Man Who Cut a Mountain For 22 Years

He cut a mountain using only a hammer and chisel

L. Small
3 min readSep 1, 2020
By India Post, Government of India — [1], GODL-India, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74205894

Dashrath Manjhi also known as Mountain Man was a poor laborer in the village of Gehlaur, near Gaya, Bihar state, India. After 22 years of sculpting, Manjhi shortened the journey between the Atri block and Wazirganj, Gaya district, from 55 km to 15 km.

But how could an old man like Manjhi have the strength to do such a tough job? It turns out that his wife made him do this.

“My wife was badly injured while crossing the hill to carry water. That was the day I decided to make this road.”

In 1959, Manjhi’s wife, Falguni Devi was badly injured because she fell from the mountain and the nearest town with a doctor was 55 km away. Some reports say she was injured while walking along a narrow path across the rocky ridge to bring water or lunch to Manjhi, who had to work away from the village at a location south of the ridge.

But unfortunately, his wife who he loved finally died in 1959 because he did not receive medical treatment on time after a fatal accident. This is because the distance from the city and where he lives is very far from the hospital. When he went to the hospital he had to pass through small gaps in a mountain some 55…

--

--

L. Small

"One arrow alone can be easily broken but many arrows are indestructible" ~Genghis Khan~