Celebrations in Golden Temple

Baisakhi celebrations are particularly marked at the Golden Temple or Sri Harimandir Sahib Gurdwara at Amritsar - the most sacred centres for Sikh community. For it was here at the Anandpur Sahib, the famous Golden Temple that the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh laid the foundation of Khalsa Panth on a Baisakhi Day in 1699. Sikhs from around the world strive to visit their revered shrine to participate in the grand Baisakhi celebrations organized here.

About Golden Temple

Golden Temple or Darbar Sahib (Divine Court) is the popular name for Harimandir Sahib (meaning Temple of God) gurdwara located in the city of Amritsar in Punjab. The gurdwara was founded by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ramdas and completed by his successor Guru Arjan Dev.

Situated in the middle of a square tanks, Golden Temple looks awesome with its glistening gold covered exterior. It has entrances and doors on all four sides so that people from all caste and creed may enter it from any direction. A broad causeway traverses the pool to reach the Temple that rests on a massive square platform in the middle of The Pool of Nectar. On a Baisakhi day, water is drawn from all the sacred rivers of India and poured in to the huge tank that surrounds the Golden Temple.

Significance of Golden Temple for Sikhs

The Golden Temple has always been a rallying point for Sikhs throughout its history for following main reasons:

• It was here in the year 1699, that the Tenth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh laid the foundation of Khalsa Panth.
• The first edition of the Holy Book of the Sikh's The Guru Granth Sahib was installed here in 1604 with Baba Buddha as the first granthi (caretaker of the book).

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Located just 400 meters north of the Golden Temple is the Jallianwala Bagh where the historic massacre took place on April 13, 1919 when India was under British rule and was struggling for independence.

Thousands of people had gathered at Jallian Wala Bagh to celebrate Baisakhi. The British General Dyer was the Lieutenant Governor of the province in 1919. He had banned all meetings and demonstrations led by Indians against the economical set back by World War I. General Dyer personally led the troops to the sight and ordered his men to open fire without any warning. It resulted in the death of 379 and injured more than 1200 innocents. Outraged by this gory incident, Gandhiji, called for a nation wide strike and started the Non-cooperation Movement, which became an important mile stone in the struggle for India´s Independence. Today this ground has been changed to a park and it has a pleasant garden. At the east - end of the garden there is a large memorial built in memory of those who died here.