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April 9, 2012

Century-old miniature Guru Granth Sahib on display in Rajpura

Patiala, April 9
Devotees thronged Gurdwara Singh Sabha at Rajpura today to catch a glimpse of 100-year-old Guru Granth Sahib that is one inch in size and contains 1,430 ang (pages).

Head granthi (priest) Bhai Kashmir Singh and granthi Kulwinder Singh of Gurdwara Maithan Sahib in Agra, who are in Rajpura with this holy book along with a 224-year-old Guru Granth Sahib, written using dyes made out of rock, and a 275-year-old Guru Granth Granth Sahib, handwritten by Baba Deep Singh and Bhai Mani Singh, were overwhelmed by a large number of devotees thronging the gurdwara to see the holy books and narrated the story of how these holy scriptures reached the Agra gurdwara.
Narrating the history of the miniature manuscript, Kulwinder Singh said in 1913 when the World War-I was going on, the Indian Army (then British Indian Army) was called to fight for the common cause. “During that time, soldiers of Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army said they would not go to the battleground without taking Guru Granth Sahib along with them. Therefore, the British Government got 13 miniatures of Guru Granth Sahib prepared from a printing press in Germany for these soldiers. Each of these was 1 inch in size and contained 1,430 pages, which were carried by the soldiers. There used to be a special lens for reading the holy book. One of these is safely kept at Gurdwara Maithan Sahib in Agra,” he said.
He said the 224-year-old holy book made from rock dyes was prepared by two Muslim brothers in five years seven months and three days and weighs around 28 to 30 kg. Moreover, the handwritten Guru Granth Sahibh has a few pages written using gold, ruby and sapphire.
He said, “These books are currently on a tour of various cities to provide Sikhs in other parts of the country an opportunity to see and learn from the history of their religion and scriptures. We brought these books to Ludhiana on January 21 and it was displayed for the first time at Shaheed Baba Dalip Singh Chowk, Model Town, Ludhiana. Later, it was taken to Khanna, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nakodar and now it will be in Rajpura for 15 days.”

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