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Relics and Heritage neglected: Including sacred belongings of Guru Gobind Singh

February 13, 2013, 10:13 am
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MONUMENTAL NEGLECT IN PATIALA
Priceless possessions left to decay in neglected forts. 
Among them are relics belonging to Guru Gobind Singh and more than 3,000 medals collected by the former rulers of the Patiala royal family


An old canon with damaged wheels, which was once a prized asset of the Patiala royal family, lies in ruins. 

Priceless belongings related to the Sikh history have been decaying in the historic buildings located in Patiala, courtesy the state government's laxity in putting them on display for tourists and historians.

Among these goods are the personal belongings of the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh and a collection of over 3,000 medals collected by the erstwhile rulers of Patiala. Away from public glare, these are decaying in caskets.

Guru Gobind Singh's relics have been kept in a dingy room inside Qila Mubarak, which is already on the verge of collapse. These include a cloak given to Baba Triloka; manuscript (Bani), handwritten script of the guru; comb with hair and turban given to Syed Pir Budhu Shah of Sadhaura after the Battle of Bhangani in appreciation of his loyal services and three swords with inscriptions in Punjabi.

The medals (see box) have been kept in a museum inside Patiala's Sheesh Mahal. These are inaccessible to tourists for the past several years for reasons best known to the authorities concerned. The museum also has a rare collection of chandeliers, which lie defunct, weaponry and photography.

Delay in release of funds and political unwillingness are said to be the main reasons behind the neglect.

Built in 1845, the Sheesh Mahal itself also lies in a dilapidated condition. Several walls and a wooden bridge are on the verge of collapse. A portion of the building is in the possession of the Cultural and Tourism Department. The department officials, it has been learnt, allegedly connived with each together to lock a portion the building a few years ago in the name of repair, never to open it again.

Malvinder Singh, scion of Patiala's royal family, said: "The Sheesh Mahal has visuals depicting the poetry of Keshav, Surdass and Bihari, which are a treat for anybody's eyes. There are paintings that relate with the Hindu and Sikh mythology. These are timeless and the government should take steps to protect them."


The Art and Medal Gallery inside the Sheesh Mahal, which is out of bound for visitors and an outer view of the Sheesh Mahal. (Pictures left)

Harpreet Mohinder Singh Rosha, a member of NGO 'Patiala Our Pride', said: "The over 3,000 medals collected by the Maharajas of Patiala lie locked inside the medal gallery. The government must explore options to put them on display."

Besides these belongings, there are other historic buildings that have been lying in a shambles.

The Bahadurgarh Fort, located on the Rajpura road, is currently in the possession of Punjab Police, which trains its commandos there. The fort was the outermost point of Patiala and it is said that a tunnel connected it with Qila Mubarak (where the royal family stayed), which would facilitate their exit in case of any emergency.

The fort walls as well as its interiors are in a bad shape.

Royal scion Raninder Singh said, "The Punjab Government should stop selling buildings in Patiala and manage facilitate finances for the maintenance of all historical buildings."

Principal Secretary (Cultural Affairs) SS Channy said, “An amount of Rs 44 crore had been earmarked for three buildings in Patiala. Of this, Rs 32 crore was for Qila Mubarak, Rs 8 crore for Sheesh Mahal and Rs 4 crore for Bahadurgarh Fort. We will start work soon after the initial project reports are submitted."

Asked why the tenth Guru's belongings lied locked in a room inside Qila Muabarak, Channy said he was seeking an appointment from the Chief Minister and only then he could shift them to Virasat-E-Khalsa museum in Anandpur Sahib.

On delayed work and non-release of funds for the projects in Patiala, Channy said he was new in the department and could not comment on the issue.

Rare foreign medals in Sheesh Mahal's gallery

Order of the Garter' (1348): Studded with diamonds, it is known as the world's oldest historically documented order of chivalry and was founded by King Edward of England
Order of the Thistle' (1687): It is another order which has been restricted to only 16 men in history
The Order of the White Elephant': It bears the figures of elephants — it drew inspiration from Buddhist Jataka tales
Victoria Cross: The gallery has five such medals made from canons seized in Crimean war; these replaced the Order of the Garter in 1856
The Order of the Holy Ghost' (1579); 'Legion of Honour' by Napoleon; 'The Iron Cross', instituted by Prussia for the first time in the war against Napoleon in 1813; a medal containing 14 bars that was awarded to an Artillery driver G. Legg who took part in 14 campaigns

Rare Indian medals in the gallery

The Order of Ranjit Singh': It bears the portrait of the Maharaja with two swords, a bull and an eagle
Auspicious Star of Punjab': Presented to the Earl of Auckland, the Governor-General of Lahore, when he visited Lahore in 1838
The Order of Guru Ghar Manya Mandal': It carries the portrait of Guru Gobind Singh
The Sheesh Mahal has visuals depicting the poetry of Keshav, Surdass and Bihari, which are a treat for anybody's eyes. There are paintings that relate with the Hindu and Sikh mythology. These are timeless and the government should take steps to protect them
— Malvinder Singh, scion of Patiala’s royal family

An amount of Rs 44 crore had been earmarked for three buildings in Patiala. Of this, Rs 32 crore was for Qila Mubarak, Rs 8 crore for Sheesh Mahal and Rs 4 crore for Bahadurgarh Fort. We will start work soon after the initial project reports are submitted
— SS Channy, Financial Commissioner, Cultural Affairs

Aman Sood, Tribune News Service, Patiala, February 11
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Sikhs fear part of centuries-old Gurdwara may be demolished

February 17, 2013, 8:35 am
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Stock photo of Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Pakistan.

The renovation work on the centuries-old Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh is nearing completion, but two parts of the building which constitute the musafir khana (lodging for pilgrims) and langar khana (free meal centre) have not been restored, enraging Sikhs who had been waiting for the reopening since long.

Work at Biba Singh started in January 2012. It was initiated by the chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, with a budget of around Rs5.5 million. Biba Singh, within the walled city, is one of the two gurdwaras in the city and has not been used for worship since partition.

Decades of negligence and lack of interest in preserving the gurdwara has done considerable damage to the buildings. The roof of the langar khana has collapsed, while the musafir khanatoo is in a deplorable state. However, under the renovation project, only the main hall used for worship has been renovated, which was in a far better condition.

The Evacuee Trust Board is now claiming that the langar khana is in fact a Hindu temple established in the premises of the gurdwara and it can therefore not be handed over to the Sikhs.

“The gurdwara building is being restored and two Sikh religious leaders, including a sewadar will be provided for the building and will be paid by the trust,” said Isfaq, a trust board official. “The trust will also maintain the building.” The schedule for making the gurdwara open for worship will be decided by the Sikhs and the trust, he told The Express Tribune.

Sikh elder Baba Amarjit Singh, however, said: “Those people who have a thorough knowledge of the Sikh religion and religious buildings would tell you that the two-storey building is amusafir khana and the small beautiful building in front of the main worship hall is indeed alangar khana and not a Hindu temple.”
He added the gurdwara was established at the time of the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, who died in 1708, making this structure at least 300 years old.

Until 2005, it housed a vocational training centre for girls, which was shifted to a new building following an earthquake. The historical site was declared dangerous and on the verge of collapse.
There are reports that the land of langar khana was auctioned in the 1996, after which Sikhs protested and the demolition of the building was postponed. Despite repeated attempts, the Minister for Hajj and Auqaf was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2013.
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Experts state costs of Qila Mubarak rennovation

February 23, 2013, 12:32 am
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Expert team visits Qila Mubarak, says Rs 200 cr needed for renovation

Fesocoes in need of urgent restoration in the Qila Mubarak

The 250th foundation year of the historic Qila Mubarak has brought in some good news for the admirers of the fort that has been lying in a shambles due to poor maintenance.

A three-member team of foreign experts today visited Qila Mubarak, the only fort built by a Sikh ruler. They said though the monument was in a dilapidated state, it could still be saved.

While discussing methods to save the building from further damage, they said an amount of Rs 200 crore was required for restoration work.

Scion of Patiala’s royal family Malvinder Singh accompanied the visiting team, which works under the name Icofort and is associated with the UNESCO.

The team comprised Dave Bassett (representative of the Fortress Study Group of UK to the international fortress council), Margaret Urquhart (architect and conservation and UK based expert on fortresses and their upkeep) and another restoration expert Hans Smith.

Tribune News Service, Patiala, February 22
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Manuscripts on display at National Museum of Pakistan.

February 24, 2013, 1:08 am
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Handwritten Guru Granth Sahib on display at National Museum of Pakistan 

Over 50 highly rare and old manuscripts are put on display at a special exhibition inaugurated at the National Museum of Pakistan.

The exhibition of manuscripts titled “Tasawwuf and Interfaith” organised by the Sindh culture department and the International Peace Committee for Interfaith Harmony will continue till Feb 26.

One of the 50 manuscripts on display is over 1,000 years old, said to be the oldest one that the museum has, and another one is around 800 years old while the rest are three to four hundred years old.

The manuscripts include various holy books of different religions, including Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism.The manuscripts of the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Guru Granth Sahib are on display among other exhibits.The manuscripts of Shah Jo Risalo and texts on Tasawwuf are on display as well.One manuscript was of the Bhagavad Gita with translations in Sanskrit, Persian and Urdu. Another rare book on display was a translation of the Bible and commentary on it by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

Earlier, a seminar was held where speakers pointed out that the Indian subcontinent in general and Sindh in particular was the land of love and peace where people of different religions had been living in harmony for the past many centuries.However, over the past few decades, extremism had made inroads into society and intolerance had spread, they added.

They stressed the need for organising such seminars and workshops so that the message of love, peaceful coexistence and harmony could be spread.They said that efforts should be made to make the country like one the Quaid-i-Azam had envisioned.They said that all religions gave the message of love and peace. But it were only a few misguided souls who misused the name of religion to get their short-term gains and if saner elements of society joined hands and made concerted efforts, society could once again become like it had been earlier where everybody lived in peace and harmony.

The speakers included Bishop Sadiq Danial, former MPA Michael Javed, Mohammad Ali Manjhi, Aijaz Chajhro, former city government councillor Mangla Sharma, Sardar Ramesh Singh, Mohammad Shah Bokhari, Dr Idrees Ahmed, Nasir Jehangir and others.

Sindh Culture Minister Sassui Palijo had been invited as the chief guest at the seminar and to inaugurate the exhibition, but she could not make it owing to other pressing engagements outside the city, said museum chief Mr Bokhari. —

February 22, 2013
KARACHI:, Text by Salman Peerzada/ Photos by Shameen Khan/Dawn.com and Alisia Pek/www.Dawn.com
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Op Bluestar memorial nears completion

March 7, 2013, 5:46 pm
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The work on the Operation Bluestar Memorial, coming up at the Golden Temple Complex, is fast nearing completion. It may take the final shape even before its deadline of June 6, the anniversary of the Army operation.

Being constructed near Akal Takht, the memorial’s construction work is almost 80 per cent complete. The Damdami Taksal, which is carrying out the work, claims it will be completed before June 6. Its foundation stone was laid on June 6 last year.

The memorial is coming up in the form of a gurdwara where Sri Guru Granth Sahib will be installed. The memorial building is octagonal in shape and has doors in three directions. The area of the memorial complex is 60x65 feet, out of which the building has been constructed on 31x31 feet area.

The memorial’s height has been kept two feet shorter than the adjacent Gurdwara Thara Sahib building to maintain the status of a gurdwara. A dome has not been built atop the memorial as Gurdwara Thara Sahib too doesn’t have it, though the building has been built on the pattern of other buildings in the Golden Temple Complex so that it looks a part of it.

Damdami Taksal chief Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa said the construction part is almost over and white marble had been put on the inner and the outer walls of the memorial. “Currently, the artwork on the marble is underway and soon, precious stones will be engraved on them.”

The Damdami Taksal has brought special marble from Alwar, which Rajasthani firms usually import from countries like Iran, Afghanistan and Germany. The artisans have come from Agra and Makrana. The designs being made on the marble are identical to that of the Golden Temple and Akal Takht so that there is uniformity in appearance.

A special ceiling has been made so that the voice doesn’t echo inside the building. He said the history of various attacks on the Golden Temple in the past will be engraved on a stone, which will be put up there so as to acquaint the devotees.


Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service
Amritsar, March 7
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Bangla Sahib Gurdwara: Sikh shrine that was once a haveli

March 17, 2013, 4:29 am
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Delhi’s list of tourist attractions is incomplete without the mention of Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. Located on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, near Connaught Place, this prominent Sikh shrine is alive with visitors and tourists all the year round. The name — Bangla Sahib — hardly matters to the

devout, but a general visitor is curious about its origin. This was originally Jaisinghpura Palace, a haveli of the Jaipur kings. It was in 1664 that Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber (Jaipur) hosted Guru Hari Krishan — the boy prophet who became the eighth Sikh Guru in 1661.

“It was a typical haveli and a bangla (an enclosure especially made for special guests) was erected for the guru. The place of guruji sangat (where he addressed the devotees) is now the takht sahib (decorated platform on which Guru Granth Sahib is kept),” says Gyani Kuldeep Singh of the gurdwara.

The guru stayed for about 8-10 months at a time of cholera and chicken pox epidemics. “He sat with his feet dipped in a small pond of water, which people — both Hindus and Muslims — partook and was saved. It is still there next to the shrine,” Singh said.

After Independence, the place saw rapid changes. An artificial pond was added. Beautiful golden filigree work adorning the sanctum sanctorum were also put in place.


Nivedita Khandekar, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 17, 2013
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Rare Panjabi manuscripts discovered by UK heritage group.

March 23, 2013, 4:23 am
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A number of Sikh and Hindu Gurmukhi Manuscripts have been discovered in a Russian Library. 


Adi Guru Granth Sahib ji, f. 1, showing the Jap ji Sahib, a similar manuscript is at the Oriental Institute Library, Russia.

Researchers at Panjab Cultural Association (PCA) in the UK have recently discovered around 100 Gurmukhi Manuscripts at the Oriental Institute in St Petersburg.

The manuscripts were originally cataloged in Russian by G.A. Zograf, in 'Opisanie Rukopisei Khindi i Pondzhobi' . There is one handwritten copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, other Panj and Das Granthis, as well as translations of Indian classical scriptures, like the Bhagwad Gita. Some of the manuscripts are illustrated.

The PCA are now working on translating the catalogue into English, and verify the findings of G. A. Zograf.

For more updates visit: www.5culture.org

Visit the PCA Facebook site click here

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Hola Mohalla 2013 celebrations begin at Anandpur Sahib

March 26, 2013, 12:10 am
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Devotees throng gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib to pay obeisance during the second phase of the six-day Hola Mohalla festival at Anandpur Sahib on Monday.

The second phase of the six-day Hola Mohalla started here today. The celebrations of the historic festival began on March 23 at Kiratpur Sahib. The “akhand path” will start at Gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib tomorrow.

“Paths” and religious diwans will also be held at other gurdwaras in the town, including Sheesh Ganj Sahib, Bhoura Sahib, Shaheedi Bagh, Guru Ka Bagh, Harian Velan and Gurdarshan Parkash Sahib.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is expecting the arrival of more than 25 lakh devotees in the town for the festival, which will conclude on March 28.

A number of groups of nihangs have started reaching the town to participate in “Mohalla” (religious procession) on March 27, which will be followed by a display of martial arts during the closing ceremony.

Hundreds of social organisations from different villages have set up community kitchens, which will serve a variety of delicacies to the visitors.

Various political parties have also started preparations to organise their conferences.

The Congress, which did not organise any conference last year, will hold one near the Panj Piara park while tents are being erected by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at the main ground opposite Gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib.

The SAD (Mann) will organise a conference near the sarovar.

As the entry of trucks and buses has been banned in the town till March 28, the district administration today started a free shuttle service for the visitors.

Arun Sharma, Tribune News Service
Anandpur Sahib, March 25
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Maharajah Ranjit Singh's summer palace: A need to restore Panjab heritage.

March 30, 2013, 5:47 am
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In August 1991, when I first saw it, the house was in perfect fettle. This was surprising for it was constructed around the year 1830 and was then fully 160 years old. The marble plaque on the façade, fixed by some thoughtful British civil servant after the annexation of Punjab read, “Summer residence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, AD 1830-1837”.

Inspired by European architecture, the house was unlike a traditional vernacular residence. It had verandas on two sides with rooms on the remaining two and a central atrium. The side rooms and the verandas had lower roofs while that of the central foyer’s was higher. The rafters, door and window frames and every other timber fixture were first class teak.

The house sat on the east bank of the Chenab River, just outside Rasulnagar (Gujranwala district), right by the ancient ferry where a young Ranjit Singh had deprived the Afghans of the Zamzama that now sits outside Lahore Museum. Here, long after he had defeated the Afghans and put an end to their predatory raids, the Maharaja would have reposed with his customary glass of strong drink, watching the brown waters of the Chenab roll past forever and ever.

This house became part of my book Gujranwala: The Glory That Was (1992). It also featured in one of the episodes of my PTV documentary series “Nagri, nagri ghoom musafir” produced during 1998-1999. I returned to the house a number of times thereafter when I was pressing for it to be taken over by the district administration to turn it into a library or a museum so that it may be preserved forever.

But we, the people of Pakistan, have no connection with the dharti. We have severed the umbilical that would bond us with the motherland to give us a sense of belonging and pride. Without the connection, we drift aimlessly in a wasteland harbouring vague and false notions of Arab or Central Asiatic ancestry. The disconnect is so strong that nothing that belongs to this land turns us on. We simply do not care.
Last August, I returned to Rasulnagar again to digitally preserve Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s house. What I beheld left me in tears. The house that had withstood every vagary of nature until about 2004, was a ruined hulk. The roof was gone; every single door, window and ventilator removed. What was once the interior of the house was now a pile of debris.

Until 2004, the house stood in open fields. But this time round, there was next to the historical building, a semi-permanent house inhabited by what seemed to be a family of gypsies. They had plastered the walls of the Maharaja’s house with cow dung patties. No one seemed to know who had laid low this historic building. Neither the gypsies nor the men minding the nearby tube well. In fact, one man even ventured that the building had been in that state since the time of his ancestors!

Though I do not know who to blame for the crime, I know the teak fixtures of the building now adorn the house of some well-connected thug. When he or his men started to dismantle this historic building which should have been part of the national heritage, the DCO and his minions simply looked away. No one bothered as it went down bit by bit.

Rasulnagar is historically a very interesting place because it sat on a busy ford. An elderly ferryman once told me that until well into the 1950s, there used to be fully 100 boats catering to the back and forth traffic. Moreover, this was the very place where Ranjit Singh, just 19-year-old and leading a small force, had routed a much larger Afghan army to bring their periodic raids to an end.

This also is the place where the Sikhs under Sher Singh Atariwala, 15,000-strong, fought a desperate battle against the British in November 1848. The British prevailed, the Sikhs withdrew to the west of the river to fight and lose their final battle two months later at Chillianwala.

All this — and more — makes Rasulnagar a tourist destination for the history buff. But we do not belong to this land, so what do we do with our heritage? We destroy it.

The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2013.

By Salman Rashid
The writer is author, most recently, of The Apricot Road to Yarkand (Sang-e-Meel, 2011) and a member of the Royal Geographical Society salman.

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Holla Mohalla 2013 in pictures.

March 31, 2013, 2:53 am
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The SIKH NUGGET presents the annual round up of the Holla Mohalla Celebrations for 2013.









Nihangs show their Tent pegging Skills at Anandpur Sahib. 


Boys perform Gatka during a holy procession near Keshgarh Sahib Gurdwara. 


‘Panj pyaras’ lead  Nagar kirtan at Anandpur Sahib 


A Sikh boy practice his Archery Skills at Anandpur Sahib 

A magnificent display of horse riding and martial art skills by thousands of Nihangs marked the last day of the six-day historic Hola Mohalla festival at Anandpur Sahib. Over 30 lakh devotees paid obeisance at various gurdwaras during the festival, which started on March 23 at Kiratpur Sahib after which the celebrations shifted to Anandpur Sahib on March 26.

The most significant event of the festival was the procession of Nihang groups belonging to the Budha Dal, Harian Velan, Tarna Dal and others. The procession began from Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib gurdwara at 2 pm. Nihangs exhibited their horse riding and martial art skills and sprayed Holi colours on the people all along the way. The procession halted for a while at gurdwara Kila Anandgarh Sahib at Agampur before it concluded at the Charan Ganga stadium where the Nihangs again displayed their skills. Baba Budha Dal distributed prizes and cash rewards among the winners.

Earlier, the bhog ceremony of "akhand paths" was performed. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh delivered his message to the masses urging them to fight social evils like drug addiction and female foeticide.

Reporting by Tribune India. 

Also see
Holla Mohalla 2012
Holla Mohalla 2011
Holla Mohalla: The Holy call to Arms
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Rare Sikh relics exhibiting in Atlanta Exhibition

April 1, 2013, 10:59 am
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SIKH HERITAGE IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Guru Nanak Mission Society of Atlanta

Is hosting a Sikh heritage exhibition depicting a rare collection of personal belongings of Sikh Gurus. 

April 1st to April 20th 2013
Grand opening on 6th April 2013. 

Artifacts include:
The displays in the exhibits are:
Chola (robe) of Guru Nanak.
Personal belongings of Guru Hargobind Sahib.
Images of rare manuscripts.
Illustrated folio.
Hukumnamas (commandments).
A beautiful personal Kirpal (scimitar) of Guru Gobind Singh.
Guru Gobind Singh’s chest plate with a gold inscription.
Historic khanda used at the time of the formation of the Khalsa.
A bed-sheet of the Guru Gobind Singh.
Panchkala Shastra (weapon) of Guru Gobind Singh.
A chakki (grindstone) used to grind flour for Guru Gobind Singh.
Rare photographs of the collection of artifacts in the Toshakhana of the Golden Temple.
A shield from the armies of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Photographs of valuable relics

Contact: 

GURU NANAK MISSION SOCIETY OF ATLANTA, INC.  
1158 Rockbridge Road, Norcross GA 30093

Exhibits provided by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) New Delhi
Consul General of India. 

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Sri Akal Takht Sahib website is launched

April 6, 2013, 12:20 am
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The website of the Akal Takht, www.akaltakhatsahib.com, has been launched from the Golden Temple complex.The website-launching ceremony was performed by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh at the Akal Takht

Secretariat in the shrine complex. Present on the occasion were Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh Makkar, senior vice-president Raghujit Singh Virk and several other priests of the shrine and SGPC officials."Keeping in view the global demands of the Sikhs, we decided to have a website only for the Akal Takht," Makkar said at the launch.

At the meeting of the Sikh high priests on March 25, it was decided that the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, will have an exclusive website of its own. It will no longer have to depend on the website of the SGPC for establishing communication with the 'panth' (community members).

The home page of the website has photographs of the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht. All information relating to the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht will be available at the click of a mouse.

The website also contains photographs and all related information of Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo, Takht Kesgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib,  Takht Patna Sahib at Patna in Bihar and Takht Hazoor Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra.

The website contains a list of all the jathedars of the Akal Takht since its inception. It also contains details of all hukamnamas (edicts) issued by the Takht, besides details of all the 'sandesh' (messages) issued to the Sikh community. It also provides details of all the honours and titles given by the Akal Takht to Sikh personalities in different fields, along with their photographs and profiles.

The website also contains photographs and details of the current jathedars of the five Takhts. It also gives information on the Nanakshahi calendar, which has been recognised as the official calendar of the Sikhs.

The website has been designed by Gurjit Singh and his team in ANG IT-Solutions of Amritsar. They were honoured by the Akal Takht jathedar on the occasion.

The website designers have also incorporated a "feedback form", on which suggestions and even complaints can be forwarded to the Akal Takht secretariat.

Sikhs can send their suggestions and even complaints through the website, which was needed to establish contacts with the 'sangat'

The website can viewed at http://www.akaltakhatsahib.com/



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Guru Granth Sahib in Braille now at Golden temple complex

April 6, 2013, 12:52 am
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Now those who are visually impaired will also be able to perform ‘path’ at Golden Temple. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has decided to install Braille version of the Holy Scripture.

Former Hazuri Ragi Bhai Gurmej Singh had completed the transliteration of Guru Granth Sahib in February last year.

Singh who is visually impaired took twelve years to complete the transliteration. The Braille copy of Guru Granth Sahib ji has 2,153 pages and divided into 18 volumes. The page size is 11 X 12 inches.


Bhai Gurmej Singh (second from right) carries Guru Granth Sahib prepared in Braille at the Golden Temple 

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said the Braille version of Guru Granth Sahib will be installed in room number 13 situated on the back of Akal Takht.

Jathedar said what Bhai Gurmej Singh had done to help the humanity was incomparable.Bhai Gurmej Singh has prepared three copies of the Braille version of which the first one is at Centre Khalsa Orphanage, Amritsar. He spent his childhood in this orphanage and learnt shabad-kirtan.

SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar has announced that SGPC will set up a Braille printing press so that religious literature can be published for the visually impaired.

He also announced to open a school for the blind at Gurdwara Manji Sahib, Alamgir Ludhiana. The school will have boarding and lodging facility as well.

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Britain's Maharaja: Anglo Sikh documentary on Maharaja Duleep Singh

April 15, 2013, 2:53 pm
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Britain's Maharajah



The little-known story of an iconic figure in Anglo Sikh history, Maharajah Duleep Singh. 

First shown on BBC 1  14th of April 2013

In April every year Sikhs worldwide celebrate the Festival of Vaisakhi, remembering their roots and the creation of the Khalsa brotherhood with street parades and Temple prayers. Maharajah Duleep Singh is an important figure in Sikh heritage as the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire and the first British Asian settler. His own Sikh faith and beliefs were tested to the limit. Brought from India at just 15, in the age of Queen Victoria, he lived the life of an English gentleman until rediscovering his roots and being baptised back into the Sikh faith. His story fascinates those who have delved into the history books including 'Bend It Like Beckham' film director Gurinder Chadha; Sikh historian Peter Bance who owns a huge collection of memorabilia; and Dr Gurharpal Singh at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Please see video below:

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The Lahore fort: Glorious Sikh heritage under one roof

April 20, 2013, 2:13 am
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Punjab Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood inaugurated a three-day exhibition featuring rare artefacts from the Sikh tradition 

LAHORE, April 17: A three-day exhibition featuring rare Sikh period objects under the title ‘Glorious Sikh Heritage under One Roof’ will open in the basement chambers of the Lahore Fort on Thursday (today), officials in Punjab Archeology Department told Dawn on Wednesday.

Officials said besides being informative on the Sikh rule the exhibition also aimed at promoting religious tourism.

They said scores of Sikh pilgrims had arrived in Pakistan from different countries, including India, to celebrate Baisakhi festival and they would also have an opportunity to see the Sikh heritage in pictures.

The exhibition is being organised by Dayal Singh Research and Cultural Forum, a sister organisation of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, in collaboration with the Punjab Archives Department, and Faqir Khana Museum which has contributed its private collections to the exhibition, said the officials.

They said the 110 objects being displayed were rare.

The exhibition will showcase rare miniature paintings of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, his dresses, utensils, important treaties signed with Sikh and British governments, letters, manuscripts, weaponry, jewellery and other such artifacts. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the founder of the Sikh empire, which came to power in the Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. The empire, based in the Punjab region, existed from 1799 to 1849.

The basement chambers where the exhibition will be held are opened by Lahore Fort on special events such as heritage exhibitions or international conferences. The last exhibition held in these chambers was year and a half ago; it was organised by UNESCO in collaboration with Punjab Archeology Department on built heritage of Lahore.

Special security arrangements have been made for the exhibition. Officials told Dawn that 24 policemen and three police officials would remain present in and around the fort for full three days of the exhibition. In 1999, saddle cloth from the armory gallery of Lahore Fort got stolen along with a gold plated umbrella. —
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The soil of Nankana Sahib helps create Sikh paintings.

April 22, 2013, 10:48 am
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Soil painting of Guru Nanak Dev

AMRITSAR: It took Bholla Javed months of hard work to complete oil painting of first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev. Bholla has used soil from Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak's birthplace, and bamboo shoots from trees grown there.

The artist has also made a painting of Bhagat Singh, using soil from the freedom fighter's birthplace at Chak Banga in Pakistan. Bholla is keen that his paintings of Guru Nanak Dev and Bhagat Singh be displayed at the Sikh museum.

Swaran Singh, president of Nankana Sahib Sikh Teerath Yatree Jatha, who brought the photographs of the two paintings to India, told TOI on Sunday that Bholla had brought a 4 by 2.5 feet painting of Guru Nanak Dev at Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore, to show it to the devotees and the officials of Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). Bholla has not only made the paintings of Guru Nanak Dev using soil from Nankana Sahib but also not used any brush, he said.


Nankana Sahib painting

"Instead, he has used small branches and bamboo shoots from the trees planted in the birth place of Guru Nanak to make the soil paintings," he said. Even the frame of Guru Nanak's soil painting was made from the wood taken from a tree in Nankana Sahib, he added.

A special technique is required to make soil paintings, said Bholla, who us a resident of Lyallpur in Faisalabad, Pakistan, was born in the family of a tailor and is the eldest of five brothers. "I got my education up to class 8 only. But with my paintings, I am now a member of several art societies, including MPSGS Art Society (USA), Australian Art Society and Royal Miniature Art Society (UK)," he said, adding that he was the first Pakistani artist to be a member of Hilliard Art Society in UK.

"He (Bholla) said that he would visit India to talk to the SGPC authorities about displaying his painting," said Swaran.

Yudhvir Rana, TNN | Apr 22, 2013

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An insight into the Sikhs of Burma

April 27, 2013, 1:46 am
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 Bobby Singh Bansal with Burmese Sikhs

By Bobby Singh Bansal

From the huge success ‘The Sikhs of Kabul’ has attained since the past year, it has been difficult choosing a topic to make into a documentary based on factual material. So I decided to pick a location which was least visited by foreigners and the media in general. I contemplated in repeating the success of my last film with a subject that was primarily similar to the theme of my last film.

So after months of planning we decided to visit Myanmar or Burma as it was known earlier, having finally obtained our visas we travelled to Myanmar with a crew of 6 from India and Thailand arriving in the capital city of Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon. This has been a country totally isolated from the rest of the world. Only a few years ago there was mass unrest against four decades of military rule adverse to any political change. The military regime controlled the country with an iron fist and its democratic leader of the opposition party Aung San Suu Kyi is the chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma. In the 1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13 November 2010 becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners.

My objective of being in Myanmar was to meet up with the Indian Sikh community who have been living here since the 1880’s when the British had annexed Upper Burma in 1885 to the British Indian Empire. The deposed Burmese King Thibaw was later exiled to India where he later died in 1916. Our first glimpse of this amazing place was finding just how clean and pollution free this city was compared to cities in the neighbouring countries. Our guide Chotu Ram, a Burmese Sikh who resembled more of a Chinese looking man wearing traditional Burmese attire greeted us at our hotel and wasted no time in taking us to one of Myanmar’s leading attractions – the famous 2500 year old historical Shwe Dagon Pagoda.

This was the site where thousands of anti-government protestors would converge to hold their mass rallies against the military junta back in 2007. Foreigners are restricted in entering this scared site but our determined Sikh guide managed to obtain permission to enter this heritage site and we managed to film inside the temple complex comprising of numerous adjoining Buddhist temples with their carved innate design made out of gold, it surely was an awesome experience for us.


Burmese Gurdwara(r)
Despite the heat the walk around the marble floor was unbearable but we persevered and continued as the views every few yards were just amazing. The following day we headed to the main Sikh temple or gurdwara built in 1897 by the Sikhs employed in the British Indian army. There are apparently four Sikh temples in Yangon but the one we visited was the oldest, although much smaller in size to the one visited in Afghanistan this one had recently been refurbished by the local Sikh community at a considerable cost. Here the Sikh community are thriving unlike in Afghanistan where they are struggling for survival. I was somewhat relieved that this minority community residing in a tolerant Buddhist nation are revered by the locals who mingle amongst the Sikhs in such cordial manners.

 Here the Sikhs are a success, although small in numbers yet most prominent in the field of transport, trade and commerce. Young Sikh children all maintain the tradition of retaining their long hair unlike in the western world where a majority of Sikhs have become clean shaven adapting themselves of becoming the so called modern Sikhs.  The Sikh temple hold Punjabi classes each day for four hours for the children who are all well versed in Punjabi yet speak mainly in Burmese amongst themselves. We were given a most gracious welcome by the members of the Sikh community, whose appearances are far from the usual looking Sikhs we have back in London or India. Their features are somewhat oriental looking, with their turbans tied up in a round fashion and not pointed at the front as was mine. The striking feature of their attire is that all the Sikh males wear a lungi or dhoti, it’s the national dress of the Burmese I guess as everyone wears it. It is quite odd to see six foot tall Sikhs compared to the local Burmese males who are so much smaller in height all wearing lunghis with their dark complexions. The Sikh women all wear the traditional Burmese dress made out of Silk or cotton seldom did I witness any women wearing a colourful bright Punjabi suit as they do back in India or England.


I recall from history that the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled here by the British after the infamous rebellion back in 1857. I was eager to visit his shrine and to retrace the historical journey to his last resting place not far from our hotel. The attendant was very kind to translate some of the poetry that the Mughal Emperor had written while in exile and even took us to the tomb where he laid buried. He lifted the Silk sheet from the tomb which revealed the original structure of the tomb built by the British, it was a surreal moment. Apparently the attendant told me that his ancestors had served the Mughal Emperor since his arrival in 1857, his son would take over the care of the shrine after his death. After a few days in Yangon we took the overnight bus to Mandalay the former historical capital of Upper Burma. The journey took 10 hours but to our amazement the bus was very comfortable like being on the National Express in England. This was the place where the British conquered the country in 1885 after the 3rd Anglo-Burmese war ended. The city is laid out on a grid system marked with a huge fortress in the centre which is square in plan and surrounded by water on all four sides.

Shrine of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar 

Each side of the fort is about three kilometres long and every 400 years is a watchtower in the shape of a small pagoda which is quite impressive. Inside the fort is the Royal palace where King Thibaw resided before his exile to India in 1886. Not much of the historical artefacts or treasures exist from that period, having filmed inside the palace we were disappointed with the emptiness of the palace although a huge statue of King Thibaw was present with his queen Supayalat. However, we headed to Mandalay Hill overlooking the city having inspiring views of the fort. We met the Sikhs of Mandalay where they mainly reside in the locality of Theyeze adjacent to the Sikh temple. Several Sikh families live here amongst the local Burmese, many running small businesses and shops. Our host in Mandalay was Mr Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Yangon who was visiting his family and is also the President of the religious council of Sikhs of Myanmar. As my camera crew had become tired of consuming rice since our arrival I urged my host whether ‘roti’ or ‘chappatis’ could be available, to our delight he had already arranged lunch at the home of a local Sikh family.

Our last day in Mandalay was completed by a visit to the historical Irrawaddy River which bisects the country from north to south. We managed to arrange a local boat which took us far out to the river where with my host Mr Sukhdev Singh we took a nostalgic trip back to the 1940’s when during WW2 the Japanese Army had advanced into Burma from Malaya. As we know thousands of Indians had enlisted into the British Indian Army and had fought Japanese soldiers in the jungles of this hostile region. In 1942 Sikh soldiers from the 7th Indian Army Division fought Japanese soldiers from advancing into the Indian territory of Kohima along the Irrawaddy River where many lost their lives. It was a poignant moment for me and members of my camera crew talking about those dark moments of WW2. Those who perished were Sikh soldiers barely in their twenties but they withstood the Japanese onslaught and saved the British Indian Empire from humiliation and defeat.

I expected Myanmar to be a country like India or Bangladesh, full of chaos and red tape but how wrong I was my overall view of this stunning country is that it is far developed as I initially imagined. It’s a striking country full of golden pagodas and palm trees, people are so cordial and the hospitality of the Sikh community made our visit indeed so comfortable, it makes me proud knowing they are accepted with respect as the Burmese Sikhs of Myanmar. My documentary is still in post-production and should be ready next month to be submitted to various film festivals globally with the title  ‘The Road to Mandalay – the Burmese Sikhs’.

Bobby Singh Bansal is writer of ‘The Lion’s Firanghis – Europeans at the Court of Lahore’ which charts the careers of former soldiers and mercenaries of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to Punjab in India he has received 6 international awards since its publication in 2010. As a new filmmaker his documentary ‘The Sikhs of Kabul’ has been shown at various film festivals such as at the Punjabi Film Festival in Toronto, Sikh Arts Film Festival in New York, Iceland Documentary Film Festival and other prestigious film festivals in Vancouver, Qatar, New Delhi, London, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Barcelona and also at the 26th Australian Sikh Games in Melbourne and Perth – Australia

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The Kavi Durbar of Guru Gobind Singh

April 27, 2013, 2:55 am
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The Sikhs of Nankana Sahib: Life Under the Shadow of Towering Hate

April 28, 2013, 1:33 am
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By Tahir Mehdi for www.dawn.com

Nankana is to Sikhs what Makkah is to Muslims. The birth place of their holy prophet, Baba Guru Nanak. There are relics of Sikhism all around as Baba had spent the early part of his life in this town situated in the middle of Rachna Doab. Each of these relics later became a place of worship and a pilgrimage point.

The young Nanak’s father gave him 20 rupees to start a business of his own but he instead donated it to the poor and the hungry; and to avoid the admonishment from his father, hid under a collection of vann bushes which latter became Gurudawar Tamboo Sahab. Tamboo in Punjabi means a protective roof-like cover.

I stayed under the same cover on my second night out with my friend Kalyan Singh who is a lecturer of Punjabi at the Government College, Gujranwala. Punjabi is sacred to Sikhs as it is the language of their holy book, Granth Sahab. But the lingua franca of the 200 plus Sikh families here is Pashto as almost all of them have migrated from tribal areas and Pakhtunkhwa. Nankana Sahab is their last hope. They are trying to take refuge under this tamboo of which barely a piece is left.

Spending some time with them, I realised that all of their time references are very different from the rest of us, and that is a sorry tale in itself. If you ask some to narrate his or her life story, it will go like this, “After the 1971 Indo-Pak war, my sister’s family migrated from Peshawar, at the demolishing of the Babri mosque in 1992, many of the brothers also quit and my parents finally moved out after the 9/11.”

Sadly, they are not yet short of new time markers of the same kind. I met Sher Singh here who migrated from Dera Bugti some five years ago, after the armed conflict there made it impossible for them to survive.

This tiny community living under the shadow of the walls of Gurudwaras faces grave problems. Gurudwaras are sacred for Sikhs but for the most Muslims of Nankana, they are real estate, profitable plots of land. There are businesses and residences settled all over the occupied land and the promotion of religious intolerance makes simple business sense for these occupants.

No politician is ready to take up the issue. The Sikh votes are too few and the community too insecure and vulnerable to take any political sides. Their depoliticisation is enhanced by their disenfranchisement which is a result of the difficulties that they face in getting an identity card.

There are some legal complications related to their migration from tribal areas; they themselves do not enjoy the status equivalent to that of fully settled areas. But most of the time, it is the ‘cautious’ attitude of the officers that makes simple services like securing a B form, that makes your children legal citizens, from the local office of NADRA a life time of effort. Nobody wants to take risks or, to be blunt, no officer wants to be quizzed by the intelligence agencies, when it is so much easier to just shoo away a non-Muslim.


Kalyan Singh who is pursuing his doctorate at tge Punjab University had bruises on his hands and face the day I met him. He told me that while in a government office today, he was shoved and pushed to the ground by a stranger for nothing. “It happens many a times, people misbehave with us in public for the fun of it,” he told me with a grim face. I am afraid that some must do it for a sawab as well.

And if you think that I am being a cynic, I have concrete evidence to prove you wrong.

A massive mosque is under construction just next to Gurudwara Janam Asthan. Its minaret is so tall that it could not be constructed the way minarets of most mosques are. So, it has a special design that enables the maulanas to snarl at this minuscule community from the heights of their hateful selves. The mosque is designed to dwarf the Gurudwara. A further element of insult, that is cast in concrete is that the prayer compound of the mosque is constructed on an unusually high platform, that is higher than the highest point of the prayer hall of the Gurudwara. So that the Muslims can remain a floor above. Does that make them nearer to God?

The eateries in the entire bazaar that is frequented by the local Sikhs either plainly refuse to serve them or have separate cups and glasses for them. Kalyan Singh who has spent almost his entire here can even tell you which rehri wala will serve him and which won’t.

The more debilitating of their problems are again about the documentation of their citizenship status. There are cases when a child was not able to sit for their matriculation the matric exam for want of a B form.

The two glasses in front are reserved for Sikhs while the cups are for Muslims.


Most Sikh children study in a school that is set up especially by their community but they admit children of other faiths as well. It is headed by a Muslim educationist and the teachers are Muslims too. The school teaches the subject of Islamiyat to all children as no alternative to this subject exists in the government prescribed syllabi.

Just when I was struggling to invent hope in this hopeless environment, I found it. A tale of two friends – may it blossom for ever. Meet Mahnoor and Balvinder Kaur:

My account will not be complete unless I share with you a shred of the past that I found at the foot rest of Gurudwara Tamboo Sahab. A meek indication of what it used to be in the good old times. I am not sharing with you the recording of the talk I had with him, just to avoid some unwarranted reactions.

He called himself a dervish who has come to pay a tribute to Baba Guru Nanak and was not ready to differentiate on the basis that Baba was not a Muslim. “He was an Allah-wala of a very high stature. That’s all I know,” he concluded.

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He wants to promote Sikh culture, heritage through his art

May 3, 2013, 11:26 pm
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City-based paper artist Gurpreet Singh, creating art from varied items, moulding paper into exciting and interesting pieces of art for 11 years, has a whooping 13 international and seven national records to his credit.

The artist, an interior designer by profession, is probably among very few specialised paper artists in Punjab. He has created a miniature replica of the Golden Temple, Taj Mahal and the White House among others and has recently created a replica of the Great Wall of China to commemorate the May Day.

“It was a significant landmark and I wanted to commemorate the amount of labour put into constructing it,” said the artist.

This is not the first piece of perfection from the 31-year-old artist. Gurpreet’s earlier works include miniature models of Nankana Sahib, the smallest turban weighing seven grams and other symbols of Sikh heritage.

“My aim is to promote the culture and heritage of Sikhism through my art. I have displayed my work at various art exhibitions and festivals across the country and my works have been appreciated,” he says.

He feels that more should be done to promote the art. “There are some 115-odd paper artists in the world and most are from South Asia. The famous Chinese paper art is all about cutting the paper into various patterns but a lot of Indian artists specialise in creating things out of paper. This should be encouraged,” he says.

For his miniature version of the Golden Temple, Gurpreet has installed it with lights and live gurbani. “I am playing with the idea of putting electronic Gurbani and lightings so as to give it an authentic appeal,” he says. He wishes to display the replica at the upcoming museum inside the Darbar Saheb premises.

Tribune News service, Amritsar, May 3
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