Amritsar – Commute World

Golden Temple

Amritsar, India, Punjab / By Ankita Popli

Golden Temple is situated in the beautiful city of Amritsar, Punjab, India.

Golden Temple is popularly known as Sri Harmandir Sahib and Sri Darbar Sahib.

The Gurudwara is spread in huge area and Golden Temple is the part of this huge Gurudwara complex.

Amritsar is well-connected with rest of the world and other states of India by road, rail and air. It is almost 200 Kms away from Chandigarh which is around 4 hours by road and 449 Kms far from Delhi which is around 7-8 hours by road. The nearest airport is Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport. The airport is 13 Kms away from Sri Harmandir Sahib and it takes approx 30 minutes to reach Gurudwara.

The water or holy tank in Gurudwara complex was named Amrit Sarovar by Guru Ram Das Ji, the fourth Sikh Guru. The city name, Amritsar, is taken by Amrit Sarovar’s name. The Sarovar or water tank is said to have healing powers in it and pilgrims from all over the world come here to take a bath. The Golden Temple is surrounded by the Amrit Sarovar which was designed by Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Guru of Sikhs.

The construction of Sri Darbar Sahib was started by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in 1588 and completed in 1604.

After the completion of Sri Harmandir Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib Ji (the Holy book of Sikhs) was placed.

Golden Temple is the central religious place for Sikhs worship.

There are four entrances to reach into Gurudwara premises which signifies that pilgrims of any caste and creed are equal and can enter into Sri Darbar Sahib from any of the four directions.

The Golden Temple was built with a thought that women, men and children from any caste and religion can come here and worship. They would be given equal rights to worship here.

Like every other Gurudwara, Sri Harmandir Sahib offers free langar service. A study states that over one lakh of people visit Sri Harmandir Sahib everyday and Gurudwara kitchen can serve food up to three lakh people daily.

Golden Temple has the world’s largest kitchen which offers food to everyone, irrespective of their caste, colour and background. Also, the Gurudwara helps in serving food to needy people in times of disaster. The Gurudwara kitchen serve only vegetarian food to people. The free langar service was initiated by the first Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Out of respect to God, men and women must have to cover their head before entering Gurudwara premises. This is mandatory for everyone.

The center of tourists attraction is the temple surrounded by Amrit Sarovar which is made up of 750 kilograms (kg) of pure gold.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji is seated in the Golden Temple from 5am in winters & 4am in summers and returned to the Akal Takht in night at 9:30pm in winters & 10:30pm in summers.

The Akal Takht is one of the five seats (takhts) of Sikhs religion. It was built up by Guru Hargobind Singh Ji, the sixth Sikh Guru. The Akal Takht is the place of issues consideration and justice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ankita Popli
I am an art lover; a Web Designer by profession, an artist by hobby, loves photography and trying my hands in writing. I like to surf the internet and read articles, blogs and see beautiful pictures of our everyday surroundings. You may catch me at [email protected].

Jallianwala Bagh

Amritsar, India, Punjab / By Ankita Popli

If you are into historical places then Jallianwala Bagh is one place that you need to tick off from your bucket list.

Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden or a memorial park of 6 to 7 acres in Amritsar in the Punjab state of India. It is almost 1.3 kilometers away from the famous Golden Temple which means nearly 7 minutes of walk.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre or Amritsar Massacre has a brutal history attached to its name.

It has been 98 years now and any time we still hear the name Jallianwala Bagh a sense of grief and anger cross our minds.

For those who are not aware about the history of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, here is a dose of history for you.

It was at the time of festival of Baisakhi (also known as Vaisakhi) in the year 1919 when a group of people gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh for a non-violent protest.

And for the record, Baisakhi is the main Sikh festival celebrated in Punjab and every year a large number of pilgrims from all over India visit Amritsar for the same.

And that day was not an exception, unaware about the whole fiasco pilgrims from all over India visited Jallianwala Bagh when Colonel Reginald Dyer ordered his 50 troops to fire the crowd brutally without stopping for a whole lot of 10 minutes killing around 1000 people and leaving 1100 wounded (Well these were the publically stated figures the actual figures must have been way ahead of this).

Whereas, the estimated number of pilgrims present there at the horrifying moment was around 25000.

Not just that almost 120 people jumped into the well of the Bagh.

The Bagh had walls all-around it of around 10 feet long and the passage ways were pretty narrow (which most of them were sealed) and the main passage way/entrance was captivated by Dyer & his troops and all this made the escapade of the pilgrims next to impossible.

The marks of bullets are still visible on the walls of the Bagh which will always make you revisit the whole brutal scenario.

This whole event very brutally took away many innocent souls and left the rest with burning scars, although according to the British Government this whole scenario was not cruel and unjustified.

Nonetheless, it evoked the freedom movement of India and added fuel to the biggest revolution and united the people of India against the East India Company.

And today Jallianwala Bagh is not just any other tourists spot in Amritsar; it is a place where the souls of our martyrs persist.