Page 110 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

108  DELHI & THE NOR TH

8 Amritsar
Amritsar district. 227 km (141 miles)
NW of Chandigarh. * 2,491,000.
k 12 km (7 miles) NW of city centre.
£ @ n (91) 97811 30666 (tourist
helpline). _ Guru Purab (Nov).
Founded in 1577 by the fourth
Sikh guru, Ram Das, Amritsar
was built on a site donated by
the Mughal emperor Akbar.
Detail of a marble sculpture, Jagajit Palace, Kapurthala Located in the heart of the
city is the Golden Temple (see
7 Kapurthala the maharaja went through pp110–11), the Sikh community’s
a Spanish phase, which found holiest shrine, surrounded by a
Kapurthala district. 165 km (103 miles)
NW of Chandigarh. * 818,000. £ @ expression in the Buena Vista maze of lanes and 18 fortified
Hunting Lodge. Located on gateways. In 1984, parts of
This former princely state owes the outskirts of the town, it is the Golden Temple were badly
its extraordinary architectural occupied by his descen dants. damaged during an army
heritage to the eccentric Another impressive sight is operation to flush out extremists
Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, who the town’s Moorish Mosque. holed up inside, and, who were
created amidst the rich Inspired by the grand Qutubiya demanding a separate Sikh
agricultural fields of Punjab, Mosque in Marrakesh, this homeland. It has now been
a corner that will be forever was designed by yet another repaired and carefully restored
France. In 1906, this passionate French architect employed to its original glory.
Francophile, commissioned a by Jagatjit Singh. Its inner The temple complex is
French architect to build him a dome has been beautifully actually a city within a city, and
palace modelled on Versailles, painted by Punjabi artists. the main entrance is through
with elements of Fontainebleau its northern gateway, known
and the Louvre added on. This P Jagatjit Palace as the Darshani Deorhi, which
amazing structure, which he Open Tue–Sun. & also houses the Central Sikh
grandly named the Elysée Museum. On display are
Palace (now the Jagatjit Palace), paintings, coins, manuscripts
sits amidst gardens embellished and arms, which combine to
with stone statuary and create a vivid picture of Sikh
fountains, and is surrounded history. Steps lead down to the
by villas which were built for Parikrama (marble pathway),
his officials and modelled on which encircles the Amrit
those that were in vogue in Sarovar (“Pool of Nectar”, after
the suburbs of Paris in the late which the town is named), and
19th century. The palace is the main shrine, the golden-
now a school, but the building domed Harmandir Sahib
with its ornate interiors and (“Temple of God”). Several
Renaissance-style painted holy and historic sites line the
ceilings, is open to public. The Jagatjit Palace at Kapurthala, modelled Parikrama, among them a tree
After this palace was built, on Versailles in France shrine called the Gurdwara
Dukh Bhanjani Ber, said to
have miraculous powers for
Maharaja Ranjit Singh healing diseases, and the
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was one of North India’s most remarkable Ath-Sath Tirath, which
rulers. By persuading rival Sikh chieftains to unite, he established represents 68 of the holiest
the first Sikh kingdom of the Punjab. A military genius, his strong Hindu pilgrim shrines.
army kept both the British and ambitious Afghan invaders at bay, The Parikrama continues on
making Punjab a prosperous centre of trade and industry. A devout to the Sri Akal Takhat Sahib,
Sikh who did much to embellish the the seat of the Sikh religious
Golden Temple, the one-eyed Ranjit order. Its construction began
Singh was an enlightened ruler who in 1589 and was completed in
liked to say “God intended me to look 1601 by the sixth guru, Guru
at all religions with one eye”. A decade Hargobind, when he began
after his death, the British annexed organizing the Sikh community
the Punjab and seized his fabulous into a political entity. The upper
Maharaja Ranjit Singh treasures, including the famous floors were built by Maharaja
(r.1790–1839) Kohinoor diamond. Ranjit Singh. As part of the daily
ritual, the Holy Book of the
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp694–5 and p707

108-109_EW_India.indd 108 26/04/17 11:43 am
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