Far away from home, many of them were faceless instruments of Raj. Some others were architects of bits of modern India. Then in their adopted home, they lay buried in anonymity. Now an ongoing project in Himachal Pradesh seeks to identify and chronicle these nameless tombs.

The state Department of Tourism launched the project two years back and the work is half-way through with the researchers waiting to verify their findings with records available in the Quaid-e-Azam Library of the Panjab University in Lahore.

“Battered by elements and neglect, many of the tombs, witness to centuries of British residence in the state, had fall apart. Our project will make sure these are not only documented but conserved,” says Tarun Shridhar, Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Himachal Pradesh.

Situated in the British settlements, including Shimla, McLeodgunj, Dalhousie, Dagshai, Kasauli and Mashobra, these cemeteries can serve as silent pages of history. Kanlog cemetery near Shimla is perhaps the most important in this regard. Closed in the beginning of the 20th century, this cemetery found space for many officials, architects and engineers who built Shimla.

“H.S. Harrigton, the engineer who spearheaded the construction of the Kalka-Shimla Railway, was buried at Kanlog cemetery. One of the Gerrad brothers, who reached up to Kinnaur in 19th century before Simla came into existence also rests in peace here,” says Raaja Bhasin, a researcher and writer roped in by the Department of Tourism to document the history of the tombs.

The oldest memorial in Himachal Pradesh is a cemetery in Nahan. The British soldiers killed in the Gorkha war in 19th century were buried there. “I started working on the project about two years ago after gathering some notes. Now my work is at the final stage. To corroborate the findings, I plan to go to Lahore next month to dust off records lying in the three libraries in Pakistan,” says Bhasin.

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