Sri Harimander
Sahib "Golden Temple", Amritsar (Gurudwaras)
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Sri Harimandir Sahib
Also called Darbar Sahib is known to English-speaking
world as the Golden Temple on account of its scenic beauty and
the golden coating on its exterior above the first-floor level.
It was built under the direction and direct supervision of Guru
Arjan Dev ji, who according to current tradition, got it's foundation
laid by a well-know Muslim divine, Mir Muhammad, better known
as Hazrat Mian Mir of Lahore, on the first of Magh 1645 Bikrami
corresponding to 28th December 1588. On completion in about 10
years time, it became the venue for the daily religious services
- Kirtan and discourse. When Guru Arjan Dev ji had compiled the
compositions of the Gurus including his own and of a numbr of
Hindu and Muslim saints into a single volume, now known as the
Adi Granth or Guru Granth Sahib, he installed it in the Harimandir
on 16th August 1604. Baba Buddha was appointed the first officiant.
The routine and liturgy set by Guru Arjan Dev himself is still
operative with very little change. Kirtan commences in the Harimandir
between 2 am and 3 am depending on the season and continues incessantly,
with only ardas or supplicatyory prayer injtervening occasionally,
upto 10pm or 11pm. The Holy Book is then taken in procession to
a room in the Akal Bunga for rest, and is brought back to the
Harimandir again is a procession at about 5 am. the intermission
is used for daily cleaning up of the premises.
Religious service and significance apart, the
architectural design and beauty of the harimandir has its own attraction.
Standing in the middle of the pool of Nectar on a plinth of hard stone
reached from the bank over a bridge, it provides a rare atmosphere of coolness,
calmness and serenity. Its square shape and appropriate dimensions give
it perfect geometrical symmetry and compactness. Four doors opening one
on each side signify free access from all sides to all irrespective of
caste or creed. Of particular interest to common vistiors as well as to
connoiseurs of art is the beauty of its interior including intricate floral
designs embossed on metal or inset in stone and painting or filiree work
on walls and ceiling which are simply enchanting. But the present build
and heauty are not wholly original. Harimandir has ha dits share of persecution
suffered by the community as a whole. After Guru Hargobind had to leave
the town subsequent to the first battle of Amritsar in 1629, no Guru graced
the harimandir with his presence. Only Guru Tgegh Bahadur came on a visit
in 1664, but he too was not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. Massa
Ranghar, the appointed Kotwal of Amritsar after the execution of Bhai Mani
Singh in 1737, befouled the sarovar and desecrated the Harimandir. In 1762,
Ahmad Shah Abdali had the Harimandir blown up with gunpowder. It was reconstructed
by Dal Khalsa through Bhai Des Faj of Sursingh village. The reconstruction
was completed by 1776. The present appreance of the Harimandir dates from
the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1801 - 39), although the work of interior
decoration continued long after his death. But the Sikh rulers left the
religious management with Udasi and Nirmala priests who had been looking
after Sikh shrines during the troubled period when baptised Sikh suffered
persecution of the creellest kind and were not permitted openly to serve
their places of worship. Although Maharaja Ranjit SIngh appointed Giani
Sang Singh and, after his death in 1832, his son Bhai Gurmukh Singh as
managers yet their responsibility extended only to the beautification of
Darbar Sahib. After the annexation of the Punjab by the British in 1849,
the practice continued. While the government appointed a sarbarah, the
religious administration remained with the mahants and pujaris. Several
Malpractices and mismanagement had crept in, which even the Singh Sabha
Movement failed to rectify. It was only at the beginning of the Gurdwara
Reform (or Akali) Movement (on 15th October 1920) that the harimandir was
liberated from the malignant control of the priestly order and brought
under panthic management. At present the Harimandir alone with Sri Akal
Takht Sahib and other holy shrines in Amritsar are managed directly by
the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee under section 85 of the Sikh
Gurdwaras Act, 1925. |