Bygone Doon by Pradeep Singh

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky As an urban township, Dehradun was a rather late phenomenon. The genesis for it was due to the efforts of the Udasi institution, the Darbar of Guru Ram Rai. A distinguished spiritual head of the Udasi order, Ram Rai, came to Dehradun in 1676 and a form of urbanisation in the late medieval style influenced by Mughal and emerging Sikh styles in architecture was used. However, this urbanisation was spread across a limited area around the Darbar and a few neighbouring streets, auxiliary establishments to the Darbar. The next significant step towards the gentrification of Dehradun took place a decade after the British East India Company annexed Dehradun to its dominions in 1815-16 displacing with difficulty the Gorkhali occupation of Uttarakhand and Himachal and parts of United Provinces, Bihar and Bengal. Both, Guru Ram Rai in the late seventeenth century and the British admini...

A remembered glorious past is a cultural feature of almost all societies. Its foundation is based on myths and oral traditions far before historical knowledge was adopted as an essential tool for exploring the past on the strength of facts through rational examination and accepted by those devoted to the study of history as a scientific subject. Dehradun as an inhabited region is a fairly recent phenomenon. It was considered “terra incognita”, neither mapped nor explored till a few centuries ago. It was associated with a mythical past and legends. However, around the fourteenth century it came to be noticed but not with significant political developments – hedged between the Himalayas on the northern side and the near parallel lesser ranges of the Siwaliks, which drew their name from Shiva stories in these verdant hills. The rivers Yamuna and Ganga defined the Valley in the west and east, respectively. But in the not too distant past, in the second half of the nineteenth century in Deh...

While mountains and hills have defined the geography of a region, the passes in these barriers have played a significant part in the anthropology and history of the area. These passages, not necessarily the most convenient, provided the available access for animal species and later for human beings with different quests and compulsions. Thus, invaders, explorers, settlers and trade entrepreneurs or exile seekers all sought the passes to their imaginary space. Spiritual solace seekers and wisdom sharers often travelled before many others. Guru Nanak Dev and, later, Ram Rai, the elder son of the seventh Sikh Guru, an Udasi Guru, established his Darbar Sahib in the Doon Valley, while Guru Nanak Dev traversed the valley to go to Haridwar. Both these luminaries came into the valley through the longer route along the Yamuna, fording it at Paonta. The other options were considered remote and risky for life. Dehradun was secure from its northern boundary made by layers of Himalayan mountain ra...