Cellular Jail

The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī (derived from Sanskrit words 'Kal' which means Time or Death and 'Pani' which means Water), was a colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago. Many notable dissidents such as Batukeshwar Dutt and Veer Savarkar, among others, were imprisoned here during the struggle for India's independence. Today, the complex serves as a national memorial monument.

History

Although the prison complex itself was constructed between 1896 and 1906, the British had been using the Andaman islands as a prison since the days in the immediate aftermath of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

Shortly after the rebellion was suppressed, the British executed many rebels. Those who survived were exiled for life to the Andamans to prevent their re-offending. Two hundred rebels were transported to the islands under the custody of the jailer David Barry and Major James Pattison Walker, a military doctor who had been warden of the prison at Agra. Another 733 from Karachi arrived in April, 1868. In 1863, the Rev. Henry Fisher Corbyn, of the Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment, was also sent out there and he set up the 'Andamanese Home' there, which was also a repressive institution albeit disguised as a charitable one. Rev. Corbyn was posted in 1866 as Vicar to St. Luke's Church, Abbottabad, and later died there and is buried at the Old Christian Cemetery, Abbottabad. More prisoners arrived from India and Burma as the settlement grew. Anyone who belonged to the Mughal royal family, or who had sent a petition to Bahadur Shah Zafar during the Rebellion was liable to be deported to the islands.

Kalapani

Kalapani or Kala Pani (Nepali: कालापानी, kālāpānī) (Hindi: कालापानी, kālāpānī) meaning "Black Water" may refer to:

Film

Places

Other uses

it is also a drama serial

See also

Kala pani (taboo)

The Kala Pani (literally, black water) represents the taboo of the sea in Indian culture. According to this taboo, crossing the seas causes the loss of one's varna status.

History

The offense of crossing the sea is also known as "Samudrolanghana" or "Sagarollanghana". The Dharma Sutra of Baudhayana (II.1.2.2) lists sea voyages as first of the offences that cause the loss of varna. The Dharma Sutra suggests a person can wipe away this offense in three years by eating little at every fourth meal time; bathing at dawn, noon and dusk; standing during the day; and seated during the night.

The reasons behind the taboo include the inability to carry out the daily rituals and the sin of contact with the mlecchas. The fear of crossing the seas also derives from the notion that it entailed the end of the reincarnation cycle, as the traveler was cut off from the regenerating waters of the Ganges. Such voyages also meant breaking family and social ties. According to another belief in the pre-modern India, the Kala Pani (sea water) was inhabited by the houglis, bad spirits and monsters.

Kaalapani

Kaalapani (English: Black Water) is a 1996 Indian epic film set in 1915 focusing the lives of Indian freedom fighters kept in prison during the British Raj. The film is co-wriiten and directed by Priyadarshan, starring Mohanlal, Prabhu Ganesan, Tabu, Nedumudi Venu, Sreenivasan, Tinnu Anand, Annu Kapoor, Alex Draper, Amrish Puri, and Vineeth. Kaalapani is regarded as one of the evergreen classics of Malayalam cinema. Although it is originally a Malayalam film, it was dubbed into Hindi (Saza-E-Kala Pani), Tamil (Siraichalai) and Telugu (Kaala Pani). Amitabh Bachchan had bought the Hindi dubbing rights, besides narrating the prologue for the Hindi dubbed version.

The film is about the lives of prisoners in British India who are brought to Kālā Pānī, the Cellular Jail in Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The name Kalapani is derived from the mode of imprisonment in British India. Ilaiyaraaja composed the music, the cinematography was by Santosh Sivan, and the editing by N. Gopalakrishnan. The film introduced Dolby Stereo into Malayalam cinema. It was made on a budget of ₹2.5 crore, making it the costliest Malayalam film made until then.Mohanlal produced the film under his studio Pranavam Arts International.