Heroes Among US — The Mountain Man

Carving a path through a mountain, single-handedly and for 22 years!

Visualize this — you are looking at a mountain. Yes, what with it, you may ask — we climb several of them during a lifetime.

Well, That is not what Dashrath Manjhi thought when he looked at the mountain in his village of Gehlur (Bihar, India).

He didn’t want to ascend, rather wanted to cut a path through it!

Here are the details from his extraordinary tale of Grit & Perseverance:

Length of the mountain path chiselled out through the mountain: 110 meters(360 ft)

Width of the path: 9.1 meters (30 ft)

Depth of the path: 7.6 meters (25 ft)

Tools used: Hammer and Chisel

Time taken: 22 years (that’s right — 8000+ days of back-breaking toil)

What did he achieve? shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj areas of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km — a reduction of 40 kilometres!

Why did he do it?

There is an amazing tale of love and revenge behind it!

In 1956, Dashrath was married in his childhood. Shortly after, he left for finding work outside the village and that took him to the coal mines in Dhanbad. When he returned to his village after working in coal mines for seven years, It was love at first sight with a village girl. The best part — She was Falguni, his childhood bride! Falguni’s father did not send her with Dashrath as he did not have a job now. So, the love birds decided to elope and started a new life in Gehlur.

The villagers had to travel through a a narrow, rocky pass and cross a mountain for their daily needs and for transport connectivity. One day, when Falguni was pregnant with their second child, was out to give Dashrath his lunch and was crossing the mountain in the sweltering heat when she slipped and fell. Dashrath took her via the roundabout route to a hospital that was nearly 70 kilometres away. Unfortunately, Falguni did not survive and she died leaving behind their second child, a baby girl.

Dashrath was heart-broken. The mountain had taken away from him what he had loved the most in this world. Dashrath decided to cut the mountain to size. What could only be termed as sheer madness, he took it upon himself to carve out a mountain path so that no other person suffered like how his wife did.

Armed with only a chisel and hammer, he began the arduous journey of breaking the mountain. Villagers ridiculed him, called him a lunatic — nothing deterred Dashrath from his goal. Even when the village was hit by a massive drought, Dashrath continued chiselling away, surviving only on dirty water and dry leaves. After plenty of challenges that included skirmishes with politicians and the village headman and getting funding for the tools that he used every day, Dashrath finally finished the path, saving at least 40 kilometres of commute for everyone.

The Government then made it a ‘pucca road’ by carving the mountain even further. His name was proposed for Padma Shri Award (one of India’s highest civilian awards for Service, in 2006). He passed away in 2007 of Gall-bladder cancer, but not before inspiring people with his tenacity and perseverance. A stamp was issued in his honour by the Postal Department in 2016.

How can someone be motivated so much to accomplish what could be termed as impossible?

What levels of commitment and perseverance would keep an individual toiling away for not 1 or 2, but for 22 years without giving up?

It is definitely amazing what we are capable of. When Intent, Commitment and Perseverance come together, there is seriously nothing that can stop us from achieving what we want. Having a cause that is bigger than us ensures the fuel to push forward in the bleakest of times.

Here’s the link to the Wikipedia page on Dashrath.

Ordinary people — extraordinary achievements. Amazing and Inspiring to the core!