A farmer’s devotion in farewell
Ludhiana farmer Charanjit Singh Mainta’s grief spilt into ritual and pageantry this week as he arranged a bhog (feast) and ardas (prayers) at Gurdwara Parmeshwar Dwar for Fateh Jung, a colt with a shimmering blue-grey coat he raised at home and loved so fiercely that he called it his third son.
Invitations were printed and relatives summoned even as the village gathered to honour an animal that had become part of the family’s daily life, a social media sensation and a head-turner at regional fairs. Born in the family courtyard and reared like a child, Fateh Jung was inseparable from Mainta and his wife. “Whatever I ate, I fed Fateh,” the visibly moved farmer said, describing how the colt ate desi ghee and milk and spent its days with the couple while their two sons lived abroad. When strangers asked how many children he had,
Mainta would reply, “Three — Gurikbal in Australia, Manlochan in the USA, and Fateh Jung in India.” That intimate bond translated into public admiration. Introduced at the Jagraon horse fair four weeks before his death, Fateh Jung — of the prized majhuke bloodline — quickly captured attention online and offline.
Mainta recalled taking him across north India for shows; the colt even drew praise from the Maharaja of Jodhpur during one visit. “He would have won many competitions had he lived longer. I was preparing him,” Mainta said.
The colt’s sudden collapse on October 8 shattered the family. At 38-months-old, Fateh Jung appeared healthy until his condition deteriorated swiftly; tests later suggested abrupt multi-organ failure. The family buried him in their backyard — Mainta said they dug a 20-foot-deep grave — and held a large, emotional farewell attended by hundreds. “He was born here, grew up here — and now, he rests here,” he said.
A poignant twist followed: about half an hour after Fateh Jung breathed his last, Mainta received a call from Australia announcing the birth of a grandson. He took the newborn’s arrival as a sign. “I believe the soul will come back to us. I have named my grandson Fateh Jung,” he said.
Word of the colt’s passing spread quickly, spurring relatives to console the grieving farmer with an act of their own. Family members from Patiala arrived with another blue horse, a gesture meant to soothe Mainta’s loss; he noted that the new animal resembles Fateh Jung closely. But the replacement, he admitted, cannot erase memories of the stallion he raised from birth.
A week later, on Wednesday (October 15), the family held a bhog samagam for Fateh Jung’s soul. The gurdwara was filled with relatives, friends, and villagers, all attending ardas for the horse’s peace. Printed invitation cards had been sent to acquaintances far and wide. To some, it may seem eccentric, a man mourning a horse with such devotion. But to those who knew Mainta, it was an act of pure love.
For Mainta, whose family has bred horses for three generations, the ritual was both personal and cultural. It was an expression of reverence for a creature embedded in the region’s rural heritage.
More than a quirky local story, Fateh Jung’s farewell highlighted the deeper bonds people form with animals and the rituals communities deploy to grieve and remember. For a farmer who speaks proudly of a colt he once led to the Maharaja’s court, the bhog was not merely a ceremony - it was an act of gratitude for a companion that had, in every sense, been family.
