Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second

largest city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metropo ...

in the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

state of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, after

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...

. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the

Majha Majha ( Punjabi: ਮਾਝਾ (Gurmukhi), (Shahmukhi); ''Mājhā'') is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region split between India and Pakistan. It extends north from the right banks of the river Beas, and reaches ...

region of

. The city is the administrative headquarters of the

Amritsar district Amritsar district is one of the twenty three districts that make up the Indian state of Punjab. Located in the Majha region of Punjab, the city of Amritsar is the headquarters of this district. As of 2011, it is the second most populous distr ...

. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Amritsar is the second-most populous city in Punjab and the most populous metropolitan region in the state with a population of roughly 2 million. Amritsar is the centre of the Amritsar Metropolitan Region. According to the 2011 census, the population of Amritsar was 1,989,961. It is one of the ten Municipal Corporations in the state, and Karamjit Singh Rintu is the current Mayor of the city. The city is situated north-west of

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

, 455 km (283 miles) north-west of

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, and 47 km (29.2 miles) north-east of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, with the Indo-Pak Border (Attari-Wagah) being only away. Amritsar is the economic capital of Punjab. It is a major tourist centre with nearly a hundred thousand daily visitors. The city has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for

HRIDAY Hriday is an Indian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Hriday Gattani (born 1991), Indian musical artist * Hriday Shetty, Indian film director * Hriday Nath Wanchoo, (died 1992), Kashmiri communist trade-unionist *Hriday L ...

scheme of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. Amritsar is home to Sri Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as "the Golden Temple", one of

Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...

religion's most spiritually significant and most-visited

gurudwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

s. The city is also known for Amritsari food, its wooden chessboards and

chess pieces A chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. It can be either white or black, and it can be one of six types: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn. Chess sets generally come with s ...

manufacturing industry.

Mythology

The

Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Asthan is temple panorama complex and an important historical monument of Valmikis located at Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath road of Amritsar city. Since 1 December 2016, it has an 8-foot-tall 800-kg gold-plated idol of Sage Valm ...

situated at Amritsar is believed to be the Ashram site of Maharishi

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the wikt:harbinger, harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on ...

, the writer of

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

. As per the Ramayana,

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

gave birth to Lava and Kusha, sons of lord

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

at Ramtirath ashram. Large number of people visit Ramtirath Temple at annual fair. Nearby cities to Amritsar,

and

Kasur Kasur (Urdu and pa, ; also Romanization of Urdu, romanized as Qasūr; from pluralized Arabic word ''Qasr'' meaning "palaces" or "forts") is a city to south of Lahore, in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. The city serves as th ...

were believed to be founded by Lava and Kusha, respectively. It is believed that During

Ashvamedha Yajna The Ashvamedha ( sa, अश्वमेध, aśvamedha, translit-std=IAST) was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Shrauta, Śrauta tradition of Historical Vedic religion, Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their im ...

by Lord Rama, Lava and Kush caught the ritual horse and tied Lord

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

to a tree near to today's

Durgiana Temple Shri Durgiana Mandir ( Punjabi: ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਦੁਰਗਿਆਨਾ ਮੰਦਿਰ) (Hindi: श्री दुर्गियाना मंदिर), is a Hindu temple situated in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. Though a Hindu te ...

History

Founding of Amritsar City

Amritsar Overhead Panorama View Artwork circa 1860's

Guru Ram Das Guru Ram Das (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਰਾਮ ਦਾਸ, pronunciation: ; 24 September 1534 – 1 September 1581) was the fourth of the ten Ten Gurus of Sikhism, Gurus of Sikhism. He was born in a family based in Lahore. His birth n ...

, the fourth Sikh guru is credited with founding the holy city of Amritsar in the Sikh tradition. Two versions of stories exist regarding the land where Guru Ram Das Ji settled. In one based on a Gazetteer record, the land was purchased with Sikh donations, for 700 rupees from the owners of the village of Tung. According to the historical Sikh records, the site was chosen by

Guru Amar Das Guru Amar Das (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਅਮਰ ਦਾਸ, pronunciation: ; 5 May 1479 – 1 September 1574), sometimes spelled as Guru Amardas, was the third of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552 at age 73. Befor ...

and called Guru Da Chakk, after he had asked Ram Das to find land to start a new town with a man-made pool as its central point. After his coronation in 1574, and the hostile opposition he faced from the sons of Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das ji founded the town named after him as "Ramdaspur". He started by completing the pool, and building his new official Guru centre and home next to it. He invited merchants and artisans from other parts of India to settle into the new town with him. The town expanded during the time of Guru Arjan Dev ji financed by donations and constructed by voluntary work. The town grew to become the city of Amritsar, and the pool area grew into a temple complex after his son built the

gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

Harmandir Sahib, and installed the scripture of Sikhism inside the new temple in 1604. The construction activity between 1574 and 1604 is described in ''Mahima Prakash Vartak'', a semi-historical Sikh

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

text likely composed in 1741, and the earliest known document dealing with the lives of all the ten Gurus. Ranjit Singh at Harmandir Sahib - August Schoefft - Vienna 1850 - Princess Bamba Collection - Lahore Fort

Ranjit Singh at Harmandir Sahib - August Schoefft - Vienna 1850 - Princess Bamba Collection - Lahore Fort

In 1762 and 1766–1767, Ahmad Shah of the

Durrani Empire The Durrani Empire ( ps, د درانيانو ټولواکمني; fa, امپراتوری درانیان) or the Afghan Empire ( ps, د افغانان ټولواکمني, label=none; fa, امپراتوری افغان, label=none), also know ...

invaded the

Sikh Confederacy The Misls (derived from an Arabic word مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and is cit ...

, besieged Amritsar, massacred the populace and destroyed the city.

Old walled city

During

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

in 1822 Maharaja

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

fortified the city starting from a wall at Katra Maha Singh area. Later,

Sher Singh Sher Singh (4 December 1807 – 15 September 1843) was the fourth Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. Elder of the twins of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and Maharani Mehtab Kaur. His reign began on 18 January 1840 following his ...

continued with the construction of the wall with twelve gates (Lahori Darwaza, Khazana, Hakeema, Rangar Nangalia, Gilwali, Ramgarhia, Doburji, Ahluwalia, Deori Kalan, Rambagh Deori, Shahzada and Lohgarh) in it and a fort named ''Dhoor Kot'' that had fortification 25 yards broad and 7 yards high. The circumference of the walled city was around five miles. When in 1849, British annexed Punjab, Amritsar was a walled city and they built a thirteenth gate to it known as ''Hall Gate''.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre

The

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independence ...

, involving the killings of hundreds of Indian civilians on the orders of British Colonel

Reginald Edward Harry Dyer Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, CB (9 October 1864 – 23 July 1927) was an officer of the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. His military career began serving briefly in the regular British Army before trans ...

, took place on 13 April 1919 in the heart of Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikhs, on a day sacred to them as the birth anniversary of the

Khalsa Khalsa ( pa, ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, , ) refers to both a community that considers Sikhism as its faith,Kha ...

(Vaisakhi day). In Punjab, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914–18), there was considerable unrest particularly among the Sikhs, first on account of the demolition of a boundary wall of Gurdwara Rakab Ganj at New Delhi and later because of the activities and trials of the

Ghadarite The Ghadar Movement was an early 20th century, international political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India. The early movement was created by conspirators who lived and worked on the West Coast of the United ...

s, almost all of whom were Sikhs. In India as a whole, too, there had been a spurt in political activity mainly owing to the emergence of two leaders:

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

(1869–1948) who after a period of struggle against the British in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, had returned to India in January 1915, and

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

(1847–1933), head of the Theosophical Society of India, who on 11 April 1916 established the

Home Rule League The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...

with autonomy for India as its goal. In December 1916, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, at its annual session held at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, passed a resolution asking the king to issue a proclamation announcing that it is the "aim and intention of British policy to confer self-government on India at an early date". On 10 April 1919, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, two popular proponents of the

Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...

movement led by Gandhi, were called to the deputy commissioner's residence, arrested and sent off by car to Dharamsetla, a hill town, now in Himachal Pradesh. This led to a general strike in Amritsar. Excited groups of citizens soon merged into a crowd of about 50,000 marchings on to protest to the deputy commissioner against the arrest of the two leaders. The crowd, however, was stopped and fired upon near the railway foot-bridge. According to the official version, the number of those killed was 12 and of those wounded between 20 and 30. Evidence before an inquiry of the Indian National Congress put the number of the dead between 20 and 30. Three days later, on 13 April, the traditional festival of Baisakhi, thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims gathered in the

Jallianwala Bagh Jallianwala Bagh is a historic Bāgh (garden), garden and ‘memorial of national importance’ close to the Harmandir Sahib, Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India, Punjab, India, preserved in the memory of those wounded and killed in ...

. An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 16:30, Dyer arrived with a group of sixty-five Gurkha soldiers (from the

9th Gorkha Rifles The 9th Gorkha Rifles is a Gorkha infantry regiment of the Indian Army and, previously, the British Army. The regiment was initially formed by the British in 1817, and was one of the Gurkha regiments transferred to the Indian Army after independe ...

) and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers (from the

59th Scinde Rifles The 59 Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force) was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was one of the most reputed outfits of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1843, as the Scinde Camel Corps. In 1856, it was incorporate ...

). Without warning the crowd to disperse, Dyer blocked the main exits and ordered his troops to begin shooting toward the densest sections of the crowd; the firing continued for approximately ten minutes. A British government inquiry into the massacre placed the death toll at 379. The Indian National Congress, on the other hand, estimated that approximately 1,000 people were killed.

Operation Blue Star

Operation Blue Star Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military operation which was carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of ...

(1 – 6 June 1984) was an Indian military operation ordered by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

, the Prime Minister of India to curb and remove Sikh

militants The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...

from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The operation was carried out by

Indian army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

troops with

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s and armoured vehicles. Militarily successful, the operation aroused immense controversy, and the government's justification for the timing and style of the attack are hotly debated. Operation Blue Star was included in the Top 10 Political Disgraces by ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

'' magazine. Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83, with 493 civilians and Sikh militants killed. While independent estimates place the numbers upwards of 5,000 people, a majority of them pilgrims, including women and children. In addition, the CBI is considered responsible for seizing historical artefacts and manuscripts in the

Sikh Reference Library The Sikh Reference Library was a repository of an estimated 20,000 literary works located in the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) at Amritsar, Punjab (India), Punjab which was destroyed during Operation Blue Star. Kaur, Jaskaran; Crossette, Barb ...

before burning it down. Four months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in what is viewed as an act of vengeance. Following her assassination, more than 17,000 Sikhs were killed in the

1984 anti-Sikh riots The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Massacre, was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs ...

Geography

Amritsar is located at with an average elevation of 234 metres (768 ft). Amritsar is located in the Majha region of the state of Punjab in North India lies about 15 miles (25 km) east of the border with

. Administrative towns includes Ajnala,

Attari Attari, also spelled Atari, is a village of Amritsar district in the Punjab state of India, 3 km from the Indo-Pakistani border at Wagah. It is situated 25 km west of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, and is the last Indian station on ...

Beas Beas is a riverfront town in the Amritsar district of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Punjab, India, Punjab. Beas lies on the banks of the Beas River. Beas town is mostly located in revenue boundary of Budha Theh wit ...

, Budha Theh,

Chheharta Sahib Chheharta Sahib is a town located 7 km Tara Singh, "Sri Gur Tirath Sangarahi" west of Amritsar city of Punjab, India, Punjab in India, on the Grand Trunk Road leading to the Pakistan border. The town derives its name from the Gurudwara Chheh ...

Jandiala Guru Jandiala Guru, commonly known as Jandiala, is a town in the Amritsar district of Punjab, India, Punjab, India. It is located on the Grand Trunk Road, and has an altitude of 229 m (754 ft). History Jandiala Guru is named after Jand, t ...

Majitha Majitha is a town and a municipal council in Amritsar district in the Indian state of Punjab. The 2011 Census of India recorded 14,503 people resident in the town. The renowned Majithia family of ''Sardars'' of the Sher-Gill Jat clan trace th ...

, Rajasansi,

Ramdass Ramdass is a city, near Amritsar city and a municipal council in Amritsar district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is situated on the bank of Ravi river. It is a border area. It is an ancient holy city. It is nearly 50 K.M. far from Amritsa ...

, Rayya,

Verka Town Verka is a suburb located in the Amritsar district of Punjab state, India. It is located on Batala Road and is situated on the northern part of Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', i ...

and

Baba Bakala Baba Bakala is a historical town and tehsil in the Amritsar district in Punjab, India. It is known as the location of Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib. History Baba Bakala Sahib is closely associated with the ninth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Tegh Bah ...

Climate

Typically for Northwestern India, Amritsar has a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(Köppen ''BSh'') bordering on a monsoon-influenced

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cwa''). Temperatures in Amritsar usually ranges from . It experiences four primary seasons: winter (December to March), when temperatures can drop to ; summer (April to June), when temperatures can reach ; monsoon (July to September); and post-monsoon (October to November). Annual rainfall is about . The lowest recorded temperature is , was recorded on 9 December 1996 and the highest temperature, , was recorded on 24 May 2013. The official weather station for the city is the civil aerodrome at Rajasansi. Weather records here date back to 15 November 1947.

Demographics

2011 census, Amritsar municipality had a population of 1,132,761 and the urban agglomeration had a population of 1,183,705. The municipality had a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

of 879 females per 1,000 males and 9.7% of the population were under six years old. Effective literacy was 85.27%; male literacy was 88.09% and female literacy was 82.09%. The

scheduled caste The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

population is 28.8%

Religion

According to

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

is the main religion of the Amritsar city at 48.2% of the population, respectively. In Amritsar city, Christianity was followed by 1.23% , Hinduism by 47.2% and Islam by 0.51%. Around 0.74% of the population of the city stated 'No Particular Religion' or another religion. Amritsar is the holiest city in Sikhism and about 80 million people visit it each year for pilgrimage.

Politics

The city is part of the Amritsar (Lok Sabha constituency).

Tourism

* Golden Temple and Heritage Street * Durgiana Mandir and Bada Hanuman Mandir *Mata Lal Devi Mandir, Model Town *Shri Ram Tirath and Valmiki Tirath *Shivala Bagh Bhaiyan * Punjab State War Heroes' Memorial & Museum * Sadda Pind * Urban Haat Food Street *

Gobindgarh Fort Gobindgarh Fort is a historic military fort located in the center of the city of Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab. The Fort was until recently occupied by the army but was opened to the public from 10 February 2017. Today the fort is bein ...

Ram Bagh Palace Ram Bagh is a garden built during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Ram Bagh palace also known as Ram Bagh Mahal, is a palace situated in the centre of this garden, which was used as the summer residence of Ranjit ...

and **Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum *

Wagah Wagah ( ur, ) or Wagha (Shahmukhi pnb, ) is a village and union council (UC 181) located in the Wahga Zone near Lahore City District, Pakistan. The town is famous for the Wagah border ceremony and also serves as a goods transit terminal and ...

border * Gurudwara Shaheed Ganj Sahib * Partition Museum *

Pul Kanjri Pul Kanjri is a historical site situated 35 km away from Amritsar on Amritsar-Lahore road, near the villages of Dhanoa Khurd and Dhanoa Kalan on the Wagah border. It is one of the heritage sites built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, where he used ...

VR Ambarsar VR Ambarsar (previously known as Trilium Amritsar) is a flagship shopping mall of Virtuous Retail situated in Circular Road, Amritsar, Punjab, India and is the largest mall in the Indian State of Punjab. The mall is spread over 6 floors, and i ...

, Circular Road. *

Mall of Amritsar Mall of Amritsar (previously known as Alpha One Mall) is a shopping mall situated on GT Road, Amritsar, Punjab, India developed by Alpha G Group and is the third largest mall in the Indian State of Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنج� ...

, near Hyatt * Jang-e-Azadi Memorial near Kartarpur, India

Economy

Amritsar is the second-largest city and district of Punjab. It is also one of the fastest-growing cities of Punjab. In the mid-1980s the city was famous for its textile industry. Amritsar’s trade and industry faced a blow during militancy period in 1980s, but there are still many textile mills, knitting units and embroidery factories functional in the city. It is famous for its pashmina shawls, woolen clothes, blankets, etc. Among handicrafts, the craft of the

Thathera The Thathera is a Hindu and Sikh artisan caste in India, who traditional occupation is the making of brass and copper utensils. In 2014, the craft of the Thathera community of Jandiala Guru were included in UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultur ...

s of

got enlisted on

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014, and the effort to revive this craft under the umbrella of Project Virasat is among India's biggest government-sponsored craft revival programs. Tourism and hospitality have recently become the backbone of local economy due to heavy tourist arrivals. Hundreds of small and some large hotels have sprung up to cater to the increased tourist inflow. Restaurants, taxi operators, local shopkeepers have all benefited from the tourist boom.

Transport

Air

Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar

Amritsar hosts Sri Guru Ramdasji International Airport. The airport is connected to other parts of India and other countries with direct international flights to cities. The Airport is 12th busiest Airport of India in terms of International Traffic. The Airport serves not only Amritsar, but also many other districts in Punjab and neighbouring states.

Rail

Amritsar Central Railway Station is the main station serving Amritsar. It is the busiest Railway Station in Indian State of Punjab and one of the highest revenue generating station of

Northern Railways The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi. History Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, ...

. Due to high traffic at the Amritsar Central Railway Station,

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

has planned to develop 2 satellite stations-Chheharta and Bhagtanwala, in order to decongest traffic at this station. As many as 6 trains would be shifted to Chheharta Railway Station in the first phase. The

Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC) was a special purpose vehicle owned by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), Ircon International and RITES. All three companies are owned by the Indian Ministry of Railways. I ...

has also planned to make the Amritsar Central Railway Station, a world class railway station on lines of

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

based on PPP Model. The project has received an overwhelming response with bids from 7 private firms, including GMR.

Road

Amritsar is located on the historic

Grand Trunk Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...

(G.T Road), also known as NH 1 now renumbered as National Highway 3. An expressway by name of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway at the cost of 25,000

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

is approved under

Bharatmala The Bharatmala Pariyojna ( 'India garland project') is an ecosystem of road development which includes development of tunnels, bridges, elevated corridors, flyovers, overpass, interchanges, bypasses, ring roads etc. to provide shortest, jam f ...

scheme which will cut the travel time from Amritsar to

by road from current 8 hours, to 4 hours. Another expressway, called

Amritsar Jamnagar Expressway Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

is under construction which will connect Amritsar to

Jamnagar Jamnagar () is a city located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat of Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra region. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jamnagar district and the fifth largest city in Gujarat. The city lies ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Additionally,

NH 54 National Highway 306 (NH 306) is a National Highway in the Northeastern Indian states of Assam and Mizoram. NH 306 begins in Silchar, Assam at the intersection of NH 37 and generally runs southward passing through Lumding, Silchar and Kolas ...

(Old NH15), NH 354 and NH 503A connect Amritsar to other parts of state and rest of India. A

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

will also be built surrounding all 4 sides of Amritsar 450,000,000 is being spent to expand the Amritsar-

Jalandhar Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

stretch of G.T. Road to four lanes. In 2010, elevated road with four lanes connected to the National highway for better access to the Golden Temple has been started.

Amritsar MetroBus

Amritsar has a

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

service, the

Amritsar Metrobus Amritsar MetroBus (Amritsar BRTS) is the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. Amritsar MetroBus allows easy travel to different places in city like the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Guru Nanak Dev Unive ...

which was launched on 28 January 2019. 93 fully air-conditioned

Tata Marcopolo Tata Marcopolo (officially Tata Marcopolo Motors Ltd.) is a bus and coach manufacturing company headquartered in Karnataka, India and a joint venture between Tata Motors and Marcopolo S.A. Tata Motors will buy the 49 percent stake held by its ...

buses are used for the service connecting places like * Golden Temple *

Guru Nanak Dev University The university is Entitled by University Grants Commission to offer higher studies degree courses online. Guru Nanak Dev University's campus is spread over near village of Kot Khalsa, nearly west of the Amritsar, next to Khalsa College, A ...

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...

India Gate The India Gate (formerly known as the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Rajpath on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi, formerly called duty path. It stands as a memorial to 84,000 soldiers of the Br ...

, Amritsar *

* Khalsa College

Sister Cities

Following cities are

Sister Cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Amritsar: *

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States *

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...

Norfolk, England Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

, United Kingdom

Educational institutions

Khalsa College-Monumentos de Amritsar-India16

BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar The BBK DAV College for Women is a college in Amritsar, India. BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar, was founded in the 1967 under the aegis of DAV College Managing Committee, New Delhi. Academics The academic year has semester system cons ...

* D.A.V College *

D.A.V Public School The D.B.V. College Managing Committee, familiarly known as DAVDholakpurMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in Antarctica and overseas with over 900 schools. 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Maharishi Da ...

* Delhi Public School, Amritsar * Global Institute, Amritsar *

Government Medical College, Amritsar Government Medical College, formerly known as Glancy Medical College, was established in 1864 in Lahore, British India and located to Amritsar, India in 1920. History In, 1947 India became a separate nation and was partitioned into India and P ...

* Holy Heart Presidency School, Amritsar *

Khalsa College, Amritsar Khalsa College ( pa, ਖਾਲਸਾ ਕਾਲਜ ''khālsā kālaj'') is a historic educational institution in the northern Indian city of Amritsar in the state of Punjab, India. Founded in 1892, the sprawling campus is located about eight ...

* Khalsa College of Law *

Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar The Indian Institute of Management Amritsar (IIM Amritsar) is a Public Business School and an Institute of National Importance located in Amritsar, Punjab, India established by Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2015. It is one of the ...

Spring Dale Senior School Spring Dale Senior School is a private, English medium Mixed-sex education, co-educational school in Amritsar, Punjab, India, Punjab, India. Owned and managed by Sandhu family, the school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Educatio ...

* Shri Ram Ashram Public School * Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Amritsar * St. Francis School, Amritsar * St. Mary's Convent school, Chamiyari, Amritsar

Medical facilities

Dr. Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar also known as Dr. Vidyasagar Government Mental Hospital is public mental health institution and hospital run by Government of Punjab, located at circular road, Amritsar, Punjab. It serves the mental health pa ...

, a government mental hospital. *

* Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences, Sri Amritsar * Fortis Hospital, Byepass * Amandeep Hospital, G. T. Road * Medicity, Mall Road * Dr. Daljit Singh Eye Hospital * Dr. Om Parkash Eye Hospital

References

Sources

External links

Official Website of District of Amritsar

Official Website of Amritsar Municipal Corporation

Amritsar HRIDAY city
{{Authority control Metropolitan cities in India Cities and towns in Amritsar district Former capital cities in India Holy cities Populated places along the Silk Road Sikh places Populated places established in 1574