Major Mariappan Saravanan (10 August 1972 – 29 May 1999), was an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

in the prestigious

Bihar Regiment The Bihar Regiment is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It traces its origins back to the British Indian Army. The Bihar Regiment was formed in 1941 by regularising the 11th (Territorial) Battalion, the 19th Hyderabad Regiment, and r ...

of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

who was martyred during the

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

. He was killed in hand-to-hand combat with intruders after killing four intruders in the Batalik area of Kargil Sector on 29 May 1999, along with 33 soldiers and four other officers. Saravanan had just completed four years of service on 10 March 1999. Major Saravanan was possibly the first officer killed in the Kargil War. The attack led by him came in the early stages of the conflict when adequate

information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

was not available. His actions have led to him being referred to as the "Hero of Batalik".

Early life

Born on 10 August 1972 on the island of

Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about from ...

in the Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, Saravanan began his schooling at

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of Government of India, central government schools in India. Governed by the Ministry of Education (India), Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,257 schools in India, ...

Gaya district } Gaya district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. It was officially established on 3 October 1865. The district has a common boundary with the state of Jharkhand to the south. Gaya city is both the district he ...

and continued his high school in Campion Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School in

Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of Ta ...

and later graduated from St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli in 1992. Saravanan was also the president of the student union at st joseph college and was a C certificate holder of NCC. His father Lt. Colonel Adi Mariappan died in a road accident in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

on 19 June 1989 while serving in the

Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...

during

Operation Pawan Operation Pawan ( ''Kãryvãhi Pavan'', lit. "Operation Wind") was the code name assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the T ...

in Sri Lanka. He has two sisters.

Military career

Saravanan graduated from the OTA in 1995 and joined 1 Bihar as a lieutenant in 1995. After joining the army he was posted to Tamulpur,

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), also known as Koch Bihar, is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal and it stands on bank of the Torsa river. The city is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. During the British Raj, Cooch Behar was the seat of the ...

and

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

before moving to Kargil. He was promoted to captain in 1996 and to major in 1999.

The Kargil War

1 Bihar was in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

when the Kargil War broke out. They were ordered to move to

Kargil Kargil or Kargyil is a City in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TERTIARY, tert ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. On the night of 28 May 1999, Major Saravanan was assigned the task of capturing a well-fortified Pakistani position at in the Batalik sector. He and his men launched an attack at 04:00 IST. Despite intensive firing from the enemy with

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

and

automatic weapon An automatic firearm or fully automatic firearm (to avoid confusion with semi-automatic firearms) is a self-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firea ...

s, they charged into a volley of bullets. Saravanan fired a

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...

into the enemy position that killed two enemy soldiers. During the combat, he was hit by shrapnel and injured but continued fighting. His

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

ordered him to retreat because too many Indian soldiers had been injured. He killed two more invaders but this time he was hit by a bullet in the head and died at around 06:30 IST.

Vir Chakra

The

Vir Chakra The Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa, ) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of gallantry on the battlefield, on land or in the air or at sea. It is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards and ...

was awarded to Saravanan posthumously and presented to his mother by President

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman "K. R." Narayanan (27 October 1920 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1992 to 1997 and president of India from 1997 to 2002. Naray ...

. It reads:

Trust and memorial

A trust has been created on his name, meant for the welfare of the poor, indigent and needy to serve the society at large without any discrimination as to caste, color and creed. Also, it aims at motivating the youngsters to "Join the Army and serve the nation". Eight years post Kargil war, a memorial was unveiled on the collector office road in Tiruchirapalli. The memorial was constructed and is maintained by Major Saravanan Memorial Trust. On the occasion of Kargil Vijay Divas on 26 July 2008, the Postal Department brought out a special cover in memory of Major M. Saravanan.

References

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Major-saravanan/219879964694542 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saravanan, Mariappan People of the Kargil War 1972 births 1999 deaths Military personnel from Tiruchirappalli Recipients of the Vir Chakra People from Ramanathapuram district Kendriya Vidyalaya alumni Indian military personnel killed in action St Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli alumni