Saturday, Harpreet picked us up at 8:30 a.m. for a trip to a gurudwara, an archaeological dig of ancient civilization very near here, and to a museum.
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| Harpreet and her husband |
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| Harpreet |
The museum, called Virasat –E- Khalsa, maybe half an hour the other side of Ropar, is a huge, magnificent building which was only finished a few years ago and traces Sikhism back to its beginnings.
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| Khalsa |
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| Khalsa |
This next bit I quote from Wikipedia
"The Khalsa is the collective body of all initiated Sikhs represented by the five beloved-ones and can be called the Guru Panth, the embodiment of the Guru.
"The Khalsa is also the pinnacle of Sikhism. Once an individual becomes a member of the Khalsa they overcome the inside-evils and the shred weakness of the body, mind, and heart, and become brave as tigers.[9] The Khalsa is expected to perform no ritual and to believe no superstition of any kind but believe in only one God who is the Master and the Protector of all the only Creator and Destroyer.
"A Sikh male at being initiated into the Khalsa is titled Singh meaning “Lion” and a female is entitled Kaur meaning “Princess.” From then on they are commonly referred to as Amritdhari (having taken Amrit)."
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| Litter for the Holy Book |
Back to me
Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside the building. We walked in a spiral up a long, long ramp – and surrounding us on the walls was depicted the geography of the region, the history and culture of the Punjabis in a wonderful continuous mural maybe thirty meters high. As you walk up the ramp, day changes to night, monsoons come, Diwali firecrackers explode, seasons change – all with clever use of lights and sound. Very very NEAT, and so many details in the mural that you just can’t take it all in. I hoped for some very good postcards of it at the gift shop, but that was not to be.
Once at the top, there was the history of Sikhism , depicted in many rooms using a combination of audio-visual effects, and we were given headsets for an audio tour (in English, fortunately). Turned out to be very interesting, but I could never keep straight the names of the various Gurus which have come and gone since the first one – Guru NanakDev Ji – (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539), the founder of Sikhism and the first of the Sikh Gurus.
From there, we went to a nearby, very large gurudwara – Anandpur Sahib Complex – which Rob and I have previously been to. I believe we have sent many pictures of it, so I won’t go on about it. However, Harpreet suggested we have langar there (we were all HUNGRY by this time). I have mentioned that the Golden Temple feeds 80,000 people a day for free, but I always assumed that it was the needy or homeless who took advantage of this. Not so. I guess it is sort of sacred to eat there, and to volunteer there as well, serving food, washing dishes, etc. I might add that you can donate money for the food (which we did).
So, we all sat cross-legged, like all the other devotees, on carpet runners laid out for that purpose. Just like the meal we were served by students in the Fall, a metal divided plate was placed in front of us and promptly filled with mixed veg., dal ( lentils), chapattis (also called roti) and kir (rice pudding). These were replenished as many times as we wanted. Picture attached. Cross-legged is a highly overrated position for 68 year-olds, by the way. But, one is NOT supposed to put one’s legs out in front of them, so what the heck else can you do with them!
Our Last stop was in the town of Ropar to the Archaeological Museum. Again I quote from Wikipedia, since our brochure was entirely in Hindi:
"Ropar is one of the major Indus Valley civilization sites. It is situated on a high ancient mound overlaying the Shiwalik (also spelt Sivalik) deposition[1] on the left bank of the river Satluj where it emerges into the plains. It has yielded a sequence of six cultural periods or phases with some breaks from Harappan times to the present day. The excavations were carried out by Dr. Y.D. Sharma of the Archaeological Survey of India.
"Lying on the left bank of the Sutlej, the excavations yielded a sequence of six Periods: I (Harappa, c. 2100 to 14OOB.C,); II (PGW, c. 1000 to 600 B.C.); III (NBPW or early historical, c. 600 to 200B.C.); IV (middle to late historical, c. 200 B.C. to A.D. 700); V (late historical, c. 700-1200); and VI (medieval, c.l200-1700). Some of these Periods are divided into-Sub Periods. There are three mounds at Ropar, n., S., and w. The s. mound is occupied by the present-day town. Excavations were confined to the n. and w. mounds, the latter concealing a Harappa cemetery. Ropar has the distinction of being the site where the remains of the Harappa civilization were excavated for the first time in post-partition India."
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| From archaelogical museum in Ropar |
The drive home was fraught with teeming rain, and bad gridlock (rush hour and weather) but we were dropped at home to get cosy, and to make dinner, around 7 pm. A VERY enjoyable day!
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