Darshani Deori at Golden temple, Amritsar to get new doors today
The Darshani Deori, the archway leading to the Golden Temple sanctum sanctorum, will get new doors, here on Saturday. The doors will be a replica of the ones installed by Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh about 200 years ago. The doors — 118 inches in height, 110 inches wide and with a thickness of 4 inches — will be installed at a ceremony. The original doors — a sandalwood base with a silver sheet studded with carved ivory attached with golden screws — were unhooked for repairs for the first time in 2010 after these were found to have decayed with time. The restoration work was to be completed within a year but was delayed owing to several hiccups, SGPC Chief Secretary Dr Roop Singh said. For one, the wooden base was found to be beyond repair. Another hindrance was non-availability of ivory that was to be engraved on the doors' borders. As the sale of ivory is banned, the SGPC decided to leave the original doors ‘untouched' and create replicas with the help of seashells to create the desired effect. On February 15, 2018, it again allotted the work to Baba Bhurewale. "Every detail was captured through micro-digital photography that helped study the pattern minutely," explained Baba Sukhwinder Singh Bhurewale. “Barring ivory work (which is replaced with seashells), the new doors are an error-free copy. The craftsmen from Agra took eight months to complete the job, using six quintals of sheesham and 65 kg of silver,” he added. The original doors will be placed in a glass case at the Golden Temple 'parkarma'. -PTC News
