Rare photo Harmandir Sahib

[MisterrSingh]

On 2/1/2020 at 1:06 PM, puzzled said:

In a lot of these old photos of harmandir sahib theres always sadhoos and those bold men with lots of malas, yogis? 

I think harmandir sahib attracted a lot more of a diverse sangat in the old days. 

 

It seemed a lot more, I'm not sure what the word is, but culturally cosmopolitan? I suppose that has its disadvantages, too, because you end up in a situation where non-Sikh third parties don't respect boundaries and begin to take liberties when they assume your ideology or religious group are a one-stop-shop for all and sundry, where people can do and believe whatever they like minus any commitment.

It's like one of those strange back-water shrines where there's statues of Buddha and Shiva next to paintings of Jesus and Mary, nestled amongst portraits of Guru Sahibs. I mean, from a wholly spiritual perspective it's arguably a nice thing to see that kind of unity, but in the cold light of day it weakens identities and blurs the lines of ideologies that are required to be disparate to ensure that unique systems of beliefs survive on the strength of their own particular philosophies. As I've mentioned before, in those types of situations it's always the belief system with the smallest presence and number of followers that suffers through compromise, and that more often than not happens to be us.

There can't be a stubbornly neglect of the reality of human nature and the intentions of enemies who want to dilute and weaken the beliefs of their opponents.

[puzzled]

2 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

It seemed a lot more, I'm not sure what the word is, but culturally cosmopolitan? I suppose that has its disadvantages, too, because you end up in a situation where non-Sikh third parties don't respect boundaries and begin to take liberties when they assume your ideology or religious group are a one-stop-shop for all and sundry, where people can do and believe whatever they like minus any commitment.

It's like one of those strange back-water shrines where there's statues of Buddha and Shiva next to paintings of Jesus and Mary, nestled amongst portraits of Guru Sahibs. I mean, from a wholly spiritual perspective it's arguably a nice thing to see that kind of unity, but in the cold light of day it weakens identities and blurs the lines of ideologies that are required to be disparate to ensure that unique systems of beliefs survive on the strength of their own particular philosophies. As I've mentioned before, in those types of situations it's always the belief system with the smallest presence and number of followers that suffers through compromise, and that more often than not happens to be us.

There can't be a stubbornly neglect of the reality of human nature and the intentions of enemies who want to dilute and weaken the beliefs of their opponents.

yh    it looks very mixed in the old photos. during the sikh empire the line between sikhi and hindu culture was very blurred, and this continued to the early 20th century. i was looking at a drawn map of harmandir sahib complex during maharaja ranjit singhs time and harmandir sahib had a area for cows on the edge of the sarovar, theres even a british water colour painting of harmandir sahib with a cow standing by the sarovar.    then singh sabha and all the other reformers came about and did their thing. 

[dallysingh101]

These photos are awesome, never seen most of them. Makes a change from viewing the same old ones after a few years.

[puzzled]

2 hours ago, dallysingh101 said:

These photos are awesome, never seen most of them. Makes a change from viewing the same old ones after a few years.

the colour ones amazing   seeing Punjab in colour over a 100 yrs ago!   it weird seeing the lahore photos, hard to imagine such a strong sikh/hindu presence there once upon a time.   in one of the photos its a aghori! hard to imagine a aghori smeared in ash walking around lahore so openly,  but thats how it was once 

indians themselves are to blame for all these once dharmic lands being snatched away 

[puzzled]

2 hours ago, dallysingh101 said:

These photos are awesome, never seen most of them. Makes a change from viewing the same old ones after a few years.

In the photo of the sadhoo and bhaman standing in front of the mandir there is a painting of guru nanak dev ji  just above painting of krishna.    

[puzzled]

[dallysingh101]

@puzzled

 

Bro, try and find the source of that arsenal photo. I'd love to try and chase it up for more details.

[puzzled]

Old photo 1920s  from harmandir sahib of raagis with different instruments 

 

harmandir sahib 1903

 

1920s harmandir sahib   sant sham singh sewapanthi