A Road Born From Loss
In 1959, Gehlaur was a village boxed in by steep quartzite hills. It sat near Gaya in Bihar with no direct road to a hospital. One day, Falguni Devi, the wife of local laborer Dashrath Manjhi, was badly injured after falling near the ridge.
She could not be taken for treatment in time. The closest town with doctors was roughly seventy kilometers away. She died, and Manjhi later said her life might have been saved if the route had not been blocked by the hill.
One Man, a Hammer, and a Chisel
After her death, Manjhi chose to carve a passage directly through the ridge. He had no machine assistance. He worked with a hammer and a chisel.
The quartzite rock was part of the Rajgir hills and was more than a billion years old. He began in 1960. His goal was a simple path wide enough for people to travel safely between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district.
Years of Work
The project continued for twenty two years. Some villagers mocked him, and some reports quote him saying he was called a lunatic while he worked. The rock gave way slowly. The final cut was about one hundred ten metres long.
It reached a width of about nine metres and a depth of roughly seven and a half metres at its deepest points. When it was done in 1982, the trek that once took dozens of kilometres could be made in less than one. The stretch of road opened the village to nearby markets, medical services, and schools.
Recognition and Final Years
Manjhi later travelled to New Delhi to request acknowledgment for what he had finished. He met with government officials. The then Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, rewarded him for his work. His name became widely known in India.
He was often called the Mountain Man. The Bihar government proposed him for the Padma Shree award in 2006 in the social service category. He was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer in 2007 and admitted to the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. He died there on 17 August 2007 and received a state funeral.
After His Death
The official metalled road over the path he carved, connecting his village with Wazirganj, was completed after he died. In 2016, Indian Post issued a postage stamp bearing his image as part of its Personalities of Bihar series.
His story has appeared in documentaries and films, including the 2015 Hindi movie Manjhi – The Mountain Man, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte. The first episode of Season 2 of Satyamev Jayate, aired in 2014, focused on his life and featured his family.
In 1959 in a small village in eastern India a narrow ridge blocked the only way to a hospital.
When Falguni Devi slipped and died before help arrived her husband Dashrath Manjhi lifted a hammer and a chisel in 1960 and began to cut the hill…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/3t0iTUCIoV
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) November 9, 2025