The Story about Mussoorie and its founder.

Photo here is one of the oldest preserving photos of Mussoorie taken in 1860.

Photo of Masuri Berry

I am posting a Historical photograph of Castle Hill taken by Samuel Bourne, the most noted photograph of the early British Period in 1865.

Mussoorie was discovered by a Military officer Captain Young in 1823. Captian Young took part in the Anglo – Nepelese war from 1814 to 1816. The war ended with signing of the Treaty of Sugowli, were in the British got a vast area under their control. Thus British got Dehradun and surrounding areas from Nepal in 1816. Impressed by the fighting qualities displayed by the Gorkhas during the Gurkha War, Sir David Ochterlony was quick to realise the potential of the Gorkhas in the British Indian Army. Until then, Gorkha defectors were generally used as irregular forces. In April 1815, the first battalion of the Gorkha Regiment, was initially raised in a Gurkha POW camp in Paonta Sahib in Sirmour District of present day Himanchal - hence the name. This was commanded by Captian Young. After the war a formal Gorkha battalion was trained by Young and based in Dehradoon.
Later Captain Young together with a Mr. Shore, the resident Superintendent of Revenues at Dehradun explored the present site of Mussoorie and jointly constructed a shooting lodge. The name Mussoorie is attributed to a derivation of 'mansoor', a shrub which is indigenous to the area. Botanical name: Coriaria nepalensis. Masuri Berry is a large hairless shrub, 3-4 m tall, with arching reddish-brown branches. (I am posting a photograph of this.) These shrubs grew behind the house of the Captain. Before the British came, there were only shepherds whose animals gazed on that mansoor shrub. (I saw one shrub of Masuri Berry growing on the side wall of Sarila Estate just after crossing Hotel Honymoon Inn. I have tasted these very small black berries. It has a strong sour and astringent flavour. I found them edible and great to make a strong flavoured chutney.) Captain was greatly attracted by the natural beauty of Mussoorie. Soon, the Captain Young built his larger residence called ‘Mullingar (hinting at his Irish blood – Mullingar is the town of County Westmeath in Ireland.),’ as his residence in 1825. Latter he shifted the works of his Gorkha regiment to Mussoorie as well. His associate British officers liked the place and named it Landour due to their connection to Llanddowror, a village in Carmarthenshire in southwest Wales. During the Raj, it was common to give nostalgic English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish names to one's home (or even to British-founded towns) It’s interesting to note that, Shri Nathji’s Savitri Niwas was earlier St. Andrews. The Englishman who build it named it after his home town, on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. The town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of the UK's most prestigious.
Now Captain Young become commandant of Landor cantonment and stayed at his Mullingar Estate. The huge L-shaped building, with an outsized courtyard inside the bend of the "L", sits prominently atop Mullingar Hill in Landour Cantonment. It had a glorious past under the British army but was abandoned and went into disuse once the British left India. During the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion, the Central Tibetan Administration of the 14th Dalai Lama was at first established in Mussoorie before being moved to its present location in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. Some of the Tibetans occupied this building. So presently some seemingly impoverished Tibetans families are living in this historical property - the first house in Mussoorie, which is in state of utter neglect.
In 1827 a sanatorium was built at Landour, The original sanatorium is now occupied by the Institute of Technology Management ("ITM") of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Mussoorie become famous when Colonel George Everest who did the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, built a home here in 1832 known as the Park Estate. He also builds the head quarters of Survey of India in Dehradoon so that he can enjoy his new home in Mussoorie more often. The house, although under the jurisdiction of the Archeological Survey of India and has been long neglected and in bad shape, but still has a roof and there are plans to make it into a museum at some time. I have posted his photo as he was instrumental in development of Mussoorie.
The oldest best preserved building in Mussoorie, was built in 1838 by a British major, and is now a hotel named Cloud End. The first church - St. Paul's Church built 1840, in Char Dukan, is also well preserved where Jim Corbett's parents, Christopher and Mary Corbett, married on October 13, 1859. But the most historically important building of Mussoorie was its Castle. The Castle on the aptly named Castle Hill is now part of Survey of India. This is where the deposed boy-king Duleep Singh of Punjab, the son of the iconic Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was often "kept" for convalescent purposes between 1849 and 1953. Most impotently, the Amir of Afghanistan also stayed at the castle in quasi-exile at various times in the early 20th Century as British Raj officials engaged in their customary machinations of map-drawing and re-drawing across the Subcontinent. Both Amire Kabul Ayub Khan – Who had met Babaji in Lahore and the earlier Amir, his brother Amire Kabul Yakub Khan frequented Mussoorie (I had earlier posted photos of both of them) but it was before Shre Nathji came to Mussoorie. The Amir also had a house build in Dehradun, perhaps to facilitate his constant travels to Massoorie. Sadly, The Castle was heavily modified in an ad hoc manner over the decades, rendering it unrecognizable as compared to it’s original appearance. I am posting a Historical photograph of Castle Hill taken by Samuel Bourne, the most noted photograph of the early British Period in 1865. Also I have posted one of the oldest preserving photos of Mussoorie taken in 1960.
The British greatly loved and cherished Mussoorie. Its cold climate and alpine vegetation reminded it og there homeland. For example Mussoorie reminded Fanny Parks (whose is famous for her writings on India) of the Isle of Wight and caused her to exclaim: "How delicious is this coldness in the Hills!—it is just as wet, windy, and wretched as in England."
The British made Mussoorie beautiful, clean and well maintained. They enacted ban on hunting fishing and latter logging in and around Massoorie to preserve it’s natural beauty. They also introduced many new trees and flowers. It has been claimed that the first English apple tree to be transplanted into Indian soil was nurtured in Mussoorie. They made it into beautiful city with great weather which was befitting for God Himself to reside. This is the same city whose cool dry mountain air healed the arm of Shree Nathji. So we should ever be so thankful to those Englishmen who discovered, made and maintained this city which Shri Nathji called home and which become synonymous with Him – Bhole Nath Mussorie Wale

Comments –

Priya Nath Mehta -  Sidhharta! You are lovable and incredible!! You are telling me more and more about Mussoorie!

Priya Nath Mehta -  Dearest Siddharta! I think you meant 1860 instead of 1960. But I am sure the readers understood.

Siddharth Gaur -  Please accept my apologies for this mistake. It is indeed 1860

Priya Nath Mehta -  I too had typed 1960 instead of 1860 when I was writing to you! lol. The 8 and 9 look so much alike on the keyboard!!