‘Ladakh Deserves a Statue of its Own Hero Gen Zorawar Singh’
The descendants of Gen Zorawar Singh say while they respect the Maratha leader Shivaji Maharaj, Ladakh’s own hero merits better recognition. Their views:
When it comes to military conquest amid tough adverse conditions, no one in the history of India can match the bravery of General Zorawar Singh, the Dogra commander who mastered the art of high altitude warfare. We run a trust named after him and we educate people about his battle victories and the supreme sacrifice he made in guarding the nation’s territory.
General Zorawar Singh is often considered the Napoleon of India. He conquered large swathes of hilly terrain in the month of December amid bone-chilling conditions. He thus created a buffer zone from Pashtuns in the west and Tibetans in the east. He is also the founder of Indian Army’s 4th Jammu & Kashmir Rifles.
It is in this light that we find it disheartening that the Army has installed a statue of Maratha ruler Shivaji Maharaj in east Ladakh, with utter disregard to the real hero of Ladakh. Here, we shall like to clear that we have great respect for the Maratha warrior and his contribution to the country. However the recognition due to General Zorawar Singh has been grossly overlooked. This is also in disregard to the local sentiment and our heritage. Ladakh was conquered not once, not twice but five times by Zorawar Singh.
We as his descendants feel neglected as the person who actually annexed Ladakh to India deserves better respect from our leader and armed forces. Statues of our warriors must be installed everywhere but it should be impartial. Dogra history is already being distorted and disregarded (for example, we had to fight hard to prove that Zorawar Singh was not a Sikh but a Dogra Rajput).
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Tibetans were afraid of Gen Zorawar Singh and his Dogra contingent; they called him Dogra Shen Pa. There are contemporary historical accounts based on correspondence between the Chinese minister and the imperial Chinese court about the advancing Dogras, and how the Tibetans ran away abandoning their posts as they were in awe of the Dogras.
His army defeated the imperial Chinese army and captured their flag too which is with the museum and any one can check it. He captured vast territories including western Tibet, Kailash Parvat and Mansarovar Lake, which were later lost to China after Independence.
Reasi in Jammu was given to Gen Zorawar Singh as a reward for the many battles that he won. There is a palace of Gen Singh in Vijaypur of Reasi where the families of the descendants of Gen Zorawar Singh still live.
It is a great irony that his enemies gave him better respect. After he was martyred during the battle in Tibet, a memorial in his name was built by Tibetans which now lies in their territory. We want the tales of his bravery to be told to every Ladakhi child, the same way Shivaji Maharaj’s battle campaigns are taught to students in Maharashtra and the rest of the country.
In the Jammu and Kashmir region, many people still don’t know about the role of Zorawar Singh. Many people go to Ladakh as tourists from all over India, a statue of Gen Zorawar Singh must have been installed here to respect the history of Ladakh and how it became an inseparable part of India. Through our trust, we will try our best to press the government to install General Zorawar Singh’s statue in Ladakh. Justice must be served to our heroes.
As told to Abhishek Anand
