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The Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib)
The gilded heart of Sikhism, open on four sides and feeding everyone who comes
In the middle of a broad pool in Amritsar, reached by a single marble causeway, a small gilded sanctuary glows against the water. For Sikhs, Sri Harmandir Sahib, the Abode of God, is the holiest gurdwara, the spiritual center of a faith of some 25 to 30 million people. Its meaning lies as much in its practice as in its gold. Its four entrances face every direction, a sign Sikhs read as openness to all people, whatever their faith or caste. Hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, are sung from before dawn until late at night, and its community kitchen serves free vegetarian meals to more than 100,000 people a day, all seated together on the floor.
The sanctum stands on a square platform in the Amrit Sarovar, the pool of nectar, roughly 150 meters on each side, which Sikhs regard as sacred and in which many bathe. Its lower story is white marble inlaid with floral patterns in colored stone, and its upper stories and fluted dome are sheathed in gilded copper. A white marble walkway, the parikrama, runs around the pool, lined by arcaded buildings, a clock tower gateway, and shrines. Facing the causeway stands the Akal Takht, the highest seat of Sikh temporal authority. In the langar halls, volunteers chop, cook, serve, and wash dishes on an industrial scale around the clock, and the complex never closes.
Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, had the pool excavated, and Guru Arjan, the fifth, built the first temple, completed in 1589, and installed the scripture there in 1604. Afghan forces under Ahmad Shah Durrani blew it up in 1762, and Sikh leaders rebuilt it over the following decades. Maharaja Ranjit Singh rebuilt it in marble and copper and covered the upper stories in gold leaf around 1830, which gave the temple its English name. In June 1984 the Indian Army's Operation Blue Star against armed militants inside the complex caused heavy loss of life and badly damaged the Akal Takht, events still commemorated each year. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee manages it today, and it is on India's UNESCO Tentative List.