Kalian Wala Khu: A dark chapter of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny

A forgotten chapter of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny has resurfaced, with historical and forensic evidence confirming a tragic massacre near Ajnala that occurred over a decade ago. The site, once known as the Kalian Wala Khu (Well of the Blacks), was ignored for more than 150 years. However, excavations in 2014 revealed the truth behind the buried remains.

The remains, exhumed from a dry well near Ajnala, did not belong to Punjabis but to soldiers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal. This explains why locals used to call it the Kalian Wala Khu. These soldiers were part of the 26th Native Infantry regiment stationed at the Mian Mir Cantonment, Lahore, during the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny against the British Raj.

On May 13, 1857, the British, fearing a rebellion, disarmed the 26th Native Infantry. But two-and-a-half months later, on July 30, a sepoy named Prakash Singh (also known as Prakash Pandey) killed a British officer, Major Spencer, along with two others. This triggered a mass revolt, and the rebel soldiers began marching southwards along the Ravi riverbank.

Villagers informed the Ajnala Tehsildar about their movement. A police party was quickly dispatched and, with the help of locals from Shahpur village, they surrounded the rebels near Shahpur Ghat. At around 4 pm on July 30, 1857, a brutal confrontation took place. Approximately 150 soldiers were gunned down and pushed into the river. Another 50, trying to escape, jumped into the river and drowned. The remaining 282 soldiers were captured and locked overnight in a small, poorly ventilated room at the Ajnala tehsil.

According to British Deputy Commissioner Frederick Cooper’s account in his 1858 book, The Crisis in the Punjab, 45 men suffocated to death overnight. The next day, the remaining 237 were executed in groups of ten, each shot in the head while standing. Their bodies were dumped into a nearby dry well, and the site was buried under soil.

In 2014, researchers excavated this forgotten site. The skulls retrieved showed clear signs of bullet wounds or severe trauma, confirming the violent deaths. In memory of the slain sepoys, a memorial has now been built at the site, transforming a forgotten massacre into a place of remembrance.

Amritsar