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| Many Sikhs came from abroad to
attend what is considered an historic event; from as far
afield as Canada, Sweden ( he also had one cousin in Birmingham
and one in Norway, also here), the UK and Australia, as
well as villages all over the Punjab and other parts of
India. The last official Kar Sewa was in 1973, although
the tank was also cleaned in 1984 in the wake of Operation
Bluestar, the disastrous Indian army operation ordered
by Indira Gandhi to remove Sikh separatists from the Golden
Temple. The operation did immense damage to the shrine,
and ultimately led to Indira Gandhi's assassination at
the hands of her Sikh bodyguards. |
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Kar sewa, photo gallery & slide show: Also
known as the Harmandir, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, is
the Sikh faith's holiest shrine, its most important Gurudwara and
home to the original copy of the Guru Granth Sahib. This holy book
is considered as the last Sikh Guru (and therefore has the status
of a living person), containing the collected wisdom of all previous
human Sikh Gurus.
On the 25th of March 2004 an historic event began at Amritsar's Golden
Temple, a "kar sewa" (literally meaning "to do service")
for the cleaning of the temple's sacred pool, or Sardar Sarovar, for
the first time in 20 years. Sikh men, women and children from all
over India and across the globe turned up in lakhs (1 lakh = 100,000)
for the Kar Sewa, eager to participate in an event that may not recur
for another 50 years, as the new water treatment plant to be installed
should dramatically reduce the silting of the pool. Kar sewa is considered
an important religious duty by Sikhs, and in this spirit of purity
no machines are permitted for the cleaning inside the temple, the
mud is carried from the holy tank and out of the temple by volunteers,
then transported from the site by tractor trailers. The first Kar
Sewa took place in 1923, another 50 years later 1973. The last tank
cleaning was 1984 after Operation Bluestar. |
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