Nagaon, Oct. 13: The small town of Phulaguri could have inspired a Lagaan. Instead, it has been confined to the history books till now, the courage of its peasants an almost forgotten chapter.

On October 18, the epochal Phulagurir Dhawa of 1861 will come alive in concrete when a memorial is unveiled to commemorate the peasant uprising.

As in Lagaan, which told the story of a rebellion over heavy taxation by the Raj, the unrest at Phulaguri was against the British decision to impose heavy land tax and ban cultivation of poppy.

The memorial has been built at the very place ? on the bank of the Kolong river ? where thousands of farmers had gathered to launch an agitation against the British. Just when the meeting started, the then deputy commissioner of Nagaon, Captain Singer, reached the spot on horseback with a large number of troops.

Captain Singer rode straight into the jaws of death. The angry peasants stabbed him to death and threw his body into the Kolong.

The incident triggered a brutal retaliation by the Raj ? several of the peasant leaders were arrested and condemned to death ? but the seeds of the movement for Independence were sown in the region.

A district administration official said the memorial depicts peasants fighting British soldiers. Near the triangular memorial at Phulaguri, 20 km from this central Assam town, will be a community hall. The foundation of the hall will be laid during the inauguration of the monument.

The district administration has been observing the anniversary of Phulagurir Dhawa for the last 17 years, but this year?s programme will be the biggest and, perhaps, the most fitting tribute to the brave farmers.

The events of that momentous day in 1861 will be brought alive on stage. Komol Singh Deka, a resident of the area, has written the script. ?The script is based on a play by renowned dramatist Saroda Bordoloi,? celebration committee secretary Dandamohan Saikia said.

Nobody who witnessed the historic uprising is alive but many elders of Phulaguri heard the story from their parents. Dharmananda Goswami, head priest of the Sanlai Satra, remembers in detail whatever his father told him about the uprising.

?We have now realised that the initiative by the British to ban cultivation of poppy was not bad. But we still observe the anniversary of the uprising as it was the first organised rebellion against the British,? Goswami said.