The Golden Temple

On March 3 we arrived in Amritsar for a two night stay. Claire and I had been looking forward to this location from the beginning of our trip because it is the location of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism.

We headed into the temple with throngs of other people, Hindu and Sikh

The Golden Temple.  The top round part represents an inverted lotus flower.

We decided to visit the temple around noon on the next day. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the temple, so we were able to walk. One of the requirements for visiting most temples in India is that you have to remove your shoes and socks. This is something we were accustomed to from having visited so many Hindu temples before. In addition to this though, Sikhs require that your head must be covered before you enter. Claire was able to wrap her pashmina scarf over her head. There are many different scarf vendors selling saffron colored handkerchiefs, so I happily bought one for ten rupees gaining both a head covering for the temple, and a unique little souvenir.

Upon entering the temple, there is a little stream of heated running water that all visitors must wash their feet in. After washing, we descended some marble steps into a huge central plaza. The entire plaza was paved in beautiful white marble. In the center was the beautiful temple itself, seeming to float out on the water. The number of pilgrims and visitors inside the temple grounds was phenomenal. Easily approaching our emotionally charged experience of seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time, the Golden Temple is simply breathtaking in its beauty.

Sikhs pride themselves in the democratic nature of their religion. The temple was 100% free for Claire and I and anybody else who wants to come. We were able to check our shoes without paying even a single rupee. Perhaps the most impressive part of the temple was that anyone who visits can eat a full lunch if they want to. The kitchen is run entirely by volunteers, and feeds anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 people per day. Not only this, but the kitchen has been operating continuously, twenty four hours per day for 450 years! I wasn't sure what to expect, but we got a decent and tasty Indian meal for no charge. We did make a small donation to the temple to cover the cost of our meal and visit, but it is still just incredible that any Sikh or non-Sikh who visits the temple is treated equally.

Waiting for our meal

Our free meal (and Claire's pant leg)

Volunteers shucking garlic for the meals

Our afternoon experience was so amazing that Claire and I really wanted to see the temple at a different time of day as our guidebook suggests. We decided to return around 9:00pm, knowing that the ceremony for returning the holy book to its nighttime resting place happens at 9:30 pm. We were pleased that the line across the bridge to enter the Golden Temple itself was much smaller than it was in the afternoon. We waited about ten minutes, and were able to actually go inside and see the Sikh holy book being read from. We were standing no more than 15 feet from the man reading it, and there were absolutely no security checkpoints for entry. Pretty incredible.

After seeing the book, we sat by the side of the lake and witnessed the procession of Sikhs carry the book out of the temple, along the bridge, and place it to rest for the night in a building just across the water. We left then, knowing the book would be returned to the temple at 5:00am the next morning.

Nighttime before the book was moved to it's "bedroom"

The book is carried in this to where it spends the night