Ranchordas Pagi The Unsung Hero of Indian Army
Parable of the talents
Ranchordas Rabari was born in 1901 in Pithapur, a small village in Pakistan. This village is located on the border of India and Pakistan near Banaskantha district of Gujarat state of India.
His mother's name was Nathima and father's name was Savabhai. His father died at his very young age, after which his mother Savabai took care of him.
At the time of Ranchordas Rabari's birth in 1901, his village used to be very prosperous, at that time his village came under Greater India, because India and Pakistan had not been divided till that time.
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Ranchordas Rabari was also from a prosperous family, he had several hundred acres of land in the village and hundreds of animals like cows, buffaloes, camels, sheep, goats etc.
Parable of the talents
His village came under the Thar desert, there was nothing but sand dunes all around. So farming could not be possible there, so his family and all the people of the village used to earn their living by animal husbandry. That's why even the boy Ranchordas used to live among animals since childhood.
Ranchordas Rabari had developed such techniques due to living among animals since childhood, From which he could understand by looking at the footprints of humans and animals on the sand of the desert, that how long ago a person or animal had passed here, and how far it must have gone now.
By looking at the footprints, he could also tell whether this footprint is of a man or a woman. He could tell by looking at the footprints of camels, how many people were riding on the camel, and how much weight was loaded on the camel.
Parable of the talents
His technique was so advanced that he could tell the age and weight of a person or animal by looking at the footprints in the sand. Since childhood, he had spent all his time in the desert, so he was aware of every nook and corner of the desert.
Because of this quality of his, when his or any other person's animals were lost in the desert, he could easily find them by looking at the footprints. Due to this quality of his, he was very famous in his village and surrounding areas.
His mother got him married when he was of marriageable age, his wife's name was Sagnaben. He got two sons and two daughters from Sagnaben. Ranchordas Rabari was leading a happy life.
The wheel of time was moving slowly. After a few years, his children became wiser and started helping their father in his work. Everything was going normal but on 15 August 1947 India and Pakistan were partitioned, this event changed his life completely.
Parable of the talents
After partition, his village had gone to the part of Pakistan. Now his village was situated on the border of India and Pakistan. Due to being on the border, the movement of Pakistani army in his village increased a lot.
After the partition of India and Pakistan, the atrocities on Hindus increased a lot in Pakistan. Pakistani army men would often enter his village and unnecessarily harass the people. This went on for several months.
One day three Pakistani army soldiers entered the house of Ranchordas Rabari and started molesting his wife and daughters.
Seeing this, Ranchordas Rabari's eyes turned red with anger and he along with his two sons and some people of the village killed those three Pakistani soldiers. On the same day he decided to leave Pakistan and settle in India.
On the same day Ranchordas Rabari left for India along with his family and all the animals. His village was situated on the border of India and Pakistan. At that time the border was not guarded so much, so people used to move from here to there very easily.
After walking for several hours, Ranchordas Rabari and his family left their ancestral home in Pakistan, and settled in a village near Banaskantha district of Gujarat state of India.
After coming to India, they had escaped from Pakistani army, but here in India they had no place to stay. they just spent some days under the open sky.
Parable of the talents
After that they started living in a hut on the desert land. After this, with many months of hard work, they also built a mud house. Now their life had become normal to some extent, and they started living their life by animal husbandry as before.
Ranchordas Rabari and his family used to missed their ancestral home in Pakistan, leaving it was not easy for them. But they were just happy that they all are safe after coming to India.
Here in India also some people knew Ranchordas Rabari very well, because till some time ago this whole area came under one country India.
After coming to India, Ranchordas Rabari helped the people around him a lot with his unique talent, whenever their animals were lost somewhere in the desert, Ranchordas Rabari would find them immediately by looking at their footprints in the sand.
When Banaskantha Superintendent of Police Vanraj Singh Jhala got the news of Ranchordas Rabari's unique skills he came to meet him and wanted to test his skills.
Parable of the talents
Some footprints were left on the desert sand. Superintendent asked Ranchordas, tell me whose footprints are these and where will these people be now.
Ranchordas Rabari looked at those footprints very carefully and said, Sir, there are three types of footprints here, the biggest footprint is of a man, there is also a woman and a small child with him.
The man's footprints are slightly darker and inclined to the right, indicating that the man is carrying a weight on his right shoulder. The footprints of the lady are slightly slanted from right and left side, so perhaps she is pregnant.
There is also a child with them, who must be around seven or eight years of age. These marks are about two hours old, so they would be at a distance of about 10 to 12 kilometers from here.
Superintendent of Police Vanraj Singh Jhala immediately set out in his vehicle to investigate the matter in the direction mentioned by Ranchordas. They found that family at a distance of 10 to 12 kilometers.
According to Ranchordas, the man was carrying a box on his shoulder, the woman walking with him was pregnant and the child walking with them was around seven years old. Seeing this, Vanraj Singh Jhala started wondering at the skill of Ranchordas.
Parable of the talents
Superintendent of Police Vanraj Singh Jhala, impressed by the skills of Ranchordas Rabari, appointed him to the post of Police Guide in 1959, at that time Ranchordas Rabari was 58 years old. After this, Ranchordas Rabari started guiding the police in the desert.
Ranchordas Rabari was aware of every nook and corner of the desert area, due to his good knowledge of desert routes, he kept guiding the police in the desert for many years.
A few years later, in 1965, Pakistan suddenly attacked India. In this sudden attack, 100 Indian soldiers of the advance front detachment posted on the Indian border attained martyrdom.
After this attack, Pakistani soldiers had occupied some areas of Kutch District in Gujarat. Now the war had started. At that time Indian Army Chief General Sam Manekshaw sent a force of 10,000 soldiers to expel Pakistani soldiers from all Indian territories.
At that time, an experienced guide was needed to guide the Indian soldiers in the desert, so Ranchordas Rabari was first called for this work. Ranchordas immediately agreed for this work.
It was going to take at least three days for the Indian Army contingent to reach the encounter site in Kutch. Pakistani soldiers also knew that the Indian army could not reach here for at least three days, so they sat relaxed.
Parable of the talents
Ranchordas was well-versed in the desert terrain, so he used his prudence, and took the Indian soldiers by a shorter route and brought them to the encounter site 12 hours ahead of schedule.
Seeing the footprints present there, Ranchordas told the Indian Army that a total of 1200 Pakistani soldiers are hiding here, as well as he also told the hiding place of Pakistani soldiers. This information was enough for the Indian soldiers, and they suddenly attacked the Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistani soldiers did not even expect that Indian soldiers would reach here so soon, Pakistani soldiers got scared due to this sudden attack. Several hundred Pakistani soldiers were killed in the Indian attack. Indian troops repelled the Pakistani troops and captured the area.
The Indian Army was stunned to see the accuracy of the information given by Ranchordas Rabari. The information about the number of Pakistani soldiers and their hiding places was absolutely accurate. Due to the information given by him, the Indian Army easily chased away the Pakistani Army.
Indian Army Chief General Sam Manekshaw was very impressed by this extraordinary talent of Ranchordas Rabari. He created a special rank in the Indian Army for Ranchordas Rabari by the name of "Pagi", which means one who shows the way.
After this General Sam Manekshaw started calling Ranchordas Rabari by the name of Ranchordas Pagi. Now Ranchordas Pagi joined the Indian Army and started guiding the army in desert.
Parable of the talents
A few years later, in 1971, war again broke out between India and Pakistan, Pakistan started heavy shelling on the border areas. The Indian Army started running short of logistics and ammunition at the front. At that time Ranchordas paagi helped the indian army a lot, in reaching the ammunition and logistics at the front.
In this war, many Pakistani spies and soldiers entered the Indian border, and they secretly started attacking Indian soldiers. Pakistani spies started sending every activity of Indian soldiers to Pakistan, due to which the Indian Army started suffering a lot.
In this critical situation, Ranchhordas Paagi helped the Indian Army to find all the hidden Pakistani spies and soldiers with his unique skills. Hundreds of Pakistani spies were caught under the guidance of Ranchhordas Paagi.
While doing this work, he himself was injured in the war, but despite being injured, he helped the Indian Army till the end of the war. In this war, the Indian Army had captured the area up to the city of Palinagar in Pakistan. Ranchordas paagi had an important role in this victory of the Indian Army, on the western front of the country.
Apart from this, the Indian Army had won the war on the Eastern Front as well. The Indian Army had badly defeated the Pakistani Army in this war, in this war 93000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered to the Indian Army.
After this war, the Indian Army separated East Pakistan from Pakistan and made a new country, which was named Bangladesh.
After the 1971 war, General Sam Manekshaw became convinced of Ranchordas Pagi's skills, at that time General Manekshaw was in Bangladesh, he ordered from Dhaka to call Pagi, I will do today's dinner with Pagi.
On the orders of the General, a helicopter was immediately dispatched to pick up Pagi. When Ranchordas Pagi reached Dhaka, General Manekshaw organized a grand party in the joy of victory over Pakistan.
After this war, General Manekshaw himself gave a reward of 300 rupees to Ranchordas Pagi. General Manekshaw used to call Ranchordas Pagi as "One Man Army at Desert Front". Ranchordas Pagi was honored with the Sangram Medal, Police Medal and Samar Seva Medal for his contribution in the 1965 and 1971 wars.
After the victory in the 1971 war, General Sam Manekshaw was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. Field marshals are generals holding 5 stars. Field marshals never retire from their post, they remain in their post for life.
Even after the 1971 war, Ranchordas Pagi continued to guide the army in the desert. He helped the army in arresting many Pakistani infiltrators during his lifetime, no Pakistani infiltrator could remain hidden in the Thar desert for long.
Parable of the talents
Due to the skill of Ranchordas Pagi, the Pakistani army was so upset that they had announced a reward of fifty thousand rupees on Ranchordas Pagi.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw considered Ranchordas Pagi as his friend, he used to visit Ranchordas Pagi several times during his lifetime. Sam Manekshaw, the first Field Marshal of the Indian Army, passed away in 2008. It is said that Field Marshal was remembering Ranchordas Pagi even in his last moments.
Ranchordas Pagi took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army at the age of 108 in the year 2009, after the death of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. After this, in 2013, this unique soldier of India said goodbye to the world forever.
Ranchordas Pagi presented a wonderful example of patriotism, bravery, valor, sacrifice and dedication towards the country during his lifetime. He was the first Indian citizen to be given any military honour.
It is rare to find people with extraordinary talent like him. Today his bravery stories have become a part of Gujarat folklore, due to which he will be remembered for ever. His contribution to the Indian Army is also remembered with great respect.
In his honor, the BSF border post at Suigram near the Kutch-Banakantha International Border in Gujarat has been named Ranchordas Post, and a statue of him has also been installed there.
This was done for the first time in the history of the Indian Army, that an army post was named after a civilian. Today Ranchordas Rabari, who is known as Ranchordas Pagi, has become immortal forever in the history of the Indian Army.
Parable of the talents
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