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Articles: Arts and Culture | Living Treasures
- Prof. venkata ramanamurty mallajosyula
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LIVING TREASURES-
1.GOLDEN-TEMPLE-Sacred Flame .
valmiki wrote the Ramayan here.
The first of the 10 gurus and founder of Sikhism ,Gurunanak and Buddha the enlightened one,2000 years before him meditated here,” I have seen all places; there is not another like thee…” , the fifth Guru Arjan Dev once said of the Hari Mandir. A personifiction of sikh beliefs, the shrine is open on all four sides to allow people of all faiths and castes. The three-storied ,gold-gilded Hari Mandir is in the center of the Amrit Sarovar (pool of nector) symbolizing the co-existence of sagun and nirgun. Pilgrims immerse themselves in it to cleance their souls rather than their bodies. Built at a lower level to emphasise faith as a source of inner strength rather than any external manifestation , inside ,on the Darbar sahib , beneath velvet canopies richly brocaded in silver and gold , the Sri Guru Grandh Sahib is placed on a Manji Sahib. Hymns from it are rendered all day long, accompanied by drums and stringed instruments. Originally a mud house built by the third Guru Amar Das after he found a magical cure for his master’s skin ailment here ,it was given a permanent structure by fourth Guru Ramdas.The Hari Mandir was built in 1588 by Guru Arjan Dev. Afgan invaders destroyed it thrice , in 1757 ,1762 ,and 1764,before the Hari Mandir got its present structure in 1808 after Maharaja Ranjit Singh granted Rs 5 lakh and invited Muslim architects , masons and wood-carvers from Chaniot ,now in Pakisthan , to buid it .It was damaged again during Operation Blue Star in 1984.But like its grandeur ,the faith it represents has been enhanced with each construction.
2.CHITTORGARH FORT-Rajput Ramparts
Even its walls tell tales. Rana Ratan singh, who spent yeays loking for Padmini and then fighting to death to save her from Alaudin khilji: of Padmini, leading a band of 13,000 women to theie deaths; of Meerabai devoting herself to the love of Krishna;of Maharana Pratap Singh refusing a treaty with Akbar and the comforts of his Udaipur palace to wage a war to win back a ruined Chittorgarh. Ensconced within the 28sq km of the city is a 37 metre tall tower built by Rana Kumbha to commemorate his victory over Malwa’s Mahamaud Khilji in 1440; Kirti Stamb dedicated to the first Jain Tirthankar, Adnadh; the Padmini Palace;And even a DEER SANCTURY.The fort atop a 180 metre high hill,once a seat of power for Mewar,stands tall and proud.Ruins rarely reveal how encompassing the reality was but Chittorgarh Fort,which was steadyfast while other Rajput states brokered peace, is more than a mere echo.Having witnessed the sieges of 1303 by Khilji, 1535 by Sultan Bahadur Shah, and 1567 by Akbar, it remains a hidden jewel in Indias tortuous medieval history.Akbar’s attack, a deadly aggression that saw the death of 30,000 people, saw Maharana Udai Singh moving the capital to Udaipur, never to return to the city his predecessors had once proudly inhabited.
-Prof. Venkata Ramanamurty Mallajosyula
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