Seated devotees inside the Golden Temple

by Ashish Agarwal

Title

Seated devotees inside the Golden Temple

Artist

Ashish Agarwal

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

This is inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. There is a custom of a community meal inside the Golden Temple, and a number of people also partake of the meal. To the right is the Akal Takht, which is the highest seat of power in the religion.
The Golden Temple is one of the most famous monuments in Amritsar, in the state of Punjab in North India. It is the spiritiual headquarters of the Sikh religion, and is a very well visited place. Besides Sikh, people from other religions visit the temple, it being an open place. The temple is also referred to as the Harmandir Sahib or the Darbar Sahib, and was built during the 16th century by the fifth Sikh Guru (completed in the year 1604), Guru Arjan Dev around a holy tank. Earlier to this, in 1577, the fourth Guru, Guru Ram Das ji excavated a tank which came to be known as Amritsar. The Harmandir Sahib symbolizes openess, and has four doors to depict the same. Over a period of time, modifications were done, such as the layering of gold over the dome by the ruler of the time, Maharajah Ranjit Singh.
The holy nature of the Golden Temple is also symbolized by the presence of the Holy Book of the Sikhs, the Guru Granth Sahib. The central structure of the Gurudwara is surrounded by a holy tank of water, with a causeway over this body of water. There are some restrictions for entering the site, such as the removal of shoes before entering (and washing ones feet in a small pool of water as well), covering the hair through a scarf or some other cloth, and ensuring that they show proper respect towards the central shrine.
The Golden Temple is also the location for a major military operation, where the Indian Army went in against Sikh militants lead by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale inside the compound of the Golden Temple, with bullets and even machine guns inside the compound. The operation was a major operation, with the death of more than 500 people reported (including soldiers, militants and civilians). It was also very controversial, since this was seen as an attack on the spiritual center of Sikhs, and lead to some desertions in the army, and also an attack on the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, by her own Sikh bodyguards which resulted in her death.

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January 5th, 2013

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