Berhampur: There was a time when the heart of Paralakhemundi beat to the rhythm of horse-hooves. The quaint two-wheeled carriage – the ‘Jhatka’ – once a symbol of pride, grace and romance, rolled gracefully through the narrow lanes, ferrying people to the railway station, to markets and to celebrations.
Today, the clatter of wheels is but whispers of a bygone era. Those sounds have almost vanished, leaving behind faint memories and fading photographs. The centuries old ‘Jhatka’ has totally stopped running in Paralakhemundi about 26 years ago since 2000.
For decades, two-wheeled carriage Jhatkas, were the pride of Paralakhemundi. For many children of the 1970s and 80s, a Jhatka ride was a thrilling adventure – the closest thing to a fairy-tale chariot.
However, modernity has taken its toll. With the arrival of auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, and cars, the demand for horse-pulled jhatka dwindled. The few families who reared horses and maintained the carriages found it hard to sustain themselves. Rising fodder costs, lack of stables, and shrinking patronage gradually pushed them out of business.
Though there is no official record about the introduction of Jhatka in Paralakhemundi, such horse drawn carriages were running more than 125 years ago when the construction work of the first private rail line of Odisha between Naupada and Paralakhemundi started during 1899 to transport goods and passengers subsequently, said Bishnu Mohan Adhikari a renowned epigraphist, paleographist, archivist and culture researcher of Paralakhemundi.
Maharaja of Paralakhemundi constructed a ‘Choultry’ in front of the entrance to Jangam Sahi and boarders used Jhatkas to go or return from the Railway Station. Many people also came to Paralakhemundi for education, health and business purposes. Some luggage was also transported to areas now in Pakistan by train from Paralakhemundi and Jhatka were used to transport it to the railway station, said Bishnu.
Kabi Sekhar Chintamani Mohanty also described about ‘Jhatka’ in Paralakhemundi under ‘Ganjam Bhramana’ headline after his visit to Paralakhemundi which was printed in ‘Praja Bandhu’ published from Rambha in 1906, said Bishnu Mohan Adhikari. “Siana lokata pare bujhuni e sabu, Odiare pacharila Jhatka loda babu. Cha paisa dei tahun kali khande jhatka, nistara paili gala bata chala khatka” in Odia, which means in English “The Jhatka operator asked me in Odia-Do you want a Jhatka? I hired the Jhatka by paying six paisa and was relieved from the pain of walking”.
The Gajapati district administration cautioned the ‘Jhatka’ owners not to use the horse as per the norms of cruelty against animals during 1990 and the historic ‘Jhatka’ totally stopped running on the roads during 2000.
History of ‘Jhatka’ in Paralakhemundi has a link with the people, who belong to ‘Mala’, a schedule caste community and were looking after the horses of the erstwhile rulers of Paralakhemundi, were mainly residing in Dantu Sahi also known as Dandumala Street after the name of the Goddess Dandumaramma, said Bichitrananda Beborta, a senior citizen of Paralakhemundi.
T Kishore Kumar, son of late Shivaji (a Jhatka Master), who is now working in Judicial Court Paralakhemundi said that seven to eight families of their community are still residing at ‘Dantu Sahi’ under Krushna Chandrapur Mouza in Paralakhemundi who operated the ‘Jhatka’ since generations. Meanwhile all of them have shifted to other professions. Some have opened motor garage and some run dairy farm on a small scale for their livelihood.
A solo female horse of that era who was still alive at neighbouring Narsanapeta in Andhra Pradesh a few years ago died recently and a glorious chapter went into oblivion.
Tampala Karuna Laxmi, daughter of late Shivaji, who works as a Lecturer in Zoology in KC Pur Higher Secondary School Gumma Block in Gajapati district said many family members are now working in different fields after study. “The horses were just like our family members and almost everybody treated them with love and affection”, she said. Still now, many people take 50 to 100 grams of soil from Dantu Sahi and keep it in their house after tying it in a cloth. They believe the kids would never be scared, she said.
T Kishore Kumar further said that during 1990 when the district administration cautioned us not to use horses to pull jhatkas, there were 50 to 60 such carriages in our locality. Most of the Jhatkas were plying in between Paralakhemundi and Patpatnam, Lihuri and other nearby places. The maximum rent was Rs 15 to Rs 20 per head.
About the construction of the Jhatkas, T Kishore Kumar said that the two wheels of the Jhatkas are comparatively smaller in size than the bullock cart. The tyre of the vehicles was being fixed on the edge of the wheel to have a smooth running. About 10 to 12 passengers were accommodated in one Jhatka with a reverse ‘U’ shape cover. The sitting arrangement was made with a layer of straw covered with palm-leaf mat popularly known as ‘Khajuri Patti’ in Odia made by weaving dried date palm leaves. Each Jhatka had a ‘lantern’ to move during night and some grass beneath the passenger’s seat to feed the horse when needed. Though there was no horn system in Jhatka, the operator generated a peculiar sound by keeping the stick on the rolling wheel.
Paralakhemundi was under Madras Presidency and horse-drawn vehicles of European style began appearing in Madras city by the 1840s–1850s, largely used by British officials and wealthy Indians. It became popular as a public conveyance in Madras Presidency towns in the 1870s–1880s, especially for hire near railway stations and markets. It must have encouraged the Maharaja of Paralakhemundi to introduce ‘Jhatka’ in their hometown subsequently, said some researchers. When the construction work of the first rail line between Naupada and Paralakhemundi started during 1899, Jhatka were already introduced in Paralakhemundi.
