Amritsar, March 3
The three-day digging work at the historic ‘Kalianwala Khu’ in Ajnala, near here, has unfolded a significant chapter of the First War of Indian Independence in 1857. As many as 282 soldiers, who were part of the sepoy mutiny, are believed to have been buried — some dead, others alive — in the well by the British rulers.

Recoveries made

Associated with the project for the past couple of years, researcher Surinder Kochhar claimed that around 90 skulls, 170 intact jaws, 26 skeletons joined with skulls and more than 5,000 teeth were recovered from the historic well.

Besides these, 70 Re 1 coins of the East India Company dating back to 1830-40, two British medals, gold beads, three gold amulets, four rings, four bangles and a few bullets were also found.

The management committee of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj, on whose premises the well is located, intends to showcase these articles, including medals and coins, in a memorial which the committee is planning to build.

The mortal remains of the martyrs have been kept in the gurdwara campus. These would be displayed in glass cabins for the public to pay their respects. According to Kochhar, the well is 20-ft deep and they’ve carried out the excavation till 14 ft, as they didn't find any mortal remains beyond it.

The road ahead

Kochhar and the gurdwara management committee led by Amarjit Singh Sarkaria wish to perform the last rites of the martyrs in Ajnala.

However, they are of the view that a DNA test should be conducted on the remains of the martyrs to ascertain their identity.

But questions are being raised whether there is any utility in performing the test after a lapse of 157 years. The committee doesn’t even have a list of martyrs of ‘Kalianwala Khu’. They say they will wait for the government’s response on the issue.

The management committee is also seeking land from the district administration to perform the funeral of the martyrs. Subsequently, they plan to immerse their ashes at Goindwal Sahib and Haridwar after taking out the ashes in a procession.

Historians from the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) feel that the mortal remains should be preserved. They also opined that the historic well should be dug up to its foundation as more remains could be found. They said the recoveries made from the well should be showcased in a memorial.

Finally, govt steps in

A day after the digging work came to an end at the ‘Kalianwala Khu’, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat, along with other officials, visited the historic site.

Talking to The Tribune, Bhagat said that the gurdwara management committee has put up certain demands which he has forwarded to the Cultural Affairs Department of the state government.

“First, they wish to perform the last rites of the martyrs. They also want a memorial and a museum to be raised in their memory. We’ve prepared a case and dispatched it to the Cultural Affairs Department. All further decisions will be taken by the department.”

He said he has urged the department to send a team of experts to the site so that a rational decision can be made regarding issues like the last rites.

On the demand for a DNA test, he said that only experts could comment on it. He said that they were getting the remains videographed. An inventory of coins was being prepared.

Prior to today's developments, there had been virtually no role of the state government in the effort.

How it was unearthed

When excavation work — to zero in on the location of the well — began on the 2-kanal, 8-marla gurdwara premises in December 2012, nobody, not even the elders, had any idea about its exact location, said Sarkaria.

“Luckily, the outer structure of the well was at the very spot that we started excavation from. As we continued digging, we found that the well is exactly beneath the spot where Guru Granth Sahib has been installed in the gurdwara,” he said.

Following the discovery of the historic site, the committee stopped the excavation. A new multi-storey complex was built and the gurdwara was shifted there on February 28. “We waited for almost a year to resume excavation work as we wanted an alternative place for the gurdwara. To take the excavation to its logical end, the 40-year-old gurdwara needed to be demolished,” he added.

Memorial planned

The gurdwara committee now plans to connect the historical site with the main road. “We would like to have a proper road leading to the premises. We’ve already purchased adjoining land and buildings from private parties,” said Sarkaria.

He said that they’ve done away with the name ‘Kalianwala Khu’ and now call it ‘Shaheedan da Khu’ (well of martyrs). The jail where the soldiers were lodged by the British is still there in Ajnala, but in a shambles.

The history

According to committee members, 500 soldiers raised the banner of revolt at Mian Mir Cantonment in Lahore as part of 1857 uprising and swam across the Ravi to reach Ajnala.

Out of them, 218 were killed by the British at Dadian Sofian village, near here, while the remaining 282 were incarcerated in a cage-like room where many of them died of asphyxiation.

On the orders of the then British Deputy Commissioner Fredrick Cooper, the 282 patriots were shot before their bodies were thrown in a well which later came to be known as ‘Kalianwala Khu’ as the British used to call Indians ‘kale’ (black).

GND University historians confirmed that a sepoy mutiny indeed took place at Lahore’s Mian Mir Cantonment. They said that most of the soldiers were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Documentary proof

Aalmi Punjabi Virasat Foundation president Bhupinder Singh Sandhu has compiled a book “Kalianwala Khu di Lahu Bhiji Dastan” in which he has written about the incident. In the book, there is an article by Giani Heera Singh Dard, published in a Kanpur-based daily in 1928.

In the article, Dard has given an account of his meeting with 95-year-old Jagat Singh during a visit to Ajnala.

“Jagat, who was an eyewitness to the entire episode, must have been around 25 years of age at that time. He told me that the soldiers were killed by the British in batches of 10. They were dumped in a well which was later filled with earth,” wrote Dard.

British Deputy Commissioner Cooper had also referred to the incident in his book “Crisis in Punjab” which was published in 1858.