“PAWAN GURU, pani pita, mata dharti mahat” (air is teacher, water is father and earth is our mother). The Golden Temple is spiritually the most significant shrine in Sikhism. The gurudwara is built around a man-made pool(sarovar) that was completed by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in 1577. The Durgiana Temple, located in the heart of Amritsar, is another religious shrine surrounded by water. Dedicated to Goddess Durga, the foundation stone of this temple was laid by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 1924 on the day of Ganga Dashmi. The main shrine is built on the pattern of the Golden Temple – the upper portion is gold plated and a pool of water surrounds it on all sides. This pool also gets its water supply from the Upper Bari Doab canal of the river Ravi. It holds special significance for Amritsar, the holy city, which boasts of the Harmandar Sahib(The Golden Temple). The city has been named after the water body surrounding the temple. “Amrit” means the nectar of immortality and “sar” or ‘sarovar’ means the pond- hence the name.
