her longings for a better homeland. Before the homo-sapiens were driven by circumstances and inner restlessness, myriad species too had found passes convenient for migrations dictated by emerging challenges in their environment and habitat. While flying species were relatively unconcerned about terrain when migrating across large land masses, mammals including humans had to consider challenges forced in their path when they sought to move over long distances. Major obstacles to smooth travel by early man were in the shape of hills and higher mountains. Staying over a period in a limited geographical area made it unsustainable as, soon, the available resources like food, fodder, fuel, water and soil fertility were exhausted. This required fresh search for alternate spaces to survive as a social group. In the early days of humanity living as groups, pastoralism w...

There are not many regions in the world whose geographical attributes are recalled with ease even before its name. The Geography of Dehradun or the Doon Valley distinguishes itself far more than its name. The district has stellar boundaries in that the two holy rivers of the subcontinent, the Ganga and the Yamuna flow on the district’s eastern and western borders. While the mighty Himalayas make up the northern perimeter, the sylvan Siwalik Ranges enclose the district in the south and separate it from the great plains of the country. To add more to the allure of the Doon Valley is the fact that here geology, mythology and spirituality have waltzed together since time immemorial. In this cosmic dance, the Nagsidh Range of hills has a place of its own. Nagsidh hills, with a peak rising to an elevation of 2640 feet, are positioned in the central part of the Doon Valley, facing the higher Himalayas to the north and, to the south, run the Siwalik Ranges from which the Nagsidh range has sepa...

  No city was built in a day and no inspiration to found one was adequate without the participation of important stakeholders in this process. Guru Ram Rai (1646-1687), when he found his way to the heart of the Doon Valley, it ended the splendid isolation in which this other-worldly ‘Shangri-La’ was cocooned. The saint’s desire to set up his spiritual seat in the central portion of the valley set off a train of events which kindled a nascent urbanism in the heart of what was a pure pastoral stretch of land lying between the Siwalik Ranges to the south and the Himalayas on the northern extremes. Guru Ram Rai, who had by now been ordained into the Udasi (Udaseen) sampradaya, sought the solitude of the Doon Valley to pursue his spiritual career away from the clamour of Delhi from where he came to Doon in 1676. His initial abode was indeed very rudimentary and inadequate for the future activities of his Udasi establishment, which was soon to become known as Darbar of Guru Ram Rai. But ...