Amid curfew, daily ‘maryada’ continues at Golden Temple

AMRITSAR:EVEN as curfew has led to unprecedented decline in the footfall of devotees at the Golden Temple here, performance of daily ‘maryada’ (rituals) continues at its sanctum sanctorum with t hesame religious fervour.

As Punjab government is taking strict measures to enforce curfew to prevent spread of COVID-19, the number of devotees has reduced from around one lakh daily on normal days to around 100 now.

Accordingly, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that manages the shrine, has scaled down the staff there as well as. “Staff deployed at Golden Temple has been reduced y 70% according to the footfall of the sangat,”, said Sukhbir Singh, additional manager of the Golden Temple.

However, the daily rituals that start at 2 am with opening of the doors of the sanctum sanctorum and conclude at 11 pm, continue. A few devotees take part in these ceremonies, including washing and cleaning the floor with milk.

They make the sanctum sanctorum ready for ‘parkash’ (installation) of Guru Granth Sahib.

On Monday and Tuesday early morning, around 50 devotees were there to perform sewa. “I also attended the concluding ceremony on Monday night. There were around 100 devotees on the occasion. I also met some devotees who came from a nearby village. During normal days, we witness around 3,000 devotees during amrit vela (early morning) ceremony”, said Tarundeep Singh, a youngster who visits the shrine daily.