Amritsar
Amr̥tasara | |
---|---|
Nicknames: Nicknames
| |
Coordinates: 31°38′N 74°52′E / 31.64°N 74.86°E | |
Country | India |
State | Punjab |
District | Amritsar |
Founded by | Guru Ram Das |
Government | |
• Type | Municipality |
• Body | Amritsar Municipal Corporation |
• Mayor | Karamjit Singh Rintu (AAP) |
• Deputy Commissioner | Sakshi Sawhney[1] |
Area | |
• Total | 139 km2 (54 sq mi) |
• Rank | 2nd in Punjab |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 1,159,227 |
• Density | 8,300/km2 (22,000/sq mi) |
• Metro rank | 44th |
Demonym(s) | Amritsariya, Ambarsariya,[3] Amritsari |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 143-001 |
Telephone code | 91 183 XXX XXXX |
Vehicle registration | PB-01 (commercial vehicles), PB-02 |
Website | www |
Amritsar (Punjabi: [əmːˈɾɪtsəɾ] ; ISO: Amr̥tasara), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as Ambarsar,[5][6] is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Amritsar district. It is situated 217 km (135 mi) north-west of Chandigarh, and 455 km (283 mi) north-west of New Delhi. It is 28 km (17.4 mi) from the India-Pakistan border, and 47 km (29 mi) north-east of Lahore, Pakistan.
According to the 2011 census, the city had a population of 1,132,383. It is one of the ten municipal corporations in the state; Karamjit Singh Rintu is serving as the mayor of the city.[7] According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Amritsar is the second-most populous city in Punjab and the most populous metropolitan region in the state, with a population of roughly 2 million. Amritsar is the centre of the Amritsar Metropolitan Region.
Amritsar is the economic capital of Punjab. It is a major tourist centre with nearly a hundred thousand daily visitors. The city has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) program of the Government of India.[8] It is home of the Golden Temple, one of Sikhism religion's most spiritually significant and most-visited gurudwaras. The city is also known for Amritsari food, and wooden chessboards and the chess pieces manufacturing industry.[9]
Amritsar, the principal place of Sikh worship, was not established at Ram-Raoni, but, in fact, Ram-Raoni was established near the Sikh place of worship at Amritsar (called Ambarsar by illiterate people), which had been founded by Guru Ramdas in 1574, one hundred and seventy-four years before the Ram-Raoni came into existence.
Amritsar (q.v.), the city that includes the Harimandar Sahib Temple complex, was not established at Ram-Raoni (q.v.), as stated by Polier, which is nearby. Amritsar, pronounced Ambarsar by unlettered rural dialects of Punjab, was founded by Guru Ramdas (q.v.) in 1574, 174 years before the Ram-Raoni developed. The town had earlier been called Ramdaspur, Chakk Ramdas, or simply Chakk Guru (q.v.), and was marked as such in eighteenth-century maps of the area.