Darkness, crumbling ceilings, mouldering frescoes and echoes of chirping birds breaking the silence of years: this is Bedi Mahal or “Baaway Naa Mahal” as it is known locally. Here there used to be a school once. As I sit and recall bygone times, I can almost hear in the courtyard the ringing of a school bell, the loud voices of the students cramming their tutorials and teachers shouting at them:” Don’t make a noise!” in packed classrooms.
And before this it was a spiritual place for Sikhs, where they gathered and listened to the homily of Baba-ji, rapt with attention and reverence. After Partition, in 1948, this Mahal turned into the Government Boys High School Kallar Syedan. Now Bedi Mahal has been abandoned for nearly twenty years, while the high school has moved to a newer building.
Baba Sir Khem Singh Bedi and an attendant - photo at the Victoria and Albert museum, London
The Bedis are particularly respectable amongst Sikhs, being the descendants of Baba Guru Nanak himself
Kallar Syedan, the historic town of the Potohar Plateau, was named after its saline soil and equally salty water, (the word “Kallar” itself refers to the same). The village of Kallar, granted as a jagir (fiefdom granted in lieu of service) to Syed Muhammad Ali Shah, also commonly known as Meeran Shah, by the Gakhar ruler of that time. Jalal Khan Gakhar, in the early 17th century, was an adherent and devotee of Meeran Shah.
Kallar Syedan has a myriad of historical monuments, of which one of the most prominent is Bedi Mahal. The mahal (palace) was built by Baba Khem Singh Bedi, one of the key figures of the Sikh Sabah movement. An educationist and reformist, Baba Khem Singh Bedi was born in February 1832 in the village Ramreek Gram of district Hoshiarpur. At the age of 16, his father Baba Attar Singh Bedi was killed in a family feud. Later his mother Mata Sultan Devi moved to Kallar Syedan after the death of her husband. Baba Khem Singh Bedi grew up in Kallar Syedan, his maternal home. The Bedis are particularly respectable amongst Sikhs, being the descendants of Baba Guru Nanak himself - and hence they have often been called NanakPutras. They have mainly travelling merchants. They settled in various parts of India.
The pole on which the Bedis once used to hoist the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs
Maharaja Ranjit Singh went many times to Una to touch the feet of Baba Khem Singh Bedi since the time when he was but three years old. The famed Maharaja had profound regard for the Bedis. In fact he reportedly attributed at least some of the prosperity of his state to the blessings of the Bedis.
Master Karamat Hussain, now 84 years old, is a local historian and teacher. He recollects memories of those times when he witnessed the princely lifestyle of the Bedis. He recalls the following:
“In Kallar Syedan, the Sikhs were economically affluent. They were mainly merchants, or more specifically, ‘arhaatis’. There was just one Muslim-owned shop in the city. Every year on Baisakhi, the whole town lit up and Sikhs from around the Punjab gathered here and celebrated the festival. I was in the ninth grade in school when Partition took place. This mahal (palace) served as a place of refuge for Sikhs of neighboring villages during the March 1947 riots. Around 5,000 Sikhs gathered inside the mahal to protect themselves from groups of [Muslim] assailants, who gathered outside, trying to find some way in. After the Sikhs left this city, we collected their belongings and that was the time when first time in my life that I entered in this majestic mahal. Our headmaster Gulfaraz sahib ordered us to carry in furniture from the old campus of our high school. He told us that now this Palace was re-allotted as a school .I had never thought that one day this mahal would be our school. There was a stable for horses and a small zoo and orchard outside it. I have not seen such a splendid orchard or little zoo in my life. Later I also served as a teacher in this very school. Now it is becoming more and more ruined every day. I drew the attention of the relevant authorities about the condition of this mahal some three years ago. A grant of 10 million rupees was issued for the preservation of Bedi Mahal but I have no idea where this huge sum went to...”
Before being abandoned, the Bedi Mahal building was used as a government school after 1948
Habib Gohar, a researcher and writer, claims that the history of Kallar is for the most part the history Baba Khem Singh Bedi himself. He says that Baba Khem Singh Bedi was a distinguished personality of the Punjab. Baba Khem Singh Bedi’s portrait was even printed on the cloth produced by Manchester factories. For building this palace, he hired artisans and masons from Attock. Primarily, sandstone is used in the construction, cut into rectangular blocks and shaped further according to classical Sikh architectural practices and aesthetics. It is plastered with a lime surkhi mixture. From the top of this four-storey palace, one can have quite the bird’s-eye view of Kallar Syedan.
“Dismantling of the Palace would be a great loss - not just historical but cultural too!” he believes.
T?he four-storey mention has 84 rooms ?and the walls are one metre thick.The alluring frescoes and murals attract visitors at first sight. The old Mahal is quite a repository of splendid frescoes, painted on the pillars in the courtyard and inside the rooms. The frescoes on the pillars in the central courtyard depict various Sikh gurus, Hindu deities and Muslim rulers. The colour of these frescoes is fading away with the passage of time. Some rooms are still in good condition. Unfortunately, the Choobi Darwazay (wooden artwork doors) are now becoming food for termites.
Baba Khem Singh Bedi had two sons. The eldest, Gurubaksh Singh Bedi, served as a magistrate, third-class, in Rawalpindi.
Examples of the fine fresco work of the palace - decaying but splendid nevertheless
Gurubaksh Singh Bedi also happens to be the great-grandfather of Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachan. Teji Bedi, the mother of Amitabh Bachan, was the granddaughter of Gurubaksh Singh Bedi.
??Baba Khem Singh Bedi remained loyal to the British Raj for his whole life. In 1902, he was the official representative of the Punjab at the coronation of King Edward VII.
?Baba Khem Singh Bedi is also known for his services to the cause of education in Punjab. He helped to establish some 50 schools in the Rawalpindi district. He also established a vocational institute and happens to be something of a pioneer of female education in Rawalpindi district. But it is hard to imagine that he would ever foresee his own home later becoming the premises of an educational institution - the cause for which he strived for much of his life!
The historic cultural monuments that lie in such villages, away from big cities, are dwindling fast. Tourism fails to be a sufficient lifeline for their maintenance – given that travel there is difficult for tourists, and even if they do manage to get there, it is difficult for them to get much local guidance for their visits.
The primary construction material used for the Bedi Mahal is sandstone
Outside the mahal, the pole on which once the Nishan Sahib (Flag of Sikhism) was hoisted is still in good condition after 70 years of neglect. The pole has, of course, changed its colour because of corrosion, but the shimmering brass khanda under the sun reminds one of the legacy of the Bedis of Kallar Syedan - and the better times in which they lived.
Ammad Ali is a freelance journalist, translator and Human Rights activist who has worked with the Rawalpindi Historic Urban Landscape project. Credit for all photos belongs to the author.
He tweets at: www.twitter.com/OldRwp
References recommended by the author for further reading: History of the Sikhs, by Hari Ram Gupta? Baba Khem Singh Bedi Punjab Da Rattan, by Giani Ishwar Singh Nara The Punjab Chiefs, by Sir Lepel Griffin The Rawalpindi District Gazetteer
