Dashrath Manjhi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dashrath Manjhi on an Indian postage stamp, 2016

Dashrath Manjhi ( Hindi दशरथ मांझी Daśarath Māñjhī ; born 1934 in Gehlaur , Bihar ; died August 17, 2007 in New Delhi ) achieved worldwide fame as "Mountain Man" through the construction of a road with the simplest of tools.

life and work

Dashrath and his wife Falguni Devi lived in the simplest of circumstances in Gahlour in the Indian province of Bihar . When his wife was seriously injured in 1959, Dashrath tried to take her to the nearest doctor. This was in the nearby town of Gaya , which is separated from its home village by an impassable chain of hills. This extends the distance from 8 km as the crow flies to 70 km. Due to the loss of time on the detour, his wife did not survive the way to the doctor.

After this experience, Dashrath decided to shorten the distance himself and thus give the villagers easier access to medical care. From 1960 to 1982 he worked on a daily basis to create a 110 m long, 9 m wide and up to 7.5 m deep incision through a mountain. This shortened the distance to Gaya to 15 km.

At first he was ridiculed by the other villagers, but eventually they support him with food and with the purchase of his tools. Because of the road construction he became known as "Mountain Man", especially in India, but also received worldwide recognition.

He died of cancer on August 17, 2007 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi at the age of 73. He was honored with a state funeral by the government of Bihar State.

aftermath

In Bihar a connecting road and a hospital were named after him. His life was filmed by Ketan Mehta in 2014 , with Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing the lead role.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Mountain man Dashrath Manjhi dies in Delhi. In: Hindustan Times. August 17, 2007, accessed April 2, 2015 .
  2. ↑ For 22 years - Indian drives a road through the mountain with a chisel. In: Focus . March 25, 2015, accessed April 2, 2015 .
  3. ^ A b Dashrath Manjhi - Man Who Moved a Mountain - Facts Analysis. December 26, 2012, accessed July 16, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Manjhi the Mountain Man (2014). Retrieved April 2, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Manjhi, Dashrath
ALTERNATIVE NAMES मांझी, दशरथ (Hindi)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian road construction pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Gehlaur , Bihar
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 2007
Place of death New Delhi , India