HISTORY, LEGENDS & MYTHOLOGY

Golden Temple's world heritage status delayed

     Amritsar: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has asked the UNESCO to stall the World Heritage Status proceeding for their holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, saying it has received reports of discrepancies in the heritage dossier and needs to correct the documents before it is finally sealed. The SGPC, which last week changed the name of the shrine to Harmandir Sahib, on Monday said that certain anomalies in the "dossier" needed to be removed for it to become a part of the Sikh history. The body has also appointed a five-member review committee, to track down the loopholes. "There are many conceptual mistakes in the dossier. The document for the heritage status, which we have submitted it's so faulty. It has not been properly researched and so everyone who read it now has been absolutely infuriated," Jaswinder Singh Advocate, SGPC member said at their headquarters in Amritsar. Other religious heads as well have cautioned the SGPC against any tampering or misreporting of the Sikh religion and history. "As long as there is no interference in our religious affairs and we can simply get world class technical expertise for the maintenance and conservation of the temple and also if it can help popularise the shrine in the world then this move is very acceptable," said Gurbachan Singh Bachan, former SGPC secretary. Home to "Akal Takht", the temporal seat of Sikhs, the Golden temple, besides being a place of reverence also showcases the religious traditions of Sikhism, the world's youngest religion.

     Legend has it that a Muslim saint Hazrat Mian Mir of Lahore laid the foundation stone of the Golden temple in 1589, at the specific request of the Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev. The followers of the Guru built their houses in the neighbourhood. And thus there speedily came into existence a small town called Ramdaspur, which later derived its name Amritsar, from the holy tank or the Pool of Immortality, in the centre of which now stands the Golden Temple. The first construction of the temple was undertaken by the 19th century Sikh ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1830. The Golden Temple, as it stands today, with its luminous exterior plated with gold is chiefly the work of Ranjit Singh. He ordered the architectural shape of the Golden Temple to be redesigned, and took deep interest in getting the temple artistically decorated It's believed that the Maharaja, made a grant of 500,000 rupees in 1808 A.D. and invited skilled Muslim architects, masons and wood-carvers from Chaniot, now in Pakistan. Yar Mohammad Khan Mistri was the technical expert for gold plating, carried out in 1830. The shrine's structure also reflects Hindu and Muslim influence with the rectangular architectural characteristics of Hindu temples the dome and minarets of the Muslim monuments. Followers of Sikhism, the Sikhs form two percent of India's more than one population, with the majority residing in Punjab and Delhi.
-Mar 28, 2005    

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