Research article Special Issues

The Evolution of the Golden Temple of Amritsar into a Major Sikh Pilgrimage Center

  • Received: 27 August 2016 Accepted: 09 October 2016 Published: 13 October 2016
  • Today the Sikh diaspora encompasses much of the world, having spread from India and Southeast Asia to the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, East Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Sikhism is a monotheistic world religion founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. His successors continued his teachings and provided a distinct shape to the Sikh community with a written language, a religious scripture and many institutions. The paper examines the significance of sacred place and the role of pilgrimage according to Sikh scripture. It also explores Sikh attitudes and practices towards pilgrimage through a questionnaire based survey. Finally, the paper investigates how the Golden Temple of Amritsar emerged as a sacred place for Sikhs and how it evolved into a major place of pilgrimage.

    Citation: Rajinder S. Jutla. The Evolution of the Golden Temple of Amritsar into a Major Sikh Pilgrimage Center[J]. AIMS Geosciences, 2016, 2(3): 259-272. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2016.3.259

    Related Papers:

  • Today the Sikh diaspora encompasses much of the world, having spread from India and Southeast Asia to the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, East Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Sikhism is a monotheistic world religion founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. His successors continued his teachings and provided a distinct shape to the Sikh community with a written language, a religious scripture and many institutions. The paper examines the significance of sacred place and the role of pilgrimage according to Sikh scripture. It also explores Sikh attitudes and practices towards pilgrimage through a questionnaire based survey. Finally, the paper investigates how the Golden Temple of Amritsar emerged as a sacred place for Sikhs and how it evolved into a major place of pilgrimage.


    加载中
    [1] Davies D (2003) Introductions: Raising the Issues, In: Holm J with Bowker J (eds.), Sacred Place, London: Continuum, 1.
    [2] Bhardwaj S (1987) Hindu Pilgrimage. In: Eliade M (ed.) Encycl of Relig New York: Macmillan 11: 353–354.
    [3] Tripathi R (2013) India Kumbh Mela dip ‘raised Grand River Pollution, BBC News Online, Available from: http://www.bbc.com/news.
    [4] Farrington K (1999) The History of Religion, Surrey: Quadrillion Publishing Limited, 87.
    [5] Eliade M (1969) Images and Symbols, New York: Sheed and Ward.
    [6] Turner V (1973) The Center Out There: Pilgrim’s Goals. Hist of Relig 12: 191–230. doi: 10.1086/462677
    [7] Turner V and Turner E (1978) Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives, New York: Columbia University Press, 20.
    [8] Smith V (1992) Introduction: The Quest in Guest. Ann of Tour Res 19: 1–17. doi: 10.1016/0160-7383(92)90103-V
    [9] Cohen E (1992) Pilgrim Centers. Ann of Tour Res 19: 33–50. doi: 10.1016/0160-7383(92)90105-X
    [10] Eade J (1992) Pilgrimage and Tourism at Lourdes, France. Ann of Tour Res 19: 18–32. doi: 10.1016/0160-7383(92)90104-W
    [11] Rinschede G (1992) Forms of Religious Tourism. Ann of Tour Res 19: 51–67.
    [12] Nolan M and Nolan S (1992) Religion Sites as Tourism Attractions in Europe. Ann of Tour Res 19: 68–78. doi: 10.1016/0160-7383(92)90107-Z
    [13] Vukonic B (1992) Medjugorje’s Religion and Tourism Connection. Ann of Tour Res 19: 79–91. doi: 10.1016/0160-7383(92)90108-2
    [14] Jackowski A and Smith V (1992) Polish Pilgrim-tourists. Ann of Tour Res 19: 92–106.
    [15] Bharati A (1963) Pilgrimage in Indian Tradition. Hist of Relig 3: 135–67. doi: 10.1086/462476
    [16] Bharati A (1991) Grammatical and Notational models of Indian Pilgrimage, In: Jha M. (ed.), Social Anthropology of Pilgrimage, New Delhi: Inter-India Publications 19–29.
    [17] Bhardwaj S (1983) Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography, Berkeley: University of California Press.
    [18] Bhardwaj S (1991) Hindu Pilgrimages in America, In: Jha M (ed.), Social Anthropology of Pilgrimage, New Delhi: Inter-India Publications 81–98.
    [19] Dubey P (1987) Kumbh Mela: Origins and Historicity of India’s Great Pilgrimage Fair. Natl Geogr J of India 33: 469–92.
    [20] Barber R (1991) Pilgrimages, Woodridge: The Boydell Press.
    [21] Hawley J, Goswami S (1983) A Play with Krishna: Pilgrimage Drama from Brindavan, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
    [22] Sopher E (1987) The Message of Place in Hindu Pilgrimage. Natl Geogr J of India 33: 353–69.
    [23] Kavita R and Sugapriya A (2015) Pilgrimage Tourism in Tamil Nadu an Overview. Glob J for Res Anal 4: 235–237.
    [24] Michaud H (1998) Walking in the Footsteps of the Guru: Sikhs and Seekers in the Indian Himalayas, Master’s Thesis, University of Calgary, Canada, Available from: http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/26373.
    [25] Jutla R (2002) Understanding Sikh Pilgrimage. Tour Recreat Res 27: 65–72. doi: 10.1080/02508281.2002.11081222
    [26] Jutla R (2006) Significance of Sikh Pilgrimage In: Timothy D and Olsen D (eds.) Tourism, Religion & Spiritual Journeys, New York, NY: Routledge.
    [27] Sahota I and Panwar N (2013) A Pilot Study of the prevalence of acute mountain sickness at the Sikh pilgrimage of Hemkund Sahib in the Indian Himalayas. Indian J of Occup & Environ Med 17: 12–15.
    [28] Kaur Singh N (2009) World Religions: Sikhism, Third Edition, New York, NY: Chelsea House.
    [29] Nesbitt E (1997) Sikhism, In: Zaehner R (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World Religions, New York, NY: Barnes and Noble Books.
    [30] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 463.
    [31] Choudhury A (2003) Hinduism, In: Holm J with Bowker J (eds.), Sacred Place, London: Continuum 67-68.
    [32] Fowler J (1997) Hinduism, In: Fowler J, Fowler M, Norcliffe D, et al. (eds.), World Religions, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 248.
    [33] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 687.
    [34] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 1286.
    [35] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 136
    [36] McMullen C (1989) Religious Beliefs and Practices of Sikhs in Rural Punjab, New Delhi: Manohar Publications, 1–2.
    [37] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 1043.
    [38] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 1011.
    [39] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 363.
    [40] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 783.
    [41] Kaur Singh N (2009) World Religions: Sikhism, Third Edition, New York, NY: Chelsea House, 104.
    [42] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 753.
    [43] Sri Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) Translated by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa. Available from: http://www.srigranth.org, 1142.
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2016 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(8517) PDF downloads(1744) Cited by(1)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Figures(3)

Other Articles By Authors

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog