Kaleyan Wala Khooh

Kaleyan wala khooh (khooh means a well) at Ajnala under Amritsar district is a forgotten story of the highest degree of sacrifices of Army jawans during the 1857 rebellion. When the nation was supporting Mangal Panday after his mutiny against the British, Amritsar too followed him and made its presence felt. Though the revolt of 1857 became an everlasting and inspiring story of Mangal Panday but the sacrifice made by the Army javans at Ajnala has been forgotten.

The incident took place in the month of June, 1857 when a huge platoon of around 500 soldiers at Lahore barracks revolted against the British Government and left their base camp. These soldiers swam bravely across the flooded Ravi River and travelled upto Ajnala town. Somehow, the then Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar Fredric Cooper got this information through his sources.

Fredric Cooper and his forces surrounded and brutally shot and killed 218 soldiers while the remaining 282 soldiers were arrested and put in a cage like room of the old Tehsil of Ajnala. During the night, many of them died in the room because of suffocation and choking while the rest of survivors were shot dead the next morning. Their dead bodies were thrown into the deep well known as the Kaleyan Wala Khooh which was later covered to hide the bodies.

This historical well filled with the bodies of Indian Army javans who revolted against the British Governement was left neglected since then. For the last more than 150 years, no Governement cared to take out the bodies and give them a proper cremation. The well was located on the premises of Gudwara Shaheed Ganj. Its management committee and historian Surinder Kochhar have been working closely to provide justice to these soldiers.

Even the elders of the Gurdwara and that locality didn’t have any idea of the exact location of the 150 year old well. They began the excavation on the premises in December 2012 and found that the outer structure of the well was at the same spot that they started excavation from. As the volunteers continued digging, they found that the well is exactly underneath the place where Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji has been installed in the Gudwara complex.

The excavation was stopped immediately and the management committee decided to contruct a new Gurdwara Sahib. It took more than a year to complete the new building and the Gurdwara Sahib was shifted there on 28th February, 2014. Then, the 40 year old Gurdwara was demolished to restart and complete the excavation. The digging work continued for three days and revealed an important episode of the first war of Indian independence when 282 soldiers were buried either dead or alive in a well by the cruel British rulers.

Historian Surinder Kochhar has been working on this project for more than two years. He mentions that around 90 skulls, 170 intact jaws, 26 skeletons joined with skulls and more than 5000 teeth were recovered from this well. Apart from these, some Rupee 1 coins of the East India Company dating back to 1830-40, two British medals, three gold amulets, four rings, gold beads, four bangles and some bullets were also found during the excavation.

All of these things have been kept at the Gurdwara premises in a glass cabin and displayed for the public to pay their respect to these martyrs. Surinder Kochhar and the Gurdwara management committee wish to perform the last rites of these martyrs in Ajnala. They have also requested the district administration and The Government of Punjab to construct a memorial and a museum in the memory of these soldiers. There have also been demands to declare this place as a Heritage site.