OFFTRACK: BIJAPUR, KARNATAKA

Love Till It Hurts

A 17th century general loved his wives so much that he killed them

History is not just about quests and conquests. Beyond the ramparts and the battlefields there were the ordinary men and women, the farmers, the shopkeepers, the housewives, the blacksmiths, the servants, who worked to keep the empires going. But their narratives lie frozen and unheard amidst the dead debris of time. If you look around carefully, you will find that every place has a nook or cranny which records history. It could be a decaying log hut, an inscription on the rocks, perhaps a path long disused and overrun by weeds. All these have their own stories to tell.

There's such a corner in Bijapur with a sad tale to relate. The rows of tombstones there tell a story that is redolent of the days when the world revolved around men, when women wilfully or otherwise immolated themselves on their husband's funeral pyre. They recall insane acts, like those of Sultan Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire who drowned his entire harem when he was told that one of them enjoyed a relationship with a eunuch. A concubine swam free and lived to tell the tale.

None of the 63 noble women of Bijapur survived to recount their horrific experience. It was the year 1658, when Ali Adil Shahi II of the Shahi dynasty was preparing to go to war against Shivaji, the indefatigable Maratha ruler. Under constant pressure from Aurangzeb on one side and Shivaji on the other, Adil Shahi depended on his generals to stall the enemies, and he counted General Afzal Khan among his most trusted warriors. Khan was a brave man who had but one weakness: auguries and omens. When asked to lead a battle against Shivaji, Khan contacted astrologers who predicted doom-death at the hands of the Maratha soldiers. Fearing that his wives would remarry after his death, the anxious general chose to kill them. Some say they were pushed into a deep well, while others say they fell to his sword. The diviners proved correct, for Khan did die in battle. His wives lie buried just 5 km from Bijapur at a place that now bears titular testimony to the uxoricide-Saatth Kabar (60 Graves). Ironically, the tomb built by the general for himself, who wanted to be close to his wives in life and in death, stands adjacent to the one-acre burial ground surrounded by jowar fields.

The site has now been declared to be of national importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 and is under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). But official acceptance of responsibility for its upkeep is not too evident. The tombstones are scarred by graffiti, and people often come to the shady spot for rest or boisterous fun. "People need to hear the heartrending stories that cry out from these graves," says Anilsaab Maashelkar, 65, who owns four acres of land besides the graveyard. He laments that there is not even a proper road leading to the monument. Another inhabitant of the area, Panchappa Kalbargi, adds, "This town is full of such monuments but there is not much awareness about them."

Apart from the famous Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur, or the "City of Victory", has 50 mosques and 20 historic tombs. But the asi has no money to protect them. "We are working on a tight budget," says A. Venkateshiah, superintending archaeologist of the ASI's Dharwad circle, under whose jurisdiction Bijapur falls. Another Dharwad resident, Ananth Kumar, until recently the Union minister for tourism and culture, explained that since the ASI had an annual budget of only Rs 156 crore, after meeting staff salaries and other expenses it was left with a mere Rs 7,600 to spend per monument. "Many in the government dismiss the Saatth Kabar as only a grave, forgetting the Taj Mahal too is only a mausoleum," adds V. Hari, a local resident who feels the site could become a tourist attraction.

Karnataka Tourism Minister Roshan Baig says Bijapur's monuments are being considered in a plan the Government is drawing up to promote tourism in the state. Till the plan becomes a reality, very few will know of a general who so loved his wives that he murdered them.