Amritsar — a holy city with a violent history - Blog

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July 27, 2019

Justine

— July 27-28 —

Amritsar — “land of nectar” — is a city of mostly Sikh people in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab, 28 kilometers from the border with Pakistan. According to the Sikh tradition, Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh guru, founded the holy city of Amritsar in 1577. Amritsar is the holiest city in Sikhism — millions of pilgrims visit every year.

To get to the Golden Temple, we walked through a long street lined with shops and restaurants. It was here that I found the city to be quite bustling!

The must-see destination in Amritsar is Harmandir Sahib – the Golden Temple. At the center of the city, the gilded Golden Temple is the holiest gurdwara (religious complex or place of worship) of the Sikh religion, and the most spiritually significant. It was destroyed several times by Muslim armies from Afghanistan and the Mughal Empire and repeatedly rebuilt by the Sikhs, who were a target of persecution. Over 100,000 people visit the holy shrine daily for worship.

Square outside the complex. We removed our shoes and covered our heads before entering. People who follow Sikhism can be identified by Kesh, uncut hair which is usually covered by a turban; Kara, an iron or steel bracelet; Kirpan, a sword tucked into a *gatra* strap or *kamal kasar* belt; *Kachehra*, a cotton undergarment; and Kanga, a small wooden comb.

I ended up with so many photos at the end because I took pictures on all 4 sides of the square!

The Golden Temple also became a center of conflict during Operation Blue Star in 1984, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent an army to curb and remove Sikh militants from the Golden Temple. Hundreds of civilians and Sikhs were killed. Four months later, Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. She is hated by the Sikh people — to put it mildly — and likewise, Sikh bodyguards are no longer allowed.

The temple is at the end of this causeway. We walked around the square shaped pool, then waited in line to enter the temple (had to make a conscious effort to maintain our place in the line). But I was annoyed from all the jostling – people have literally elbowed me to get past.

Four men were singing hymns – one was playing the drums, another was playing a accordion/keyboard looking instrument, the rest were singing. The main box with the holy book inside was in the center of the temple draped in a brilliant red and gold blanket, surrounded on two sides by a group of women and a group of men facing each other, praying/meditating. Two men were in charge of scooping up the money people dropped into the designated area and putting it in a box (it’s all voluntary donations, which is a nice Sikh aspect). People worshipped at various places throughout the temple like the doorstep, and afterwards drank the holy water and ate the rice cake pudding served to everyone. The floor was surprisingly clean, even with so many people. (I didn’t take any pictures inside because I felt it would be rude.)

The Jallianwala Bagh Memorial commemorated the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, when General Dyer, senior military officer of Britain, ordered to fire on the crowd of people who had gathered there to celebrate a sacred festival, Punjabi New Year – Baisakhi Day. With no warning given to disperse, 1650 rounds were fired for 10 minutes — as many as 1000 Indians died.

The guy who killed General Dyer was greatly revered here – Amritsar is no doubt a warrior city.

We had a late breakfast at Bharawan da Dhaba, a “world famous, pure vegetarian” Punjabi café. Dhaba is the type of local restaurant here, so anytime you see it you know it’s a casual eatery. It was so good we would come again (albeit at a different location).

Paneer kulcha with chana (chickpeas) and a sweet lassi — *Kulcha* (Amritsar-famous bread, like a potato paratha) and *chana* (salty chickpeas) with sweet lassi

Amritsar has gone through pretty brutal times. At the Partition Museum I learned more about the 1947 Partition. The partition involved the division of two provinces, Bengal and Punjab, based on Hindu or Muslim majorities, into India and Pakistan. Bangladesh today is the Pakistan side of Bengal. While it might’ve seemed like a good idea at the time because dividing the sects would reduce violence, it ended up creating a refugee crisis where people had to choose a country, which resulted in several hundred thousand deaths. Amritsar was 48% Muslims, then Hindus, then Sikh (16%), but after the partition the majority of the population was Sikh. It destroyed Amritsar’s economy — after the partition, Amritsar ceased to be an industrial and economic centre.

The partition may be the largest migration of all time—12-18 million people moved eastward or westward. I knew the Partition was devastating, but to see graphic photos of the dead bodies and how it affected individuals’ lives in more detail…it’s hard to imagine the amount people suffered. I read about how trains arrived in India from Pakistan filled with dead bodies — and Amritsar was right in the path of a lot of this bloodshed. I read about how people lost rights to their land, their livelihoods, about the various efforts made to partition culture, music, companies, even jewelry — down to the last bead of a necklace.

I’m not sure if you can still take the train from Delhi to Lahore today. Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to exist, as the Kashmir region disputes make clear.

Another must-see in Amritsar is the Wagah (pronounced Vaga) border, or India-Pakistan border. Every afternoon they do a border ceremony, an unique soldier demonstration / face-off between India and Pakistan!

We took a rickshaw there because it was cheaper than a cab. During the 45-min ride, we passed a lot of fields — we were very cozily seated in the rickshaw, but the wind was so monotone I almost dozed off…I later found out that I had in fact dozed off.

Foreigners get VIP seating and get to skip the line into the arena – it was really nice to be able to cut the huge lines and the pushing and shoving! We were seated by 4pm and bought ice cream cones from someone walking around with a cooler – my second half of lunch (had a Sprite earlier since I was hungry and needed that extra 60g of sugar).

At 5, both countries started playing their own songs loudly on their speakers — the competition had already begun. Our host —the guy responsible for pumping us all up — sang some patriotic-sounding songs. Then a group of women came out onto the street and started dancing to two popular Hindi songs that they kept playing on repeat. This went on for quite a while — I was starting to get sleepy now, and nothing interesting was happening. At one point they brought a large flag and passed it around the stadium.

Finally, at 6:30 the main show happened — soldiers marched down the street, did their military performance, and then went back to their places. The Indian and Pakistan guards (whose black uniforms were nicer, in our opinions) mirrored each other — it was actually very nicely choreographed, for something that seemed more like a competition. The guy responsible for pumping us up led our cheers — I wish I knew what he was saying! One was just “Hindu-nation”, the other was a word that sounded like “Window.” Win-Dow! Win-Dow! Win-Dow! And they would also do this thing where each side would hum and the one who lasts the longest would win, but regardless of who won that round we would cheer heartily as if we had won.

It wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen, and it was a little strange of an event, but I will say it was something I’ve never seen before.

Back to the Golden Temple for dinner!

They serve meals 24/7 at the Langar Hall – a free Sikh community-run kitchen that serves a simple vegetarian meal to all visitors. They typically feed 40,000 people a day but can feed up to 100,000 a day on weekends and holidays! Families volunteer their time to cook food and clean the temple and also donate food. We lined up, were handed metal trays and spoons, and found a place to sit on the floor in the large hall.

Chapati, dal, and sweet rice pudding — The food was simple but delicious (especially since I didn’t have lunch) —we were served *chapati,* two types of *dal* (a yellowish and dark green one), and a sweet rice porridge.

We went into the white temple across from the Golden Temple, apparently the more important of the two for Sikh worshipers because that was where one of the 5 golden thrones (for the guru and other council members) was located. There were several small rooms of the temple: a holy book on a table with a priest seated in front of it, flowers in front of the table and a place for offering, and people gathering around to worship and meditate.

Kesar da Dhaba - aloo kulcha with chana — Sunday morning: Breakfast at **Bharawan da Dhaba** again — I got an *aloo* (potato) *parantha* this time (hot and fresh, nice and oily!), with *chana* and mango lassi and *chai.* We sat there and talked for quite a while.

After noon we took an Uber to our colleague’s home about 30 minutes east of the city. We didn’t have any other plans for the day and she graciously invited us to her home! It was a unique experience seeing the rural farmland of Punjab. There were rice paddies (though the rice stalks had not grown yet) and wheat and sugarcane fields (Punjab is the 2nd largest wheat-producing state in India). From her 4-story house we could see the densely packed neighboring houses — their flat roofs, kids playing in the yard, the sugarcane wheel machine running, sons watering their buffalos (apparently buffalos kick you but cows don’t—that’s how you can tell the difference. Also, buffalos have horns).

After being welcomed by two very excited dogs and having hot sweet chai (it’s part of the culture that guests are served chai – family members too) and fruit biscuits – crunchy shortbread cookies with dried cranberries – we went on a walk. We walked through the fields to the railroad and the canal, which brings irrigation water from the Himalayas.

We sat on a bridge over the canal for quite a while and talked about different types of grain and *Germs and Steel,* among other things.

Tubewell — There was a tube well which collects water from the ground and sends it off to irrigate the rice paddies (see pic below). The water was so cold and refreshing! Our colleague told us how she used to play here as a kid.

I learned a little about the farming life in Punjab. Drought isn’t so much a problem here as they get plenty of rain and river water, though during the green revolution in the 1960s-70s the government diverted a part of the river to drier parts of India like Rajasthan. They get their water from a well, though the water table level has gone down in recent years. Waste management is also an issue — there’s no waste collection, so people either burn their plastic waste or dump it in the fields, as we saw in a couple areas.

The landscape was so beautiful — there were huge trees, peacocks, buffalos, green everywhere! I wish I had the experience of growing up on a farm, or at least during the summer holidays, as education was not the best out here — running around and playing outside must be so fun as a kid, not to mention good for you.

chickpea curry and chili with ghee — After we returned, we had lunch – a healthier tasting rice, a yellow chickpea curry, a brown chili curry, and cucumbers. It’s been amazing how friendly and generous and welcoming the families here have been when they invite us to their homes and serve us delicious home-cooked meals.

Amandeep's 4th floor balcony — A few of us chilled on the balcony on the fourth floor for another hour or so. I sat on the edge for a bit—I could look at the view for hours! A boy next door a floor below us kept looking at us and waving and taking pics of us. We chatted—about games we played in school growing up, books, and farm life. It was now quite sunny, unlike earlier, when it was cloudy and had rained.

Had some more hot chai and fruit biscuits and also tried some buffalo milk. It was less milky than cow milk and more delicious in my opinion, probably because the fat % is higher in buffalo milk. Buffalo milk is widely used in Punjab – it’s in the chai, the lassi.

The bus back to Amritsar was only 25 rupees a person, compared to 500 for an Uber. On the way to dinner, we saw a statue of an India freedom fighter who had fought for Japan. This act is revered because it contributed to India’s eventual freedom — I’ve never thought before about how Britain being weakened during WWII contributed to India’s independence.

Kesar da Dhaba for dinner — Anthony Bourdain apparently came here, which may explain why it was more expensive. I didn’t think it was good as the breakfast place, although I was not very hungry now since we had a late lunch. I had 2 pieces of gobi (cauliflower) parantha with dal, raita (yogurt), and chana, which I couldn’t finish (if only I had ordered this much food for breakfast!). Our AirIndia flight was delayed 40 minutes — that was when I learned that AirIndia flights tend to be delayed.

If I had extra time, I would’ve gone to Gobindgarh Fort – they do shows throughout the day and at night – and Hall Bazar, the largest market in Amritsar. You can enter through the Gandhi Gate.

It was an amazing weekend that was just too short.

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