It felt especially appropriate to be in Amritsar today. For on this day (April 6), 92 years ago, Gandhi officially launched his first national satyagraha (or nonviolence) movement. And it was a tragedy in Amritsar one week after this official launch that propelled Gandhi's movement into full nationwide momentum.
On April 13, 1919, a squadron of 150 British soldiers led by Col. Dyer opened fire on a crowd of nearly 20,000 unarmed Indians in Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh. The soldiers methodically pounded out more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition in a five-minute barrage. 379 Indians--including several children--were killed and another 1500 were injured. The incident set a spark to the young satyagraha movement, and Gandhi said the massacre was only more evidence that British rule had to end.
Jenna and I toured Jallianwala Bagh today and got a first-hand glimpse at the tragedy. It is an enclosed square, surrounded by stone walls on all four sides. In 1919, it was a field of scrub grass and a few dying trees. Only one entrance--a narrow stone lane--leads in and out. On that day in 1919, the British soldiers blocked that one entrance. They stood on a ledge five feet above the rest of the square and fired down on the crowd as they tried to scale the walls. The crumbling brick of the square is till pockmarked with bullet holes. Several dozen people even flung themselves into a well that was more than 30 feet deep to try and avoid the hail of bullets. That well still stands and is now named the Martyrs' Well.
India gives you glimpses of history every day--some of it positively ancient. But today, I do not think I had felt so close to it, especially considering our fortuitous timing.
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