Amritsar had its beginnings when, in the 16th century, Guru Ramdas, the fourth Sikh guru settled down by a pool with miraculous healing powers. His son, Guru Arjun Dev, built a temple in the midst of this pool and enshrined in it the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs.
In 1803, the renowned Maharaja Ranjit Singh covered the lower half of the temple with marble and the upper half was encrusted later with pure gold leaf, which has given it the name, the Golden Temple.Near Amritsar is ram Tirath, the birth place of Lav and Kush, the sons of Rama of the epic, Ramayana.
What to See:
GOLDEN TEMPLE:
Formerly known as Hari Mandir, the Golden Temple is the holiest Sikh shrine. Sikhism is in fact, a mixture of Hindu and Muslim ways and came out of the Bhakti movement.
The Temple was built in the 16th Century AD by the fifty of Sikhism’s 10 gurus, Guru Arjun Dev. In 1767, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of the first Sikh Kingdom, added the golden dome on top, from which the temple gets its name.
JALLIANWALLAH BAGH:
A monument - if this park and the commemorative pillar can be called that – to India’s freedom movement. On April 13, 1919 British General Dyer ordered his Gurkha tropps to fire into a 1500 strong gathering of unarmed Protestants. Over 300 people died in the massacre. Jallianwallah Bagh is one of the sites which symbolies India’s struggle for Independence like little else, including Delhi’s grand Parliament House.
EXCURSIONS:
This is really a gateway to Pakistan and the international border is very near. A train still runs between Amritsar and Lahore in Pakistan, ferrying relatives, friends and tourists across a border that did not exist less than 50 years ago.
SIGHTSEEING TOURS:
Visits the Golden temple- The scared Sikh sanctuary,marbled,Bronzed and covered with gold leaf wherein the Guru Granth Sahib-The Bible of the Sikhs is placed reverently. Also see the community Kitchen where 10,000 pilgrims are fed daily on voluntary and complimentary basis. The historic Jallianwala Bagh where Gen. Dyer’s bullets Killed scorers of innocent Indians and the beautiful Ram Bagh Gardens.
