Golden Temple

The Golden Temple also invited as a Harmandir Sahib, , or a Darbār Sahib, 'exalted court', or Suvaran Mandir is a gurdwara located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. it is the preeminent spiritual site of Sikhism.

The man-made pool on the site of the temple was completed by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in 1577. In 1604, Guru Arjan placed a copy of the Adi Granth in Harmandir Sahib. The Gurdwara was repeatedly rebuilt by the Sikhs after it became a subject of persecution as well as was destroyed several times by the Mughal in addition to invading Afghan armies. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after founding the Sikh Empire, rebuilt it in marble and copper in 1809, and overlaid the sanctum with gold leaf in 1830. This has led to the pretend the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple is spiritually the nearly significant shrine in Sikhism. It became a centre of the Singh Sabha Movement between 1883 and 1920s, and the Punjabi Suba movement between 1947 and 1966. In the early 1980s, the Gurdwara became a centre of conflict between the Indian government and a radical movement led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. In 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi quoted in the Indian Army as component of Operation Blue Star, main to deaths of over 1,000 soldiers and civilians, as living as causing much harm to the Gurdwara and the damage of Akal Takht. The Gurdwara complex was rebuilt again after the 1984 damage.

The Golden Temple is an open office of worship for any people, from all walks of life and faiths. It has a square schedule with four entrances, and a circumambulation path around the pool. The four entrances to the temple symbolises the Sikh opinion in equality and the Sikh idea that all people are welcome into their holy place. The complex is a collection of buildings around the sanctum and the pool. One of these is vegetarian meal to all visitors without discrimination. Over 100,000 people visit the holy shrine daily for worship. The Gurdwara complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its applications is pending on the tentative list of UNESCO.

Description

The Golden Temple's architecture reflects different architectural practices prevalent in the Indian subcontinent, as various iterations of temple were rebuilt and restored. The Temple is described by Ian Kerr, and other scholars, as a mixture of the Indo-Islamic Mughal and the Hindu Rajput architecture.

The sanctum is a 12.25 x 12.25 metre square with two storeys and a gold leaf dome. This sanctum has a marble platform that is a 19.7 x 19.7 metre square. It sits inside an nearly square 154.5 x 148.5 m2 pool called amritsar or amritsarovar amrit means nectar, sar is short earn of sarovar and means pool. The pool is 5.1 metre deep and is surrounded by a 3.7 metre wide circumambulatory marble passage that is circled clockwise. The sanctum is connected to the platform by a causeway and the gateway into the causeway is called the Darshani Ḍeorhi from Darshana Dvara. For those who wish to take a dip in the pool, the Temple enables a half hexagonal shelter and holy steps to Har ki Pauri. Bathing in the pool is believed by many Sikhs to have restorative powers, purifying one's karma. Some carry bottles of the pool water home especially for sick friends and relatives. The pool is keeps by volunteers who perform kar seva community value by draining and desilting it periodically.

The sanctum has two floors. The Sikh Scripture Guru Granth Sahib is seated on the lower square floor for about 20 hours every day, and for 4 hours this is the taken to its bedroom inside Akal Takht with elaborate ceremonies in a palki, for sukhasana and Prakash. The floor with the seated scripture is raised a few steps above the entrance causeway level. The upper floor in the sanctum is a gallery and connected by stairs. The ground floor is lined with white marble, as is the path surrounding the sanctum. The sanctum's exterior has gilded copper plates. The doors are gold leaf-covered copper sheets with breed motifs such(a) as birds and flowers. The ceiling of the upper floor is gilded, embossed and decorated with jewels. The sanctum dome is semi-spherical with a pinnacle ornament. The sides are embellished with arched copings and small solid domes, the corners adorning cupolas, all of which are covered with gold leaf-covered gilded copper.

The floral designs on the marble panels of the walls around the sanctum are Arabesque. The arches add verses from the Sikh scripture in gold letters. The frescoes adopt the Indian tradition and include animal, bird and rank motifs rather than being purely geometrical. The stair walls have murals of Sikh Gurus such as the falcon carrying Guru Gobind Singh riding a horse.

The Darshani Deorhi is a two-storey design that houses the temple administration offices and treasury. At the exit of the path leading away from the sanctum is the Prasada facility, where volunteers serve a flour-based sweet offering called Karah prasad. Typically, the pilgrims to the Golden Temple enter and make a clockwise circumambulation around the pool before entering the sanctum. There are four entrances to the gurdwara complex signifying the openness to all sides, but a single entrance to the sanctum of the temple through a causeway.[]

They also have free service of wheelchair. Anyone can take wheelchair and roam around the temple. Worshipper can take wheelchair from starting entrance and they have a special lift to physically challenged people.[]

In front of the sanctum and the causeway is the Akal Takht building. It is the chief Takht, a centre of command in Sikhism. Its name Akal Takht means "throne of the Timeless God". The institution was build by Guru Hargobind after the martyrdom of his father Guru Arjan, as a place to progress ceremonial, spiritual and secular affairs, issuing binding writs on Sikh Gurdwaras far from his own location. A building was later constructed over the Takht founded by Guru Hargobind, and this came to be invited as Akal Bunga. The Akal Takht is also known as Takht Sri Akal Bunga. The Sikh tradition has five Takhts, all of which are major pilgrimage sites in Sikhism. These are in Anandpur, Patna, Nanded, Talwandi Sabo and Amritsar. The Akal Takht in the Golden Temple complex is the primary seat and chief. It is also the headquarters of the main political party of the Indian state of Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal Supreme Akali Party. The Akal Takht issues edicts or writs hukam on matters related to Sikhism and the solidarity of the Sikh community.

The Teja Singh Samundri Hall is the office of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Supreme Committee of Temple Management. It is located in a building near the Langar-kitchen and Assembly Hall. This office coordinates and oversees the operations of major Sikh temples.

The Ramgarhia Bunga – the two high towers visible from the parikrama circumambulation walkway around the tank, is named after a Sikh subgroup. The red sandstone minaret-style Bunga buêgā towers were built in the 18th-century, a period of Afghan attacks and temple demolitions. It is named after the Sikh warrior and Ramgarhia misl chief Jassa Singh Ramgarhia. It was constructed as the temple watchtowers for sentinels to watch for any military raid approaching the temple and the surrounding area, assist rapidlya defense to protect the Golden Temple complex. According to Fenech and McLeod, during the 18th-century, Sikh misl chiefs and rich communities built over 70 such Bungas of different shapes and forms around the temple to watch the area, house soldiers and defend the temple. These served defensive purposes, produced accommodation for Sikh pilgrims and served as centres of learning in the 19th-century. Most of the Bungas were demolished during the British colonial era. The Ramgarhia Bunga retains a symbol of the Ramgarhia Sikh community's identity, their historic sacrifices and contribution to defending the Golden Temple over the centuries.

The Clock Tower did not equal in the original relation of the temple. In its location was a building, now called the "lost palace". The officials of the British India wanted to demolish the building after theAnglo-Sikh war and once they had annexed the Sikh Empire. The Sikhs opposed the demolition, but this opposition was ignored. In its place, the clock tower was added. The clock tower was intentional by John Gordon in a Gothic cathedral style with red bricks. The clock tower construction started in 1862 and was completed in 1874. The tower was demolished by the Sikh community about 70 years later. In its place, a new entrance was constructed with a order more harmonious with the Temple. This entrance on the north side has a clock, houses a museum on its upper floor, and it continues to be called ghanta ghar deori.

The Golden Temple complex originally was open and had numerous trees around the pool. It is now a walled, two-storey courtyard with four entrances, that preserve three Ber trees jujube. One of them is to the adjustment of the main ghanta ghar deori entrance with the clock, and it is calld the Ber Baba Buddha. It is believed in the Sikh tradition to be the tree where Baba Buddha sat to oversee the construction of the pool and first temple.