Dashrath Manjhi Biography 
Dashrath Manjhi – The Mountain Man was a labourer in Gehlaur village of Bihar who made great headlines after he carved a path 110 m long, 9.1 m wide and 7.6 m deep through a hillock using only a hammer and chisel. His manual efforts single-handed took 22 long years to complete the task, which shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km. His wife Falguni Devi died at a comparatively young age after an accident due to not receiving immediate medical care, and this heart breaking incident prompted Dashrath to build a path of his own so that other people will be benefitted. His efforts are still not recognized by government of India, though a few films have been made on his life.
When he gave 22 years of his youthful life to his village, he made a difference in the lives of the people of this small village in Bihar. Manjhi - The Mountain Man is a documentary film made by Ketan Mehta on the life of this great man. A film with the same name has also been made, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing the titular role. It’s absolutely unbelievable to think that a landless farmer, who lost his wife, used only a hammer and chisel carved a path through a mountain in the Gehlour Hills, Bihar just so that his village could have easier access to medical facilities. The village had to travel long 70 kilometres to reach to the nearest town to get any medical help.
Dashrath Manjhi was born in a dalit family. He was a landless farmer. He ran away from his home at a young age. Later he worked in Dhanbad's coal mines. But years later he returned to his village, got married and settled with his family life. On a fatal day, his wife Falguni Devi met with an accident, and he couldn’t take her to the hospital. Thus he lost his wife. A mountain stood as the block to the path, and hence he decided to curve a path through it. His manual effort for carving a mountain in order to connect Gehlaur and Gaya was nothing short of an impossible task, yet he achieved it.
He started work in 1960 and completed in 1982. Yet it took many years for the outer world to know about his hard work, which could have been easily achieved with the help of machinery and modern technology. Initially he was taunted by villagers. But slowly they started giving him food and tools and supported him. The man who moved the mountain dreamt about a road connecting his village and Wazirganj and Atri and Gaya. It was sanctioned only after his death in 2007. He was suffering from gall bladder cancer. He was given a state funeral by the Government of Bihar, recognizing his efforts.
Published: February 03, 2019
Updated: February 03, 2019
