Chattri Memorial

When a Sikh or Hindu soldier died at one of the Brighton hospitals, the body would be accompanied by fellow soldiers of their respective faith to the burning ghats the military had set up located at the Downs one mile north-east of Patcham village.

On a spot 500 feet above sea level on Holt Hill, traditional funeral prayers would be conducted by the soldiers in attendance and the body cremated on one of three open-air concrete cremation slabs. After the body was burnt, the ashes would be scattered in the nearby sea with religion prayers to complete the funeral ceremonies. [1]

The first cremation occurred on December 31st, 1914 and the last one on 30th December 1915. [2] In total 53 Sikh and Hindu soldiers from the Brighton hospitals were cremated there. (names and details)

Brighton Herald 29 Jan. 1921
To those who do not know the history, this chattri, so essentially Indian in general design and in every detail, may seem a thing alien to the open down land scenery in which it is set. It is artistically appropriate that this should be so. For East came to West in a strange romantic way when, on these Sussex Downs, the ashes were burned of Hindu warriors born in remote villages in far away Hindustan, for whom the wildest imagination could never have suggested at their birth that their funeral fires would be fanned by the winds that swept these Sussex hills.

Architecture

The Chattri monument is composed of white Sicilian marble and it approximately 2.7m wide and 8.8m high with a octagonal base with 8 pillars with square bases which eventually become octagonal and supporting a hollow dome. Indian ornamentation appears in the keystone finial and in two bands of incised decoration. The marble sits on a plinth of grey stone which stands over three granite blocks which cover the original concrete cremation slabs and the monument is surrounded by two acres of gardens. [3]

The base of the monument bears the following inscription in English and Hindi scripts on different sides:

TO THE MEMORY OF ALL THE INDIAN SOLDIERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR KING EMPEROR IN THE GREAT WAR THIS MONUMENT ERECTED ON THE SITE OF THE FUNERAL PYRE WHERE THE HINDUS AND SIKHS WHO DIED IN HOSPITAL AT BRIGHTON PASSED THROUGH THE FIRE IS IN GRATEFUL ADMIRATION AND BROTHERLY AFFECTION DEDICATED

Learn More

Planning & Construction
The planning for a memorial on the burning ghats at Patcham starts soon after the Indian soldiers leave Brighton.

Unveiling & Opening Ceremonies
A future King unveils the new Chattri memorial in 1921.

Over the Years
History of the monument over time and the ceremonies conducted there since its construction.

Indian Forces Cremation Memorial
The names of the Chattri dead are finally recorded on a new memorial.

Slideshow

Footnotes

1. A Short History In English, Gurmukhi & Urdu of the Royal Pavilion Brighton and a Description of it as A Hospital for Indian Soldiers (Corporation of Brighton, 1915) 12

2. Chattri Monument, Public Sculptures of Sussex, http://www.publicsculpturesofsussex.co.uk/object?id=37

3. Ibid.