|
|
Manuscript Section
Manuscripts are very important documentary source for history of India, apart from inscriptions. The Government Museum and Art Gallery has a small but nevertheless significant collection of manuscripts in its collection ranging from Brahmanical, Jaina to Buddhist, Islamic and Sikh. Most of the manuscripts are from 16th -18th centuries
Ramayana, Gita, Sundara Shringara, Kalpasutra, Qaseedajat-wa-Manquabat, Quran, Panchraksha and Janam Sakhi are representative of manuscripts of various religious affiliation in the museum collection.
A major part of the Sikh manuscripts in the collection have been gifted by Dr. Man Singh Nirankari. Most of his collection was acquired at the time of partition of the country. The Adi Granths were lying in different Gurudwaras in Pakistan and were recovered and brought by the Indian Army and given to Shiromini Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC). Because of their dilapidated state, they were to be burnt after performing the necessary rituals. But some with the words Nirankari Durbar were retrieved by a friend of Dr. Nirankari and with SGPC's permission, the possession of these Granths was taken over by Dr. Nirankari.
The Adi Granths are of immense value to scholars, researchers and calligraphers. They are all handwritten by Kashmiri artists on handmade Sialkot or Kashmiri paper. Some are written in single hand whereas others in more than one. Some of them have beautiful illuminated pages with floral and geometrical motifs in blue and gold suggesting strong Mughal influence. Of significance is an Adi Granth dated 1676 that is a copy of Bhai Banno's Bir (a contemporary Sikh disciple of Sri Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs) with a nisan of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs. The nisan was procured before the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675 A.D.
|
