MarketGurdwara Baba Atal
Company Profile

Gurdwara Baba Atal

Gurdwārā Bābā Aṭṭal Rāi is a famous Gurdwara in Amritsar dedicated to Atal Rai, a son of Guru Hargobind and Mata Nanaki. It consists of nine stories and is around forty metres in height. It is just a short walk from the famous Harmandir Sahib.

Location
The structure is located in the southern direction of the Golden Temple. It is approximately 135 metres away from the Sarai Guru Ram Das building. == Architecture ==
Architecture
The building is octagonal in shape, with a double-octagonal structure. One octagonal structure is the bigger of the two and rises externally and the other, smaller one rises internally, with the external one being circumambulatory to the interior one. The accompanying stories of the exterior octagonal structure ceases after the sixth floor, but they continue until the ninth for the interior octagonal structure. The ninth floor is topped off with a golden dome. A double staircase, using the wall breadth, takes one to the top of the building. At the ground floor, there are four entry doors on each of the main directions. The main entrance of these four entry doors is the one facing in the eastward direction. There is a central room on the ground floor that also has four doors and the Guru Granth Sahib is displayed within this room placed on a brass canopy. The doors of the structure are brass and silver and feature intricate embossed artwork on them. There are various brass plaques, which are embossed, depicting Sikh and Hindu themes throughout the structure. Groupings of three embossed brass plaques are adhered to each of the four exterior doors. ==History==
History
Built some four centuries ago, the Baba Atal Gurdwara is commemoration of the young life of Baba Atal Rai (1619–1628), the son of Guru Hargobind. However, Kanwarjit Singh Kang believes the present-day tower had been erected between circa 1775–1800 (last quarter of the 18th century). Whilst the remaining stories were constructed by various sardars of notability and public donations. The guilt-dome at the top of the tower was presented by Desa Singh Majithia. The gurdwara was famed for its langar and many pilgrims and destitute people visited it to partake in it, where it was freely distributed to all visitors. This led to the coining of a saying related to Baba Atal in the local Amritsari vernacular: In 1903, the following views were possible from the vantage point of the top of the tower: • Northward: on the left-side one could witness the spire of the civil-station church poking out from trees. In-front and closer to the tower, were cupolas of the municipal hall and the red-brick range of the municipal school. The two watch-towers of the Ramgarhia Bunga could be viewed. On the right-side in the northward direction, the spire of Virbhan's Thakurdwara (Vaishnavite temple) could be seen, further still lay the village of Vairka, and far in the distance the snowy Himalayan mountain-range was visible. The Ahluwalia Fort could be seen in the northwest. • Eastward: the town of Jandiala located ten miles away could be seen, along with prominent architectural structures located within it, such as white-spires of the local Jain temple. 13 miles off from it one could see Gurdwara Tarn Taran. Located in the foreground was the little, white shrine of Babeksar and the Ramgarhia cemetery to its right. • Westward: the rooftop of Raja Teja Singh's temple and a union-jack flying from the Gobindgarh Fort to the right of the temple. • Southward: Ramgarhia fortress of Ram Rauni to the southeast and Qila Bhangian to the southwest. There were formerly cenotaphs (samadh) located in the courtyard of Gurdwara Baba Atal, with the one immediately south of the structure being for Baba Mohan (who Baba Atal had revived as per the tale) and in the east the cenotaphs of Nawab Kapur Singh of the Faizalpuria Misl and Jodh Singh (Adalati). Another cenotaph located in the southward direction was Jassa Singh Ahluwalia's. To the west was the cenotaph of Ganda Singh, which contained a mural of Baba Atal. To the northwest lay the cenotaph of Sant Singh Giani, which contained murals depicting Indic deities. On the other-side of the southern buildings was a cremation-ground and various other cenotaphs. Around the Kaulsar tank, there were trees which were inhabited by bats. == Artwork ==
Artwork
Murals The tower contains Sikh art consisting of many mural paintings of important figures and events from Sikh history. Some of the artists who painted the frescoes back then were Jaimal Singh Naqqash, Mehtab Singh Naqqash, Amar Singh, Buta Singh, and Hukum Singh. Many of the murals that had been painted by Mehtab Singh were located on the first-story of the structure. Michael Edwardes had dated the mural paintings of the tower to the early 19th century but this dating was rebuked by Kanwarjit Singh Kang, who rather dates them later to the last decade of the 19th century (1890s) since Mehtab Singh, a traditional Sikh muralist who was born in 1871, had worked on them. Conservation Many of the paintings have been damaged or decayed in the decades since Indian independence due to apathy to them or deliberate defacement. Historical frescoes have been whitewashed or covered by bathroom tiles and plaster during supposed "kar seva" renovations in the structure. In 1971, poor-quality "renovations" led to the murals being repainted with gaudy paint made with artificial chemicals rather than using the naturally-sourced, traditional method of producing paint. This led to the decay in quality of many of the works and artificially-sourced paint is not as hardy or long lasting as compared to naturally-sourced paint. Renovations of kar seva babas continue to threaten the unprotected works and they are slowly disappearing. By 1988, only around 42 fresco panels survived in the structure with the rest having been destroyed. The murals located at the first entrance of the shrine (known as deohri) were in an advanced state of neglect, vandalism, and decay. There used to a fresco located on the wall to the left of the large, entrance-door that depicted the life-story of Baba Atal. == Gallery ==
Gallery
File:Mural depicting Baba Atal Rai from Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai, Amritsar, circa 19th century.jpg|Mural fresco depiction of Baba Atal Rai (centre) located in Gurdwara Baba Atal File:Guru Hargobind depicted alongside Ani Rai and Atal Rai.jpg|Guru Hargobind (middle) depicted alongside Ani Rai (left) and Atal Rai (right) File:Photograph of Gurdwara Baba Atal and the tank of Kaulsar in Amritsar, circa 1863–64.jpg|Photograph of Gurdwara Baba Atal and the tank of Kaulsar in Amritsar by Bourne & Shepherd, circa 1863–64 File:Woodcut of a Sikh family visiting Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar (circa 1870).jpg|Woodcut of a Sikh family visiting Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar (circa 1870) File:Gurdwara-baba-atal.jpg|Fresco painting of floral motifs File:Gurdwara Baba Atal fresco 35.jpg|Frescoes depicting events related to the life of Guru Nanak File:Gurdwara Baba Atal fresco 43.jpg|Frescoes depicting events related to the life of Guru Nanak File:Gurdwara Baba Atal fresco 2.jpg|Frescoes depicting events related to the life of Guru Nanak File:Fresco of Shaheed Singhs from Gurdwara Baba Atal 02.jpg|Fresco of Shaheed Singhs from Gurdwara Baba Atal File:Gurdwara Baba Atal fresco 60.jpg|Fresco of the compilation of the Adi Granth File:Ceiling fresco of Surya Dev iconography from Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar.jpg|Ceiling fresco from Gurdwara Baba Atal File:Full view of a fresco of Guru Nanak testing his potential successors by asking them to climb a tree to obtain food for a gathering, only Bhai Lehna followed his command, from Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar 01.jpg|Decaying and dilapidated fresco File:Fresco where the section showcasing figures is severely damaged and cannot be interpreted from Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar.jpg|Decaying and dilapidated fresco File:Damaged and dirtied fresco showing floral patterns from Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar.webp|Damaged, dilapidated, and dirtied fresco showing floral motifs File:Artwork depicting the tower complex of Gurdwara Baba Atal in Amritsar.jpg|Artwork depicting the tower complex of Gurdwara Baba Atal in Amritsar File:Architectural drawing of the tower complex of Gurdwara Baba Atal in Amritsar, ca.1900's.jpg|Architectural drawing of the tower complex of Gurdwara Baba Atal in Amritsar, ca.1900's File:Mural featuring floral motifs from Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai in Amritsar.jpg|Mural featuring floral motifs from Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai in Amritsar ==References==
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com