Garima Chaudhry
Join Cultural Samvaad’s WhatsApp community
यह प्यारा बाग खून से सना पड़ा है।
धीरे से आना, यह है शोक-स्थान यहाँ मत शोर मचाना।
This shoka sthana (a place imbued with sorrow) – the Jallianwallah Bagh stood witness to a Khooni Vaisakhi [i] more than a century ago. It is a place which is drenched with the blood of many named and unnamed martyrs who were barbarically slaughtered in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on the 13th of April 1919.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: Prologue
The story of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre however begins earlier in March 1919 when the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly referred to as the Rowlatt Act was enacted. ‘No Dalil, No Vakil, No Appeal’. The Black Bill gave the British autocratic powers to repress the nationalistic upsurge which was sweeping across the length and the breadth of the country. Citizens took to the streets to protest against this draconian law which was destined to change the course of history.
In Punjab and in the holy town of Amritsar, people cut across boundaries of age, religion and gender to participate in the nationwide protests. Michael O’Dwyer, the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab was extremely sceptical of the protests and his unease with the prevailing circumstances had converted Amritsar into a virtual fortress in early April.
It seemed that the proverbial dark clouds had started gathering in the middle of spring and events started unfolding at an unimaginable pace.
9th April 1919. On the day of Ram Navami, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims walked with their arms entwined in the processions. This was a united India and a united Amritsar which not only made the British uneasy but also frightened them.
10th April 1919. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal, the two brave men who were leading the protests from the front were arrested and deported to Dharamshala. As news of their arrest spread, a huge but unarmed crowd gathered at the Civil Lines cantonment to make enquiries. In the confusion that ensued, the British opened a volley of fire on the people. Over 25 Indians were martyred and many more were injured.
Amritsar was now besieged by rumours and rage. Angry mobs burnt down some official buildings and attacked British civilians. At least 5 British men were killed. A mob also tried to assault a British lady – Ms. Sherwood who was saved through the intervention of an Indian family.
The dice had been cast.
Over the next two days, an enraged, frightened and uncertain British administration blew events out of proportion. Soldiers were called in to secure the railway line. Telephone and telegraph lines were cut. Brigadier General Reginald Dyer was called into Amritsar with soldiers and ammunition to suppress what was feared to be developing an situation (India’s First War for Independence was fought in 1857). De facto Martial law was imposed in Amritsar. The bazaars were shut. A plane was seen hovering in the skies and even a flag march was conducted. All public gatherings and protests were banned but there are adequate reasons to believe that not everyone was aware of this ban or was adequately informed of it being in existence.
13th April 1919. Sunday. Baisakhi. The day of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
Baisakhi is an auspicious day that is generally reserved for prayers and celebrations but today was a different Baisakhi. While there was hardly any revelry, people had been informed through word of mouth and handbills that there would be a peaceful meeting in the evening at Jallianwala Bagh.
The Jallianwala Bagh was merely a 10 mins walk from Harmandir Sahibji (Golden Temple). A largely barren and desolate piece of land, it had been the focal point of many protests and gatherings. The Bagh was characterised by a low well and multiple exits that led to small, narrow lanes. On that fateful day, the door behind the well had been shut and that had made egress even more difficult.
Unsuspecting, unarmed and innocent civilians started streaming into the Bagh in the late afternoon. There were young men and boys, old men and infants and a few women. There were Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. There were people from all walks of life. As per estimates, by around 4:30 pm, almost 15,000-20,000 Indians had gathered at the Bagh.
Dyer and his strike force arrived in a cavalcade of 4 vehicles to enter the Jallianwala Bagh. The lane that led to the main entrance was too narrow for the vehicles to pass through. Dyer and his men who were equipped with a combination of machine guns, rifles and knives, climbed down. The drivers were asked to block the main entrance and the column marched inside.
Without any warning, the Butcher of Amritsar issued the unprecedented order. 50 soldiers opened indiscriminate, non-stop firing by a technique called the ‘mad minute’ until they ran out of ammunition. The firing lasted for only about 10 minutes but unleashed one of the most horrible massacres in modern history.
At least over a 1,000 people were brutally killed and over 15,00 were injured. Amritsar was devastated. The city with the proverbial pool of amrit (nectar) was filled with streams of blood.
The barbaric atrocities did not end with the firing. Curfew was imposed. Families could not reach their loved ones. There was no water, no electricity, no medical help. The wails of the martyred, the injured and their families still reverberate through eyewitness accounts. The tears that started flowing on Khooni Baisakhi will never dry.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: Epilogue
Post the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, martial law was imposed in Punjab. People were wounded, whipped and jailed. Inhumane and bizarre crawling orders were issued in the lane in which Ms. Sherwood was assaulted. No one knew what was happening in Punjab and Amritsar and only few newspapers like the Bombay Chronicle dared to report the massacre.
After a huge outcry, the British held an inquiry into the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The Hunter Commission report, the details of which were not made available for decades exonerated Reginald Dyer in 1920. He was merely reprimanded.
An isolated and sick Dyer died in 1927. The other chief architect of the Amritsar massacre – Michael O’Dwyer was assassinated in London by the great Indian revolutionary Sardar Udham Singh in 1940 to seek partial retribution for his heinous crime.
“An episode without precedent or parallel … an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation… an event that amounted to manslaughter…”[ii] the event that changed the course of India’s freedom movement. Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood while Gandhiji returned his many medals. By the summer of next year, the Indian National Congress had decided to withdraw its support for the reforms of the British empire, the non-cooperation movement had been launched and the valiant revolutionaries had stepped on the gas against the atrocities of the British Raj. The struggle for swarajya entered a new and decisive phase and finally led to India’s independence in 1947.
While we will never know how many people were martyred on the Khooni Baisakhi of the 13th of April 1919, we do know that their supreme sacrifices did not go in vain….
A grateful nation pays their homage to these brave Indians not on April 13, but every day that we breath in a free country. श्रद्धांजलि |
Jai Hind.
कुछ कलियाँ अधखिली यहाँ इसलिए चढ़ाना,
कर के उनकी याद अश्रु के ओस बहाना।
यह सब करना, किन्तु यहाँ मत शोर मचाना,
यह है शोक-स्थान बहुत धीरे से आना।
जलियांवाला बाग़ में बसंत – सुभद्राकुमारी चौहान
Offer a few flowers at this spot,
Remember them (the martrys) and let the tears flow,
Perform the aforementioned acts, but do not make noise,
This is a place which is imbued with sorrow, come here slowly and mindfully.
Jallianwala Bagh Mein Basant – Subhadrakumari Chauhan (loosely paraphrased by the author)
Major References and Notes
- Datta, V.N., and Datta, Nonica. Jallianwala Bagh: A Groundbreaking History of the 1919 Massacre. India, Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2021.
- Desai, Kishwar. Jallianwala Bagh, 1919: The Real Story. India: HarperCollins India, 2023.
- Wagner, Kim A. Jallianwala Bagh: An Empire of Fear and the Making of the Amritsar Massacre. India: Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2019.
[i] Khooni Vaisakhi was a long poem on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 1919 composed by Nanak Singh in Punjabi. It has been translated into English by Navdeep Suri. Nanak Singh was 22 years old when the heinous massacre took place.
[ii] Extracted from a statement issued by Winston Churchill
Editor’s Note and Disclaimer: This note is pieced together from various historical works on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the author is indebted to them. However, this note has been provided solely for information purposes only and may contain personal views. The views expressed and the information, including but not limited to, analysis, summary, visual presentation and observations expressed in this note are based on information that was collected using publicly available data and works of scholars. Although due care was taken to verify the veracity of the information, we make no representation or warranty as to its accuracy, completeness or correctness.
Add comment