Nature & History Trail at Ropar
I was born in Punjab. I lived there for initial years of my life with my Dadi, before we moved to Chandigarh. When I was growing in and around Punjab the state was all about agriculture and army. I never thought of it as a tourist destination. Yes there was Golden temple – but then its place of worship and not a tourism product. So, this time when I heard the tourism circuits of Punjab, including the heritage walks at Amritsar and Patiala and the restored palace of Kapurthala, I wanted to stay back and go around the state. Within the time available, Punjab Tourism organized a small trip to Ropar for an early morning Nature Trail. Now, I had crossed Ropar umpteen number of times but never knew this is home to thousands of migratory birds.
Nature & History Trail at Ropar
Sh Jaspreet Singh, a passionate local environmentalist took me around the trail. His knowledge of the birds was impressive and he knew exactly where to find them. He took us at the banks of River Sutlej that had curious bluish green water and the youngest ranges of Himalayas – the Shivalik range reflected in its water. The fog was just lifting its cover and birds were just coming out to meet the sun rays. We spotted many birds by the river, in the Sadabrat nature trail that is a wetland and by the government guesthouse. Flying fox or the fruit bats are found in this range in abundance. We saw bunches of them on the treetops hanging upside down. Inside the Sadabrat trail, the trees are documented and there are quite a few herbal trees around. I could also see lot of Dhatura trees – a fruit that is offered to Shiva.
A park by the river marks the place where a treaty was signed between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and William Bentinck the then Governor General of India that divided the territories across the two banks of Sutlej between the two. A monument in the park in pink and yellow tells the history of Ranjit Singh & his army, but this is a recent monument. There is an old colonial building but Jaspreet ji told me that this is not the building where treaty was signed and that building has either been lost or was just an open temporary settlement where it was signed.
Excavations around Ropar have revealed it to be a site belonging to Indus Valley Civilization. A small museum in the city, near City College houses the excavated artifacts. You can see the various pottery items, specially the burial pottery along with the beads, toys and jewelry. Terra-cotta figurines from various eras of the history make a substantial part of this collection. Some of the excavations from Chandigarh during its building had already indicated that this region was a living region since the times of Indus Valley. Satlej River that was then known as Satadru was a part of the Indus Valley river system.
A mound near the museum is the actual site where excavation was carried out, locals call it Pahadi. On top of this mound is a square structure in red bricks with the brick size indicating that the building is 300-400 years old. Small bastions protrude out in all four corners and inside there is a maze like construction with concentric walls closing to an inner sanctum. A guard sleeping inside could only tell us that it is an old building. At the corner of this mound where actual excavations would have taken place, you can see some old walls in many layers. On the other end is an old well that now seems to be under preservation. You can see the town of Ropar or Rupnagar from this vantage point and you see typical small town India, going on with this life.
0 评论: