Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab India

Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden situated in Amritsar in the state of Punjab, which is one of the major tourist attractions of India. Jallianwala Bagh is well known for Amritsar massacre alternatively known as Jallianwala Bagh massacre. On Sunday, 13 April 1919, on the orders of Brigadier-General Reginald R.H.Dyer, about 50 Gurkha riflemen started firing at about 15,000 to 20,000 people including elderly people, women and childen who assembled at the place for a meeting. The people gathered at the garden near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar to celebrate the sikh festival “Baisakhi” and were unaware of the political meeting. Baisakhi is celebrated to commemorate the day for foundation of khalsa Panth by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, and also known as the 'Birth of Khalsa.' The orders by General Dyer led to killings of more than 1500 people in the Jallianwala bagh. As per the official statement of British Raj sources the casualties were only 379 identified dead with approximately 1100 wounded. But as per the Indian National Congress the number of casualties was more than 1500 with approximately 1000 dead. The statement of Civil Surgeon Dr Williams DeeMeddy revealed a different figure of 1,526 casualties.

General Dyer ordered his troops to begin shooting towards the densest sections of the crowd. Jallianwala Bagh being bounded on all sides by houses and buildings, had very few narrow entrances. The main entrance was guarded by the troops backed by the armoured vehicles. Approximately 1650 rounds in all were shot, until ammunition almost exhausted.

Due to sudden firing by the troops, the people were astonished and a number of people died in stampedes at the narrow gates. The others who tried to escape from the firing jumped into the solitary well on the compound, but in vein, to find themselves dead. About 120 bodies were pulled out of the well. The wounded persons who could not be given immediate medical treatment due to declaration of curfew died during the night.

After the tragic incident of 13 Apr 1919, a committee was formed with Pandit Madam Mohan Malaviya as president to build a memorial in the memory of the martyrs. The Jallianwala Bagh became a national place of pilgrimage and famous tourist attractions of Amritsar. On 01 August 1920, the bagh was acquired by the nation but the actual construction started only after Independence. On 13 April 1961, the monument, befittingly named the Flame of Liberty, was inaugurated by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India. The central 30-ft high pylon is built with 300 slabs with Ashoka Chakra, the national emblem, carved on them. On each corner of the tank, a stone lantern has been placed. The words “In memory of martyrs, 13 April 1919” has been engraved in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English languages on all four sides of the pylon, making the garden one of the famous tourist attractions of Amritsar.

Udham Singh, a sikh teenager, who was being raised at Khalsa Orphanage was one of the survivors of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Udham Singh avenged the killings of his fellow countrymen by killing Micheal O’Dwyer in Caxton Hall of London, the then British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab in 1919. Later, on 31 July 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville jail, London.

Jallianwala Bagh can be visited all year round. However, the best time to visit the place and Amritsar is from the month of October to March, as summers in the city are unbearable.