I wrote this in 2003. I had posted it on Mittal Family site - not sure if you had the chance to read it. I am posting it here. Enjoy!
Foreground
My name is Chitra. I am the eldest daughter of Lakshmi Narain (son of Kirori Mal, son of Munshi Lal, son of Nanak, son of Mani, son of Pran Sukh.) I settled in US in 1975 after my marriage and have been fortunate to visit India every one to 2 years ever since.
I have had the good fortune to hear about Kharar and its many stories as I was growing up. I spent 6 months living with Shri Prakash Chachaji in Muzaffarnagar and another 6 months living with Ved Prakash Taoo Ji and Padam Prakash Chachaji in Shamli. In addition, I also had the good fortune to visit all my Chachajis, Taoojis, BuaJis and their families almost every summer while growing up. I don’t think I missed any wedding in the family until I got married myself and moved far away. I had heard so much about Kharar during all this family time that it felt like I knew every nook and corner of the village myself. However, I never had the chance to actually visit Kharar. When Shri Prakash Chachaji and Ajay (my brother) gave me the chance to visit Kharar in 2003, I was absolutely delighted. I will never ever forget that visit to my ancestors’ home. It was everything I ever imagined to be and more.
Our Saket Wale BabaJi, Shiam Lal, had documented lot of our family history including background of Kharar in a diary. This documentation is scattered in multiple books, on different size papers, some in Hindi and some in English in bits and pieces. Shri Prakash Chachaji spent hours putting it all together, talking with other members of the family and added things that were missing from it. Lakshmi Narain (my father) and Ajay (my brother) also helped in this compilation effort.
The only effort I have spent on this is typing it up. The document by Babaji and Chachaji refers to each individual as they should be – e.g., Lala Ji or Baba Ji, or Bhai Sahab etc. However, in order to make this document as a historical document, I have decided not to use any of the relationships in referring to people. With all due respect to everyone, I figured that since everyone has a different relationship to each person, it will become confusing. I hope all my elders will allow me this indulgence.
With many many memories of Shiam Lal Babaji, my heart filled gratitude to Shri Prakash Chachaji, Papa, and Ajay who have teamed up to be the family historian, here is the brief history of our family. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.
Background on Kharar
Kharar village is located between Ganga and Jamuna rivers in the Doaba region. This region is located in Budhana Tehsil (sub county) in the District of Muzaffarnagar (county) in the State of U.P. The region has very good soil for agriculture purposes. At one time, this village was not connected to Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Kandhla, or Budhana. There were no vehicles available to travel. Kandhla was 18 KM., Shamli was 15 KM., Budhana was 10 KM., and Muzaffarnagar was 30 KM. The only way to travel to Kharar was by foot. Some bus routes were started between Muzaffarnagar and Shamli around 1930, and then people had to walk 12-15 KM only. Sometimes horse vehicle will be available upto Titavi. Then you only had to walk 15 KM between Titavi and Kharar.
Kharar village had an elementary school for boys and one for girls. The attendance at the girls’ school was very low. Later on, high school education became available also. Intermediate education (12th grade) became available around 1970. Before that students went to Shamli or Kandhla for high school education.
There was a large population of Agrawals and Jaats. There were few houses occupied by Brahmins, Julaha (weavers), Dheevar (watermen), and some of labour caste. Labour caste people mostly did labour work in the fields.
It was a hardship to get drinking water, Dheenvri (wives of watermen) used to fill the water in buckets (called Tokni) from the Bhoron Ka Kuan (well) and bring it home everyday. Ladies used this water for their bathing needs as well as for kitchen need. Men used to go to Kuan to bathe. Both men and women went to jungle (agriculture fields) for bathroom needs. We built the first inhouse bathroom on the roof of our haveli around 1940. People were surprised when the bhangan (scavenger) will take the waste in the basket out of our home. This was the first improvement for ladies’ life.
Water was still an issue. In the rainy season, you had to walk in 4-5 feet of standing water to get to the Kuan. Around 1942, Savitri Devi (Saket Wali DadiJi) asked Lala Kirori Mal (Shami Wale Babaji) if a Kuan can be built within the haveli. Kirori Mal agreed and had it done (with the cooperation of all other families living in that big house known as Haveli). Haveli was built on very high ground, so they had to dig deep to get to the water. Once it was done, it felt like Bhagirath brought the Ganga home.
In the meantime, horse carriages and bullock carts became available and people started to make better connections from Kharar and other towns.
Background of Mittal Family
Pran Sukh and his three brothers came to Kharar from Bhattoo Kheri, Haryana or just across Yamuna in U.P. around 1800. No one is sure of the reason for them to leave Bhattoo Kheri – either they had to leave Bhattoo Kheri for some reason or they heard about the good soil and the baniya population and decided to move here.
There were four special families in Kharar – Prano, Kunja, Pachele, and Dakhini Wadio. All of them had some Zamidari work. They all had vast agriculture land from the government. Government used to charge tax from the Zamidars. Zamidars used to lease the land for cultivation to the cultivating families mostly jats and received rents from them and the difference in the rent received and the tax oaid to Government was the income of the zamindar. Jats used to work on the fields themselves and also get the agriculture work done by the labour. Labour used to get portion of the crop Labour caste had no other work than the agricultural labour work. With the implementation of Zamindari Abolition Act after the independenceof India, there was nothing left to do for Zamidars. All the land was given to the actual cultivators who used to work on the land for a very low cost and Zamidars were left with no land at all. Zamidars slowly started to move to other towns to survive. People who stayed behind had a tough time managing their lives.
Our haveli was built around 1850. This building was built at the highest point in the village. It is built in approx 600 sq. yards. The ground floor was used for storage of the grain. First floor was used for residence. Second floor had two large rooms and open area where people slept during the summer months.
Munshi Ram’s family and Shambhu Nath’s family lived in the East and South side of the building. Basheshar and Babu Ram lived in the West and North side of the building. The same haveli which used to be full of people during 1940’s became almost empty by the 1980s.
Settlement between Munshi Lal and Chandra Bhan
Munshi Lal, and Shambhu Nath had joint property in Kharar. Munshi Lal stayed busy with his prayers or with the family cows. Chandra Bhan, son of Shambhu Nath slowly started to transfer the properties in his own name without the knowledge of Munshi Lal. When this scheme was found out, a legal case was filed and Shanbhu Nath was about to go to jail. At that time, Munshi Lal said that he does not care how he was decieted out of property, he will not let his brother go to jail. At that point, Kirori Mal had the legal case dismissed. During that settlement, we were awarded Rs. 3,700. A house was bought in Muzaffarnagar with this money. Ram Prasad lived in that house and started legal practice there.
Background on Munshi Lal Family
Education
Ram Chandra Das was the first one to go out for studies from the Munshi Lal family. He received his B.Sc. from Banaras and became a science teacher in DAV College in Muzaffarnagar. He left the service in 1920-21 during the non-cooperation movement and started the National School with the help of 5-6 other teachers. The school was not successful due to lack of financial resources. Then he went to Balak Ram School in Panipat as a teacher. That school also closed down. He taught at Dera Gopi Pura now in Himachal oradesh in Kangra District. That school also closed down. Then he joined Ramjas High School as a science teacher in Delhi and in the end joined Birla HighSchool at Sabzi Mandi, Delhi as a science teacher. He retired from Birla School.
Anand Prakash, Ved Prakash, Lakshmi Narain, Padam Prakash, Ram Niwas, Dharm Prakash, and many other children studied while staying with Ram Chandra Das. His two sons – Manohar Lal and Jai Prakash died at the early ages of 24-25. His daughter passed away right after her marriage. His other sons – Aditya and Brij Nandan stayed at home and studied. His mother and Lakshmi Devi (Manohar Lal’s wife) stayed with him also. Only God knows how he managed to feed and took care of this large family at the salary of a high school teacher.
Later, Anand Prakash went to Roorkee to study the Overseer course. Lakshmi Narain went to Ambala as an accountant. Padam Prakash found a job at Birla Mill. Dharm Prakash also started to work as an accountant. Ram Niwas went to Roorkee and Aditya Prakash went to England for further studies. Brij Nandan could not do higher studies due to illness. All the children, with the blessing and hard work of Ram Chandra Das, studied hard and created a good career for themselves.
Division of Munshi Lal’s Property
In 1946, it was decided that Munshi Lal’s family (the four sons of Munshi Lal) should do the division of the property. At that time, Ram Chandra Das was residing in Delhi, Ram Prasad in Budhana, and Shiam Lal in Meerut. Kirori Mal lived in Kharar with Ved Prakash. During this time Ved Prakash had started farming and had acquired bulls and 60 bigha (1 bigha = 3025 sq yards) land. The following items were to be divided a) haveli, b) farming property, c) Zamidari abolition bonds, d) house in Muzaffarnagar, and e) cash. These items were grouped in 4 buckets 1) farming property 2) house in Muzaffarnagar, 3 and 4) cash and bonds (approx Rs 8,000). Haveli was not to be divided at that time (and still has not been divided.) Most people expected that since Ved Prakash has developed the farming and has no other means of livelihood, Kirori Mal and Ved Prakash will inherit that portion of the property. However, after discussions, it was decided that as per the wishes of Ram Prasad he will inherit the farming property, Shiam Lal will acquire the house in Muzaffarnagar, and Kirori Mal and Ram Chandra Dass will receive the cash and bonds.
Ved Prakash left everything in Kharar and came to Shamli. Kirori Mal also moved to Shamli after a short time. Ram Prasad sold the farming property in a very short time and moved to Budhana.
Kirori Mal and Ved Prakash started a small brokerage business (Aarat ki dukan) after arranging for small sum of money. The business was started with Ratan Lal who also gave them space in his own shop. Padam Prakash started a small clothing shop in Shamli. Slowly, their hard and honest work was rewarded by increased business and good fortune. The division of property in Kharar proved to be a blessing in disguise as it forced Kirori Mal and his family to move out of Kharar.