Chattri

Passing Deep Bottom and Poor Brow, the route brought the Gorse Fox to Chattri, the Indian War Memorial. The Chattri, is a small domed shaped monument. During the Great War, many Indian soldiers were treated for their injuries in Brighton. Those Sikh and Hindu soldiers who did not survive were cremated on the Downs above the town.

The Chattri bears the following inscription, in English and Hindi :
"To the memory of, all the Indian soldiers who gave their lives in the service of their King - Emperor this monument erected on the site where the Hindus and Sikhs who died in hospital at Brighton passed through the fire is in grateful admiration and brotherly affection dedicate"

The monument is undergoing some maintenance at present, and is shrouded in scaffolding.

Interestingly, when a Muslim died while in one of the many Indian hospitals in Brighton and Hove, his body, in charge of one of his own people, was taken in a motor hearse and with a Muslim doctor, was sent to Woking, where it was received by a Muslim priest and buried with the rites of his religion in a special section of the cemetery.

[File under: Sussex Walk, Patcham, Chattri, Ditchling Beacon]