Monuments of India: Golden Temple, Amritsar

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Golden Temple, Amritsar

The first time i visited Amritsar was when i was sent to Nawab Sharief's village which is close to Amritsar city. Sharief had been arrested after a coup by General Musharraf and i was sent to his village of birth to get the reactions of the villagers who knew him and his family before the Partition. The Golden Temple or Harminder Sahib as the Akal Takth now insist we all should call it,was just a side show. But i was impressed. It was peaceful and gave even a non-believer like me a a sense of something divine. There is no one to heckle you here unlike in mosques and temples. The Lonely Planet mentions in its first sentence about the temple that here`no one asks for any money'. The hymes from the Guru Granth Sahib are sung soulefully on loudspeaker throughout the day. My only wish is that they would maybe reduce the volume a bit. The construction of the temple was begun by fifth Guru Arjan Dev in the 16th century. It houses the original Guru Granth Sahib. The scars of the 1984 `Operation Bluestar' still remain. A small boy , the son of one of the hymn singers told me how he and his family rever Bhindranwala as a `saint'.

On my third visit (apr-09). I focused on the kitchen of the Golden temple. I found the idea of community kitchen fascinating. Pilgrims volunteer to participate in making food, wash utensils, sweep to gain karma and goodwill. This happens 24 hours a day. You can pick up the steel plate at the entrance and sit in the huge halls and wait for men who come with buckets and pour copious amounts of food in your plate.