No trip to Amritsar is ever complete without a visit to the iconic Golden Temple. Did you know the present-day Amritsar was built by Guru Ram Das. He was given ordered by Guru Amar Das, who had chosen this site and called it Guru Da Chakk, he ordered Ram Das to build a city with a man-made pool at the centre. Over the years many merchants and artisans were invited to settle down in the new city, and a temple complex was built around this pool. Guru Ram Das’s son built the gurdwara Harmandir Sahib and installed the scripture of Sikhism inside the new temple in 1604. This new city began to be known as Amritsar and became quite a sought-after city in the state of Punjab, mostly because of this temple that had now become a major pilgrimage site among the Sikhs.
To date, the Golden temple or the Harmandir Sahab continues to attract devotees from all over the world, even the Non-Sikh people who happen to be in Amritsar for a while, try to pay one visit to the temple and sit down cross-legged in the community hall, for their iconic Langar Prashad. Langar is a community kitchen situated inside the Gurudwara premises, where meals are prepared in bulk and served to people for free.
An Instagram reel created by food blogger @instaepicure is going viral nowadays for giving us a peak inside the Langar/kitchen of Sri Harmandir Sahib. The reel has clocked more than a whopping 1.3 million views in less than 3 days. The reel beautifully captures men in action, where one is lugging timber and wood for fuel, the others are bringing sacks of lentils and grains to prepare. We also see the famed cauldrons, or the large-sized kadhai, where we see the preparation of mixed dal made with a combination of green and yellow moong dal. In another frame, we see several kilos of chopped onions, peas and masalas being added to the prashad, and the rigorous stirring that needs to be done from a height due to the mammoth size of the kadhai. Be it green dal or soothing yellow Punjabi kadhi every item on the Langar looks soul-satisfying. You can watch the reel here.
Have you ever eaten a Langar at Golden Temple? Do let us know.