The legacy

Six more hours. Their Major was dead and the enemy far stronger. Yet his men held their position for over six more hours before they were overrun.

Those six hours mattered:

• they gave time for reinforcements to arrive, including soldiers of the Punjab Regiment flown into Srinagar;
• the enemy lost heart, with more than 300 casualties, and their leader was injured.

So D Company's sacrifice and Major Somnath's leadership saved Srinagar for India. The 4 KUMAON battalion was given the Battle Honour, Srinagar.

He was 24 years old. For this act of conspicuous (clearly visible, outstanding) bravery he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the first ever, posthumously (after his death).

His early life. He was born on 31 January 1923 in Dadh, a pretty town in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, into a family with a rich army legacy (something passed down from older generations). His father, Major General Amar Nath Sharma, had served the nation with distinction.

Something else inspired him too: his grandfather told him the brave stories of the Mahabharata. So both family and heritage shaped him.

He studied at Sherwood College, Nainital, and trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

In 1942 he joined the 8th Battalion, 19th Hyderabad Regiment. In World War II he fought in the Arakan Campaign in Burma, and was mentioned in despatches (named in official army reports) for bravery. So Badgam was not his first battle.

The medal. Param Vir Chakra means 'Wheel of the Ultimate Brave'. It was instituted from 15 August 1947 by Dr Rajendra Prasad, and designed by Mrs Savitri Khanolkar.

Its design was inspired by Sage Dadhichi, the Vedic rishi who gave up his body so that the gods could make the Vajra (Indra's thunderbolt) from his spine. The medal shows the State Emblem with four Vajras around it.

Sacrifice that becomes strength: that is what the medal shows, and what this story is about.