A 'Temple of Martyrs' for brave sons of Himachal

SHIMLA: About two centuries back, about three kms off the bifurcation at Jamata, on the Nahan-Rajban road, atop a hill at Jaithak, stood a huge fort, sprawling across three-and-a-half kms area, belonging to the erstwhile Sirmaur estate. It was destroyed in the battle fought by the combined British and Sirmaur estate armies against the invading Gurkhas in December 1814.
Today, standing on the same spot, a grim reminder of the Gurkhas running over this part of Himachal Pradesh before their advance was finally stopped, is a Temple of Martyrs, dedicated to not only those of Sirmaur district who died in that war, but even those who lost their lives in the first and second world wars, along with those who have made the supreme sacrifice while defending the country's borders even now.
Brainchild of Ajay Bahadaur Singh, a former MLA and scion of erstwhile Sirmaur estate, photographs of the brave sons of the soil adorn the four walls of the temple, while names of those killed in World War-I are on the scroll of honour. "It is not only a memorial to honour the brave sons, but also a platform where the surviving next of kin can come with their grievances, which are forwarded to the concerned authorities to redress," said Singh.
Recalling the death of a soldier Naresh Kumar in Poonch along the Indo-Pak border, which became the moving force behind the memorial, Singh said it was the soldier's aged mother who came to him time and again and was almost inconsolable. "I was touched by the grief of the mother on losing her young son and many like him, who give up their lives defending the country, but fade away into oblivion", he added.
Col Carpenter, who led the British army at that particular war, wrote about the fort: "The fort had been renovated around 1000 AD and was in excellent shape, with a felt lining of two layers of stone walling and a water-filled moat. But it was completely destroyed by the invading Gurkhas......"
There are 31 martyrs listed from the China War in 1962 to Operation Rakshak in 2004. On the wall is also a portrait of warrant officer Dev Raj Singh of Nahan, who was the first Indian to get the Ashoka Chakra for chasing and catching Nathu Ram Godse, after the latter had shot Mahatma Gandhi.