The Lost Kingdom of Navratangarh
The Lost Kingdom of Navratangarh
No idea is simple when you need to plant it in somebody else’s mind. This line from the movie Inception sums it all up for what I am going to write. Well unlike the movie this was not planted in my dreams but came to me while I was wide awake and eating breakfast.
It was 16th of December 2014 and I was invited along with my family for a breakfast at my in-law’s neighbour’s house. I was served bread toast with butter as this was favourite breakfast menu. The breads were crisp and brown with a thick layer of molten butter on top. I was busy enjoying the bites when I realized that the bread crumbs were falling on the carpet below so I decided to spread out the morning newspaper around the plate.
On the second bite when I looked down to keep down the bread and grab some tea I saw a news clip that was just laid in front of me. I stopped eating and immediately picked up the newspaper to read the content. It was a Hindi news daily called Prabhat Khabar and this article was just in front of my face like a read beacon. Hindi was my second language so I could manage to read the entire content though a bit slowly and I was already roaming around this magical mystical place just like the movie Inception. I took my mobile phone and clicked some snaps of the news article so that I can re-read it in details later.
The newspaper clipping from Prabhat Khabar
By now it was New Year 2015 and I was still planning the trip to this mystical place called Doisagarh. My wife Smita wanted to visit her father during the extended Republic Day 2015 weekend, 23rd of January is celebrated in Bengal as Netaji Jayanti so her school will be off from 23rd till 26th of January at a stretch. Same applies for my daughter’s school so I decided to utilize this somewhat long gap for an opportunity to visit Doisagarh.
(Navratangarh) Doisagarh is located in Gumla district of Jharkhand and is not much far from the capital city of Ranchi thus my calculation with the help of Google Map was around 1.5 hours of drive each way. Smita wanted her father to come along so that it will be a good change for him also and added advantage would be that he loves to do long drives and would be thrilled to drive us in his car. Smita called up her father and informed about the plan and as I had guessed he was very eager to come along.
Since we were travelling to Ranchi so we could not think of missing out meeting our common friend Aerbin who had also accompanied us to North Sikkim trip thus a quick chat on WhatsApp confirmed his availability during that time and he also agreed to come along. Since Aerbin is also an avid biker so he was aware of the route thus would be an asset to help my father in law navigate.
We took the Howrah – Hatia Express train from Howrah station on 22nd of January. We booked the ticket late thus our tickets were RAC (Reservation against cancellation) but I had received a confirmation SMS from IRCTC about our confirmation along with the coach and the birth. On occupying the mentioned birth I was approached by another passenger claiming that the birth occupied by me we his. I was surprised since he was carrying a paper ticket with the birth mentioned. He also informed that he was a Railways employee and the seat I was occupying was a Rail Employee Quota. Confusion continued for a minute or so as I was trying to log into IRCTC from my mobile to re check. Right at that moment I received another SMS from IRCTC confirming that the reservation chart has been re done due to technical error and followed by the new birth number. Luckily I was assigned a different seat in the same coach thus we could easily relocate.
The departure time was around 10.10 PM and the drain departed with a 15 minute delay. The journey was uneventful except the biting cold at night. The train reached Ranchi station at the scheduled time of 7 AM the next day. My father in law was waiting for us at the station and after navigating amongst the 1000 passengers all cramping to cross to the e xit using a single walk over bridge we reached the parking lot.
We had no travel plans for 23rd as there was a prayer service arranged in the memory of my mother in law thus we had planned for the adventure the next day on 24th of January. Aerbin had confirmed that he would reach our house by 9 AM the next day so that we can plan for a departure at approximately 9.30 AM. That night I sat with my father in law mapping out routes on the map. The route planned will be as following :-
Ranchi --> Nagri -->*Bero --> Bharno --> Sisai
From Sisai we would have to take a left turn towards Doisagarh .
Route map from Ranchi to (Navratangarh) Doisagarh via Sisai
24th morning came and I was excited with the anticipation that my dream would become true soon. Smita prepared some stuffed parathas to carry during the journey. My father in law also packed some fresh*banana that were ripe in his garden. Aerbin arrived at around 9.20 AM and we were all set for the departure. As my father in law was about to start the car the self-start was not getting activated. I was fully prepared to push the car to start but my father in law reconfirmed that the battery was new and fully charged. It was just a loose contact so on the second try the car started like a hot knife through butter and was ready for the journey ahead.
The roads were smooth as such occasionally there were few pot holes on the way. All around Ranchi I could see new infrastructure projects coming up. This was a good sign as the state needs to develop a lot and very quickly. What struck me was that most of the bridge and over passes were half completed across the stretch. Most of these projects were left half done and were the main cause of traffic congestion.
Going towards Sisai
Going towards Sisai – Small houses, yet very colourful
Varied landscape
We drove through beautiful landscapes with farm land and some barren red soil landscapes. It was a ride that I enjoyed with the cool breeze and the warm sun above. We reached Sisai and now had to turn left somewhere, this job was left to Aerbin for him to figure out and after a quick enquiry with the locals we were told to take the very next left turn. Till now the road was well paved but as we took the left turn the roads almost vanished and were we driving in half paved roads.
Canyon made from soil erosion en route from Sisai towards (Navratangarh) Doisagarh
Canyon made from soil erosion en route from Sisai towards (Navratangarh) Doisagarh
After driving around 10 – 12 kilometres we decided to ask for further direction since I was almost certain that we were somewhere nearby. I could see two villagers standing ahead, one was well dressed and the other looked old and had an axe in his hand. I Advised Aerbin to ask the well-dressed man as he looked more appropriate. Aerbin quickly went out and asked him, this well-dressed guy looked stunned and could not give us any direction when Aerbin showed him the new paper article to confirm if any such structured are around he still could not give us any clue.
Aerbin asking for direction
Just at that moment the other man who looked like he just returned from the nearby forest after gathering firewood took the piece of paper in his hand and gave us the nod that he knew where it was. He directed us to take the small almost hidden road in between the bushes and trees. We thanks him and moved on. We all laughed since the man who we almost thought was negligible was more informed.
The narrow road takes you towards (Navratangarh) Doisagarh
The road takes sharp turn between the woods
After taking a right turn we entered a narrow passage and slowly the road became smaller and smaller. After some sharp twists and turn finally we arrived at a gate and beyond the gate Behold… lies (Navratangarh) Doisagarh… the lost kingdom of the Nagvangshis. Since there was no one at the gate we drove the car inside and parked in a shade.
The main structure
The whole surrounding area were full of ruins and almost looked identical to that of Hampi of Karnataka. There were around 10 to 12 identifiable structures all around the place. Some were still standing and some almost down to the ground. The centre piece was the 4 storied structure which stood out. There was also a large pond like structure right in the middle. Almost green in colour there was still some water in the pond.
Terracotta Structure 1
Ruin Terracotta Structure 2
Stone Structure 1
Water tank at the centre
The whole area is spread over between 25 - 28 acres. As per a news reported by The Telegraph the structures are made up of Dhobi Math, Wakil Math, Panch Math and Hamam Math. Some other structures are unidentifiable. There are approximately 10-12 monuments and countless artefacts.
We found some local women attending to their cows and I approached them to ask if they knew what this place was. Unfortunately they had no clue what they were standing on, only they could tell me that the main four storied structure was actually six storied and the rest of the two are still below the ground.
Locals giving us their point of view
We went inside the main four… I mean six storied structure and it did show some signs that there can be two more level buried under the ground. Basically the entire structure was created with clay and stone and there were still some sign that wood might have been used. The stairs inside the structure had collapsed so there was no way for us to climb up. The locals have placed a bamboo pole to climb up but since I am not that athletic thus decided against it.
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