PM Narendra Modi to sound 2019 bugle from 'gate to hell'

MAGHAR: If he chose the land of ‘Moksh’ — Varanasi — to pitch himself for the Prime Minister’s post in 2014, it is now Maghar, considered the "gateway to hell" where PM Narendra Modi plans to connect with Kabir and his message of unity, just in time for the Lok Sabha elections early next year.

A huge public rally has been scheduled at the Sant Kabir Mahaparinirvana Sthali on Thursday in Maghar – a place Kabir is known to have chosen to breathe his last in the 15th century to dispel the myth that whoever dies in Maghar goes to hell.

Situated off the national highway leading to Gorakhpur from the state capital and around 250 km from Lucknow, Modi, apart from addressing the gathering, will pay obeisance at both the mausoleum and samadhi sthal where Hindus and Muslims claim to be holding the remains of Kabir, and also lay the foundation stone of the Kabir Research Institute. Historically, it is the 620th year of Kabir's birth at Varanasi and the 500th year of his death at Maghar.


Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Sant Kabir Nagar, Sharad Tripathi said, "Modi Ji does continuous campaigning but it is a great co-incidence that he will hold a public meet at Maghar on the 500th death anniversary of Kabir whose message is an inspiration behind Modi ji’s slogan of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas.’

Maghar hopeful of speedy development
While there is a quaint silence at the newly white washed mausoleum, the temple gong at the adjoining samadhi sthali and the bustling official activity ahead of the PM's visit, has not been able to curb the 'dohey' of 15th century poet Kabir as he spoke of unity, peace and brotherhood.

Recounting the story, Mahant Vichar Das, manager of the Sadguru Kabir Samadhi Sthali, said: "During the time of Kabirji, the pandits of Kashi (Varanasi) had started to fear the growing prominence of Budhha over Varanasi. They then started to mainstream the notion that if you die in Varanasi you will attain salvation and if you die in Maghar you will die a donkey's death, which meant dying here would send one to hell. It was to break this long-held prejudice and stereotype that Kabirji made a conscious decision to spend his last years in Maghar and prove the intellectuals of Varanasi wrong."

"He came here through one of his disciple Nawab Bijli Shah Pathan in 1515 and died in 1518," added Das. But it is not just his coming to Maghar that has a story behind it. The presence of the mausoleum and the samadhi sthali next to one another is also revered by all Kabir devotees.

As the story goes, says Uday Narayan Rai, member of the Kabir Samadhi Sthali committee, "When Kabirji died, there was a dispute between Hindus and Muslims on whether to cremate or bury him, to the point that there was almost a war like situation between the disciples Nawab Bijli Shah of Maghar and Raja Veer Singh Baghela of Varanasi. At that moment, there came a voice that asked them to look under the sheet covering the poet's body. To everyone’s astonishment, instead of his body, there were two flowers. One each was then taken by either side and the two memorials came up which have been following their own traditions for more than 500 years."

And, why was Maghar considered the gateway to hell? Explains principal of Sant Kabir Acharya Amrit Das Mahavidyalaya, Hari Sharan Das Shastri: “There are a number of tales around this. It is said that Maghar was an extremely barren land, more like hell. It is also said that the name meant the road when taken by people would end up in them being looted. Maghar’s situation was that of hell and then the pandits elevated that to call it a place which takes you to hell too."

With Modi coming to Maghar, people at both the mausoleum and the samadhi sthali hope development would follow. “The government has promised that Maghar’s spinning mill will be restarted and Modi has given Maghar a Rs 400-crore upliftment project already. All this will bring Maghar on the map but like the samadhi sthali which is full of rooms around it, I still have been waiting for permission to set up at least one room that allows me to not sit under the sun, rain and winters, out here on the mausoleum's open platform,” said mutawwali (caretaker) of the mausoleum, Khadim Husain Ansari.

PM Modi was born in Gujarat, a land of Kabir's devotees. He also inaugurated the Kabir Math in Bharuch in Gujarat. His coming here would send across a big message with the teachings of Kabir running along all through his stay here,” added Mahant Vichar Das.