According to the 2011 census, the population of Amritsar was 1,132,761 and it is the second most populous city of Punjab. It is one of ten Municipal Corporations in the state and Karamjit Singh Rintu is the current mayor of the city The city is situated 217 km (135 mi) northwest of state capital Chandigarh and 455 km (283 miles) northwest of New Delhi, the national capital. It is near Pakistan, with the Wagah Border being only 28 km (17.4 mi) away. The closest major city is Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, located 50 km (31.1 mi) to the west.
Amritsar (literally, the tank of nectar of immortality) was founded in 1577 by the fourth Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das.
Sri Harmandir Sahib ("The abode of God"), also known as Darbar Sahib, (Punjabi pronunciation: [dəɾbɑɾ sɑhɪb]), informally referred to as the Golden Temple, is a Gurdwara located in Amritsar. It is one of the most revered spiritual sites of Sikhism. The construction of Harmandir Sahib is intended to build a place of worship for men and women from all walks of life and all religions to worship God equally. The four entrances (representing the four directions) to get into the Harmandir Sahib also symbolise the openness of the Sikhs towards all people and religions. Over 100,000 people visit the shrine daily for worship, and also partake jointly in the free community kitchen and meal (Langar) regardless of any distinctions, a tradition that is a hallmark of all Sikh Gurdwaras.
The Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal situated at Amritsar is believed to be the Ashram site of Maharishi Valmiki, the writer of Ramayana.As per the Ramayana, Sita gave birth to Lava and Kusha, sons of lord Rama at Ramtirth ashram. Large number of people visit Ramtirth Temple at annual fair. Nearby cities to Amritsar, Lahore and Kasur were said to be founded by Lava and Kusha, respectively. During Ashvamedha Yagna by Lord Rama, Lava and Kush captured the ritual horse and tied Lord Hanuman to a tree near to today's Durgiana Temple. During Navratra festivities it is considered to be auspicious by Hindu population of the city to visit that temple.
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
The Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919, months after the massacre
Bullet marks on the walls of the park premises
In the Punjab, during World War I (1914–18), there was considerable unrest particularly among the Sikhs, first on account of the demolition of a boundary wall of Gurdwara Rakab Ganj at New Delhi and later because of the activities and trials of the Ghadarites, almost all of whom were Sikhs. In India as a whole, too, there had been a spurt in political activity mainly owing to the emergence of two leaders: Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) who after a period of struggle against the British in South Africa, had returned to India in January 1915, and Annie Besant (1847–1933), head of the Theosophical Society of India, who on 11 April 1916 established the Home Rule League with autonomy for India as its goal. In December 1916, the Indian National Congress, at its annual session held at Lucknow, passed a resolution asking the king to issue a proclamation announcing that it is the "aim and intention of British policy to confer self-government on India at an early date".
On 10 April 1919, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, two popular proponents of the Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi, were called to the deputy commissioner's residence, arrested and sent off by car to Dharamsetla, a hill town, now in Himachal Pradesh. This led to a general strike in Amritsar. Excited groups of citizens soon merged into a crowd of about 50,000 marching on to protest to the deputy commissioner against the arrest of the two leaders. The crowd, however, was stopped and fired upon near the railway foot-bridge. According to the official version, the number of those killed was 12 and of those wounded between 20 and 30. Evidence before an inquiry of the Indian National Congress put the number of the dead between 20 and 30.
Three days later, on 13 April, the traditional festival of Baisakhi, thousands of Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh. An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 16:30, Dyer arrived with a group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers. Without warning the crowd to disperse, Dyer blocked the main exits and ordered his troops to begin shooting toward the densest sections of the crowd. Firing continued for approximately ten minutes. A British inquiry into the massacre placed the death toll at 379. The Indian National Congress determined that approximately 1,000 people were killed.
Operation Blue Star
Operation Blue Star (1 – 6 June 1984) was an Indian military operation ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India to curb and remove Sikh militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The operation was carried out by Indian army troops with tanks and armoured vehicles. Militarily successful, the operation aroused immense controversy, and the government's justification for the timing and style of the attack are hotly debated. Operation Blue Star was included in the Top 10 Political Disgraces by India Today magazine.Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83, with 493 civilians and Sikh militants killed. In addition, the CBI is considered responsible for seizing historical artefacts and manuscripts in the Sikh Reference Library before burning it down. Four months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in what is viewed as an act of vengeance. Following her assassination, more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in anti-Sikh pogroms.After attack sikhs were killed without any reasons for 8 years by addressing all of them to be militants. Even after attack justice is not given to sikhs , the government officials are just making money for themselves as by making slaves to sikhs.
Administrative towns
- Ajnala
- Attari
- Beas
- Budha Theh
- Chheharta Sahib
- Jandiala Guru
- Majitha
- Rajasansi
- Ramdass
- Rayya
- Verka Town
- Baba Bakala
Tourism
Amritsar is attractive destination for tourists especially those part of Golden Triangle. Major destinations are:- Golden Temple and Heritage Street
- Punjab State War Heroes' Memorial & Museum
- Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal
- Sadda Pind
- Urban Haat Food Street
- Gobindgarh Fort
- Ram Bagh Palaceand Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum
- Wagah border
- Partition Museum
- Jallianwala Bagh
- Jang-e-Azadi Memorial near Kartarpur, India
Educational institutions
- Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar
- Guru Nanak Dev University
- D.A.V College
- Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology
- BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar
- Global Institute, Amritsar
- Government Medical College, Amritsar
- D.A.V Public School
- Khalsa College, Amritsar
- St. Francis School, Amritsar
Notable residents
- Abdul Hameed, writer
- Akshay Kumar, actor
- Amrinder Gill, Punjabi singer
- Baba Deep Singh, General
- Bhagat Puran Singh, environmentalist
- Bhagat Singh Thind,[47] US Sikh Leader
- Bharti Singh, Indian stand-up comedian
- Bhisham Sahni, Hindi writer
- Bishan Singh Bedi, cricketer
- Chandan Prabhakar, comedian
- Dalbir Chetan, Punjabi short-story writer[48]
- Dara Singh, wrestler and actor
- Deepa Mehta, Indo-Canadian filmmaker
- Deepti Naval, actress
- Geeta Bali, actress
- Ghulam Abbas (writer)
- Ghulam Mohammad Baksh, wrestler
- Guru Tegh Bahadur, 9th Guru of Sikhs
- Gurpreet Ghuggi, Punjabi Comedian
- Hans Raj Khanna, judge at the Supreme court of India
- Jeetendra, actor
- Kapil Sharma, comedian
- Kiran Bedi, first woman IPS officer
- Krishan Kant, 10th Vice-President of India
- Laxmi Kanta Chawla
- Madan Lal Dhingra, independence activist
- Madan Lal, cricketer
- Mahendra Kapoor, playback singer
- Manmohan Singh, 13th Prime Minister of India
- Maurice Barrymore, (patriarch of the Barrymore acting family
- M. D. Taseer, Urdu poet
- Mira Nair, Indo-American filmmaker
- Mohammed Rafi, recording artist
- Narendra Chanchal, singer
- Navjot Singh Sidhu, politician
- Nawab Kapur Singh, Sikh leader
- Pramod Moutho, Indian actor
- Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, politician
- Rajesh Khanna, actor
- Ramandeep Singh, footballer
- Richa Chadda , Actress
- Ritu Kumar, fashion designer
- Rupa Bajwa, writer
- Saadat Hasan Manto, writer
- Sahila Chadha, actress
- Saifuddin Kitchlew, freedom fighter
- Sam Manekshaw, Field Marshal
- Saurabh Kalia, soldier
- Shamshad Begum, classical singer
- Sudesh Lehri, comedian
- Veeru Devgan, director and producer of Hindi films
- Vikas Khanna, chef
- Vinod Mehra, actor
- Vipul Mehta, singer
- Waris Ahluwalia, model, actor in US
- Yash Johar, director and producer of Hindi films
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