Places to Visit
7 MOST AMAZING THINGS ABOUT DAGSHAI
Here are some of the really amazing things about Dagshai not many know of…
1. Durand Cup
We all know of the Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia. But did you know where the first-ever Durand Cup matches were played? Yes, in Dagshai. In 1888. The league matches were played in what is now Army Public School playground. The ground altitude is 1799 meters.
2. Portuguese war trophy
For years many wondered about this military insignia on a wall in front of the Army Public School playground. And when the mystery was finally solved, this came out: The military insignia was brought from Goa by the troops of the 2nd Bihar battalion, which had taken part in the liberation of Goa in 1961.
The troops had brought the insignia as a sort of a ‘trophy’ to Dagshai, where they were stationed, and placed it on a wall here.
3. Dagshai Hills
Dagshai is situated on a hill overlooking many hills including the Kasauli hills. But did you know ‘Dagshai Hills’ is the name of the regimental tune of Gordon Highlanders, a Scottish regiment? This regiment was sent from Dagshai to Dargai in the present-day Pakistan for a battle against the Afridi tribesmen.
During the battle, the pipers of Gordon Highlanders were asked to play the ‘Dagshai Hills’ to boost soldiers’ morale. Lead Piper George Findlater kept on playing, despite being injured, till the enemy was defeated.
This battle action has been captured in a painting, which you can see in the Dagshai jail museum. Even today, every battalion that is deployed in Dagshai first learns to play Dagshai Hills.
4. Charing Cross
You know that Charing Cross is a famous junction in London where six routes meet. But did you know Dagshai has its own Charing Cross? At Dagshai’s Charing Cross four roads meet — Jail road, Polo Ground road, Dagshai Public School road and the Army Public School road. Seems like some British officer must have named the Dagshai junction as Charing Cross.
5. Daag-e-Shahi to Dagshai
So, what does Dagshai mean? Legend has it that Dagshai got its name from Daag-e-Shahi. According to this legend, in the Mughal days, criminals were stamped on their foreheads with royal marks (Daag-e-Shahi) and then sent here to be released in the forests. Hence the name Dagshai.
By the way, there is an old mosque, believed to be from the times of Aurangzeb, that still exists in the old Dagshai bazaar.
6. Boer war POWs
While Britishers imprisoned thousands of their opponents and others in the jail here, not many know that over 300 POWs from the Boer war in South Africa were also kept in Dagshai. These were not kept in the jail but in the camps and in the army barracks what are now the buildings of the Army Public School.
7. Ghosts of Dagshai
Last but not the least are the ghosts of Dagshai and their ghostly tales. Scary stories like ghosts rise from their graves in local cemeteries are quite popular and it’s believed that the Dagshai jail is haunted. One particular ghost that many seem to have seen is that of Mary Rebecca Weston.
Mary and her unborn child had died in labour pain in 1909 and she was buried in the cemetery here. Did we see any ghost? Nope, not yet.
