The Man Who Moved A Mountain

If I asked you who Dashrath Manjhi was, would you know?

The one thing I love most about history is that there are so many stories that some don’t get as much attention as other do. When it comes to Dashrath Manjhi, he doesn’t get that much attention.

When I first learned about him, I was looking at a comic, but when I started learning more about him I realized that his story is about love, perseverance, and determination.

Dashrath was born in India in a small village in a broken family. At a young age he ran away and worked in a coal mine. When he returned to his home village he married Falguni Devi. Living in their village, the nearest medical help was 70 km since their was a mountain right between his village and the next.

Falguni then was in an accident causing her to need immediate medical attention. Since she couldn’t receive this attention, she died leaving Dashrath heartbroken that she had to die such an untimely death.

He realized that his village was going to have a hard time getting the medical attention they needed and came up with a plan to fix it all. He was going to move a mountain.

Using a hammer, nails, and a chisel, he started carving away at the mountain to make a road from one village to the next in loving memory of his wife. The other villagers called him mad for trying. For them, it was impossible to move a mountain. For him, anything was possible to help those who needed medical help.

After a while at working away at the mountain, some of the people saw that he was making progress and that what he was doing was actually possible. These people started to lend tools and give him food.

After 22 years of working away at moving a mountain, he finished the road from one village to the other. The path was reduced from 70 km to 3 km and those who had mocked the idea of this man moving a mountain, their lives became easier.

Dashrath died in August 2007 from gall bladder cancer, but was given a state funeral by Government of Bihar.

This story has become one that has taught me about the importance of determination. Dashrath could have thought to himself that moving a mountain would never work, or could have given up half way through, but he kept on going to give others a chance at living when his wife couldn’t.

Making it to the end of a goal that you may or may not have though you could finish is what determination is. It is what we can see in people all around us and we can have it too.

We can move mountains.

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Thanks for reading! If you liked this story please comment down below what inspired you about Dashrath Manjhi. If you want to check out my Instagram where I have quotes about last months topic, and soon this one, click here. Check out my Twitter as well and tweet at me inspirational stories like this one, the link will be here. Join me next time for more stories about determination, I can’t wait!