"Preserving Sikh Heritage: The Challenge"
Jeevan Singh
Sikh Heritage Project coordinator, Smithsonian Institution, Fellow, Cambridge
University, England
Jeevan Singh presented images of Sikh manuscripts. His presentation started
with an early 18th-century Guru Granth Sahib decorated in gold with writings
by the hand of Guru Gobind Singh himself.
Over one hundred and fifty years ago, Kashmiris would come to Punjab during
the winter and offer their services as scribes. They copied manuscripts, illuminated
them and decorated them. The eighteenth and nineteenth century gutkaas show
high artistic production, on the same level as any art produced by any world
civilization. Each copy took the scribes four to eleven months to complete.
One of the highly decorated copies took up to four years to produce. Their purpose
was to show homage to the Guru. Many of these manuscripts have pages ripped
out for sale. One of the manuscripts shows a passage of Guru Granth Sahib written
by Guru Teg Bahadur. It is preserved in Patiala.
All seventeenth century writings of Guru Gobind Singh show what the Guru used
as his personal invocation - the words Ik Onkar and on top of it he drew what
is probably a khanda and a round circle, which may be a shield.
A hukumnama in the hand of Guru Hargobind asked the sangat of Patna to send
a few ordinary items. A hukumnama in the hand of Guru Teg Bahadur announced
to the sangat of Patna the occasion of the birth of Guru Gobind Singh, in Persian.
Another hukumnama of Guru Gobind Singh in 1689 again shows a khanda and a rounded
circle on top. A three hundred and fifty-year-old manuscript, the earliest known
Punjab manuscript, depicts the saakhee of Guru Nanak lying under trees with
a snake sheltering his face from the sun. That manuscript is in a private collection
along with a pile of torn pieces of paper from the 17th and 18th century - beyond
recovery.
Jeevan Singh made a list of about twenty manuscripts two years ago for microfilming.
The number four manuscript on that list went missing during a kar sayvaa (repair)
of the Gurduaara where it was stored. It was written by the seventh Guru, Guru
Har Rai, and had a list of dates about the Guru's life. It was given to his
daughter. Portions of that manuscript were written in his own handwriting. The
problem of theft or misplacement is one of utter urgency.
Another problem is that people who have historical documents are very possessive
of them. It is difficult to make the owners of these historical documents agree
to let anyone even see them. They are so protective of them that they don't
realize that these documents don't have even another twenty years to survive.
There was a hukumnama of Guru Gobind Singh with the middle portion eaten away
because it was pasted into a school notebook using ordinary child's glue. Other
manuscripts have been repaired with Scotch tape that will eat away at the paper.
These will only last nine years at the most. Many manuscripts are just coming
to pieces. There were manuscripts found in sacks with wood used for lungur,
attached to the bottom of drawers and rotting away in trunks.
A great deal of heritage is also being sold off and going to places we don't
know. A battle standard of the Sikh army was bought by an interior designer
who clipped it to make wall hangings.
Ardaas reminds us that we hope our Gurduaara and signs of our faith last forever,
for all the generations to come. If we want to protect the physical remains,
we need to act now.