There lies a forlorn grave in a remote corner of Bastar (south Chhattisgarh) that I know of, at a place called Kutru. It is the last resting place of one Pestonji Nauroji Kharas of Bombay who was reportedly a friend of the Bhanj Deo Maharaja of the then Bastar princely state.
He must have been a keen hunter and was granted permission by the Maharaja to hunt the rare Central Indian wild buffalo. Unfortunately, the hunt didn’t go as planned and Pestonji was gored to death by the animal on January 1, 1948. His body not being in a condition to bring back to Bombay, it was buried in Bastar by the locals.
When his wife was informed of his unfortunate demise she visited the spot and had a plaque erected in his memory. She reportedly also requested the locals to take care of the grave’s upkeep and used to send money from Bombay till she was alive so that a candle could be lit on the grave of her husband every day.
Even to this day the grave is kept in fairly decent shape by the locals. Interestingly, the tribals of the area don’t know about Parsis and their faith so they assumed that Pestonji must have been a Christian and thus clean up and paint his grave every Christmas!
I have been fascinated by this story ever since I first got to know of it and have always wondered if it might be possible to trace the descendants of Pestonji. If anyone has any information about them, I would be interested in receiving it.
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