Amritsar

Amritsar is the most sacred city for the world’s 16 million Sikhs. It lies in the state of Punjab in the north-west India, where Sikhism was born. The city rests on a large, flat plain which reaches across into Pakistan to the north, where it rises into the Himalaya and Karakoram mountains. Five rivers cut across the fertile land. They give both the area and the state the name Punjab, for in the Panjabi language, ‘panj’ means ‘five’, and in the Persian,’ ab’ means ‘water’. Panjabi is the language spoken by mostly all Punjabis, but an old form of Punjabi is used in the holy scriptures, which is called ‘Gurmukhi’.

The most striking image of Amrtisar is its enormous pool, with the magnificent Golden Temple adorning in the centre. The name Amritsar means ‘pool of necter’, and its waters are said to bring immortality and relief from illnesses to those who bathe in them. But it is only these sacred waters that make the city special for Sikhs. For inside the Golden Temple lies the collection of Sikh holy scriptures known as the Guru Granth Sahib.

Amritsar was built as a holy city during the 1570’s by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Guru. Since then Amritsar has undergone many changes and has been demolished and rebuilt several times. Today it is a lively, modern city and although Sikhs do not have to go on pilgrimage, they come from all over the world to visit the Golden Temple and many other shrines, and to walk around the sacred pool on patterened marble pavements – to pay their humble homage to their Satgurus.