Janaki Das Talab, Beri
Though Beri -a large village settled about 650 years ago by Kadiyan Jats and made prominent by a large number of Mahajans that settled here since 1860s, has assumed the proportions of a small town now and property rates have shot up, yet it retained its charming character until late 1980s. It is now in district Jhajjar that was carved out from dist. Rohtak: which is why I am justified in putting its built heritage under the aegis of Rohtak. Rohtak as district came into being in AD 1843 when the British separated it from Delhi; Sonipat and Jhajjar added to its administrative boundaries. Jhajjar has several large villages but the wealth of the Mahajans of Beri earned for it a prestigious place, which even the British officers recognized at the district as well as provincial level. In those days the provincial government functioned from Lahore under the political control of Lt. Governor.
None of the Mahajans of Beri, mostly Agrawals, were not the original residents but had emigrated from neighboring villages and did roaring business in food grains, clarified butter, hessian, jaggery & raw sugar (गुड़/खांड और शक्कर), and, banking. All the Mahajan families were philanthropic by action and nature and did several works for public welfare, established girls schools, opened a well stocked library, took care of sanitation and health, installed and maintained petromax lamps for street illumination, ensured safety and security, built temples, masonry tanks, bathing quays on several ponds, built masonry Wells and roads and donated in cash and kind, maintained Dharmshalas i.e. local guest houses and supported the religious activities besides helping the British to maintain law & order.
The Mohallas in which the Mahajan families lives envied the city scapes and the street views were charming and full of architectural aesthetics. Jats and other castes avoided visiting the Gunj in Beri but weren't prohibited to pay visits as and when it required their presence for settling common issues of significance. Whereas the honorary Magistrate was appointed from one of Mahajan families, the Zaildar was always from the Jat community. The prominent among Mahajans were Shri Prasad alias Sariya, Janaki Das, Banarasi Das, Naubat Rai, Phool Chand, Ganga Sahaya, Harlal, Roodh Mal, Ram Gopal, Jagan Nath, Mayeedhan -Sitaram, Radhey Shyam, and Seth Paras Ram. In fact, it were about fifty families of the Mahajans that transformed Beri into flourishing village. The chief reason was its geographical location and the hard working Jat farmers who were assisted in agricultural operation by a number of other communities of artisans and service providers. The village once had 52 thousands of Bighas of agricultural land and served as nucleus to various other 11 villages of the Kadiyan clan of the Jats.
Among these Mahajans Seth Paras Ram and Seth Roodh Mal had built magnificent Shivalas or temples of Lord Shiva the spires of which rose to an impressive 96-108' above the plinth. It was the building activity started by the Mahajans sometimes in 1870s that a large number of Potter, carpenter and mason families came to live here and in the next 50 years changed the landscape of the village. The village had several large water bodies located on its periphery surrounded by forest.
It was Seth Jankaki Das, one of the wealthy Mahajans, that thought of building a resort for entertaining his family and guests, sometimes in early 1900s and implemented the plans when he purchased 3+ acres of a plot of land on the Kuchcha road that led to Kalanaur and beyond to Meham. He dug a water tank and lined it in brick masonry, built a splendid guest house with colonnaded verandahs on all four sides, built a separate house for the attendants and masonry Well for taking drinking water. Later when he departed from world his son got for him built a fine memorial house with a decorated canopy (Chhatri). Previous to this civil work, the Seth had got built a splendid haveli in Chhajyan Patti of the village, whereas the Gunj (meaning a huge Bazar) was in the Baithan Patti of the village as per the division lines of the clans in the village.
A couple of weeks ago all that was gone. The greed of property sharks, which had viewed the property of the resort on Kalanaur road as reward bought it from the descendants: the amount of transaction of money is not known to me but it could be not less than 100 millions of INRs. The monster machines demolished all the structures, filled the masonry tank with sand and broken the bricks into a million pieces. I have been visited this family resort since the year 1986 and thought a day would come when the owners would like to rejuvenate it and convert it into a heritage spot that could be visited by the passers by for relaxing for a few minutes or for holding ceremonial events. The fate was sealed and no tears would be shed: no feeling of remorse would ever arise. A landmark is gone for ever after it has lived its life: half of which in neglect. It stood here for almost a century and the end was tragic.
[Photo Credits: The photos of the demolished structures provided by Architect Ankit Yadav and others were shot by me on various occasions in the years 2000 to 2018]
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