Amritsar
(1991 est. pop. 709,500). Well situated on a southern extension of the Silk Route, Amritsar ("a pool of nectar") is a vibrant commercial, cultural, and transportation center in India's Punjab state. An important center of the Sikh faith, Amritsar was founded around a sacred pool in 1577 by Ram Das, the fourth guru of the Sikhs. The city's the Golden Temple or Hari Mandir houses the Granth Sahib, a sacred scripture compiled by the fifth Sikh guru, Arjun in 1604. Amitsar is also believed to be where the sage Valmiki wrote the Hindu epic Ramayana. Sacked by Afghans in 1761, the temple was rebuilt in 1803 and its dome covered in gold foil, byRanjit Singh, the maharaja of Punjab and ruler of the sovereign Sikh commonwealth until 1849 when Amritsar was annexed by the British.
Sikh pilgrims at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in July 1996. (STEPHEN G. DONALDSON PHOTOGRAPHY)Amritsar was the site of two violent political clashes. During the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 13 April 1919, British troops fired on a crowd of Indian protesters, killing at least 400 to 2,000 by some accounts and wounding hundreds more. On 6 June 1984, Indian Army troops killed hundreds of Sikh separatists— again causalities numbering 2,000 in some reports— at the Golden Temple where arms were being stored for attacks on the government of Indira Gandhi. In an act of retaliation Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984.
Further Reading
Alter, Stephen. (2001) Amritstar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Dhanjal, Beryl. (1994) Amristar. New York: Dillon Press.
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