Amritsar

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Amritsar ( Punjabi: ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ; Amrita Saras: " Nektarsee ") is a city in the Indian state of Punjab with about 1.1 million inhabitants and is the spiritual center of Sikhism ( Harmandir Sahib ).

History

Amritsar is located on a historic street, the Grand Trunk Road (abbreviated to GT Road), has advanced along the already Alexander the Great to India. At the close running river Beas (in Greek: Hyphasis ) ended in 326 BC his long conquest. Probably the Nektarsee was long before the founding of the city, a sacred place for ritual baths. On the south shore of today's Sarovars a Sikh shrine and an old tree marks the place of the original nectar lake.

Amritsar was founded in 1577 by Ram Das, the fourth of the ten Sikh Gurus. The old name of the city was therefore Ramdaspur. The name Amritsar the city received after Nektarsee surrounding the Golden Temple ( Amrit Sarovar ). An already existing natural pond was of Ram Das enlarged and framed with stairs and walls. In addition, he was from the river Beas lay an underground channel that still supplies the Nektarsee (after proper filtering) with new water.

In 1919, the Amritsar massacre occurred here, which killed 379 non-violent protesters and 1,200 were injured. On 5 June 1984 at the height of riots between Hindus and fundamentalist Sikhs, was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi the Golden Temple by the Indian army storm (Operation Blue Star ). There, the militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale of the Sikhs had entrenched. The extremely violent and controversial military campaign cost about 500 people their lives. As an indirect result, the Indian Prime Minister was assassinated on 31 October 1984. It was carried out by two of her Sikh bodyguards. The announcement of the news of his death led to new outbreaks of violence, which alone in New Delhi in three days over 4,000 Sikhs were killed. On the evening of the third day the Indian army intervened and began to stop the attacks on Sikhs.

The Gurdwara Baba Atal is a Sikh shrine in the city.

Northwest of the town is the international airport Sri Guru Ram The Jee International Airport. Between Lahore in Pakistan and Amritsar there is one, even if not continuous bus service.

Air table

Amritsar is located in the transition zone of subtropical and tropical climates. In addition to the three seasons (cold and hot dry season and hot rainy season), which are typical of a tropical climate, there in February yet a meteorologically short spring ( for about two weeks).