Sunday, May 06, 2007

The Golden Temple, Amritsar, The Punjab

We can confirm that it's golden & that it's a temple!

We suffered another awful journey on the dusty roads of the Punjab to reach Amritsar, where the Sikhs' most beautiful temple is located. We weren't much enamoured of Amritsar itself - it's dirty & crowded & the traffic's awful. In fact, Howard & Anne were both nudged by cars trying to push them out of the way while we walked along the road. What Howard chose to shout at the driver is not repeatable here!

Inside the temple complex it was very busy too but a calmer atmosphere prevailed & people were very friendly. We heard readings from the Adi Granth/Guru Granth Sahib but did not bathe in the Amrit Sarovar (Pool of Immortality-Giving Nectar). The temple was the scene of a terrible massacre in 1984 when 200 Indian soldiers & 2000 others, including pilgrims, died. We also visited the Jalianwalla Bagh where another Amritsar massacre occurred in 1919. 1000s of unarmed civilians were killed by the British on that occasion. All very sobering.

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