# Golden Temple Kitchen-Harmandar Sahib (Some Facts)



## Archived_member7 (Apr 9, 2009)

For a moment, if one pushes the religious fact aside, it is no ordinary
feat to serve a meal to thousands of people in a day and that too 
round-the-clock.

Forty to fifty thousand people, on an average, partake of langar every day at Harmandar Sahib. "On Sundays, festival days and Masya, the number exceeds 1 lakh," says jathedar Harpinder Singh, who is in charge of the langar. 

Serving such a huge gathering is not an easy task. But, the devotion and selfless service of the sewadars makes the job simple. 

"We have 300 permanent sewadars who work at the langar. They knead dough, cook food, serve people and perform a number of other jobs. Also, there are  a good number of volunteers, both men and women, who work in kitchen and langar hall. They also wash and wipe the utensils. "In the washing hall we have four sewadars to supervise the work," adds Harpinder Singh.

Of course, an elaborate arrangement is in place to cook and serve food at such a large scale.







The langar at Harmandar Sahib is prepared in two kitchens, which have 11 hot plates (tawi), several burners, machines for sieving and kneading dough and several other utensils. At one tawi, 15 people work at a time. It is a chain process - some make ***** of dough, others roll rotis, a few put them on the tawi and rest cook and collect them.





It is all done so meticulously that one is surprised to see that on one hot plate, in just two hours, over 20 kg of flour is used to make rotis. The kitchen also has a roti-making machine, which was donated by a Lebanon-based devotee. The machine is, however, used only on days that are likely to  witness huge crowds. The machine can make rotis of 20-kg flour in just half-an-hour. 





To get the flour, there are two machines in the basement of 
the langar hall and another that kneads one quintal of flour in just five minutes. It is this fine team of man and machine that makes it possible for the gurdwara to provide 24-hour langar on all days.
But, what about putting together the raw material?

"About 50-quintal wheat, 18-quintal daal, 14-quintal rice and seven quintal milk is the daily consumption in the langar kitchen. We have utensils that can store up to seven quintal of cooked daal and kheer at a time," says  assistant in-charge Kanwaljeet Singh. Items needed in langar are bought in huge quantities from Delhi. The purchase mainly includes pulses, while other every-day requirements are met from the local market. A stock of all items is maintained for two months, he adds. 





British Foreign Minister Jack Straw makes chapatis at the langar hall of 
Golden Temple during his visit - ANI photo

"Desi Ghee comes from Verka Milk Plant in the city Also, the devotees make donations. In a day we receive , over eight quintals of sugar and seven quintals of dal. Often, people also donate money in langar funds. For instance, we recently received a donation of Rs 2 lakh from a devotee who wanted to bear all langar expenses for a day ," says in-charge Harpinder Singh. "Besides dal-roti, kheer and karah prasad is prepared on alternate days. On an average, seven quintals of milk and an equal quantity of rice is needed to prepare kheer. On festive occasions, we also distribute jalebis. 
Every day over 100 , gas cylinders are needed to fuel the kitchen. For making tea, 6 quintals of sugar and 20 kg of tea leaf are consumed," adds  Kanwaljeet.





Early morning meditation at the Harmandir Sahib

But, all this wouldn't have been possible without the grace of Waheguru:
"Loh langar tapde rahin" (may the hot plates of the langar remain ever in service) are the words that every devotee says in his prayers at the gurdwara. At a time, over 3,000 people are served on the two floors of the hall. Everyone is welcome at the darbar to share te meal, with not distinction of caste or religion.

The Sikh practice of Guru ka langar was strengthened by Guru Amar Das, the third Sikh guru. Even Emperor Akbar, it is said, had to take langar with the  common people before he could meet Guru Amar Das. Langar or community kitchen was designed to uphold the principle of equality between all people  regardless of religion, caste, colour, creed, age, gender or social status.

In addition to the ideals of equality , the tradition of langar also aimed to express the ethics of sharing and oneness of all humankind. 




Langar Being Served

On the other hand, following the principle of division of labour, the
sewadars in the hall make sure that sangat gets the complete meal, from pickle to rice and dal. The whole thing is highly organised - from arranging the material to cooking and then serving. 

After eating, the utensils are collected in one part of the hall in huge
bins from where they are taken away for washing. Once cleaned, the dishes are quickly but neatly stacked in huge, wheeled storage bins, ready to be used again for the next sitting. ? 





The spectacular Golden Temple of Amritsar

Aashima Seth Captured on film Belgian filmmakers, Valerie
Berteau and Philippe Witjes were so impressed with the langar at the Darbar Sahib that they made a documentary film on it. Entitled Golden Kitchen, the film has impressed audiences at numerous film festivals in Europe. On June 6 this year, it was adjudged Outstanding' at the Festival of Short Films organised at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Critics have praised the film for bringing out the beauty of what is for western audiences "an endeavour that is remarkable in scale, the clockwork efficiency with which  the kitchen is organised and the fact that all the people manning the kitchen are volunteers who are inspired to undertake the heavy labour by  their religious convictions." IN THY SERVICE Around 3,000 people are served
meals at a go. It wouldn't be possible without sewadars, who look for no  return except Waheguru's blessings.


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## Amarpal (Apr 9, 2009)

Dear Member Sahib,

It is an excellent post. In a reception given by Gursikh family on occasion of their son's wedding in a hotel, I happen to come across an old christian couple from switzerland. The man was holding a red rose in his hand and asked me if he can enter the hall where the reciption was arranged and wish the newly wedded couple. I told him 'Please go ahead'. Before doing that he had a small conversation with me. He told me that he had visited Harmander Sahib and was extremely impressed by what he saw there.

He told me that you Sikhs are doing all what we Christians have been asked to do. You Sikhs are better Chritians than us.

With love and respect for all.

Amarpal Singh


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## ballym (Dec 13, 2009)

Can SGPC, or they attempted to, direct their salaried granthis to venture into remote areas and spread sikhism.if we are good, as we say we are and other alo say that, then it should be easy to spread  Despite the universalism of the scriptures, despite the example of the Gurus themselves, they have restricted themselves to equate Sikhism with Punjab (may be because they can not get money control , as happens with hazoor saahib and Patna Saahib and they are more or less independent). Spread the message beyond ...... the language (Punjabi) with dehdhari messengers on the rolls of SGPC. this will satisfy the needs of general public and kill the dera movements. Had Christianity similarly remained tied to the linguistic forms and cultural idiosyncrasies of its origins, it would, today, have been a small cult. Jesus had preached to a people within a small geographical area; he lived and died among them. But Christian missionaries carried the message of their messiah everywhere. The Bible was translated into every language of the world and transformed into the idiom of cultures that were completely alien to that of its origin. 

 There is a demand, if SGPC does not fulfil it, then ashutosh sacha sauda, radha soami would fulfil it. Even pure hindu sects are taking away sikh devotees.

 Just look at it from demand and supply perspective.


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## kds1980 (Dec 13, 2009)

sikhs went to all parts of India and many parts of world.They did social work but unfortunately they never tried spread sikhism among non punjabi people.all punjabi caste 
in this matter are same.May be the biggest fear of sikhs was that if other communities will become part of sikhism then punjabi's will loose control over it.


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## roopsidhu (May 16, 2010)

SSA
yes Kanwardeep ji, you are 100% right, our fear of loosing the control stood in the way of spreading sikhism
roopsidhu


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