Dashrath Manjhi

Dashrath Manjhi (14 January 1934 – 17 August 2007), also known as the Mountain Man, was an Indian laborer from Gehlaur village, near Gaya in the eastern state of Bihar. He is best known for carving a , , and path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel, because his wife fell and died from injuries due to the ridge blocking easy access to a nearby hospital on time. After 22 years of work, Dashrath shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district from to . He travelled to New Delhi to get recognition of his work and was rewarded by then Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar. In 2016, India Post issued a postage stamp featuring Manjhi.

Early life Manjhi was born in Gehlaur on 14 January 1934. He ran away from his home at a young age and worked in coal mines at Dhanbad, later returning to Gehlaur and married Falguni (or Phaguni) Devi.

Gehlaur was and currently is economically backward, and although it lies in a plain, it is bordered on the south by a steeply ascending quartzite ridge of Mesoproterozoic (1–1.6billion years) age (part of the Rajgir Hills) which formerly prevented road access from the town of Wazirganj.

Accident and road building After he returned to Gehlaur, Manjhi became an agricultural labourer. In 1959, Manjhi's wife Falguni Devi was badly injured and died because she fell from the mountain and the nearest town with a doctor was away. Some reports say she was injured while walking along a narrow path across the rocky ridge to bring water or lunch to Manjhi, who had to work away from the village at a location south of the ridge; other reports link the path across the ridge to the delayed care but not to Falguni Devi's injuries.

As a result of this experience Manjhi resolved to cut a roadway across the ridge to make his village more accessible. Manjhi felt that the loss of his beloved wife could have been prevented, also he wished to spare the next person of having to experience a similar fate, so he felt determined to carve a path through the ridge, so that his village could one day have easier access to medical care.

He carved a path long, deep in places and wide to form a road through the ridge of rocks. The latitude and longitude are approximately .

He said, "When I started hammering the hill, people called me a lunatic, but that steeled my resolve."

He completed the work in 22 years (1960–1982). This path reduced the distance between the Atri and Wazirganj sectors of Gaya district from . Though he was mocked for his efforts, Manjhi's work has made life easier for people of the Gehlaur village. Manjhi recalled later that "though most villagers taunted me at first, there were quite a few who lent me support later by giving me food and helping me buy my tools."

Official roads between his village in Atri and Wazirganj, over the path he carved, were built after his death in 2007.

Death Manjhi was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer and was admitted to AIIMS New Delhi on 23 July 2007. He died there on 17 August 2007. He was given a state funeral by the Government of Bihar.

For his feat, Manjhi became popularly known as the 'Mountain Man'. The Bihar government also proposed his name for the Padma Shri award in 2006 in the social service sector.

A stamp featuring Dashrath Manjhi was released by India Post in the "Personalities of Bihar" series on 26 December 2016.

In popular culture Dashrath Manjhi's story has been the subject of at least one documentary and several dramatic treatments in Indian film and television.

The first of these was a supporting character based on Manjhi in the 1998 Kannada-language movie Bhoomi Thayiya Chochchala Maga. Manjhi's story also had a minor role in a later Kannada film, 2011's Olave Mandara, directed by Jayatheertha.

In 2011, director Kumud Ranjan, working for the state-owned Films Division of India, produced a documentary based on Manjhi's life titled The Man Who Moved the Mountain.

In August 2015, a Hindi movie Manjhi – The Mountain Man was released and well received. The movie was directed by Ketan Mehta. Nawazuddin Siddiqui played the role of Manjhi along with Radhika Apte as Falguni Devi.

The first episode of Season 2 of the Aamir Khan hosted TV Show Satyamev Jayate, aired in March 2014, was dedicated to Dashrath Manjhi. Aamir Khan and Rajesh Ranjan also met Bhagirath Manjhi and Basanti Devi, son and daughter-in-law of Manjhi, respectively, and promised to provide financial help. However, Basanti Devi died due to her inability to afford medical care on 1 April 2014.

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