'Cracked parched earth soaking in the blood, with clothes scattered, turbans unravelled... and there, far away, I spot a small child's shoe. Once Dyer had shot everyone, and the bodies had been removed or eaten by vultures... this is all that remained.'
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was one part of a much larger system of colonial oppression in Punjab that lasted for months, even years. The Jallianwala Bagh Centenary commemorative exhibition (1919-2019) explores Punjab before the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, throwing light on the role of India during World War I, the Ghadr Party, the Rowlatt Act, the Satyagraha movement, the massacre and the subsequent martial laws that were enforced in Punjab. Visitors can also listen to interviews with people whose family members were present at the Bagh on April 13, 1919.
The exhibition also tells the story of Jallianwala Bagh through art installations: a replica of the well that people at the Bagh fell into while trying to escape the firing, a recreated display of a whipping post that was used at the time and everyday objects and clothes that may have been strewn in the Bagh after the massacre. These installations are based on eyewitness accounts.
This guided tour is free.
