Amritsar in August: The Golden Temple

The following day we got up really early and left the hotel at around 5am to go to the Golden Temple.  We'd been told that mornings were best and that it got pretty crowded after that.  Consequently we arrived at the temple when it was still pitch black!

Sri Harmandir Sahib (the abode of God) is the holiest gurdwara of Sikhism. It was founded in 1577 by the fourth Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das. The Harmandir Sahib was intended as a place of worship for men and women from all religions. As a gesture of this non-sectarian universalness of Sikhism, the Sufi saint, Sai Mian Mir was invited to lay the foundation stone of the Harmandir Sahib.

In the early nineteenth century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh secured the Punjab from outside attack and covered the upper floors of the gurdwara with gold, after which it became referred to by the British as the Golden Temple.

Ranjit SIngh's son, Duleep Singh, was of course the young boy who "gave" the Koh-i-noor diamond to Queen Victoria.

Over 100,000 people visit the shrine daily for worship, and are able to get a free meal from the community kitchen.

The storming of the Golden Temple in 1984 by Indira Gandhi's troops, and desicration of the holy shrine, led to her assassination 6 months later by her Sikh bodyguards.

This is a really beautiful place, and somewhere I've wanted to visit for a long time.  I'm happy I finally got there.