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Sikhs Want Original Granth Back in Golden Temple
08/26/2004
http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=9784
Sikhs want holy book back in Golden Temple:
[India News] Amritsar, Aug 25 : Amid hectic preparations for the 400th anniversary celebrations of Sikhism's holy book Guru Granth Sahib, religious leaders have asked a family in Punjab to hand over the original writings on which it is based.
Sikh religious and political leaders have appealed to the Sodhi family in Kartarpur near Jalandhar to hand over the "Bir" (volume) of the original Adi Granth written by fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev to the Golden Temple here.
The Adi Granth forms part of the Guru Granth Sahib compiled by the 10th and last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. The anniversary celebrations start from Aug 31 with the main event being on Sep 1.
The family, which possesses the Kartarpuri Bir, has maintained a stoic silence about the increasing demands for handing it over.
Fearing that the volume may not have been kept as per religious traditions, religious leaders want the Kartarpuri Bir to be installed after a religious ceremony at the holiest Sikh shrine, Golden Temple.
The volume has been seen only by a handful of people in the last one century. Guru Arjan Dev had compiled it between 1601 and 1604 after collecting the teachings and hymns of all previous Gurus, including the first Sikh Guru, Nanak Dev.
Guru Arjan Dev had installed the volume at the present site of the Golden Temple in 1604.
Original writings of Guru Arjan Dev and Bhai Gurdas, who was asked by the Guru to write it, are part of the volume now kept by the Sodhi family of Kartarpur.
The sixth Sikh Guru, Hargobind, took the volume to his house in Kartarpur. Sikh historians have noted that the volume was stolen by his grandson Sodhi Dhir Mal who wanted to become the next Guru by keeping the book.
Followers of the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, forcibly recovered the book but were ordered by the Guru to be returned to Dhir Mal.
The volume has since remained with the Sodhi family.
It is presently placed in a safe inside Gurudwara Thamb Sahib managed by the Sodhi family at Kartarpur.
It has been seen in the original by only a handful of people. It comprises 974 leaves (1,948 pages) and is eight inches thick.
British historians C.H. Loehlin and J.C. Archer, who saw the volume in 1946, had noted that it contained certain blank pages.
"The blank pages indicated that this was the original manuscript as some more things had to be included by the Gurus. Other volumes claimed to be originals had no blank pages," they noted.
Between 1960 and 1990, only two Sikh scholars were allowed to see the original work.
Historians now want the volume to be properly preserved and photographed.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to be here on Sep 1 for the celebrations. The first Sikh prime minister of the country, who belongs to Amritsar, will be coming here for the first time after assuming the country's highest political office. |
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