Skywatch Friday-Durgiana Mandir, Amritsar

We had just landed in Amritsar and plans were being made for the days to follow. We learnt there was a temple near the hotel we stayed at which is a beautiful one. So that was marked as the 1st place to visit, followed by the other sites. We hailed a cab since we were 5 of us and I kinda convinced all that it made sense to travel together rather than in two autos.. :-) 

As the vehicle pulled into the parking lot, I looked around to see if the temple or the gopuram was in site. I did see a tall gopuram but was told that belonged to another temple. We had to walk down the road to see this temple. The temple is called Durgiana Mandir [ named after Goddess Durga] and some also refere to it as the Lakshmi Narayan Temple. It is situated near the Lohgarh Gate. Leaving our footwear in the car, we made our way down the road [well, it was just a path with nothing but stones and rubble] . A huge gate guarded the temple, near which was a small shrine for Vaishno devi. 

The temple was built by Harsai Mal Kapoor  back in 1908  and has been constructed very alike the Golden Temple. Only prominent difference are the silver doors which has led to it being referred to as the Silver Temple. You walk down a long passage with water on either side, and a fountain that was spouting water to quite a height. There was a carpet laid out and the entire place was just clean [not a speck of dirt or trash to be seen anywhere]. All the pillars and light fittings were in Gold colour adding to the grandeur. After the darshan of Goddess Durga, we also went around to see the other shrines located around. There were quite a few,

Sitla Mata Mandir

Lakshmi Narayan Mandir

Bada Hanuman Mandir

Tulsi Das Mandir and the

Sat Narayan Mandir

As we made our way out, I noticed on top of the inner gate the names of all those who were responsible for erecting the temple. The names ran a mile long.. 

[ To know more about this temple, do visit this site]

It was such a visual treat and I was already excited to visit the Golden temple... Which was set aside for later in the day!! 

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