Previous PreviousNext NextAsk a Question Ask a Question

Sikhnet Youth Forum Sikh Youth - Question and Answer Forum

Summary of Question:potraits
Category:The Sikh Gurus
Date Posted:Sunday, 6/06/1999 5:53 AM MDT

Waheguru ji ke khalsa waheguru ji ke fateh!


For many years, I have wondered about the pictures I have seen of the gurus.
Are these pictures based on descriptions or did the Gurus ever pose for any
pictures. For example in some pictures of Guru Gobind Singh ji he has green eyes, in others brown. In some pictures he has a very fair complexion, in others he has a dark complextion. I know that Siri Singh Sahib Jogi ji had a vision of the Guru Gobind Singh in the 70s in India...and he described him as man of about 5feet 7inches. I know as Sikhs we do not worship these pictures it just nice to know in your heart the physical faces of a Gurus.

I there are any descriptions, could you please tell me where they are found.

thank you

J.SIngh

**********
REPLY
**********
I myself have wondered about that many times. Some forty odd years ago, I had visited several museums to look for pictures of the physical body of our ten Gurus. The earliest pictures I saw were of the 18th century. And in these paintings (of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh Ji), neither looked anything like the variety of pictures we see today.

Our Gurus were instruments of social change and therefore appropriate subjects for painters and historians of the time. It is unreasonable to assume that no one painted any portraits of them during their lifetime.

The pictures we see today on posters, calenders, books and the like, are someone's perception of how they think our Gurus looked like. That being the case, there is nothing stopping anyone to create their own vision of what they think our Gurus' physical attributes might have been.

Having said all that, let us not forget that our present and forever Guru, is Shaba Guru, Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Jasjit





[Previous Main Document]
potraits (06/06/1999)
[Next Main Document]

by Topic | by Category | by Date | Home Page




History - Donation - Privacy - Help - Registration - Home - Search

Copyright © 1995-2004 SikhNet