The Darwaza has always been a centre of community gathering in Baro. The term Darwaza is very popular in Bihar and is used to refer to places of community gathering.
This Darwaza is located in Baro, which is in the Begusarai district of Bihar. Baro has been a very historic village like many others and has hosted some of the prominent ‘khandans’ of Bihar.
The building was built around 1872 and the renovation was done later in 1964, the year of Nehru’s death.
The Darwaza is said to be made by the brothers Munshi Qamruddin and Munshi Sirajuddin.
Today, it is maintained and taken care of by the children and grandchildren of Abdus Salam Sahab and Haji Akhtar Sahab.
The building has been hosting local panchayats, community gatherings and marriages ever since it was built. However, the purpose of the community baithak was not just restained to these local necessities. The history of a village says a lot about the history of the country.
According to oral traditions, this Darwaza used to host a lot of debates around the intellectual leaders of the area during the partition.
When India neared its independence in 1947, Muslims were divided into many ideologies, the prominent being that of Congress, Muslim League and Communism.
The Darwaza was an active space which hosted such debates and the ideological flagbearers had the space to accomodate the varied range of ideas.
The Darwaza had some prominent visitors, including Bi Amma, the mother of brothers Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali during the Khilafat movement.
According to the oral history, there used to be a picture of Nehru hung on one of the walls of the Darwaza. A story goes round among the elders is that the painting fell a week before Nehru’s death.
However, as time passed, people moved to cities and villages became empty. Today, the Darwaza represents a form of community living where men get together on special occassions. One such occassions is Ramazan, where the Darwaza hosts collective iftar. If you ask the locals of how old does the tradition of community Iftar goes, they will reply, “Probably our grandfather, great grandfather, or even before!”
