Goldilocks and the Golden Temple
6th August 2010
After Agra Aaron, Meredith and myself broke off from the rest of the Texas group and travelled by train with an overnight stop in Delhi, to Amritsar, home of the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. During our stop in Delhi most of the hotels close to the station were full, so we ended up staying in a miserable place without a working shower and with a bathroom you wouldn't want to spend that long in anyway. Once we got to Amritsar station we got a rickshaw across town, to an area close to the temple, then started squelching around the filthy side roads looking for accommodation. After the previous night's hotel, followed by the sweaty, tiring train journey we had that morning that left Delhi at 6am, we wanted to stay in at least some reasonable budget accommodation. After searching a few options we settled on the 'Lucky Guest House'.
We decided to stay in Amritsar for two nights so we assumed we would visit the Golden Temple the following morning, however after dinner we had nothing else planned and soon found ourselves wondering in that direction. As we approached the entrance to the temple a kind man with a white beard and blue turban pointed out where we should leave our shoes, wash our feet and borrow free bananas to cover our hair. It appeared that the temple was still open and buzzing with people, so we followed his instructions and paddled through the shallow pools of water at the entrance.
Inside the complex, the sacred pool, Amrit Sarovar (Pool of Nectar) is surrounded by a beautiful marble walkway (Parkarma) with walls inlaid with flower and animal motifs in a similar style to the Taj Mahal. In the centre of the pool stands the two storey marble temple (Hari Mandir Sahib) with shimmering golden dome. The dome represents an inverted lotus flower, a symbol of Sikh devotees' aim to live a pure life. I paused for a moment in the entrance, awestruck by it's beauty. In front of me someone dropped down on his knees to pray.
As Meredith, Aaron and myself stood on the walkway taking a couple of photos of each other we were approached by a few Indian tourists. I can't help but always be suspicious when strangers come up to me. In Jalgaon locals just wished to greet us and shake hands, in Agra they wanted to sell us items, here it turned out they desired to take their photo with us. I assume they don't get too many white tourists in Amritsar, we certainly stood out from the crowd or perhaps it was to do with Meredtih being about 6ft tall and blonde! Whilst we were posing for the picture some more people spied us and requested a photo. I felt like a celebrity! A small group of young men approached and asked for 'just one snap-snap' which turned out to mean one photo with each of them. It was fun, but as we became tired of requests we began to edge away. I was relieved that we were asked by women as well as men, but Meredith and I seemed to be getting slightly more of the attention than Aaron, who quietly slipped away.
Eventually Meredith and I escaped our fans for the time being and strolled around the walkway towards the causeway (Gurus' bridge) leading to the temple in the centre of the pool. The marble felt cool and smooth under my feet as I padded along. I could hear the chanting of one of the priests in the temple reading in Gurmukhi from the Sikh holy book (Guru Granth Sahib). Just as Meredith and I were only a few steps away from the temple everyone in the queue was barred entry and the people in the queue all sat down, so Meredith and I followed suit.
After a few minutes of their chanting we were allowed inside the temple. It was a small room and the area allowed for visitors was separated by a small railing. There were several people kneeling, some people were working their way towards the front and others towards the exit. I smelt the sweet aroma of incense burning. I slipped along the back of the room where there was more space and with all the confusion soon found myself at the exit. As far as I remember there was a priest sitting on the floor in front of the holy book and other men were fanning him with what looked like white feather dusters. Outside we were told by another tourist that we could also go upstairs. The room upstairs was intricately decorated in gold, blue and red and there were archways allowing us to look down. We saw that they were wrapping something in many layers of cloth.
Meredith and I left the temple in the centre of the pool in search of Aaron who we hadn't seen for some time now. Just as we were leaving a procession passed by. People we
re gathered around a golden case, adorning it was garlands of flowers as it passed them. From reading the Lonely planet and confirming with a Sikh we met the next day we discovered that this was the daily ceremony where the Sikh holy book is returned from the Hari Mandir Sahib (the temple in the centre of the pool) to the Akal Takhat (a room set back from the walkway opposite the Gurus' bridge). As we left the Golden Temple complex I looked back at the building illuminated dramatically against the dark night sky, with it's reflection glistening in the water and thought how fortunate we were to have visited tonight and seen the ceremony.
After Agra Aaron, Meredith and myself broke off from the rest of the Texas group and travelled by train with an overnight stop in Delhi, to Amritsar, home of the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. During our stop in Delhi most of the hotels close to the station were full, so we ended up staying in a miserable place without a working shower and with a bathroom you wouldn't want to spend that long in anyway. Once we got to Amritsar station we got a rickshaw across town, to an area close to the temple, then started squelching around the filthy side roads looking for accommodation. After the previous night's hotel, followed by the sweaty, tiring train journey we had that morning that left Delhi at 6am, we wanted to stay in at least some reasonable budget accommodation. After searching a few options we settled on the 'Lucky Guest House'.
We decided to stay in Amritsar for two nights so we assumed we would visit the Golden Temple the following morning, however after dinner we had nothing else planned and soon found ourselves wondering in that direction. As we approached the entrance to the temple a kind man with a white beard and blue turban pointed out where we should leave our shoes, wash our feet and borrow free bananas to cover our hair. It appeared that the temple was still open and buzzing with people, so we followed his instructions and paddled through the shallow pools of water at the entrance.
Inside the complex, the sacred pool, Amrit Sarovar (Pool of Nectar) is surrounded by a beautiful marble walkway (Parkarma) with walls inlaid with flower and animal motifs in a similar style to the Taj Mahal. In the centre of the pool stands the two storey marble temple (Hari Mandir Sahib) with shimmering golden dome. The dome represents an inverted lotus flower, a symbol of Sikh devotees' aim to live a pure life. I paused for a moment in the entrance, awestruck by it's beauty. In front of me someone dropped down on his knees to pray.
As Meredith, Aaron and myself stood on the walkway taking a couple of photos of each other we were approached by a few Indian tourists. I can't help but always be suspicious when strangers come up to me. In Jalgaon locals just wished to greet us and shake hands, in Agra they wanted to sell us items, here it turned out they desired to take their photo with us. I assume they don't get too many white tourists in Amritsar, we certainly stood out from the crowd or perhaps it was to do with Meredtih being about 6ft tall and blonde! Whilst we were posing for the picture some more people spied us and requested a photo. I felt like a celebrity! A small group of young men approached and asked for 'just one snap-snap' which turned out to mean one photo with each of them. It was fun, but as we became tired of requests we began to edge away. I was relieved that we were asked by women as well as men, but Meredith and I seemed to be getting slightly more of the attention than Aaron, who quietly slipped away.
Eventually Meredith and I escaped our fans for the time being and strolled around the walkway towards the causeway (Gurus' bridge) leading to the temple in the centre of the pool. The marble felt cool and smooth under my feet as I padded along. I could hear the chanting of one of the priests in the temple reading in Gurmukhi from the Sikh holy book (Guru Granth Sahib). Just as Meredith and I were only a few steps away from the temple everyone in the queue was barred entry and the people in the queue all sat down, so Meredith and I followed suit.
After a few minutes of their chanting we were allowed inside the temple. It was a small room and the area allowed for visitors was separated by a small railing. There were several people kneeling, some people were working their way towards the front and others towards the exit. I smelt the sweet aroma of incense burning. I slipped along the back of the room where there was more space and with all the confusion soon found myself at the exit. As far as I remember there was a priest sitting on the floor in front of the holy book and other men were fanning him with what looked like white feather dusters. Outside we were told by another tourist that we could also go upstairs. The room upstairs was intricately decorated in gold, blue and red and there were archways allowing us to look down. We saw that they were wrapping something in many layers of cloth.
Meredith and I left the temple in the centre of the pool in search of Aaron who we hadn't seen for some time now. Just as we were leaving a procession passed by. People we
re gathered around a golden case, adorning it was garlands of flowers as it passed them. From reading the Lonely planet and confirming with a Sikh we met the next day we discovered that this was the daily ceremony where the Sikh holy book is returned from the Hari Mandir Sahib (the temple in the centre of the pool) to the Akal Takhat (a room set back from the walkway opposite the Gurus' bridge). As we left the Golden Temple complex I looked back at the building illuminated dramatically against the dark night sky, with it's reflection glistening in the water and thought how fortunate we were to have visited tonight and seen the ceremony.
Comments
Ops, sorry I meant bandanas not bananas! Thanks fot the explanation too, that is some helpful insight.