Could we bring him a kilo of betel-nut?
`It`s cheaper over there`,
said the Pakistani immigration officer at Waggah checkpoint on the border
crossing to India. As I followed my companion, a Pakistani of British nationality across No Man`s
Land, he called after us.`Don`t be late back. The border closes at
sunset the
only time that is guaranteed on the Sub-Continent!`
In India we hailed a taxi driven by a turbanned Sikh
and set off for Amritsar, our
destination in the north-west Punjab. Fields of yellow mustard and ripening wheat
flashed by and on the outskirts of the city we joined a stream of
pony-traps and bicycles merging with urban buses and cars, all
apparently heading towards an ox-blood coloured gate where our driver
requested we did not smoke: tobacco is anathema to Sikhs who want it
banned altogether from the Holy City.
A busy commercial centre of
more than a million people, Amritsar is first and foremost
known for the Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple -
the spiritual heart of the Sikh religion. The original site of the temple
beside a small lake
had long been popular with mendicants and
wandering sages who camped on its foreshores - the Buddha himself
is also believed to have spent some time there in meditation.
Two thousand
years later, a new philosopher Guru
Nanak Dev (1469-1539) founded the Sikh faith as a spiritual bridge
between Hinduism and Islam. Subsequent gurus built a pavilion by the
lakeside site and during the leadership of the Fifth Sikh disciple, Guru Arjan Dev (1581-1606)
a fully fledged Temple was built. On its completion in 1604, the original Sikh scriptures known as
the Adi Granth -
were installed inside conferring on it the sanctity of the holiest shrine
in Sikhism.
Like the pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims, it is the devout wish of
every Sikh to visit the Golden Temple at least once in their lifetime. On
a major festival such as Vaisakhi New Year,
held in the second week of April, Sikh pilgrims
converge on Amritsar from all over the world.
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Sikh etiquette requires you remove your shoes before
entering the temple, to wash your feet
and to cover your head with a scarf.
Any tobacco must be also left outside with
your footwear and tall, blue-robed
guards, followers of the militant 10th guru - Gobind Singh who died in
1708 -
watch for any transgressions.
The Golden Temple combines elements
of both Hindu and Muslim architecture: Hazrat Mian Mir, the great Sufi
saint a close friend of Guru Arjan Dev laid the foundation stone.
A vast complex of tiered shrines and marble walkways surrounds a sacred
tank still fed by water from the original spring. Amritsar `pool of nectar`
symbolically means the
waters of spiritual cleansing and enlightenment.
On one end of the tank stands the burning gold Sanctum-Sancturum the `holy of holies` its upper pavilion
embellished with gold leaf, marble statues and precious gems
donated by the Ranjit Singh, the Sikh Maharajah of the Punjab
(Lion of Punjab) who was born in Lahore in 1780. Here under a tasselled velvet canopy sits a Granthi or learned temple elder reading the Guru Granth Sahib while slowly waving a
chauri - a fly whisk made from the tail of an ox - across the
sacred texts
Comprising more than 5000 shabads hymns written in
stylised Gurmurki script, these are the revelations of the ten Sikh
gurus of whom the first, Guru Nanak, devised the guidelines for
leading a righteous life. The Granth Sahib was declared a `living
guru` by
Guru Gobind Singh
who dictated strict rules surrounding its
treatment. They include
covering the
sacred book with a rumalla satin cloth when it is not
being read and putting it to bed each night in a special cot.
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Walking around the
temple platform I watched Sikhs of all ages immersing
themselves in the tank, their pink, red and orange
turbans resembling tulip buds poking through the
surface of the water.
Having followed the
ritual circumambulation of the temple, bathed and offered prayers, they
form a queue outside the langar kitchen
staffed by volunteers who may serve as many as 50,000 vegetarian lunches on a
busy religious occasion in the Sikh calendar.
Adjacent to the temple complex are enormous dormitories which accommodate
pilgrims, irrespective of religion or race without charge.
Beginning early in the morning and lasting until
sunset, the sound of ancient hymns being chanted to
the accompaniment of the rajis musicians
playing flutes and drums drifts across the sacred
tank. `An overwhelming experience` is a frequent comment
scribbled in the Visitor`s Book which you are
requested to sign on departure.
Carrying a kilo of betel from a
streetstall in Amritsar, we reached the border again
just as porters were carrying the last loads of the
day to Pakistan and soldiers from both countries were
lining up to perform the closing ceremony. `Were we likely to be coming back?` enquired the Indian
immigration officer.
Personally I felt another visit to Amritsar was unlikely
in the near future but my Pakistani colleague, a regular visitor to Lahore, was asked
could he bring a television on the next occasion? `You know our problems with foreign exchange` said the
Indian, stamping our passports AMROTSAR EXIT
in faded violet ink.
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