Smt. Nanhi Devi

Shrimati Nanhi Devi, the mother of Chaudhary Roop Chand was a very pious lady, who was full of outstanding qualities rarely found.  She belonged to a respectable family of village ‘Khoodan’, in Tehsil Jhajjar (now a district) of Rohtak district.  She was married to Chaudhary Rampat at a tender age.  She was a well accomplished lady with well chiseled features, very fair complexion and strong physical built.

Nanhi Devi used to tell her grandsons that when she came to this household, there were only two kacha kothas[1] with a compound fenced by thorny bushes as residence and another big kacha barn[2] to house the animals. As animal assets one buffalo, a few cows and a pair of bullocks were available in the house.  However, the financial condition of the family was just satisfactory as per minimum requirement at that time, of simple living and high thinking.  On her valuable advice, one surface percolation well was sunk for creating a source of irrigation water.  Its water was found to contain nitrogenous salts which served as fertilizer for crops. The production of irrigated wheat and barley crops grown in its command area went up almost up to three times, with the availability of water. The family income increased, which could be used for more constructive works and other needs of the family.

Subsequently on her advice, a small side business was undertaken, in which grains were purchased at the time of crop harvesting in the village and also from adjoining areas, and sold at later stage at higher rates.  Such stored grains were also given to the needy persons on ‘Jinsi terms’[3].  Cash loans on nominal rates of interest were also advanced to the needy villagers, who felt much obliged.  The people started calling Smt. Nanhi Devi as a ‘divine lady’ because of her liberal attitude and helpful behaviour to all the needy persons and the poor families particularly backward classes and weaker sections of the society.

Nanhi Devi was a very religious and God-fearing lady.  She started putting 1.25 seers[4] of grains to the birds every morning near the common well of the village and Johar (water reservoir) on a clean and raised portion of adjoining pals (land).  She punctually and regularly continued this ‘grain-daan’[5] for sixty long years.  She died at the age of about 100 years.  It was really very touching to note that even the birds did not pick up grains that were scattered on the day the grand old lady went the way of all flesh.  Perhaps, they too were sad to miss the kind feeding hand.

One day, one of her grandson (Kanhaya) objected and pointed out by calculating the quantity of grain she had thrown out of the house and seriously meant that it was a great financial loss.  The grand old lady felt surprised for a moment and then replied, keeping her cool and with a smile that my dear child you are raw and inexperienced.  ‘Daan’, of any type, never goes waste.  When she had come to the house of Rampat, the financial condition was not very good but ‘the daan’ and other benevolent activities brought ‘Sakshaat Lakshmi’[6] to the portals of the house. Besides, agricultural production increased substantially and the income from the other sources also got enhanced. Hearing such reply, the grandson was perplexed and felt ashamed, while his grandmother continued smiling and patting his back with love and affection.

Nanhi Devi was a lady with a golden heart, who never sent back any needy person without fulfilling his genuine demand.  One fine morning when the author was sitting by her side, one old man, named Hukmi approached her for some cash loan.  Incidentally, she did not have the key of the cash box as her son Roop Chand was away to Bahadurgarh, who carried the key.  The grand old lady thought for a moment and then took off one of her ornaments and gave it to Hukmi with the direction that he should obtain the required amount from the village Bania[7] against the security of that ornament.  The man happily went away thanking the grand old lady all the way.  In the evening, when her son Roop Chand returned, she went to the village Bania and got her ornament released.  Such a great act of kindness by an illiterate village lady who parted with her ornaments to render immediate help to a needy person (who was actually full of tears and was much worried about starving condition of his family) would be very rarely heard.

Nanhi Devi was a great lover of animals.  As a routine, she served the young calves with lassi and gram-flour ‘perra’ in the morning and play with these lovely little creatures. In the evening when the bullocks were to return after day’s hard work, she used to wait outside the house. She would very minutely observe as to which of the four bullocks was a bit lazy in walk and nimble.  She would substantially increase his ration so that the animal could recoup his lost vigour and vitality and become stronger enough to cope with hard field operations.  She would never abstain from that routine despite being told by many not to come in the way of bullocks in the evening when they were in haste to return home and a bit furious and would knock her down as is natural at such an occasion.  Similarly, she would feed and maintain well all the miltch animals in their lactation period and also take care when dry.  Hence, milk production also increased to a great extent and could meet well the increasing demand of fast growing family. There can be no match to such a house-lady who was so much thoughtful, benevolent and farsighted.  She was always concerned for all the youngsters and especially the two brothers on hard field job as ploughmen were fed with enough of ghee, milk, curd, etc. to maintain their vitality and physical health.

During her long life span, Smt. Nanhi Devi never fell ill.  She was a lucky lady, who never came across any tragic event in the family except the sad demise of her one grandson- Banwari Lal who died of Cholera having caught the infection at Delhi where he had gone to meet his relatives.  He was brought to the village but expired after 2-3 days despite good medical aid.  That gave a big shock to the old lady who used to love Banwari Lal the most out of all her grandsons.

At about the age of 100 years, one morning she asked that a certain place be plastered with a mixture of cow dung and mud.  When it was dry, she lay down on that plastered portion of the floor and started chanting Ram… Ram… and soon she breathed her last breath. Such peaceful end of this grand old lady was never witnessed in the village. Her death procession was largely attended even by masses from the adjoining villages.  The poor people shed tears as the lady who had fulfilled their needs in hard times was no more.  The old Hukmi, with tears in his eyes, narrated his experience and said that a divine soul had passed away leaving behind the fragrance of her noble deeds.  Such complete human beings are rarely born on this earth.  It was almost due to that divine soul that the family advanced and became prosperous so quickly.

[1]  Mud houses to live

[2] animals enclosure/house like structure made up of dried grass & timber / bamboo sticks

[3] Returnable with 25 percent additional quantity of the advanced or given on loan or as advance

[4] One seer is almost equal to one  kilogram

[5] Donation of grain

[6]Presumed physical presence of Goddess Laxmi ( who is considered to be a symbol of financial prosperity)

[7] The village money lender (financer), who used to provide money at a very high rate of interest