Dimdima
Online Children's Magazine from India
Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh |
Dr.
Satyapal, a medical doctor and Dr. Saiffuddin Kitchlew, a lawyer, were
prominent and influential leaders in the Punjab. On 10th April 1919, the
government, apprehending trouble in Amritsar in the wake of the agitation
against the infamous Rowlatt Act, arrested both of them and spirited them out
of the city to a hill-station some hundred miles away. |
Behind Dyer's procession came a lad of fourteen or fifteen, banging on an empty
kerosene can and announcing a meeting the next day at Jallianwala Bagh in
defiance of the prohibitory orders.
Notwithstanding its name, Jallianwala Bagh was not a bagh, a garden but an open
ground surrounded by the high walls of the buildings around it. It was accessed
by a narrow lane. Within the bagh stood three peepal trees, a broken-down tomb
and a well.
Sunday, 13 April 1919 was Baisakhi Day. A large number of peasants who had come
from the neighbouring villages to celebrate Baisakhi were resting in the bagh.
Some men from the neighbourhood were playing cards and dice and idly watching
the proceedings of the meeting that was underway near the well. The meeting had
attracted thousands of people from all walks of life. Two resolutions were
passed — one called for the repeal of the Rowlatt Act and the other condemned
the firings on the crowd three days earlier. Some speeches were made and a poet
called on his countrymen to be prepared to shed blood for their motherland,
little realising how close they were to actually doing so.
At around 5.15 the sound of heavy boots was heard. Dyer had arrived with his
men. Some people got up to leave but one of the organisers, Hans Raj shouted:
"Sit down, sit down. Don't be afraid, Government will never fire!"
Meanwhile the government was getting ready to do just that. General Dyer barked
out orders to his men: "Gurkhas, right, 59th left. Fire!"
The 50 soldiers — 25 Gurkhas and 25 from the 59th Rifles Frontier Force —
started firing. There were no warning shots. They shot to kill, right from the
start. As the only exit was blocked by the soldiers the people could not leave
by that way. Screams of pain and shouts of terror rent the air as men, women and
children ran for the walls, falling over each other and getting trampled in the
process. Many jumped into the well to escape the bullets but ended up drowning.
The firing stopped only when the men ran out of ammunition. Then Dyer calmly
ordered his troops to withdraw. The soldiers marched away leaving behind a scene
of carnage. More than 1500 people, among them women and children, lay dead or
wounded.
When darkness fell, the wounded cried out for water but the night curfew was in
force and help was a long time in coming. Dyer did not bother to organise
medical aid for the wounded. He thought he had struck a blow for the Empire.
Little did he realise that he had sounded its death knell.
Dimdima is the Sanskrit word for ‘drumbeat’. In olden days, victory in battle was heralded by the beat of drums or any important news to be conveyed to the people used to be accompanied with drumbeats.
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Dimdima.com, the Children's Website of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan launched in 2000 and came out with a Printed version of Dimdima Magazine in 2004. At present the Printed Version have more than 35,000 subscribers from India and Abroad.