Guwahati: The once dimly-lit spectral graveyard of Sarania that incited ghost stories is today being visited by fitness enthusiasts, young and old equally, to take a stroll among the greeneries in the sprawling 48 bigha (8 hectares) graveyard.
The credit goes to the Sarania Kabarsthan Committee which had, over the last three years, built a walking zone inside the graveyard with concrete paths, lit with lamp posts and well maintained gardens. Eminent lawyer Nekibur Zaman is the incumbent president of the committee.
The committee has installed at least 15 lamp posts and cemented a stretch of lane that is a kilometre long.
“It is not necessary that a graveyard has to be scary or a melancholic place. For a city that is suffering from scarcity of greeneries, we thought that we can add to its green cover by utilising the low lying areas of the graveyard where it is not possible to bury,” Sazid Rahman, secretary of the committee told G Plus.
According to the Islamic rules, burials should be done on a high ground as it is considered inauspicious to bury someone in a low lying area.
“While a majority of the low lying areas have been developed, an area of 60,000 sq ft is being developed into another site for burying. Most of the existing highlands have been nearly filled up,” Rahman said.
Located on the dorsal side of the Sarania hills, the Sarania Kabarsthan takes up the base of the hill and can be reached by the Gandhi Basti Road, adjacent to the Nehru Stadium with its entrance bang opposite the Haji Musafir Khana Trust Board. Currently, there are more than 3,000 graves in the graveyard.
Besides developing it into a walking zone, the committee has also set up an office to organise the burying activities, parking areas and waiting halls for the visitors.
“Whenever the people used to bring janaza, there used to be a chaotic situation around due to lack of parking spaces. The people who assembled brought vehicles and parked them outside blocking the roads. The parking space that we built can easily accommodate 100 vehicles,” Rahman said.
“The visitor’s hall isn’t meant for just Muslims but those of other faiths too. These halls are equipped with toilets and other facilities. To make it disabled friendly, we also have wheelchairs,” Rahman added.
According to the office of the graveyard, the cost for burying and issue of death certificates is kept nominal at Rs 300 and Rs 100 respectively. However, the costs are higher for those who choose to fence the graves or wish to install tombstones. The cost is Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively.
“We also have set aside funds for those who are below the poverty line. Their burials and death certificates are being done free of cost. The committee will also provide the Kafan (the piece of cloth used to cover bodies according to Islam rituals) and other materials required for the burial,” Rahman said.
The Persian connection
The oldest tomb in the Sarania Kabarsthan dates back to 1936 that, according to anthropologists, belonged to a Persian.
If legends are to be believed, the grave belongs to a wealthy businessman from Persia (present day Iran) named Kurban Ali who was on his way to present day Myanmar with the then British government and died here.
A dome was built two years after his burial in 1938 which, according to archaeologists, resembles the Persian style of architecture.
The dome was discovered 2-3 months ago when the committee was cleaning the old graves.
“Professor Abdullah Asraf, the HOD of anthropology in pre-history of Gauhati University, was contacted by the committee after it was discovered. He looked at the grave and took samples of the construction materials of the dome. The materials used to build the tomb are the exact ingredients which were used in Persia of those times. Also, the scripts and the fonts used have its origins there, Asraf told us,” Rahman added.
According to legends, Ali was an influential businessman who had come from Persia for business pursuits with the British government.
“From our ancestors, we’ve heard that a very wealthy businessman came with a group of 60 servants and he was supposed to go to Myanmar via Guwahati to trade in exotic spices and take back wild animals as pets. But he caught a disease, most probably malaria, and died on the way. Special architects and craftsmen were brought in from Persia and they built the tomb,” Sarfaraz Ahmad, an old resident of Ulubari said.
However, historians opined that the graveyard existed way back in the 18th century.
“This graveyard and the one at Dighalipukhuri existed way back in the 18th century. This was the burial ground for the Garias (Assamese Muslims),” Kumudeswar Hazarika, an eminent writer and historian had earlier said on record prior to his demise.
The Garias of Guwahati were mostly fisherman and among the oldest Muslim communities of this region.
“Those graves have been overlapped by now, but there are evidences of burials being done there,” Hazarika had said.
The Sarania Kabarsthan was earlier called Gauhati Kabarstan and was maintained by a committee that also ran the Athgaon Kabarsthan. Post-independence, the Sarania Kabarsthan committee was formed.
