Ghasera is a village in

Nuh district Nuh district (formerly known as Mewat district) is one of the 22 districts in the Indian state of Haryana. There are four sub-divisions in this district: Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka, Punahana, and Taoru. It has an area of and had a population of 1. ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

state in northern India. It is dominated by Meos. This village is also known as Ghandhi Gram Ghasera after it was visited by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

who asked the predominantly Muslim Meos to not migrate to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

History

The majority of villagers are Muslim Meos who claim descent from Hindu Lord

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

. These Meos belong to ''Dhaingal

Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

'', which is also known as ''Ghasera Pal'' and ''Bargujar Pal''. This Pal is prominent in

and it had originated from the Raiseena village in Gurugram district (also spelt Raisina, and not to be confused with

Raisina Hill Raisina Hill ( IAST: ''Rāyasīnā Pahāṛī''), often used as a metonym for the seat of the Government of India, is an area of New Delhi, housing India's most important government buildings, including Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residen ...

in Delhi).Shail Mayaram
Against History, Against State: Counterperspectives from the Margins
pp 196.

18th century

The ruined Ghasera Fort lies at Ghasera village from Nuh city on Nun-

Sohna Sohna is a town and a municipal committee in the Gurgaon district of Haryana, India. A popular tourist weekend and conference retreat, it is on the highway from Gurgaon to Alwar near a vertical rock. Sohna is known for its hot springs and Shiva t ...

road. The

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

ruler Surajmal of Bharatpur and

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

Nawab Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

Mir Muhammad Pannah killed the

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

faujdar Faujdar is a term of pre-Mughal origins. Under the Mughals it was an office that combined the functions of a military commander along with judicial and land revenue functions. In pre-Mughal times, the term referred to a military officer but d ...

Bahadur Singh

Bargujar The Badgujar / Bargujar / Badgurjar is a clan of Rajputs. History The Bargujars ruled over Rajorgarh, Dausa, Deoti and Ghasira, Macheri. They were expelled from Dausa, Rajorgarh and Deoti by Kachhwaha Rajputs when they migrated to Dhundhar, ...

of Koil resent day Aligarh on outskirts of Palwaland his son Ajit Singh in 1753 in the Battle of Ghasera. During the battle, the Jats and

Pathans Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

laid siege to Ghasera, which lasted for 3 months and 1500 Jats and their allies were killed by the gun fire from ramparts of

Ghasera Fort Ghasera Fort is a ruined fort in Ghasera village in Nuh district of Haryana state in northern India, which has been notified as a protected monument by the state government. Currently, the majority of the residents of the village are Muslim M ...

. On 23 April 1753, many women committed Jauhar, Bahadur Singh opened the gates of the fort for the final battle to death during which he and his companions were killed. Currently, of the four gateways only one remains along with the Ruined walls. in 1753.Photos: 71 years after independence, Gandhi Gram Ghasera battles neglect

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

, 1 October 2018, page 2,7.

Independence

Despite pressure by the

princely states A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 150 km north of Jaipur. ...

and Bharatpur, who ruled in the region, the Meo community decided not to migrate to

during the Partition of India. In 1947,

visited Ghasera to urge the Muslims living there not to leave, calling the Meos “Iss desh ke reed ke haddi” or the backbone of India.Every December 19 since 2000, Meo Muslims in Haryana have been commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to the village in erstwhile Mewat district as Mewat Diwas.

Destruction of Hindu temples

There are various ponds and shrines to

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

gods around the pound, However those temples were demolished by the hardliner Muslims and Masjids were built in place of those temples.

References

Villages in Nuh district Forts in Haryana Archaeological sites in Haryana Tourist attractions in Haryana Rebuilt buildings and structures in India Religious buildings and structures converted into mosques {{Haryana-geo-stub

History

18th century

Independence

Destruction of Hindu temples

See also

References