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Residence of Chapekar brothers to present stories of 2,000 freedom fighters
Tales of valour and patriotism will be showcased in the form of their photos, murals and information displays
The tales of valour and patriotism of 2,000 freedom fighters, most of them unsung heroes, are set to come alive at a proposed six-storey museum at Chapekar wada located in Chinchwad.
Now, a six storey museum and a memorial dedicated to the memory of freedom fighters will soon be ready. A part of this museum is dedicated to the Chapekar brothers, Damodar, Balkrishna and Vasudev.
Chapekar Wada was the residence of the revolutionary Chapekar brothers who were hanged for their role in the assassination of Plague Commissioner Walter C Rand and his military escort Lt Charles E Ayerst in Pune on June 22, 1897. Rand, an Indian Civil Service officer, headed the Special Plague Committee which oversaw the measures to tackle the bubonic plague epidemic in Pune. But the high-handedness of the British authorities and soldiers while framing and enforcing anti-plague measures caused public fury, leading to Rand’s assassination.
The wives of Damodar and Balkrishna Chapekar lived in the Wada for several years before shifting to PuneFor a while the Wada (which means a multi-chambered residential building of the old style) fell into neglect, but in 1982, the Krantiveer Chapekar Smarak Samiti (KCSS), a committee for the commemoration of the legacy of the three brothers, acquired it. It was renovated in 2005 with the help of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, and the Samiti has now planned addition of an extension to it.
“We plan to build a six-storey building on the land adjacent to the existing wada where the saga of valour and bravery of more than 2,000 ‘krantikaris’ right from 1757, who are largely unknown, will be showcased in the form of their photos, murals and information displays,” said Padma Shri awardee and one of the trustees of KCSS, Girish Prabhune.
“We have 22 tableaus depicting events from the lives of the Chapekar brothers. Besides replicating the litho press and the other rooms in the wada like kitchen and the prayer room,” he added.
Other sections of the proposed building would showcase the “real history” of India through murals, carvings and photographs, covering several centuries from Gautam Buddha to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the later pre-independence era, he said.
As many as 24 landmark events including the Rajyabhishek (coronation ceremony) of Shivaji Maharaj would be presented in various forms, Prabhune said.
The history of the freedom struggle that is narrated today centers on struggle against the British raj, he said.
“But before the British had set foot in India, several communities (janjati) had spearheaded uprisings against foreign invasions and stood strong against their aggression and nobody knows about history,” said Prabhune,
That is why we formed a team to tell people the real history of Bharat and its grandeur,” explained Prabhune.
“We have so far curated a list of 1,500 revolutionaries from India and 500 from today’s Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal which were part of erstwhile India,” he said.
The exhibits on Chapekar Brothers will be completed in the next few months, while the entire project will be completed in the next three years
According to a Chapekar Smarak Samiti (CSS) member and Prabhune, the new section is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December.
