The Golden Temple in Amritsar is one of the holiest sites in India. — Photos: BEN LOPEZ
I recently visited Amritsar in India with a group of friends and was so happy to have ticked one item – the Golden Temple – off my bucket list.
My friends and I took three hours visiting every nook and corner of the Golden Temple or Golden Gurdwara, guided by our tour leader.
We removed our shoes and covered our heads prior to entering the temple, one of the holiest and most spiritual sites in Sikhism. Even for a non-Sikh like me I felt a sense of spirituality when I was in the enclave of the Golden Temple.
Throughout our visit the temple was teeming with people and at times, we found it challenging to navigate our way through the crowd. We are told that there are always long queues of pilgrims waiting outside and around the temple everyday.
There is a large pool within the complex and devotees will take a dip in it before entering the temple to pray.
The Golden Temple is open to visitors at all hours, though if you want to go during one of the daily ceremonies, then it is best you check with your tour guide on the best times.
If you visit after sunset, the contrast of the bright golden walls against the darkness of the night is amazing to see.
One of the ceremonies is the carrying of the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, from the Harmandir Sahib gurdwara to the Akal Takht, the seat of Sikhism’s supreme authority, which is located in the same complex. The sacred book is then ceremonially brought back to the gurdwara before dawn.
All visitors to the Golden Temple (or any gurdwara in the world) are welcome to a free meal at the langar or kitchen. Of course, gurdwaras only serve vegetarian or vegan meals. We were informed that the Golden Temple serves a whopping 100,000 servings of food a day!
The writer (in green) trying his hand at making chapatis in the langar of the Golden Temple.
After a sumptuous meal we went for a tour of the langar. The kitchen is handled efficiently, and the volunteers – mostly women – are truly dedicated in serving their community.
There are a few sections within the kitchen and they are divided by the different “jobs”, including onion and garlic peeling, and vegetable cutting. All the work was done meticulously to clockwork precision. I was enthralled just watching these volunteers working so diligently.
We proceeded to where the chapatis are made, using machines and also by hand. The reason for this is continuous production: if the machines break down or there is a power cut, there will still be enough chapatis to go around.
I tried making a few chapatis but being a novice, the ones I made didn’t look like they were fit to be served to guests!
After the Golden Temple tour, we went to the nearby Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Memorial. On April 13, 1919, a large, peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh during the annual Vaishakhi festival, to protest the Rowlatt Act as well as the arrest of pro-independence activists Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satya Pal.
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Memorial.
The British army, under the command of General Reginald Dyer, blocked the only entrance to Jallianwala Bagh and opened fire on the unarmed protesters. Dyer himself acted on the orders of Michael O’Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab.
It is said that more than 1,500 Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims were killed by the British soldiers. However, conflicting data from the British say that the number was much lower than that.
Udham Singh, a freedom fighter travelled all the way to London to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and murdered O’Dwyer. Udham was tried and then sentenced to death after he was found guilty of the crime, and hung on July 31, 1940. But to the Punjabis, Udham remains a hero today; there is even a statue of him in the memorial site.
The views expressed are entirely the reader’s own.
