कोणी मॅरेथॉन पळली, आम्ही नाही पहिली...When Hucarras Ran Marathons...

Fanny Parkes, ‘Begums, Thugs and White Mughals. The Journals of Fanny Parkes’, 1822-1846:

“…Every twelve miles a dārogha comes on board to make salaam to the memsāhib, and to ask her orders. I send letters to Prāg by this means; the dārogha gives them to our own chaprāsīs, who run with them from station to station. There is no dāk (post) in these parts….”

 

निरोप्ये, हाकारी : कितीवेळा तो शब्द मी मराठी पुस्तकांतून वाचला असेल पण मला त्यांच्या बद्दल काहीही माहित नव्हते....

माईक डॅश यांच्या  'Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult' , २००५ पुस्तकातून समजलेली एक माहिती- निरोप्ये, हाकारी लोकांबद्दल (hucarras):

"By the early eighteenth century travel through the heartlands of the Empire had thus become comparatively easy. The imperial postal service, manned by the fabled messengers known as hucarras, was capable of 50 miles a day across unbroken country...
...These low-caste confidential messengers began their training at the age of six with regular ‘walking practice’. A year later, chosen boys started to run three miles at a stretch, moving at ‘a handsome trot’, and gradually increased this distance so that by the age of nine they could cross 10 miles of rough country without rest. Training continued for a further nine years until, at the age of 18, a freshly qualified hucarra would be issued with a water bottle, bread pan and other equipment and set to work. By then he would be capable of running anything up to 100 miles a day, and would be expected to possess a detailed knowledge of the sacred Vedic texts, astronomy, music, five Indian languages and six varieties of script – not to mention being a master of disguise."

ते तत्कालीन मागास वर्गीय समाजातले असत... त्यांना वेद, खगोलशास्त्र , संगीत, ५ भाषा आणि ६ लिप्या माहित असत आणि त्याशिवाय बहुरूपी.... १८व्या वर्षी ते दिवसाला १६० किमी पळू शकत असत!... (किती घोडेस्वार सुद्धा दिवसाला १६०किमी जाऊ शकत असतील?.... माझा ह्या आकड्यावर अजून विश्वास बसत नाहीये)...भारतात मॅरेथॉन चॅम्पियन कसे होत नाहीत?...

ह्याचा अर्थ त्याकाळात भारतातील अनेक भागात मॅरेथॉन नकळत पळाली गेली आहे... पण एक प्रश्न उरतोच...

Artist : Farley Katz , The New Yorker, November 2017