Summer residence of the first Sikh Emperor, Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Here are a few pictures of what used to be the summer residence of the great Sikh Emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It is situated at the Ram Bagh garden which is also referred to as the Company Bagh by the local people. The old residence was undergoing restoration work when it was photographed here.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh who lived from 13th November 1780 - 27th June 1839 was also called "Sher-e-Punjab" (The Lion of Punjab). He became the first Sikh Emperor, after uniting the 11 Sikh Kingdoms of Punjab together to form an Empire, from 1799-1839.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a great warrior, fearless soldier, able administrator, clement ruler, statesman and liberator of Punjab. After several campaigns, his rivals accepted him as their leader, and he united the Sikh factions into one state and he took the title of Maharaja on April 12 1801 with Lahore serving as his capital from 1799.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh stopped India's non-secular style and practices. He treated both Hindus and Muslims equally. He banned the discriminatory religious tax the "jizya" on Hindus and Sikhs which had been imposed by the various Muslim rulers.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the first Asian ruler to modernize his army to European standards and was well known for filling the leadership positions in his Darbar with men of varied Religions. People were recognized and promoted on their ability and not their religion.

The Maharaja never forced Sikhism on his subjects. This was in sharp contrast with the attempted ethnic and religious cleansing of past Muslim rulers - Afgani or Mughal. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had created a state based upon Sikhi's noble traditions, where everyone worked together, regardless of their background. One where its citizens looked at the things they shared in common, e.g. being Punjabi traditions, rather than any religious differences.


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(Text inputs source: http://www.sikhiwiki.org/)

The Jallianwala Bagh Memorial

A kind of sadness overpowers my mind when I think of Jallianwala Bagh. Since childhood, I have listened to the stories of how so many innocent people were killed on the occasion of Visakhi (Baisakhi in Hindi language) in 1919.

Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, on the instructions of the then British Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, Michael Francis O'Dwyer ordered British troops to open fire at a mass gathering on 13 April 1919 at the Jallianwala Bagh resulting in one of the most tragic incidents in the Indian history known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. A memorial for the martyrs of the massacre stands in the center of the Jallianwala Bagh.

                                                  Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar

The number of people killed as quoted by the Indian National Congress was over 1000. The exact number of people killed in the incident however remains unknown. Indian man, Udham Singh who was just a teenager at the time of the massacre, shot dead Michael O'Dwyer in 1940. The assassination of O'Dwyer has been described as an avengement of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre.
Many people jumped in a well to escape the bullets. The well has been named as Martyrs' Well.
A plaque in the monument at the site, set up after independence, says that 120 bodies were pulled out of the well.

                                                                 The Martyrs' Well

                                                       The plaque near the Martyrs' Well

The bullet laden walls stand witness to the horrific incident:

 Recently, a presentation titled, "Light and Sound show" has been introduced at the Jallianwala Bagh, narrating the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and incidents leading to it and incidents that followed the massacre. The deep voice of veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan adds to the emotions while one listens to the presentation (narrated in Hindi) and hear the voices and sounds that seem to be recorded during the era when these incidents actually occurred. I strongly recommend witnessing this presentation if you understand Hindi.

                                        Visitors sit during the Light and Sound presentation


The Bagh (garden) is open for public from 0007 hrs till about 1900 hrs. The Jallianwala Bagh is at about 5 minutes walking distance from the Golden Temple.

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India Pakistan Retreat Ceremony

The India-Pakistan international border lies some 30 kms from the Amritsar city. Popularly, known as the Wagha or the Wagah Border, it steams up with patriotic energy as the Sun goes down, every day. The public starts piling up in audience galleries on either side of the border to witness the "Beating the Retreat Ceremony" or the Wagah Border Ceremony.

For long, the place has been known as Wagah border and still about 90 percent of the people, especially tourists refer to it as Wagah border whereas in fact Wagah is a town which lies on the other side of the border in Pakistan. For some 2 years or so, the authorities have changed its name to Attari border, associating it with the village of Attari which is about 2 kms from the international India Pakistan border. The border line is guarded by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and there is a heavy installation of barbed wires to prevent any intrusions. Recently, In 2009, first ever batch of women troops of the BSF were deployed along the India Pakistan border here

Coming back to Beating the Retreat Ceremony, the visitors would witness queues of people lining up to get entry to the "stadium" to witness the ceremony and it is in fact a good idea to arrive much before the scheduled time of the ceremony if you want a good seat in the house. The start timings of the Beating the Retreat ceremony varies according to Summer and Winter season. Generally, the ceremony starts around 1615 hrs in Winter and at about 1645 hrs in the Summer.

The ceremony is the ceremonial closing of gates and lowering of flags of India and Pakistan. The highly "entertaining" ceremony culminates with the lowering of the flags of India and Pakistan. The adrenaline runs high with patriotic slogans being shouted from both the sides. A competition of a different kind is seen between the Indian BSF soldiers and Pakistan Rangers when they attempt to kick higher and stomp harder on the ground and shout for longer than their counterparts in an attempt to outdo each other.

More number of people turn up on weekends and public holidays to witness the Beating the Retreat Ceremony, which lasts for about 45 minutes. There is no accommodation for tourists to stay overnight near the Attari border and they prefer to stay in hotels in Amritsar.

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Amritsar - Discovering the old city

The charm of getting up early in the morning and taking my cameras along for a long walk through the old city area of Amritsar never ceases to thrill me. An aroma of the pleasantly cold streets in the summers is what one cherishes in the memories, long after one has taken a stroll in these petite lanes.

                                     For a start, from the main entrance of the Golden Temple, take a walk towards the right side, towards North or North-Western side and you would start entering those cozy and beautiful little streets, with shops on both the sides. Often, you would come across a vendor, selling Chai (Chaa in local Punjabi language) or Tea on his cart.

There is a Tea market just a few yards away from the Golden Temple periphery. Established about 200 years ago, the tea trade flourishes in this market, situated at Katra Ahluwalia area. The shops still hold the feel of the old styled shops with wooden doors. It is said that the Green Tea manufactured in this market is not available anywhere else in India.

Doing business in the parallel lines to the Tea traders, you would come across shops who deal in Kashmiri shawls, blankets etc. Complimenting the Tea traders' shops, the business in these shops runs as good as any and in the mornings the porch of these shops provide a nice place for a couple of Barbers who start theirs and their customers day with neat haircuts and shaves.

More in upcoming posts :)

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