History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.s19.4

v2.c25.s19.4

insisted upon, but even then not necessarily in public. We, in consequence, know but little of their temples, of which they seem to have but few. Râmdâs, the fourth Sikh Guru, or high priest, obtained a grant of the site of Amritsar from the tolerant Akbar, dug the tank, which is 170 yds. square, and began the temple, which was completed by his successor, Arjun. It was named Har-mandir, and stood in the middle of the tank; but Ahmad Shâh Abdâlî, on his return from Pânîpat in 1761, was opposed near Ludhiânâ by a Sikh army, which he signally defeated, and entering Amritsar blew up the Harmandir with gunpowder and desecrated all their sacred places. The temple was rebuilt in 1766, probably on the same plan as well as on the site of the former. It stands on a platform 67 ft. square, connected with the north side of the tank by a marble causeway 203 ft. in length; the temple itself—40 ft. 4 in. square—is of two storeys, with a room on the roof, covered by the dome. Ranjît Singh, after seizing the city in 1802, was too emulous of the wealth of his Hindû and Moslim subjects in this respect not to desire to rival their magnificence. He spent large sums on the Sikh temple, ornamenting its walls with marbles largely from Jahângîr's tomb, and roofing it with copper gilt, and consequently we have the Golden Temple in the Sacred Tank at Amritsar—as splendid an example of its class as can be found in India, though neither its outline nor its details can be commended (Woodcut No. 355).¹ It is useful, however, as exemplifying one of the forms which Indian temple-architecture assumed in the 19th century, and where, for the present, we must leave it. The Jains and Hindûs may yet do great things in it, if they can escape the influence of European imitation; but now that the sovereignty has passed from the Sikhs we cannot expect their priests or people to indulge in a magnificence their religion does not countenance or encourage.