2-982-517 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A Sikh Temple in Umritzir [India] - from a drawing by W. Carpenter, Jun., 1858. 'Umritzir, the religious capital of the Sikh people, was first constituted a holy city by Arjoon, fourth Gooroo, at the end of the sixteenth century ; but it was not till the Sikh power had reached its zenith under Runjeet Singh that the buildings which surround its sacred tank were completed in their present state...During the contests with the Mohammedans for supremacy in the Punjaub, Umritzir was several times taken, and its holy places defiled; but Runjeet Singh took ample revenge, when he undertook the rebuilding of the temple, by carrying off the white marble pinnacles from the Padshahi Musjid at Lahore, and also rifling the tomb of Jehangheesi, at the same place, of all its beautiful inlaid work. It now adorns the lower part of this brilliant temple, the upper story of which is of copper gilt: the causeway leading to it is also entirely of inlaid white marble from the same sources'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.