The Construction of the Golden Temple - Research Paper Example

This paper contains the comprehensive of the Golden Temple; this entailslocation of the temple, civilization and culture prevalent during the period of its construction, the construction history of the temple. It also describes the composition of the temple, size and materials used in the construction process, like burnt bricks, sandstones, mud mortar and cement for bonding of the bricks. Gold and marble were later added to the building to enhance beauty and value to this place which was highly treasured. History of the Golden Temple The Golden Temple, also known as Harmandir Sahib which stands for the Temple of God, is regarded as one of the holiest places in the world and the holiest shrine in Sikhism. It is situated in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is located at 31.620045° N, 74.876397° E. Amritsar means ‘Pool of Nectar of Immorality’; this was from a tank that was excavated by the fourth guru of Sikhism in 1577 CE who was later called Amritsar, thus, the name of the city which grew around it (Pletcher, 129). In the process, Harmandir Sahib, an impressive house meant to be the abode of God, grew at the centre of this tank becoming a supreme venue of Sikhism. Civilization during the construction of the Golden Temple This structure was erected in the late 16th century under the governance of the forth and fifth gurus. It was constructed under very strict supervision of the authority that had very great influence on the public works at the time. Construction of the Harmandir Sahib The construction of the Golden Temple started in 1574 at a site surrounded by a small lake in some thin forest; the land was donated by the Mughal emperor Akbar, the third of the six Mughals, who was so impressed with the lifestyle in the town that as a result gave a parcel of land and revenues of quite a number of villages in the area. Guru Ram Das expanded the lake and constructed a small town surrounding it which he later named after Guru Ram Das as Guru Ka Chak. Between 1581 and 1606, the construction of the full-fledged gurdwara (temple) was done under the leadership of the fifth guru, Guru Arjan Dev (Brockman, 189). The initiation of the construction of the temple was done by Hazrat Mian Mir who laid the first foundation stone in December 1588 CE. Construction was complete by 1601 but refurbishment and decoration continued over the years up to about 1604. Installation of the Guru Granth Sahib was done in the 1660s. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the temple was attacked by some Afghans who were later killed by the Sikh army. The temple had to be reconstructed in the year 1760. Size of the Golden Temple The 40.5 square feet temple was constructed on a 67 feet square platform which is centrally located at the Sarovar tank. It has four doors in the four directions; to the East, West, South and North. It has an arch which located at the shore end of the causeway with door frames measuring eight feet, six inches in breadth by ten feet high. It has artistic decorations at the door panes which open to the bridge and walkway leading to the main structure of the Temple. The bridge is with a circumambulatory path which is thirteen feet wide. This path that leads to Har ki Paure, the steps of God, runs round the main place of pilgrimage. The main building of the Sri Harmandir Sahib, a three storied structure, is 202 feet in length and 21 feet in width. Whole of this structure is technically functional. The first floor has its roof at a height of 26 feet and 9 inches with a front decorated with repetition of cusped arches. The Temple has a four feet parapet rising all round the sides with four Mamtees at all the four corners. The third storey rises exactly on top of the central of the main sanctuary. This small square room with three gates holds a regular recitation of Guru Granth Sahib. A low fluted Gumbaz which has a lotus petal motif in relief at the base and an inverted lotus at the top supporting the Kalash is held up on top of this room. The Kalash has a good-looking Chantry. Culture during the construction of the Golden Temple The temple was an open place for all persons despite their creed, colour, sex or religion. Restrictions were on the behaviour and they were as follows: 1. Everyone was expected to maintain the purity of the holy place. By this, all persons were expected to remove their shoes upon entering the premises and wash their feet in a small pond of water provided outside. Within the shrine no one was expected to take alcohol, meat, smoke cigarettes or take other drugs. 2. All those who visited this holy place were expected to dress appropriately. They were to show respect by covering their heads and as a result, scarves were provided to the visitors by the gurdwara. 3. Everyone was expected to sit on the ground while inside as a sign of difference between Guru Granth Sahib and God. As a tradition, the first time visitors were advised to start their visit at the information office before proceeding to Central Sikh Museum near the main entrance and the tower of clock. Construction materials of the golden temple The Golden Temple has Ramgarhia Bunga which comprise of three flat roof ranges, each with two principle storeys. These are arranged around a courtyard which is constructed of small burnt bricks called Nankashihi. (Bansal, 179) These are set in lime and mud mortar for bonding. There exist colonnade and three arches which are constructed of red sandstone. Finishes to both the undersides of vaults and all the walls were internally and externally done by the use of lime plaster and lime wash. Much of the work was made presentable by the in cooperation of the decorative arches. For the upper floors of Gurdwara, the external surfaces and domes were covered by the golden plates. The marble work was beautifully done all rounds under the supervision and patronage of Sher-e-Punjab, the leader of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab. In the 19th century, gold weighing 100 kilos and some marble were added to the structure, the inverted lotus shaped dome. This was meant for decoration and was done under supervision of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Darbar Sahib, Court of the Lord, is a beautiful structure made of gold, has copper cupolas and some white marbled walls which are coated in the precious shingles arranged in a beautiful Islamic fashion forming very pleasing floral patterns. The decoration here is done with the verses from the Granth Sahib. The reinforcement to the structure was done by the use of special types of stones which could withstand the weight of the building. The upstanding columns were specially made by rocks which were manually made for casting of these floors. These were properly mixed with lime and lime water to add some strength and bind the mix. Methods, tools and labour force available during the era of the Golden Temple construction The temple was constructed in the 1570s. During this time most construction works were done manually by the cheaply available labour force. The people around the town provided the source of labour. The iron works were done by the craftsmen who had high levels of skill on the metal works during this time. The citizens within the town who had no skills were used to in the provision of services like transportation of construction materials within the construction sites. Transportation was done by the use of animals, like donkeys and bulls. Stone works were done by the use of sharpened metal edges. These enhanced the trimming of the shaping of the walls constructed of these stones. Most of the tools were manually made iron smelters. The slabs were casted of concrete mixes, ballast sand and cement while walls were of bricks which were fired/glazed. Current construction of the a similar temple The construction of the Golden Temple faced a lot of challenges, including the lack of proper tools, poor construction materials which deteriorated soon after construction calling for maintenance and repair of the structure. The roof of the building immediately after completion started leaking a good evidence for the crude methods and materials used. In contrary to this, construction of such a structure would entail very keen selection of materials and tools. In the present, there are high quality machines which can be used to ensure that the work done is to the required standard. These machines and tools include cranes, mixers and transporters that increase the speed of work and as a result, construction work like this (which took more than seven years to be completed) would take a very short time. The methods used for the construction of the Golden Temple included the crude traditional methods compromised the ratios of the mixes used in the concrete works. The mixing processes were very slow and highly involving as it fully relied on human participation and power. Presently, concrete works have been made easy by the concrete mixers, some of which are self driven and others can be manually operated. The construction processes today is a matter of having machines which can mix, transport and convey the materials at the required points of the construction site. Mixing ratios can be high checked on by use of gauges which ensure that there is no error in the mixing ratios. This assures of the strength of resultant structure. Metal works relied mainly on smelting and smoldering of iron for joinery works. This made the work a tiresome process as it was wholly manual. Some metals lost their strengths; when used in the construction process, such materials results into a weak structure, sheets from such metals could easily allow for leakage as experienced on the roof of the Golden Temple. Today, with the invention of the new metal work techniques which involve the use of electricity and gases like oxygen and acetylene, it could make the construction using metals an interesting and enjoyable process. If the temple were to be constructed today, arch and oxy-acetylene welding would have made the structure more presentable and decent. Coating process could be made better by the use of ionization processes and electroplating methods which are the current techniques of coating metals. The trimming of raw edge of the materials used could be made more perfect using the current computerized machines. The decorations were manually done on the temple because there were no computers which could aid the decoration process. The calligraphers by that time were limited to their human capabilities; they could only do their printing to the best of their level. Presently, embroidery works are possible by the existence of the computer aided designs which allow for a more advanced level of designs. These designs are clearer, neat and even pleasing to the eye of the observer. Computer designs create room for manipulation of features through the computer programmes which allow for such alterations. In today’s construction works, heat ventilation and air conditioning methods are incorporated during the construction process; this implies that the general cost of construction is minimized. These procedures allowed for self conditioning of the building. If the temple were to be constructed today, the conditioning system of the house would be maintained by the incorporation of such designs in the construction process. Transportation of the construction materials and waste was previously done by means of animal transporters, human beings and other crude methods. It led to wastage of time and materials as there was a lot of spillage of the way; besides, the extinction of some of the animals which were widely used in the construction process. Currently, with the invention of vehicles and automobiles, transportation of construction materials is eased. The losses during transportation of construction materials, like ballast, cement (lime) and sand, are reduced. The mixed materials can easily be taken to the upper floors of the structure. This makes construction process generally cheaper and faster as compared to the older methods. The use of machines in the present construction processes makes it become capital intensive as compared to the previous methods which were labour intensive. Stone works were done using very crude tools which gave rise to the invention of chisels and mattocks for stone dressing. These processes were totally relying on the skills of the individuals who took part in the construction process. These people, therefore, had to work under tight supervision to avoid any error in the dressing of the stones. Currently, there are machines and equipments which could carry out the processes of stone trimming with all the required specifications. These machines can do designs on the blocks. Quality of building materials was highly compromised as there was no device for checking on the quality of the materials to use for construction. The contractors, therefore, were fully reliant on their observation on the construction subjecting the process to limitations of the human error. If such structure were to be built today, materials would be tested ensuring that they are of required quality. This makes construction become more certain and vigorous process which does not bear the questions of what the materials did not meet the standards and the requirements. The undertaken construction over water is very demanding; doing it manually requires a lot of keenness. This made the construction process take a long time. Currently, there are machines which aid the construction of high magnitude, like the construction of such structures as the Golden Temple. The use of cranes and lifters enhance the operation in such circumstances where there is need for land and path for commuting to the construction site and off. Generally, construction of very involving projects have been made easier and efficient by the use of the currently available machines and high level of construction technology. The products of the present construction processes are of higher value, quality and assurance of existence and safety. It had found out that previously, construction industry employed mainly manual labour, simple tools and very simple methods of construction. The structures faced quite a number of challenges including need for immediate repair of the structure after completion, as well as overloading of structures due to poor methods used to calculate the weight of materials used in the process. Works Cited Bansal, Sunita P. Encyclopaedia of India. New Delhi, India: Smriti Books, 2005. Print. Brockman, Norbert. Encyclopedia of Sacred Places. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. Pletcher, Kenneth. The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places. New York, N.Y: Britannica Educational Pub. In association with Rosen Education Services, 2011. Web. Read More