Gandhi Gram Ghasera or Ghasera is a village in

Nuh district Nuh district, formerly known as the Mewat district, is one of the 22 districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. The district is known for having the largest Muslim population in Haryana. It lies within the National Capital Region as wel ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

state in northern India. It is dominated by Meos. Gandhi was added to its name after it was visited by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

who asked the predominantly Muslim Meos to not migrate to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

History

The majority of villagers are

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Meos who claim descent from Hindu Lord

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

. These Meos belong to ''Dhaingal

Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog 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 (ISO: ''Rāyasīnā kī 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 reside ...

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 council in the Gurugram district of Haryana, India. A popular tourist weekend and conference retreat, it is on the highway from Gurugram to Alwar near a vertical rock. Sohna is known for its hot springs and Sh ...

road. The

Jat The Jat people (, ), also spelt Jaat and Jatt, are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in l ...

ruler Surajmal of Bharatpur and

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

Mir Muhammad Pannah killed the

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

faujdar Faujdar under the Mughals was an office that combined the functions of a military commander along with judicial and land revenue functions. The term faujdar contained pre-Mughal origins. During those times, the term referred to a military offic ...

Bahadur Singh

Bargujar The Badgujar (also spelt as Bargujar and Badgurjar) is a clan of Rajputs. They are also a distinct caste in Maharashtra. History and Origin Similar to several other Rajput clans, the Badgujars also claim descent from the ancient Suryavanshi ...

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 The Jat people (, ), also spelt Jaat and Jatt, are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in ...

and

Pathans Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

laid siege to Ghasera, which lasted for 3 months and 1500

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 Me ...

. 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, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

, 1 October 2018, page 2,7.

Independence

Despite pressure by the princely states of

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

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

during the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. 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 19 December since 2000, Meo Muslims in Haryana have been commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to the village in erstwhile Mewat district as Mewat Diwas.

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

See also

References