ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>ELECTRIFICATION OF THE GOLDEN TEMPLE</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="ELECTRIFICATION,THE,GOLDEN,TEMPLE"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279ELECTRIFICATION OF THE GOLDEN TEMPLE. Whether or not electricity be inducted into the Golden Temple premises was a raging polemic in the closing years of the nineteenth century. There were views pro and con, and the debate was joined by both sides vehemently -- and unyieldingly. As was then the style of making controversies, religious and social, no holds were barred and no acrimonious word spared to settle the argument. If tradition and usage were drawn upon by opponents, need to move with the times was urged by the supporters, pejoratively called <i>bijÍ&#299 bhaktas,</i> devotees of electricity.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The initiative came from the Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257, Amritsar. At its 23rd annual session, on 26 January 1896, it made a formal resolution recommending the installation of electricity in the Golden Temple. Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257 told the audience that Sr&#299 Harimandar which was in beauty the very image of <i>baiku&#7751&#7789h,</i> i.e. paradise, by day was shrouded in darkness by night. Many holy and old people who came to do homage late in the evening or in the small hours of the morning suffered injury owing to lack of lighting. Electric light would, pleaded Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh, enhance the glory of the Golden Temple and prove a boon to the visiting devotees.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Col Sard&#257r Jav&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh, the officially appointed manager of the Golden Temple, and Master Narai&#7751 Si&#7749gh of <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 High School, Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257, endorsed Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh's proposal. An 11-member committee, with Sard&#257r Bah&#257dur Sard&#257r Arjan Si&#7749gh as president, was set up to carry through the plan. The committee secured the support of influential men in the Sikh community such as B&#257b&#257 Sir Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299, R&#257i Bah&#257dur Sard&#257r Suj&#257n Si&#7749gh of R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 and Sard&#257r Balwant Si&#7749gh of A&#7789&#7789&#257r&#299. Subscription lists were opened and fund-raising started in towns and villages.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The lighting committee sent a deputation to wait on R&#257j&#257 Bikram Si&#7749gh of Far&#299dko&#7789 who was the patron of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n of Amritsar and helped religious and public causes with an open hand. Col Jav&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh and Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257, who led the group to Far&#299dko&#7789, returned with an assurance from the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 for financial support. At a meeting held at Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t on 25 April 1897, three of the courtiers sent by the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Far&#299dko&#7789 announced on his behalf that, in commemoration of the uninterrupted 60-year rule of Queen Victoria, he would have electricity installed in the Golden Temple premises at a cost of Rs 20 thousand.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Then opposition raised its head. In May 1897, three <i>granth&#299s</i> of Golden Temple served a registered notice on Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257, secretary of the lighting committee, censuring the scheme.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On 22 June 1897, the Diamond Jubilee was observed by Sikhs in Amritsar. Ka&#7749var Gajendra Si&#7749gh, son of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Far&#299dko&#7789, participated in the celebrations. On this occasion, electricity was displayed in the Golden Temple by importing temporarily into the precincts the private generator belonging to R&#257i &#7692hola&#7751 D&#257s.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Far&#299dko&#7789 visited Amritsar on 14 August 1897, and, at a public meeting of the Sikhs, announced a donation of Rs 1 lac for electricity as well as for a new building for <i>Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar.</i> Part of the money was invested in a generating set and accessories.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The opponents had not been idle. On 29 July 1897, the executive committee of the Lahore Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 placed on record its disapproval of the proposal. The three Golden Temple <i>granth&#299s</i>, Bh&#257&#299 Harn&#257m Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299 Bhagat Si&#7749gh and Bh&#257&#299 Part&#257p Si&#7749gh, published a letter in the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 A<u>kh</u>b&#257r</i> of Lahore, 27 August 1897, openly attacking the proposal. Argument upon argument was marshalled to show the utter inappropriateness of inducting electricity into the sacred premises. The article was repeated in a tract entitled <i>Bijl&#299 Bid&#257ran</i> ("Demolition of Electricity") .</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Electricity was dangerous. To substantiate the point, allusion was made to the title of Government enactment of 1887 which ran as follows : An act to provide for the protection of person and property from the risks incident to the supply and use of electricity for lighting and other purposes. Another extract quoted was from the <i>Civil and Military Gazette</i> of Lahore, 27 October 1897: "Several persons in America have lost their lives in various cities through coming in contact with electric light and power wires." Instances were mentioned of the damage caused by electricity to a factory in Dh&#257r&#299v&#257l and the disorder created at the inaugural ceremonies for the opening of Sirhind canal. The <i>granth&#299s</i> argued that there was no precedent of electricity having been installed either in Bethlehem or in K&#257'ab&#257. Of more than 1500 churches in London, not one had been electrified --- not even Westminster Abbey. Thirdly, it was urged, custom and tradition sanctioned only illumination by <i>ghee</i>. Electricity was sheer extravagance. Its dazzle would hinder concentration and meditation. As a <i>coup de grace</i>, the point was pressed that electric light was western and the building of Harimandar eastern. The two were contradictory.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>granth&#299s</i> were backed by <i>puj&#257r&#299s</i> of Ta<u>kh</u>t Sr&#299 Abchal Nagar at N&#257nde&#7693, who rejected all other lighting except that by <i>ghee</i> which alone had the necessary sanctity. B&#257b&#363 Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh of Bhasau&#7771, a leading figure in the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 renovation, contributed a letter to the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 <u>Ak</u>hb&#257r</i>, 3 September 1897, to make the point that the real light the Sikhs needed was for the elimination of distinctions of caste in the community. For Harimandar, lighting by <i>ghee</i>, permitted by their eastern custom, was the most appropriate. Another correspondent in a letter in the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 A<u>kh</u>b&#257r</i>, 27 August 1897, had stated that he had enquired from the Archbishop of the Punjab and learnt that there was no electric light in St. Peter's or in St. Paul's. He also recalled the criticism made by Englishmen themselves who termed the Gothic-style clock-tower beside the Golden Temple a monstrosity. Western light inside the Temple would be similarly offensive, he concluded. Sant <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Dy&#257l Si&#7749gh of Hot&#299 Mard&#257n joined the fray with an angrily written pamphlet. He said that splitting the roof or walls of the temple to fix electric wiring would be a sacrilege.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In its editorial on 6 August 1897, the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 <u>Ak</u>hb&#257r</i> commented that the Golden Temple was not a museum to which people had to be allured by such meretricious display. On 20 August 1897, it praised the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Far&#299dko&#7789 for his munificence in providing funds for electricity, but satirized his friends who had counselled him this kind of extravagance.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 <u>Ak</u>hb&#257r</i> of 6 August 1897, Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 of Jalandhar published a note in support of the <i>granth&#299s</i>. One of the questions raised was : "What will happen if the engine went out of order?" In its editorial the same day, the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 <u>Ak</u>hb&#257r</i> wrote : "What the Sikhs needed was the light of the Gur&#363s' Word rather than that of electricity."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Electricity, when it came, did appear a novelty. Visiting the Golden Temple after an interval of 16 years, Dr John Campbell Oman, who had been a Professor at Government College at Lahore (1877-97) and Principal of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College at Amritsar (1898-99), referred to it in these terms: "... the garish electric light, installed on the temple itself amidst the modest old-world <i>cher&#257<u>gh</u>s</i>, looking like an ill-mannered, obtrusive upstart completely out of its proper element."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The advocates of <i>bijl&#299</i> had won. But the controversy left behind a trail of bitterness. Essentially, it was a conflict between the Lahore and Amritsar wings of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257. Both were mutually hostile and had persistently wrangled over all sorts of issues, major and minor. But, surprisingly, the Lahore group which styled itself more progressive and derided the Amritsar group for its "conservatism," was foremost in opposing electricity. Yet it was not able to obstruct the march of events. Electricity would have, in any case, come. But the initiative taken by Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257 and the support given him by the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Far&#299dko&#7789 will be remembered in history.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>Pr&#257rthan&#257 Pattar</i>. Amritsar, 1951<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Bijl&#299 Bid&#257ran</i>. Amritsar, 1897<BR> <li class="C1"> The <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 <u>Ak</u>hb&#257r</i>. Lahore, 1897<BR> <li class="C1"> Sant Kh&#257ls&#257, Dy&#257l Si&#7749gh, <i>Sr&#299 Darb&#257r S&#257hib Amritsar vich bijl&#299 di roshni n&#257l beadb&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1897<BR> <li class="C1"> Oman, John Campbell, <i>Cults, Customs and Superstitions of India</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sard&#257r Si&#7749gh Bh&#257&#7789&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>