17th Century Guru Granth Sahib Found
Sept 24, Sikhe.com
UK, London
A centuries old manuscript of the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth
Sahib or Adi Granth, has been discovered in the collections of the British
Library. The manuscript, previously thought to date only from the late 19th
century, has been shown to date from the middle of the 17th century (circa
1660-1675). The original Adi Granth, containing verses by the founder of Sikhism,
Guru Nanak, and other Sikh Gurus and saints, was first compiled in 1604. This
copy is the oldest known manuscript of the Adi Granth to be found outside
India and one of the twenty oldest known copies in existence.
The manuscript was purchased by the British Museum in 1884 from
the Reverend A. Fisher, who had been principal of a missionary school in Amritsar
in the Punjab. It was most likely written between 1650 and 1680 with some
later additions to reflect the expansion of the scriptural text at the end
of the 17th century. The final two thirds of the manuscript, being no doubt
worn out with use, were rewritten on new folios during the 19th century.
Manuscript conservation - the key issue
This find will be of great significance to the 21-million strong
Sikh community worldwide, as well as to the 600,000 Sikhs in the UK and nearly
800,000 Sikhs in North America. Its importance is further increased by the
fact that experts estimate that up to eighty percent of Sikh scriptural manuscripts
have disappeared in the last century due to conflict, neglect and poor conservation,
yet this example has been found in the UK's national library, the British
Library (www.bl.uk).
Manuscript cataloguing - the initiative taken by UKPHA
Jeevan Singh (Deol) of St. John's College, University of Cambridge,
made the discovery during preparatory work on a project to create a union
catalogue of Panjabi manuscripts outside of India and Pakistan. The project
aims to catalogue nearly 650 Panjabi manuscripts in collections in the UK,
Europe, the US and central Asia in print form as well as on the internet.
The manuscripts being catalogued in the project, many of which are lavishly illustrated, include religious texts from the Sikh, Islamic and Hindu faiths, philosophical texts, love stories, texts about traditional medicine, historical texts and translations of classical Sanskrit texts. The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, British Academy and the Wellcome Library, and is managed by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA), a London-based community cultural association, via its subsidiary, Eastern Arts Partnership.