Ujhla Bridge or Ujhala Bridge, Mirzapur

A small river flowing to the west of Mirzapur disgorges itself into the River Ganges. It intersects the road leading from Mirzapur to Vindhyachal. This is the Ujhla River or ‘Nullah’, as the British referred to it. Though a small river in comparison to the Rivers like Ganges and Yamuna, the Ujhla presented a great deal of hindrance to the travellers wanting to cross it to reach Vindhychal from Mirzapur or vice versa. This was during the days when there was no bridge across the river.

This article is about the first bridge across the Ujhla, the construction of which was possible because of the munificence of a local high priest. Numerous public works dot our country which were erected due to the large financial contributions of Indian men and women – both known and unknown.

Despite being a small river, the Ujhla presented a considerable challenge to travellers wanting to cross it. The banks of the river are high, nearly 50 feet high and steep on both sides, for about a few kilometres upstream and some metres downstream before the high banks suddenly drop to the level of the rivers. During monsoons the rivers swelled up considerably and with it the sandbank, where the Ujhla met the Ganges, would get flooded for months.

Mouth of the Ujhla River; meeting River Ganges

During the British rule, and possibly before that as well, the road connecting Mirzapur and Vindhyachal was an important trade road. Large consignments of goods like cotton and grain loaded on carts made their way to Mirzapur, and from Mirzapur sugar and lac were exported to places like Allahabad and Banda via this road. The immense difficulty the merchants and traders faced in crossing a river with high and steep banks by breaking bulk is not difficult to imagine. Moreover, much before the arrival of EIC to the territories, the Vindhyavasini Temple at Vindhyachal was an important centre of pilgrimage for Hindus. Huge droves of Hindus would make their way to the temple during auspicious days in the Hindu Calendar. Those travelling from the east would have had to cross the Ujhla River and its precipitous banks. A bridge would, undoubtedly, make their journey less perilous.

In the 1830s, an Indian named Bansidhur presented Rs 12,000 to the magistrate for the construction of a bridge across the Ujhla.[1] However that didn’t materialise. Later, another Indian offered Rs 38,000 for a bridge.[2] However, the offer was withdrawn. The engineers who surveyed the river for the possible construction of a bridge reported that it was impossible to erect a masonry bridge across the river since its nature was fickle. Instead, they suggested a suspension bridge for fording the river. The Indian wanted only a masonry bridge and therefore refused to fund a suspension bridge.

It was in 1848, when a plan of constructing a bridge over the Ujhla was taken up earnestly. It so happened that Major Markham Kittoe, an officer with great interest in both archaeology and architecture, visited Mirzapur as part of the team of Lord Hardinge, the Governor General. Kittoe expressed interest in visiting the Fort of Kantit which was situated south of the Vindhyavasini Temple. He was accompanied by Mr Wigram E. Money, the Collector of Mirzapur.[3]

Below is the verbatim account of what followed once they reached the right bank of the Ujhla River:

The banks are precipitous, and their descent and ascent very steep and dangerous; and during the rains the road was often closed for days on account of the violence of the torrent, by which hundreds of lives were formerly lost. The whole of the drainage of the country from the foot of the hills, for miles around, passed through this outlet, and comes down sometimes instantaneously and carries everything with it.
I suggested to Mr Money the great advantage of a bridge. He asked me if I considered it practicable; which I did. He told me many years ago, 38,000 rupees have been given by a native gentleman for that purpose, but that the Engineer Officers consulted, pronounced a masonry work to be impracticable, and wished to have a suspension bridge, which the native refused to subscribe to as being perishable.
Mr Money, ever ready to promote useful undertakings, asked me to put my ideas on paper. We went some way up the nullah examining the banks both above and below. A sheet of country paper was sent for and a reed pen and ink. I made a sketch of the banks and nullah, and measured the span at a convenient spot, and then sketched a bridge of three arches, little differing from the present structure.
I subsequently at Mr Money’s request, prepared a small coloured drawing and gave a rough estimate; and in less than a week from the date Mahunt Pursaram Geer had promised to build; and had placed 10,000 rupees at our disposal. We at once commenced operations and carried them on under the superintendence of an old European pensioner overseer, and under the care of Mr Money, Major Stewart, Mr C. Hamilton and other gentlemen, who took lively interest in the work, which I visited as often as was necessary to instruct as to the course of operations, and thus has this great structure been carried on to completion.

Going by the information at hand, the construction of the bridge started sometime in 1849. The proposal with respect to acquisition of land for the approaches to the bridge to be constructed over the Ujhla Nullah were submitted to the Sudder Board of Revenue on 23 July 1851. The acquisition of land for approaches to the said bridge on either side of the nullah were confirmed by 5 September of the year.[4]

The bridge was completed in two years or so, the opening happening in 1851. Though when the report on the completion of this project was submitted in 1852, the shops that were planned to be built on the approach roads on either side were still under construction. [5]

The construction of the bridge was done in a novel way to which Major Kittoe laid a claim as being the originator. This construction style, claimed Kittoe, ensured a great saving as also, and more importantly, stability of the structure. Major Kittoe was quite proud of his design and construction plan that he sent a detailed and a larger of it to the Governor General in the hope that he would forward the same to the Court of Directors in London.

The initial estimated cost of the bridge was Rs 30,000 but the cost overshot that by Rs 5000 because of, as Kittoe claimed, the inaccurate estimation of requisite masonry work that entailed. [6]

Major Kittoe gives a detailed account of how he went about constructing the bridge.

My first operation was to dig trial shafts in each bank, which were sunk twenty-five feet; in fact twenty-three below the mud and water-mark of the dry season, and many under the lowest fall of the Ganges, distant 200 yards more or less. A stiff clay, with branches of blue kunker interspersed, was found uniformly to this depth; therefore there was no apprehension on account of the abutments and of the eastern pier. We dug our foundation to 17 feet below the water-mark, and posited our first course on the hard clay. The western pier, however, had to be carried deeper, as the clay was not as firm at the same depth. We had but little difficulty as the water was easily bailed out with baskets and well-buckets, and the clay being so firm generally that the slips were few. Our material, I should remark, has been stone and kunker lime throughout.
Our work was exceedingly easy up to the spring of the arches, a height of 42 feet from the level of the lowest water-mark and above the foundation; which, as I here shown, averages 17 feet lower, – total 59 feet to the spring of the arches: the spread up and down the stream being 41 feet, and sideways 15 feet.
The piers and abutments are built on the batter, with 5-inch off-sets at every 10 feet, and half an inch in the foot batter. The first three steps, counting from the foundation, upper course (which is 16 feet) are 10 each (as stated above), and the fourth 12 feet, with no batter, except to the cut-waters. At this level the ribs spring from skewbacks cut out of blocks of stone.
The arches of this bridge are segmental, pointed, the radius of the arcs being 36 feet; the versed sine or rather rise, being near one-third or 15 feet for the two side arches of 50 feet span each, and 20’ for the centre arch, which is 60 feet span. The construction of these arches is one peculiar feature of this bridge.

Then Kittoe goes on to describe his experience in building bridges before this one and what design elements he experimented with. He, during his experience of working with Major Willis on the Grand Trunk Road and assisting in building bridges at other places, found that for a masonry bridge to be strong and stable the whole span of the bridge should be divided into several sections, and that for each section the piers need to be constructed of ‘sufficient strength, and of such form as to enable them to act as abutments in themselves, to sustain the pressure of the separate portions’.

The final design of the bridge was Gothic, and it included some unique features. It was not a simple masonry bridge with a road supported by piers. Kittoe’s design resulted in formation of spaces below the road, on the lower level of the bridge. These spaces could be reached by flight of stairs located midway of the bridge on either side of the road. Further, on both sides of the approach roads, two floors of shops were built. One at the level of the road the other one on a lower level as can be seen in the appended illustrations of the bridge by Major Kittoe himself. Today, they are bare shells, some in a state of ruin while some being misused by the public as dumping ground. But 150 years ago, these shops would have witnessed hectic activity, as merchants and traders brought their goods here either to use as storage, transhipment or used as retail shops. In all likelihood, the lower level rooms were used as storerooms.

Kittoe made tremendous contribution to the understanding of India’s past. He was indefatigable in his effort to search for remnants of ancient buildings and inscriptions. He wrote several papers for the Asiatic society of Bengal on Indian antiquities. Besides, he was involved in the designing and construction of some iconic buildings, like the Sanskrit College at Benares. [7] He designed and built bridges too.

An officer of the 6th Regiment Native Infantry, Major Kittoe, supposedly was a man of a difficult disposition. Earlier, in 1837, he was dismissed from the army by the general court martial for ‘insubordinate, disrespectful and litigious conduct’,[8] but later he was reinstated with the help of his friend, Mr Prinsep.[9] He was of the 6^th Regiment Native Infantry.

He died at a young age of 44 years and 5 months sometime in the first half of April 1853,[10] within a year following the completion of the Ujhla Bridge. He took ill in January of the same year when in India and subsequently he put in a request for a furlough to England to improve his health. However, his condition worsened during the voyage back to England.[11] Within three weeks of landing in England, he died at Coddenham, Suffolk.[12]

The Mr E. A. Reade, Commissioner of Benares Division, said of the bridge: ‘Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the style, or the principle of its construction, the Oojhla bridge is undoubtedly a great public improvement, and promises to be lasting.’ [13]

The Commissioner was right about its lasting usage. For 170 years this bridge has facilitated an unbroken thoroughfare between Mirzapur and Vindhyachal to travellers both on foot and in various types of vehicles. For over 50 years, the heaviest vehicles that plied over the bridge were loaded carts pulled by animal draught. We can add elephants with their mahouts too. It is to the credit of the architect Mr Kittoe, that the bridge has unfailingly taken the weight of motor vehicles for nearly hundred years – even loaded trucks and buses traversed, and continue to traverse, over this same bridge. Not to mention surviving the torrential flow of water during heavy monsoons and floods that the region is prone to.

(Watch this video of the flooded Uljha River: https://public.app/video/sp_ptascbonswl4u)

[1]‘Asiatic Intelligence’, The Asiatic Journal and the Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia, Volume XXVI, New Series, May-August 1838 (London: Wm. H Allen and Co., 1838), p. 25. Google Books Accessed June 2014.

[2] ‘Bridge over the Oojhla Nullah, West of the Town of Mirzapore’, Selections from the Records of the Government, North Western Provinces, Volume III, Part XII to XXI (Agra: Secundra Orphan Press, 1855), pp. 85-86. Hathitrust, accessed on 30 August 2020, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044105328660.

[3] Source hidden by author

[4] ‘Bridge over the Oojhla Nullah, West of the Town of Mirzapore’, op. cit. This is from a cover letter from Mr E. A. Reade, the Commissioner of Benares Division to the Secretary to Government, North Western Provinces dated 2 June 1852.

[5] ibid.

[6] ibid.

[7] A. Cunningham, ‘Introduction’, Archaeological Survey of India: Four Reports made during the year 1862-63-64-65, Volume I (Simla: Government Central Press, 1871), p. xxv. Hathitrust, accessed 18 September 2021, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951p010432428

[8] Source hidden by author

[9] A. Cunningham, ‘Introduction’, op. cit.

[10] Source hidden by author

[11] A. Cunningham, ‘Introduction’, op. cit.

[12] Source hidden by author

[13] ‘Bridge over the Oojhla Nullah, West of the Town of Mirzapore’, op. cit.

The Fort of Chunar

Situated on the banks of the venerated River Ganges in the district of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, this fort has a history that goes back to the time of King Vikramaditya of Ujjain who reigned circa 56 BCE. It has witnessed the ascent and descent of several powerful kingdoms and empires, and has been a gateway to Bihar and Bengal for rulers in the north western part of the subcontinent. Other names of Chunar include Chunargarh, Chunda, and Chandalgarh.[1]

Chunar Gur North End Colour BL Online Gallery 1787

Source: William Hodges, Select Views in India Drawn on the Spot in the year of 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783 and executed in Aqua Tinta, from British Library Online Gallery http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/largeimage68778.html

Chunar From SW Side 1787 BL Online Gallery

Source: William Hodges, Select Views in India Drawn on the Spot in the year of 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783 and executed in Aqua Tinta, from British Library Online Gallery http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/largeimage68779.html

The Fort, due to its location on the banks of the Ganges and its high elevation, provided great strategic advantage to any ruler wanting to control the critical water highway of the Ganges. The Fort, thus, was one of the most coveted forts of the region.

A pipal (Ficus religiosa) tree located in the fort is believed to be the shrine of Bhartri Nath who was the brother of King Vikramaditya of Ujjain.[2] Several historians contest the existence of a King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, who supposedly reigned in the first century BCE. According to them, this Vikramaditya was a member of the Gupta dynasty that ruled in the 3^rd and 4^th century CE. If we accept the latter argument, even then the antiquity of the fort is quite remarkable.

In the seventh century of the Common Era, it is believed that Bilagar Deo, the founder of Baghelkhand took control of a large territory from Kalpi to Chandalgarh, which meant the fort came under his rule during the period.[3]

Importance of Chunar as an extremely strategic place along the north-east corridor of north India can be gauged from references made to it during the tumultuous era of medieval India when the expansionist policies of the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughals towards Bengal required the capture of this fort as an expression of military hegemony. In 1528, Sultan Mahmud Lodi, the chief of Bengal, rebelled against Babur by taking control of Bihar. To bring the rebellion under control Babur set out towards Bengal and on his way he was informed that Sher Shah Suri, on whom he had bestowed many favours, including rewarding him with several parganas, and having given him charge of the territory, had joined the rebels who were planning to capture the Fort of Chunar. Babur made a stop at this fort during his campaign against the rebellious Sher Shah Suri in late 1520s.[4] In 1530, Sher Shah took control of Chunar Fort which is considered by some historians as the beginning of Sher Shah Suri’s aggressive policy that culminated as the ruler of Delhi.[5] Adil Shah, the Afghan ruler and successor of Sher Shah Suri, used the fort as a base from where he despatched Hemu, a Hindu general, with a large force to defeat Ibrahim Shah, another contestant to the throne left vacant by the death of Sher Shah Suri. Subsequent to defeating Ibrahim Shah, Hemu went on to defeat Tardi Beg Khan, a Mughal who was made in charge of Delhi post the death of Humayun by Bairam Khan, the regent to the young king Akbar. In 1545, the fort was taken by the Mughals after a siege of six months. The long siege tells us that the fort was built with strong fortifications. Caunter describes it as having ‘walls protected by towers rising one behind another, and covering the citadel with an impregnable array of ramparts, which were manned by a numerous garrison’.[6]

Gulbadan Begam, daughter of Babur and half-sister of Humayun, and author of Humayun-nama, called Chunar Chunda in her description of Humayun’s march to defeat the Afghans of Bengal.[7] The fort finds a mention in the Ain-i-Akbari which gives the description of the people residing in the area. According to the description, the people had no clothing and carried bows and arrows as weapons, suggesting the fort was under tribal territory.[8] In the eighteenth century, the fort came under the control of the rulers of Awadh.

Closer View of Chunargarh 1795

Source: Unknown artist, ‘North View of the Fort of Chunargarh on the Ganges from across the river’, work dated 1795. From British Library Online Gallery http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/addorimss/n/largeimage55031.html

Water Colour Chunar Fort Seeta Ram

Source: Water colour by Seeta Ram, 1814, from British Library Online Gallery work titled ‘Views by Seeta Ram from Benares to Nazibghur Volume III’ produced by Lord Moira afterwards Marquess of Hastings. This painting is titled ‘The Fort of Chunargarh seen from across the River’. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/addorimss/t/largeimage55129.html

For the Khaljis, Lodhis and Mughals Chunar Fort was the gateway to the eastern territories of Bihar and Bengal, for the British, however, Chunar Fort proved to be a crucial base from where they led military expeditions to fulfil their political ambition of acquiring territories of north India.[9] It was in the latter half of the eighteenth century post the battle of Buxar that the fort fell into the hands of the British. In the battle between the armies of the British and Shuja-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Awadh, in 1764, the fort was valiantly defended by the Nawab’s forces. However, the Fort was briefly besieged by Capt. Hector Munro of the British Army when he made a surprise attack on the Fort in the middle of the night. But the Abyssinian commander in charge of the Fort was prepared for such an assault and easily defeated the British soldiers who made attempts at climbing the walls in the cover of darkness. The siege of Chunar Fort by the British, however, continued for many months until the Fort of Allahabad fell to the British in 1765. The Abyssinian commander of Shuja-ud-daulah, on realising that his master was in a very disadvantageous situation, surrendered to Major Stibbert on 7 February 1765.[10] Soon after, the British returned the Fort to the Nawab of Awadh who subsequently, in 1772, exchanged it for the fort of Allahabad.[11]

Under British occupation, Chunar Fort housed a magazine of ammunition and provisions for the brigade located at Kanpur.[12] Kanpur was a critical forward military station which was at a distance of over 400 km via a circuitous Ganges channel from Chunar. The British for some years possessed just a narrow strip of territory along the Ganges between Chunar and Kanpur, and since Chunar was within reach from their Bihar territory, it was the best place to locate back-up for their forward posts such as Kanpur in the north-western regions of the sub-continent. At that time any boat passing on the Ganges near the Fort was minutely scrutinised before being allowed to proceed further.[13]

Chunar Garh ISRM 1928 1

Source: The Chunar Fort, ISRM, Volume 1, June 1928.

Chunar ISRM 1928 2

Source: ‘Chunar Fort from the Ganges’, ISRM, Volume 1, June, 1928.

Chunar fort was a refuge and a sanatorium for British soldiers. It also became one of the most secure prisons for the British adversaries and their families. Hastings retired to the fort after the quelling of Raja Chait Singh’s insurrection in 1781. In 1817, the British incarcerated Trimbakji Dainglia (Dengle), a minister of Peshwa Baji Rao II, in this Fort. In the late nineteenth century, some leaders of the Kuka movement of Punjab, which was brutally suppressed by the British, were confined in the Fort.[14]

Endnotes

[1] ‘The Grand Trunk Road – Its Localities’, The Calcutta Review, Volume XXI, July – December 1853, p. 223, pp. 170-224.

[2] The Indian State Railway Magazine, April 1928 to September 1928, June Issue, Volume 1, no. 9, pp. 639-640

[3] W. W. Hunter, The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume VIII, pp. 56-58.

[4] ‘Tuzuk-I Babari’, The History of India as told by its own Historians, Muhammadan Period, Volume IV, John Dowson, ed. (London: Trubner and Co., 1872), pp. 218-287, p. 282

[5] S. R. Sharma, Mughal Empire in India 1526-1761, Part I, (Bombay: Karnatak Printing Press, 1934), p. 128.

[6] Hobart Caunter, Oriental Annual, Or Scenes in India(London: Charles Tilt, 1838), p. 198.

[7] S. R. Sharma, Mughal Empire in India 1526-1761, Part I (Bombay: Karnatak Printing Press, 1934), p. 82 fn.

[8] Thomas Pennant, The View of Hindoostan, Volume II Eastern Hindoostan (London: Henry Hughs, 1798), pp. 208-210.

[9] See Sita Ram Kohli, ed., Fort William – India House Correspondence, Military Series, Volume XXI, 1797-1800 (Delhi: National Archives of India, 1969).

[10] William Hodges, P. 57

[11] Thomas Pennant, The View of Hindoostan, Volume II Eastern Hindoostan (London: Henry Hughs, 1798), pp. 208-210.

[12] William Hodges, P. 57

[13] Hobart Caunter, The Oriental Annual, or Scenes in India (London: Edward Bull, 1834), p. 182.

[14] Jaswinder Singh, Kuka Movement: Freedom Struggle in Punjab (Documents, 1880-1903 A.D.) (New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributers, 1985), p. 200.

A Historical Account of Bridging the Karmanasa River

The name Karmanasa means ‘destroyer of good deeds’. So before giving an account of the various bridges constructed across the Karmanasa River, it is important to relate the mythological story that made this river an inauspicious one for Hindus as well as Budhhists. The ominous quality of the river was one of the primary reasons for Hindus to build a bridge over the river as it formed a major obstacle to cross for those Hindus from the east wanting to visit important pilgrim places such as Benares, Allahabad and Vindhyachal near Mirzapur.

Gautama Budh, while writing about the sanctity of city of Gaya, stated that, ‘by the touch of water of Karmanasa, all virtuous works are instantly destroyed.’ The Padma-Purana relates a long story on the cause of the misfortune addressed to the Karmanasa River:

After Ravana abducted Sita and took her to Lanka, Hanuman and his followers surrounded his fortress and threatened to destroy Lanka if Sita was not returned. Ravana in order to gain protection for his beautiful city Lanka, prayed to Shiva for assistance. The prayer only managed to invoke a goddess who directed him to obtain a Shivling from Kailash Mountain and carry it to Lanka without placing it even once on the ground during the journey. Ravana obtained the Shivling and on his return, near Baidyanath Hill was accosted by Indra in the garb of a Brahmin. Indra and Varuna, the lord of water, concerted together a plan to stop Ravana from succeeding in his mission. Varuna in his invisible entered the belly of Ravana and created immense discomfort causing him to pause in his journey. He called upon the Brahmin who was Indra disguised as such to help him with the Shivling by holding it for the time Ravana took time to recover from the strange and sudden affliction of stomach pain and discomfort. The Brahmin willingly extended assistance and the moment Ravana handed the Shivling to him, he placed the Shivling of the ground, where it immediately became fixed and permanent. Meanwhile, Varuna had filled Ravana’s stomach with so much water that it soon got discharged and formed a river which was called Karmanasa. And, thus, the water of the river acquired the defiling qualities so abhorred by the Hindus.

Another legend, that is often shared, is that a highly aspiring Rajah Trisanku, father of Raja Harishchandra, wanted to achieve an exalted position among the gods in his material body. To achieve this wish, he requested Rishi Vasistha to assist him but the Rishi refused to help him. The Raja then went to Vasistha’s sons who got irritated by his demand and thus cursed him and turned him into Chandala. Angry and humiliated, Raja Trisanku rushed to Rishi Vishwamitra, who was a rival of Rishi Vasistha, for help. Rishi Visvamitra agreed to help the Raja in achieving his desire. He set a big yagna to which all the Rishis were invited. Rishi Vasistha declined the invitation. At the completion of a successful yagna, Raja Trisanku started ascending towards heaven in his material body. However, displeased by this, the gods stopped his entry and kicked him out of their abode. In the battle of egos between the gods and Rishi Visvamitra, Raja Trisanku became stuck in limbo between the earth and the heaven in an awkward position. The anguished caused tears from Raja Trisanku to flow, which formed the Karmanasa River.[1]

The Karmanasa River is nearly 192 km long and flows in a south-north direction to join the Ganges at village Chausa located in the district of Buxar, Bihar. Despite being a difficult obstacle for the movement of people and goods between the territories of Bengal and North-West Provinces, the river was never successfully bridged even though attempts were made.

According to some sources, several attempts were made in distant past to throw a bridge across the said river but every attempt failed which lent credence to the ominous nature of the river. During the reign of Aurangzeb, the Subadar of the Benares district through attempted to create a bridge over the river. This structure was never completed because remnants of an incomplete structure were visible over a century later, in the early nineteenth century. In the middle of the eighteenth century Rai Bhara Mal, who, according to some was a Diwan of Himmat Bahadur, a Gosain leader, and according to others Diwan of Dara Shikoh[2], began another effort to ford the river near the village of Naubatpur, but faced failure like the others in the past. In 1780, the prolific builder of public and religious buildings Ahilya Bai took interest in the matter and directed her workers, who were involved in creating several ghats at Benares, to ford the river at the same spot as that of Rai Bhara Mal. However, there is no evidence of any work done by her workers.

Towards the turn of the nineteenth century, during the period of Mr Duncan at Benares, Nana Fadnavis took serious interest in fording the river and put in nearly ten years of labour and over rupees fourteen lakhs (some doubt this figure and state in reality it was between rupees two to three lakhs). His death put a sudden stop to the effort. Nevertheless, in those ten years, Nana Fadnavis was successful in creating secure foundations in river which had a ‘soil formed of deep oozing sand.’ To build houses and other construction work, Zamindars and villagers of nearby places carried away parts of the large quantity of material collected for the construction of the bridge. Some were used to built a large well in a village in the vicinity.

In 1820s, public-spirited Indian elite Raja Shiv Chander Rai hired the services of Mr Colin Shakespeare, an engineer in the service of the East India Company, to construct a rope suspension bridge across this river. The British government supported and lauded this effort.[3] This bridge had a 300 feet span and could accommodate foot passengers and dak runners. The coir rope used in the construction of this bridge was tarred to give it extra strength.[4] Soon it was felt that this rope bridge should be replaced by an iron bridge, for which a person was deputed to do a study for its erection. However, the idea was dropped and in its place, it was felt prudent, to build a masonry bridge.

Rai Patni Mal of Benares volunteered the building of this masonry bridge. Rai Patni Mal was known for his munificence towards erecting ghats, tanks, and temples at places like Benares and Mathura. He offered to complete the bridge started by Nana Fadnavis but his family were not supportive of this project as they feared some bad omen might befall him and large sums of money would be wasted on a fruitless project. Rai Patni Mal, however, stood his ground. At the commencement of the project his wife expired, which could have been taken as an evil omen, but Patni Mal was undeterred. The government, also, by then had not accepted any of the terms under which he had offered to build the bridge. The terms were:

1) Permission to use the materials formerly collected

2) Assistance from the police in procuring carts, &c

3) The Services of a Secretary to the Benares Committee of Improvements, who had furnished a design for the new bridge

4) A remission of the heavy duties on Chunar stone

5) A confirmation of the title of Raja Bahadur Neknam, which had been conferred upon him by the king of Delhi, during Mr Seton’s residency[5]

Point number four above was addressed by the opening a quarry nearby instead of carting and paying duty on the stone from Chunar. This quarry was located fourteen miles to the south-west of Naubatpur.

Bridge over Karmanasa River

Source: Gleanings in Science, October 1831, Volume III, January to December 1831, pp. 297-300.

The details of the bridge are given below. Rai Patni Mal executed two changes to the original plan, which is displayed in plate given in the source. The first change he made was to omit the semi-domes over the recesses on the piers and, the second change was to create plain parapet on the wing walls instead of a balustrade.

The original native bridge was to have seven arches of 17 feet span; to take advantage of the piers already built it was determined to throw two of these into one, making three equal arches, which with the piers should occupy precisely 200 feet in span. The semicircular form was preferred on account of the great rise of the river, the necessary height of the road way, the symmetry of the elevation, (since for more than 8 months of the year, the level of the water remains 2 steps below the spring of the arch as shewn in the sketch,) and the convenience of cutting the stones to one model. The span of the arches is 53 feet, and the depth of the voussoirs 3 feet. A vault of brick is laid over them to prevent any infiltration of water through the joints from above. To the piers is given a section of 30 by 13 feet: the roadway is 25 feet wide, and perfectly horizontal. The centering consisted of 6 frames, each composed of four pieces (fig. 3) so as to be as light as possible; for it must be remarked, that no machinery could be employed in the construction: – every stone was to be raised and posited by direct human labour; – figures 5, 6, and 7 are intended to exemplify one instance of this in the simple native mode of carrying stones: the number of men is increased according to the weight to be lifted, and from the combination of levers, the weight necessarily bears equally upon the supporting shoulders of all the pesrajes or carriers; with a saugar of 16 men they readily move a stone of as many maunds or about fourteen cwt.[6]

When the construction started it was found that the coffer dams or kothi of stone had been laid across the bed of the river for a width of 60 feet thereby constructing a solid rock bed.[7] Most of these kothi reached 20 feet below the bed of the river, firmly standing on hard clay. Some of these kothi of stones were filled with masonry which reduced the time and effort in building piers on them. In April of 1830, the first arch ‘was turned’ and two other arches were commenced. And by July of 1831 the roadway was nearly completed. This despite the fact that on one occasion a sudden rise of water by 26 feet carried away parts of arches under construction.

The estimated cost of the bridge as incurred by Rai Patni Mal was Rs 100,000. This was exclusive of the cost incurred by Nana Fadnavis previously. It is reported than Rai Patni Mal’s son, Rai Ram Kishen acted as the superintendent of the project which ensured proper management of funds. Captain Grant, an officer of EIC in the Benares Division, gave valuable advice and inputs in the construction and frequently visited the site to ensure proper execution of the works. However, the whole detail of construction was conducted by Indian masons, and the construction quality was so good that the British officers commended the skills and exertions of the Indian masons.[8]

This masonry bridge still stands (the bottom one) as can be seen in this Google Map snapshot.

Google maps of Bridge over Karmanasa

Source: Courtesy Google Maps.

[1] Wopendranath Ghosh, Rohtas Garh (Cuttack: Orissa Mission Press, 1908), pp. 4-5.

[2] H. M. Elliot, The History of India as told by its own Historians: The Mohammadan Period, Volume VII, ed., John Dowson (London: Trubner and Co, 1877), p. 168.

[3] Colin Shakespeare, ‘Portable Bridge of Suspension,’ in Transactions of the Society, Instituted at London, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, Vol. 43 (1824), pp. 160-182.

[4] ‘Summary of the Latest Intelligence from the East,’ in The Oriental Herald, Vol. VIII, January to March, 1826 (London), pp. 353- 376.

[5] Gleanings in Science, October 1831, Volume III, January to December 1831, pp. 297-300.

[6] Gleanings in Science, October 1831, Volume III, January to December 1831, pp. 297-300.

[7] The kothis of stone rested upon a wooden frame or jamwat, which is sunken through the sand by the process of under-digging, as practised by the well-diggers of Bengal.

[8] The Caramnassa Bridge, Gleanings in Science, No. 34, October, 1831, January to December, 1831, Volume III (Calcutta), pp, 297-300.