At last, after two months of travelling across India, I arrived with great anticipation in the city of Amritsar, in the northern state of Punjab. I was very, very excited to be here for a number of reasons, as you'll soon see why. The Golden Temple, the holiest place in all of Sikhism... The main drawcard of Amritsar is undoubtedly the Golden Temple, the most spiritually significant temple (or gurdwara) in the Sikh religion. It is significant because it once housed the Adi Granth, the central religious scripture of Sikhism, when it was completed in the 17th century. The temple dazzling marble and gold foil structure surrounded by a man-made pool (called a sarovar), and completely open to all visitors day and night, irrespective of their background. To visit, all you need to do is wear a head covering and remove your socks and shoes. Mind you, the latter can be difficult on a North Indian winter morning. Naked feet, freezing marble, and a mandatory foot wash upon entering do not create the most pleasant of combinations! But shivering through it all, I remained a delighted pilgrim. Despite having been continuously rebuilt over the centuries due to religious persecution and violence, the Golden Temple endures as one of the most welcoming places in all of India. I certainly felt it. And a meal at the largest soup kitchen in the world... It may not look like much — a simple, hot vegetarian meal consisting of some rotis, daal, a vegetable dish, and a rice pudding called kheer — but this is a meal I have wanted to experience for a long time... Within the Golden Temple complex is a langar: a community kitchen in a Sikh temple where any visitor, regardless of race, gender, creed, or socio-economic background, can receive a free vegetarian meal. The principle of equality is also strongly upheld here. Everyone, rich or poor, high caste or low, must sit and eat together on the floor. This langar is run entirely by volunteers, open 24/7, and serves tens of thousands of people per day, making it effectively the world’s largest soup kitchen. It’s truly incredible. Is it the best meal I’ve had in India? Probably not. But it is certainly one of the most powerful meals I’ve ever received. A weird border ceremony... Amritsar is also close to the India-Pakistan border where it is possible to witness something truly bizarre: the Wagah-Attari border ceremony. If there was one good thing that came out of the 1947 Partition of India (hint: there wasn’t) then it’s this. What should be a straightforward daily flag-lowering ceremony conducted by the border security forces of India and Pakistan, performed to mark the evening closure of one of the few land border crossings between the two rival nations, is instead transformed into a sublimely surreal, hyper-choreographed dance contest. Both sides pick their tallest (and most immaculately facial haired) soldiers, make them don peacock tail-like hats, and have them stomp as hard and kick as high as they can against each other. Wacky. Colourful. Militaristic. Campy. While the Pakistan side had a more mellowed out audience, the Indian side had a raucous and crowded stadium, blasted Bollywood music, and a hype master who helped everyone cry “Hindustan Zindabad!” (“Long live India!”) in unison. The fact of the matter is that you will not learn anything about the often tense and deadly relationship between these two countries from watching this ceremony. I’m not sure you will learn anything at all. Just sit back and accept that humanity is capable of some very puzzlingly things. Some more snaps of Amritsar... The most shocking thing about it is that the city centre around the Golden Temple is a modern pedestrian mall. As in a clean pedestrian zone with storefronts and everything. In India. No mopeds or rogue trucks or half-dug up streets or cows chewing out of rubbish piles. I couldn’t believe it! The other photos are of the very lovely Durgiana Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to the warrior form of the goddess Parvati, which was deliberately built in the style of the Sikh Golden Temple. Some nice inter-faith architectural homagery going on there. Now for some less pleasant remarks... Amritsar is also a town bedevilled by tragedy. It was (and very much remains) at the frontlines of the disastrous 1947 partition of India. It’s also the site of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, where troops under the command of a British officer fired on unarmed protestors, killing hundreds. But while both these incidents get considerable attention in Amritsar (with memorials and museums and whatnot), there is one event that has received little publicly visible acknowledgement here and, due to its political sensitivity, potentially never will. I saw some poorly translated and deliberately obfuscating references to it on some signs in the Golden Temple and that was about it. I am referring, of course, to Operation Blue Star. This was a highly controversial 1984 military operation launched by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to root out Sikh militants holed up in the Golden Temple. The temple was heavily damaged, scores of civilians were killed, and it led to Indira Gandhi’s assassination at the hands of her own Sikh bodyguards. Anti-Sikh riots ensued throughout the country afterwards. All in all, it was a hellish moment in recent history that took place at one of the most beautiful and extraordinary holy spaces in India. Next post: something much happier.
0 Comments
|
AuthorMing is an economist, traveller, and creative writer from Melbourne, Australia. He’s a nebulous collection of particles on the lookout for a good corner to sit with a book and a cup of coffee. Archives
September 2023
Categories
All
|