Second visit to the Golden Temple

I had a terrible night. I think I only got about four hours sleep. I was so incredibly bloated and uncomfortable. I'm just craving salad and fresh vegetables! Once I was up and showered, I asked Vicky to point me in the direction of a fruit and vegetable market. I've bought bananas from carts in the last few days, but haven't seen anything else.

Armed with that information, I made my way back to the Golden Temple. I was just wearing flip-flops, so I was able to put them in my bag and avoid the need to deposit my shoes by joining a long queue to collect a sack! As I suspected last night, I was perfectly OK to enter the temple wearing a scarf over my hair as I do when visiting any temple. I entered and spent a very pleasant hour or so wandering around the temple complex. I took some nice photos. I avoided the Langar, and I didn't join the queue to see the holy book within the holy inner sanctum of the temple itself. Apparently, the wait time was about four hours. The people in the queue were crammed together like sardines in a tin. No thanks!

The Golden Temple is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism and is one of its holiest sites. The sarovar (holy pool) on the site was completed by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in 1577. In 1604, Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru, placed a copy of the Adi Granth in the Golden Temple and played a prominent role in its development. The temple was repeatedly rebuilt by the Sikhs after they became a target of persecution by the Mughal and invading Afghan armies. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after founding the Sikh Empire, rebuilt it in marble and copper in 1809, and overlaid the sanctum with gold leaf in 1830. This has led to the name the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple is an open house of worship for all people, from all walks of life and faiths. It has a square plan with four entrances, and a circumambulation path around the pool. The four entrances symbolise the Sikh belief in equality and the Sikh view that people from all groups, castes and ethnicities are welcome at their holy place. The complex is a collection of buildings around the sanctum and the pool. One of these is Akal Takht, the chief centre of religious authority of Sikhism. Additional buildings include a clock tower, offices, a Museum and the langar. Over 150,000 people visit the shrine every day for worship. The complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Read more