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Dahanu - A town by the sea

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In the footsteps of our ancestors!

by Farzan B. Mazda

Trekking the Bahrot hill

It was fascinating to imagine how my dad and his colleagues would go trekking to this Bahrot hill every year. They would leave before sunrise, only to return home after Sundown - with stories of adventures to share. As a kid I was never allowed to join them on their pilgrim. It was only after my Navjote ceremony at the age of ten, that dad felt I was capable enough to conquer the steep hill. Little had I imagined, destiny would take me there over and over again.

Bahrot or Barda (as the local tribal community, the Warlis call it), is a land of legends. Buddhist monks once inhabited these hills over two thousand years ago. Archeologists believe that it was they who carved the underground caves on the hill's eastern ridge.

Steps leading to one of the underground Bahrot caves

Steps leading to one of the underground Bahrot caves

Centuries after the Buddhist decline in India, these very caves were used as a refuge by Parsis over six hundred years ago. The fall of Gujarat and the burning of Sanjan by Arab invaders did little to destroy their faith. For twelve long years the hill was home to them and their holiest of holy, the ‘Iranshah Fire’. Legend has it that they carved an underground tunnel which stretched all the way to Sanjan- fifteen kilometers north and 1,760 5 feet below!

With the advent of the Portuguese and British in later years, Bahrot came to be known as ‘St. Johns Peak’. Sailors are said to have used it as an important landmark, visible from almost forty miles on a clear day. As time passed by and India grew free, the mountain lay forgotten, until its past was discovered in our present.

A Warli temple atop the Bahrot hill

Stories from the Kiss-e-Sanjan (book of History of the Parsis in India) illustrate Bahrot's significance. New routes to the hill have been found from Bordi, Dahanu and Sanjan. Explorers and pilgrims alike, have begun trickling to Bahrot. The local Warlis have also built a small temple on its central mound, symbolizing its holiness!

As I walk the footsteps of my ancestors, I feel a sense of enlightenment. Every pilgrimage to Bahrot is an experience unlike the one before. My first time there was in an over night camp. With dad and friends, we lay under the sky watching satellites, planes twinkle by, and shooting stars burn and die! At break of dawn we were greeted by a pretty mist. It seemed to play hide and seek with us. Dad later explained that they were actually clouds passing by. As the sun-rose higher and the air got warmer, it was time for us to pack and leave. So with memories in mind and leaving only our footprints behind, we descended into reality.

Jashan ceremony in one of the Bahrot caves

Jashan ceremony in one of the Bahrot caves

I still remember accompanying those groups and being a part of the Jashan ceremony atop the Bahrot hill. While priests chanted prayers, the fire that they nurtured seemed to take me back into an era when the Iranshah flame actually burned there. It was not just I who experienced this spiritual elevation, but all those around me. The hill's harsh terrain does little to shun away believers. In fact, its tiring three hour climb used to bring strangers closer and many a romance have bloomed in these woods. Unfortunately now for reasons unknown, trips to the caves have decline and the hill lays lonely again.

Taking back memories of the Bahrot trek

Over the years, I have been to Bahrot around forty times. Sometimes with school groups, other times with friends. I have learned that girls make better trekkers than guys and that the old who have faith, carry on even if their feet begin to bleed! The hill teaches us that nature deserves respect. Getting lost in its foliage, a couple of back breaking falls and a scorpion in our bedding during an overnight reminds me of this reality.

When people ask me why I go there so often, I smile and ask them back- which place on earth is considered holy by three diverse civilizations other than Jerusalem? Though in ruins and lost in the middle of a forest, Bahrot is one of those few places. In its wilderness lay tales untold. In its silence hums a prayer which can only be felt, not heard. Perhaps this is the reason, why, I keep walking its mystic paths- over and over again!


Article by Farzan B. Mazda, Co-Convenor, Intach Chapter Dahanu	Website by Percy Jamshedwala