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Harmandir Sahib: Architecture, Theology, and the Four Open Doors

Professor: Kavi Santokh Singh Source: SikhLibrary

The Harmandir Sahib — the 'Temple of God,' now known worldwide as the Golden Temple — stands at the center of the Amrit Sarovar in Amritsar as the holiest gurdwara in the Sikh world. Completed by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in 1604, its architecture embodies a sophisticated theological vision: the building is below ground level (symbolizing humility), connected by a causeway (the path of devotion), and has four doors open to all four directions (universal welcome). This course examines the architecture, theological symbolism, and historical context of the Harmandir Sahib, as well as its continuing significance for the global Sikh community.

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Prerequisite recommended. This is a 200-level course. To get the most out of it, we recommend completing the 100-level courses first.

What you'll learn

  • Describe the key architectural features of the Harmandir Sahib and explain their theological significance
  • Trace the historical development of the Harmandir Sahib from Guru Ram Das Ji's vision through Guru Arjan Dev Ji's completion
  • Explain the significance of the four open doors as a statement of Sikh universalism
  • Analyze the relationship between sacred architecture and theological vision in the Harmandir Sahib
  • Evaluate the historical significance of the installation of the Adi Granth in the Harmandir Sahib
  • Describe the role of the Harmandir Sahib in the life of the contemporary global Sikh community

Key terms — ਸ਼ਬਦਾਵਲੀ

ਹਰਿਮੰਦਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ

Harmandir Sahib — the 'Temple of God'; the holiest gurdwara in the Sikh world; also known as Sri Darbar Sahib and the Golden Temple

ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਰੋਵਰ

Amrit Sarovar — the 'Pool of Nectar'; the sacred tank surrounding the Harmandir Sahib

ਦਰਬਾਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ

Darbar Sahib — the 'Divine Court'; another name for the Harmandir Sahib, emphasizing it as the court of the divine Guru

ਪਰਿਕ੍ਰਮਾ

Parikrama — the walkway surrounding the Amrit Sarovar around which devotees circumambulate

ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਦੇਓੜੀ

Darshan Deorhee — the main gateway to the Harmandir Sahib complex through which devotees enter

ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖਤ

Akal Takht — the 'Throne of the Timeless'; the temporal-authority counterpart to the Harmandir Sahib, established by Guru Hargobind Ji

ਸੱਚਖੰਡ

Sachkhand — 'Realm of Truth'; the spiritual realm; also the name of the inner sanctum of the Harmandir Sahib

ਮਰਯਾਦਾ

Maryada — the code of conduct; the rules and practices governing worship at the Harmandir Sahib

ਦਸਤਾਰ

Dastar — the turban worn by Sikhs; covering the head before entering the Harmandir Sahib is required

ਇਸ਼ਨਾਨ

Ishnan — ritual bathing in the Amrit Sarovar; an act of devotion and purification for pilgrims to the Harmandir Sahib

Lessons

1. Introduction: The Temple at the Center of the World

Full course contents
  1. Introduction: The Temple at the Center of the World
  2. From Vision to Reality: The Origins of Harmandir Sahib
  3. Guru Arjan Dev Ji Takes the Project Forward
  4. The Design Decision: Below Ground Level
  5. The Four Open Doors
  6. The Causeway and the Parikrama
  7. The Interior: Where the Guru Granth Sahib Ji Resides
  8. The Foundation Stone: An Interfaith Gesture
  9. The Installation of the Adi Granth
  10. Baba Buddha Ji: First Granthi
  11. The Harmandir Sahib Through History
  12. The Living Sacred Center Today

A Building That Teaches

There are sacred buildings that merely house religious activity, and there are sacred buildings that themselves teach — whose architecture embodies theological convictions so clearly that simply entering them is an act of theological education. The Harmandir Sahib belongs emphatically to the second category. Every significant feature of its design — its position below ground level, its four open doors, its causeway approach across the sacred water, its central position in the Amrit Sarovar — expresses specific and important theological ideas about the nature of the divine and the proper human orientation toward it.

A Building Born of Prayer and Service

The Harmandir Sahib was not the creation of a royal patron seeking to leave a monument to their own greatness. It was born of prayer, service, and theological vision. Its roots lie in Bhai Jetha's labor of excavating the sacred tank; its form was given by Guru Arjan Dev Ji's theological convictions; its foundation stone was laid by a Muslim saint; and its construction was funded by the daswandh contributions of thousands of ordinary Sikhs who understood themselves as participants in a shared sacred project (Santokh Singh 1963).

Completing Guru Ram Das Ji's Vision

The Harmandir Sahib was the completion of a vision that Guru Ram Das Ji had carried throughout his Guruship. He had excavated the sacred tank, founded the city of Ramdaspur, and understood that at the tank's center a magnificent sacred building should stand. But the building itself was not completed in his lifetime — it fell to his son, Guru Arjan Dev Ji, to give the vision its final form. The Harmandir Sahib thus stands at the intersection of the Fourth and Fifth Gurus' ministries — a monument to the continuity of the Sikh sacred vision across generations.

2. From Vision to Reality: The Origins of Harmandir Sahib

The Amrit Sarovar First

The Harmandir Sahib could not exist without the Amrit Sarovar that surrounds it — and the Amrit Sarovar's story begins with Guru Amar Das Ji's vision and Bhai Jetha's labor of excavation. Before there was any thought of a building at the tank's center, the sacred water itself was the primary focus of devotion: pilgrims came to bathe in it, to meditate beside it, and to receive the blessing of proximity to the Guru's presence (Grewal 1990, 55). The sacred tank thus preceded the sacred building, and the building was conceived as the tank's natural complement — a structure worthy of the divine presence that the water symbolized.

Guru Ram Das Ji's Plans

According to traditional accounts preserved in the Suraj Parkash Granth, Guru Ram Das Ji had plans for building a shrine at the center of the Amrit Sarovar and took various preliminary steps toward this goal (Santokh Singh 1963). But the full resources and organizational focus necessary for such an ambitious construction project were not fully available during his relatively brief seven-year Guruship, which was also devoted to expanding the city, institutionalizing the masand system, and composing Gurbani. The actual construction was left to his son and successor.

A New Kind of Temple

From the beginning, the intention was to create a temple that would be unlike anything that had come before in the Punjab's religious landscape. Not a Hindu temple organized around an image of a deity; not a mosque organized around the qibla direction; not a Buddhist shrine or a Jain temple — the Harmandir Sahib would be organized around the Guru's word (Gurbani), specifically around the scripture that would eventually be installed there. This fundamental difference in organizing principle would find expression in the building's design.

3. Guru Arjan Dev Ji Takes the Project Forward

The Fifth Guru's Priority

When Guru Arjan Dev Ji assumed the Guruship in 1581, the completion of the Harmandir Sahib was clearly among his highest priorities. The sacred tank existed but was not fully developed; the surrounding city of Amritsar was growing but still lacked its central sanctuary; and the theological vision of a Sikh sacred center distinct from all other religious traditions remained unrealized without the building at the tank's center. Guru Arjan Dev Ji brought to this project the same combination of spiritual vision and practical organizational ability that also led him to compile the Adi Granth (Singh 1963, 86).

Resources and Funding

The construction of the Harmandir Sahib required substantial financial resources. Guru Arjan Dev Ji drew on multiple sources: the daswandh contributions collected through the masand network, donations from devoted Sikhs and from the business communities that had settled in Amritsar, and the revenues generated by the city's growing commercial activity. The financial support for the project was thus genuinely communal — a reflection of the Sikh community's collective investment in its sacred center (Grewal 1990, 67).

Timeline and Completion

The Harmandir Sahib was completed and the Adi Granth installed within it in 1604 — the same year in which Guru Arjan Dev Ji also completed the compilation of the Adi Granth itself. The simultaneity of these two events — the completion of the physical sacred space and the completion of the scriptural sacred text — is deeply significant: the building and the book were created together, each for the other. The Adi Granth needed a home, and the Harmandir Sahib needed a Guru to house.

4. The Design Decision: Below Ground Level

The Unusual Design Choice

One of the most theologically significant design features of the Harmandir Sahib is one that is easy to overlook: the building is constructed below the level of the surrounding parikrama (walkway). To enter the Harmandir Sahib, the devotee must descend steps — going down, not up. This was a deliberate reversal of the architectural conventions of most South Asian sacred buildings, which were typically raised on high platforms or plinths to signal their elevation above the ordinary world.

The Theology of Descent

The theological message communicated by this design choice is clear and powerful: to approach the divine, one must descend, not ascend. Pride and status must be left behind; the ego that seeks elevation must bow down. The architecture thus enacts the spiritual posture that the Gurbani prescribes — the posture of humility (ਨਿਮ੍ਰਤਾ) and surrender that is the prerequisite for genuine encounter with the divine. Every devotee who descends the steps of the Harmandir Sahib performs, in that physical movement, an act of spiritual submission (Singh 1994, 152).

Contrasting Sacred Architectures

The contrast with the design principles of other major religious buildings of the period is instructive. The mosques of Mughal India were typically approached through impressive gateways and built on raised platforms. Hindu temples were organized around images placed in elevated inner sanctums, accessible only to the pure. The Harmandir Sahib inverted both of these principles: it was below the level of the approaching devotee, and it was open to all. In this inversion of architectural convention, Guru Arjan Dev Ji made a statement about the distinctive character of Sikh worship that was immediately legible to anyone familiar with the religious buildings of the period.

5. The Four Open Doors

An Unprecedented Design

The most visually striking and theologically significant feature of the Harmandir Sahib is its four doors, one on each side of the building, opening to the four cardinal directions. No major religious building of the period in South Asia was designed with four entrances — most temples had a single main entrance that controlled and directed access. The four open doors of the Harmandir Sahib announced something entirely new: this house of God is open to all, from all directions, without restriction.

What the Four Directions Represent

In the symbolic geography of the Sikh tradition, the four cardinal directions represent the totality of humanity — all people, from all parts of the world, from all castes, classes, and religious backgrounds. By building the house of God with an entrance facing each of the four directions, Guru Arjan Dev Ji declared that no person is excluded from the possibility of entering the divine presence. This was not merely a symbolic gesture — it was physically enacted in the demographics of those who gathered at the Harmandir Sahib, which from its earliest days attracted people from diverse backgrounds (Pashaura Singh and Fenech 2014, 245).

Caste and the Open Doors

The social implications of the four open doors were radical in the context of the caste-structured society of Mughal Punjab. In the Hindu temple architecture of the period, access was typically restricted by caste: the inner sanctum was accessible only to Brahmins, while members of lower castes might be excluded from entering the temple altogether. The Harmandir Sahib's four open doors declared visibly and architecturally what the Gurbani proclaimed textually: the divine presence is equally accessible to all human beings, regardless of their birth status. Ravidas the cobbler and the Brahmin scholar had equal claim to enter through any of the four doors.

6. The Causeway and the Parikrama

The Approach

The Harmandir Sahib is not directly accessible from the surrounding streets — to reach it, the devotee must first enter through the Darshan Deorhee gateway, then walk along the parikrama (the walkway surrounding the Amrit Sarovar), and then traverse the causeway — a narrow bridge across the sacred water — that connects the shore to the central shrine. This choreography of approach is itself theologically meaningful: the devotee is invited into a deliberate, conscious journey toward the divine presence rather than an immediate access that might bypass the spiritual preparation the journey provides.

The Causeway as Spiritual Path

The causeway (ਪੁਲ) connecting the parikrama to the Harmandir Sahib can be understood as a physical metaphor for the spiritual path: the bridge that connects the ordinary world to the divine presence. Walking the causeway, with the sacred water on either side and the Harmandir Sahib ahead, the devotee is in a liminal space — between the world they have left behind and the divine presence they are approaching. This quality of liminality encourages a shift in consciousness: the mind is invited to leave behind its ordinary preoccupations and prepare itself for encounter with the divine.

The Parikrama as Collective Path

The parikrama — the broad walkway surrounding the Amrit Sarovar on all sides — is the space where the Sikh community gathers in its most visible collective form. Devotees walk the parikrama at all hours of the day and night, performing their own private circumambulation while simultaneously participating in the collective movement of thousands of other pilgrims. This combination of individual and collective spiritual activity is characteristic of Sikh practice: the individual's spiritual journey is always embedded in a community context.

7. The Interior: Where the Guru Granth Sahib Ji Resides

The Inner Sanctum

The interior of the Harmandir Sahib is organized entirely around the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Unlike Hindu temples — organized around an image of a deity — or churches — organized around an altar — the Harmandir Sahib's innermost space is defined by the scriptural throne (ਤਖਤ) on which the Guru Granth Sahib Ji rests. The architecture of the interior creates a space that focuses the devotee's attention entirely on the scripture as the living presence of the Guru.

Continuous Kirtan

One of the most distinctive features of the Harmandir Sahib is that kirtan — the devotional singing of Gurbani — is performed continuously from the early hours of the morning until late at night. Multiple groups of musicians (ਰਾਗੀ, ragis) rotate through, each performing for a set period and then giving way to the next. This continuous kirtan means that the Harmandir Sahib is never silent; the divine word is always being sung; and the devotee who enters at any hour is immediately received by the sound of the Guru's presence.

The Sachkhand

The innermost sanctum of the Harmandir Sahib is called ਸੱਚਖੰਡ (Sachkhand) — the 'Realm of Truth.' This name, taken from the closing section of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Japji Sahib, designates the highest spiritual realm — the realm of pure divine truth beyond all separation and illusion. By naming the inner sanctum of the Harmandir Sahib after this highest spiritual realm, the tradition declares that the physical sacred space of the Harmandir Sahib is a doorway into the spiritual reality of Sachkhand — that in entering the building, the devotee enters, symbolically and spiritually, the divine realm itself.

8. The Foundation Stone: An Interfaith Gesture

The Traditional Account

Traditional Sikh historical sources record that Guru Arjan Dev Ji invited Hazrat Mian Mir — a revered Muslim Sufi saint from Lahore — to lay the foundation stone of the Harmandir Sahib. Whether or not every detail of this account is precisely historical, it has been transmitted with great care across the tradition and carries significant theological weight. The account in the Suraj Parkash Granth describes Guru Arjan Dev Ji's deep respect for Hazrat Mian Mir and his deliberate choice to honor the Muslim saint by entrusting him with this sacred role (Santokh Singh 1963).

The Theological Statement

The theological message of this act — if accepted — is profound. At the founding of the Sikhs' most sacred shrine, a Muslim saint's hands performed the foundation-laying ceremony. This would have been a striking and deliberate signal to all who heard of it: the Harmandir Sahib is not a building belonging to Sikhs in opposition to Muslims, Hindus, or anyone else — it is a building that belongs to the divine, and the divine's house can be blessed by the sincere devotion of any sincere seeker regardless of religious affiliation.

Historical Context and Interpretation

Modern historians have examined this tradition carefully. Whether Hazrat Mian Mir himself laid the foundation stone, or whether the account represents a later theological elaboration of Guru Arjan Dev Ji's universalist principles, the tradition as received expresses something important about the Sikh community's self-understanding. The Harmandir Sahib was never intended to be a monument to Sikh exclusivity but to the universality of the divine presence — a presence that Sikh theology held was accessible to, and could be recognized by, sincere seekers of any tradition.

9. The Installation of the Adi Granth

Two Achievements United

The year 1604 saw two of the most significant achievements of Guru Arjan Dev Ji's ministry come together: the completion of the Harmandir Sahib and the completion of the Adi Granth. The installation of the scripture in the newly completed building was thus not merely a practical necessity — it was the consummation of a unified vision in which building and book were designed for each other. The Harmandir Sahib had been built to house the Adi Granth; the Adi Granth had been compiled to reside in the Harmandir Sahib (Singh 1963, 89).

The Ceremony

Traditional accounts describe the installation ceremony as one of great solemnity and joy. The Adi Granth was carried in procession to the Harmandir Sahib and installed on the scriptural throne within the inner sanctum. Guru Arjan Dev Ji is said to have performed the first ardas (prayer) before the newly installed scripture, marking the beginning of the tradition of continuous kirtan and regular recitation that has continued without interruption to the present day (Santokh Singh 1963).

A Precedent with Eternal Consequences

The installation of the Adi Granth in the Harmandir Sahib in 1604 established a precedent with eternal consequences. By placing the scripture — rather than any image, relic, or human figure — at the center of the Sikhs' most sacred space, Guru Arjan Dev Ji declared that the Guru's presence in the Sikh community would always be mediated through the divine word rather than through any physical object of veneration. This precedent made possible, a century later, Guru Gobind Singh Ji's declaration that the Guru Granth Sahib Ji would be the eternal Guru — a declaration prepared for by the long tradition of venerating the scripture as the Guru's presence that had been established in 1604.

10. Baba Buddha Ji: First Granthi

An Elder of Extraordinary Significance

Baba Buddha Ji (c. 1506–1631) was one of the most remarkable figures of the early Sikh period — a man who lived long enough to know personally all five of the first Sikh Gurus, from Guru Nanak Dev Ji to Guru Arjan Dev Ji. This personal connection to five Gurus gave him a unique authority and sanctity within the Sikh community; he was both a living link to the founding generation and a contemporary of the fifth generation. It was this combination of historical connection and personal spiritual stature that led Guru Arjan Dev Ji to appoint him as the first Granthi (custodian) of the Adi Granth at the Harmandir Sahib.

The Role of the Granthi

The Granthi is the custodian and reader of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji in a gurdwara — responsible for the proper treatment of the scripture (the ਮਰਯਾਦਾ, maryada, the code of conduct), for performing the daily opening and closing ceremonies of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and for conducting akhand paths (uninterrupted continuous readings) and other scriptural services. The appointment of Baba Buddha Ji to this role at the Harmandir Sahib set the standard for how the Guru Granth Sahib Ji is to be treated and honored in every gurdwara in the world.

A Symbolic Appointment

The appointment of Baba Buddha Ji was also symbolically significant. By entrusting the care of the newly installed scripture to one who had personally known the human Gurus from the very beginning of the Sikh tradition, Guru Arjan Dev Ji created a living link between the era of the human Gurus and the era of the scriptural Guru. Baba Buddha Ji's personal memory of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's teachings and presence was now directed toward the veneration of the scripture in which those teachings were preserved — a beautiful and deliberate continuity between the oral and the textual dimensions of the Sikh tradition.

11. The Harmandir Sahib Through History

The Eighteenth-Century Attacks

The Harmandir Sahib's history after 1604 was not without turbulence. During the eighteenth century, as the Sikh community came into conflict with Mughal and later Afghan power, the Harmandir Sahib was attacked and partially destroyed on several occasions. The most devastating of these was the massacre known as the 'Lesser Holocaust' of 1746 and the 'Greater Holocaust' of 1762, when Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani ordered the destruction of the Harmandir Sahib and had the Amrit Sarovar filled with the corpses of Sikhs. The Sikh community repeatedly rebuilt the shrine after each destruction, demonstrating a resilience that became itself a source of communal identity and pride.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Contribution

The most famous physical transformation of the Harmandir Sahib came in the early nineteenth century, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh — the ruler of the Sikh empire — had the upper portions of the building covered with gold leaf, earning the structure its popular English name 'the Golden Temple.' This addition, while visually spectacular, reflected both Ranjit Singh's wealth and power and his deep personal devotion to the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The golden dome became the most recognized visual symbol of the Sikh faith worldwide.

Operation Bluestar (1984)

The most traumatic event in the Harmandir Sahib's modern history was Operation Bluestar in June 1984, when the Indian Army entered the Golden Temple complex in an attempt to remove armed militants who had occupied it. The operation resulted in significant damage to the Akal Takht building and the deaths of hundreds of people. The Sikh community's response to this desecration — the complex and contested political events that followed — shaped the Sikh political landscape for decades. The Harmandir Sahib was subsequently repaired and continues to function as the spiritual center of the global Sikh community.

12. The Living Sacred Center Today

Millions of Pilgrims

The Harmandir Sahib today draws more pilgrims than almost any other religious site in the world. Millions of visitors come annually from across India and from the global Sikh diaspora in North America, the United Kingdom, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. For many Sikhs, a visit to the Harmandir Sahib is a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual aspiration; for those living nearby, daily visits are part of their regular devotional rhythm. The diversity of those who come — in age, background, economic status, and geographic origin — reflects the universalist vision that the four open doors embody.

The Langar at Scale

The langar at the Harmandir Sahib operates at a scale that is extraordinary even by global standards. It reportedly serves between 50,000 and 100,000 free meals daily — a number that increases dramatically during festival times. The food is entirely vegetarian (to accommodate all dietary requirements), and every person who comes — pilgrim, tourist, local, or foreign — is welcome. This langar, maintained entirely through volunteer seva and community donations, is perhaps the most visible practical expression of the Sikh theological principle that all human beings are equal in the eyes of the divine.

Continuous Kirtan as Living Presence

The continuous kirtan performed in the Harmandir Sahib from the early morning hours until late at night represents one of the longest uninterrupted traditions of sacred music in the world. Ragis (musicians) trained in the classical raags of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji sing in rotation, ensuring that the divine word is always being voiced within the sacred space. This continuous kirtan is not merely a religious performance — it is understood as the living expression of the Guru's presence, maintained without interruption since the installation of the Adi Granth in 1604. To enter the Harmandir Sahib at any hour is to enter a space where the Guru's word is perpetually alive and audible.

References & further reading

  1. Santokh Singh, Kavi. Suraj Parkash Granth (Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth). Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag Punjab, 1963.
  2. Singh, Khushwant. A History of the Sikhs. Vol. 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.
  3. Grewal, J. S. The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  4. Pashaura Singh and Louis E. Fenech, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  5. Singh, Harbans. The Heritage of the Sikhs. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Manohar, 1994.
  6. Nesbitt, Eleanor. Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

From the source text

(੧੭੬) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ਹੈ, ਤਿਸ ਬੀਰਜ ਤੇ ਹੀ ਸਰਬ ਕੀ ਉਤਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਅਰ ਜਲ ਕੇ ਬਰਸਬੇ ਤੇ ਸਰਬ ਉਤਭੁਜ੧ ਕੀ ਉਤਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਇਸੀ ਹੇਤ ਕਰਿ ਸਰਬ ਜਗਤ ਕੋ ਪਿਤਾ ਜਲ ਹੈ। ‘ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤਿ ਮਹਤੁ’=ਸਰਬ ਜਗਤ ਕੀ ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤੀ ਹੈ। ਕੈਸੀ ਧਰਤੀ ਹੈ? ‘ਮਹਤੁ’ ਕਹੀਏ ਬਡੀ ਹੈ।
(176) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Yes, from that seed, everything originates. And from the raining of water, all vegetation originates. For this reason, water is the father of the entire world. ‘Mata dharat mahat’ = the earth is the mother of the entire world. What kind of earth is it? It is called ‘mahat’, meaning great. A mother is one who supports and raises a child, nourishes them by producing milk from her own body, and bears the impurities of the child; in the same way, the earth relates to the entire world. First, it supports and holds everything upon itself; second, the earth produces grain and other sustenance within itself to feed everyone—the nourishment of all comes from the earth, and everything that originates from it consumes it.
— from Garab Ganjinee Teeka. Gurmukhi is the author's original text (OCR); the English is a machine translation. Both are short study excerpts — refer to the original for an authoritative reading.Read the full work on SikhLibrary ↗

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Course test

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1. What is the theological significance of building the Harmandir Sahib below ground level?
2. How many doors does the Harmandir Sahib have, and what do they represent?
3. Who is traditionally said to have laid the foundation stone of the Harmandir Sahib?
4. Who was appointed as the first Granthi of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji at the Harmandir Sahib?
5. In what year was the Adi Granth installed in the completed Harmandir Sahib?
6. What is the Punjabi name for the inner sanctum of the Harmandir Sahib, named after the highest spiritual realm in Japji Sahib?
7. Which Sikh ruler had the Harmandir Sahib covered with gold leaf in the early nineteenth century?
8. What term describes the walkway surrounding the Amrit Sarovar around which devotees circumambulate?
9. What building established by Guru Hargobind Ji opposite the Harmandir Sahib represents temporal Sikh authority?
10. Approximately how many free meals does the Harmandir Sahib's langar serve daily?

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