History of GoldenTemple

Sri Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, literally means "the House of God”. The shrine consists of Darbar Sahib, which is surrounded by the Holy Tank (Amrit Sarovar). It was constructed under the aegis of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the Fifth Sikh Guru. He wanted to build a common place of worship for the Sikhs, providing a common platform where all the Sikhs could gather and offer prayer to the Almighty. This wish initiated the idea of constructing Golden Temple and subsequently, he designed the architecture of the temple. Prior to him, Guru Amardas Sahib, the third Guru, had planned the excavation of the Holy Tank (Amrit Sarovar), but it was executed only by Guru Ramdas Sahib, under the supervision of Baba Budha Ji.

The earlier Guru Sahibs acquired the site from the Zamindars (landlords) of native villages. The plan to establish a town settlement was also made. Therefore, the construction work on the Sarovar (The Tank) and the town started simultaneously in 1570. The tank was excavated in 1577 A.D. and was subsequently called "Amritsar”, meaning the pool of the nectar of immortality. This contributed in naming the city, which grew around it (Amritsar). In due course, a splendid Sikh edifice, Darbar Sahib (Temple of God) was constructed in the middle of this tank, which became the prime centre of Sikhism.  The work on both projects was completed in 1577 A.D.

Guru Arjan Dev Ji laid the foundation of Golden Temple with the help of a Muslim saint Hazrat Mian Mir Ji of Lahore, on 1st of Magh (December, 1588). The construction work was directly supervised by Guru Arjan Sahib, with the assistance of prominent Sikh personalities like Baba Budha Ji, Bhai Gurdas Ji, Bhai Sahlo Ji and many other devoted Sikhs. Guru Arjan Sahib built the building on the lower level, unlike the traditional Hindu Temple architecture, where it is normally built on a higher structure.

Golden Temple deviated from a temple in another aspect, by being open from all four sides, rather than having only one gate for both entrance and exit. This symbolized the dawn of a new faith, which embraces people without any distinction of caste, creed, sex and religion. The building work was completed in 1604 A.D and Guru Arjan Dev Ji installed the Adi Granth in it. He appointed Baba Budha ji as its first Granthi i.e. the reader of Guru Granth Sahib. After this event, it attained the status of 'Ath Sath Tirath’.

Legends Connected With Amrit Sarovar
The most popular legend connected with (Amrit Sarovar) is the story of Rajni, the daughter of Rai Duni Chand. Rajni was an ardent devotee of Guru. One day, her father got some gifts for all the three daughters. While the other two daughters praised the father, Rajni stated that the gifts were actually from God and that her father was only the medium to deliver it. Hearing this, the father got very angry and made her marry a patient of leprosy. From then onwards, Rajni started struggling to sustain herself and her husband.

One day, Rajni she placed the basket containing her husband near a pool and went for some work. In the meantime, her husband saw a crow plunging into the water of the pool and coming out transformed into a white bird. Excited over the sight, he too plunged into the water and the miracle transformation occurred. He turned into a handsome young man, with all diseases cured. The couple thanked God and went to their Guru to narrate the happening. It is believed that since then, the tank came to be known as the "Amrit Sarovar” meaning "the pool of nectar”.

History of Tajmahal

The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking magnificent. It's the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with love, loss, remorse, and love again. Because if it was not for love, the world would have been robbed of a fine example upon which people base their relationships. An example of how deeply a man loved his wife, that even after she remained but a memory, he made sure that this memory would never fade away. This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife. She was a Muslim Persian princess (her name Arjumand Banu Begum before marriage) and he was the son of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir and grandson of Akbar the Great. It was at the age of 14 that he met Mumtaz and fell in love with her. Five years later in the year 1612, they got married.

Mumtaz Mahal, an inseparable companion of Shah Jahan, died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14th child. It was in the memory of his beloved wife that Shah Jahan built a magnificent monument as a tribute to her, which we today know as the "Taj Mahal". The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631. Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from Central Asia and Iran, and it took approximately 22 years to build what we see today. An epitome of love, it made use of the services of 22,000 laborers and 1,000 elephants. The monument was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia. After an expenditure of approximately 32 million rupees (approx US $68000), Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653.

It was soon after the completion of Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan was deposed by his own son Aurangzeb and was put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Shah Jahan, himself also, lies entombed in this mausoleum along with his wife. Moving further down the history, it was at the end of the 19th century that British Viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a sweeping restoration project, which was completed in 1908, as a measure to restore what was lost during the Indian rebellion of 1857: Taj being blemished by British soldiers and government officials who also deprived the monument of its immaculate beauty by chiseling out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. Also, the British style lawns that we see today adding on to the beauty of Taj were remodeled around the same time. Despite prevailing controversies, past and present threats from Indo-Pak war and environmental pollution, this epitome of love continuous to shine and attract people from all over the world.

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                                                                                                                                                                     Camel has three layers of eyelids so as to protect from huge sand storms in deserts.

Some important Portals& their Founders

1. Google                — Larry Page & Sergey Brin

2. Facebook            — Mark Zuckerberg

3. Yahoo                 — David Filo & Jerry Yang

4. Twitter                 — Jack Dorsey & Dick Costolo

5. Internet                — Tim Berners Lee

6. Linkdin               — Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue & Koonstantin Guericke

7. Email                   — Shiva Ayyadurai

8. Gtalk                   — Richard Wah kan

9. Whats up             — Laurel Kirtz

10. Hotmail              — Sabeer Bhatia

11. Orkut                 — Buyukkokten

12. Wikipedia          — Jimmy Wales

13. You tube            — Steve Chen, Chad Hurley & JawedKarim

14. Rediffmail          — Ajit Balakrishnan

15. Nimbuzz            — Martin Smink & Evert JaapLugt

16. Myspace            — Chris Dewolfe & TomAnderson

17. Ibibo                  — Ashish Kashyap

18. OLX                   — Alec Oxenford & Fabrice Grinda

19. Skype               — Niklas Zennstrom,Janus Friis & Reid Hoffman

20. Opera                — Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner & Geir lvarsoy

21. Mozilla Firefox  — Dave Hyatt & Blake Ross

22. Blogger             — Evan Willams

Scientific advantage behind MUSLIM prayer

The Islamic prayer consists of the following steps: standing with hands on top of each other at chest level bowing down with hands resting on knees standing up from bowing with hands by the side going in prostration (sajjda) once lifting face up from prostration but sitting on the ground doing a second prostration (Sajjda) and then getting up These psysical movements that a Muslim does during prayer strenghten the joints and muscles and stimulate blood circulation. Consequently, they also prevent the stagnation of bloog in the veins of the legs (which may lead to coagulation and other problems). Sajdah is a unique position or stance in the regular prayers, which a Muslim is supposed to offer at least five times a day. Although the basic purpose of obligatory prayers isn't to provide an exercise for people, it is being increasingly recognized that it has plenty of medical advantages. Sajdah is a unique position as this is the only position in which brain (or head) becomes lower than the heart and hence for the first time the blood gushes towards the brain with full force whereas in all other positions (even when lying) brain is above the heart when it has to work against gravity to send blood to the brain. In the position of Sajdah due to the increased blood supply the brain receive more nourishment and it has good effect upon memory, vision, hearing, concentration, psyche and all other cognitive abilities. People who offer their prayers regularly have more will power and can cope with the difficulties of life in a much better manner. They have fewer incidences of headaches, psychological problems and other defects of cognitive function.