Breaking Developments - More proof that Dasam Granth existed 300 years ago

[Singh559]

Singh jeo,

This beer was looted during evacuation of Anandpur sahib. Ultimately it was bought by a sikh family in Bombay.From there

it is said to be brought to Chandigarh but the owner is not known as it is held in secret.

I see, this is really sad.

[DSGj]

Who are these "enemies" that you guys are talking about?

Are you talking about the same people who got the Bir, restored it and digitalized it?

But I think I get what you guys are saying. It seems like this is part of a private collection and there is not really any public access to the digitalized pages, let alone the actual Bir itself. Even these following pictures were hard to get from their website.

Check this out:

"When Manohar Singh Marco found the Bir early 1960's"

"State of the Bir in Pandit OM Parkash's house"

"Torn Pages"

"The key construed by Manohar Singh Marco to understand the writing style"

"Drying of Pages"

"SP Singh and Iqbal Kaur working on matching the broken pages together"

"SP Singh working on matching"

"After Drying"

"Finally, the Anandpuri Bir - a bound Granth"

"Detail of the animated handwriting"

"The new binding"

"Digitalization of the Anandpuri Bir"

From: http://www.sikhfoundation.org/sikh-arts-heritage/to-give-our-past-a-future/

Sikhs have recently realized that our heritage needs to be preserved and our past needs to have a future. Many scholars have conducted numerous studies and undertaken conservational efforts in protecting Sikh relics.

Sadar Manohar Singh Marco is a well known historian and an expert on handwriting styles from the times of the gurus. He always believed that since Guru Gobind Singh ji spent so many years in Sri Poonta Sahib with a court full of scribes and poets some writing of Guru Sahib must have survived. In 1963, Manohar Singh Marco discovered and located the Anandpuri Bir.

This scripture of the Sri Anandpuri Bir was lying amongst some ancient handwritten books in the home of a Pandit Om Prakash of Anandpur Sahib. The physical condition was terrible. The covers were drenched and the binding in tatters. Pandit Om Prakash’s grandfather brought this Granth from Rajput Kanets of Kangra. According to the records of the Municipal Council , Pt. Om Prakash’s grandfather died on 12th August 1900 at the age of 90. Then Pt Om Prakash’s father after taking care of this Granth for 72 years died on 23rd December 1947. Pt Om Prakash not knowing the
importance of the Granth put the Granth Sahib on a shelf along with other astrology books.

After studying the Granth in some detail Manohar Singh Marco discovered that this bir was something that needed scholarly studies in identifying its true glory. After paying the Pandit his asking price, Manohar Singh Marco brought the scattered pages of the Granth back to Delhi. Giani Sharam Singh (Jathedar Keshgarh Sahib), Principal Ganga Singh, Pritam Singh Bedi (Muncipal Commissioner), and five Singh’s accompanied the Bir to Manohar Singh Marco Research Centre in Delhi.

In understanding the Bir many obstacles arose. The first issue is the handwriting of the Scriptures. The Gurmukhi script has a Persian influence making it extremely difficult to read. Manohar Singh Marco then separated the writing, letter by letter and prepared a key of all the letters that were present in the Bir. Using this key to understand the content of the Bir all the pages were collated into the Bir. The Anandpuri Bir was then micro-filmed at the National Physical Laboratory, Pusa. With the assistance of Rupinder Singh Marco, Principal Narinderpal Singh and Manjit Singh Khalsa, all the pages were placed within plastic envelopes and a temporary hardcover was made.

Manohar Singh Marco placed the Anandpuri Bir in a Fireproof Safe with Neem leaves. Neem works in two ways firstly it absorbs the moisture thereby preventing the manuscript from getting damp and secondly neem being bitter ,keeps the insects from biting the pages. With the help of the Delhi Gurdware Parbandak Comittee a pamphlet about the Anandpuri Bir was distributed and the sangat informed. There was a lot of discussion in newspapers and magazines about the Anandpuri Bir.

Manohar Singh Marco passed away on 26th August 2006. His widow Gurdarshan Kaur with the assistance of S. P.Singh (Director Rashtri Sangralia New Delhi), Rupinder Singh Marco, Principal Narinderpal Singh, Manjit Singh Khalsa, Om Prakash Kalra (Rashtri Sangralia, New Delhi),Iqbal Kaur and myself, started the work of the restoration and digitalization of the Anandpuri Bir.

Every page was first cleaned with a mix of Thermal and Bromium Hydroxide, dirt if any was removed very carefully. Then each page was placed in between absorptive papers to allow to dry completely, with this the writing on each page became even clearer, surprisingly there was no damage caused to the page. At the end all the pages were placed in between blotting papers for 2 months. In between the pages and the tissue papers, cellulose acetate work was added and on top of that Acetone was applied with cotton wool. By doing this, the cellulose acetate melted and the blotting paper automatically sealed together. The pages were then placed in between absorptive papers and then pressed. This allowed all the pages to be crease free. To prevent any
discrepancies from appearing again the pages were kept pressed for one week. After this the binding of the Bir was bound once again to bring it back to its glory of being a Granth. To make the spine of the Bir, medium weight paper and the pages of the Bir were bound with Fevicol (special rubber glue dissolved in water). To make the cover embroiled cotton cloth and cardboard with polyfill sheet sandwiched in between was used. After the Bir binding was complete the full digitalization took into effect where each page was photographed at a 18 sec shutter F32 f-stop along with some microscopic scanning at 400x to get a closer look at the handwriting styles. Throughout this project, the Marco Foundation were steadfast in keeping full respect of the Bir.

Working on various manuscripts over time I normally come across handwritings that are very neatly done mainly by a ‘Lakhri’ (scribe). Unfolding the Anandpuri Bir you can see this is not the work of a Scribe. The long flowing animated strokes show the work of a true scholar. The Marco Foundation has done an excellent and professional job in persevering such an amazing manuscript like the Anadpuri Bir. Our heritage is a concern to us its validity, its existence in years to come. Yet working with the Marco family I have hope for our heritage. The scientific methods, theories and examples are there for us to implement them. Let’s use them to give our history a future.

[N30S1NGH]

You are doing amazing seva bro, please keep it up..amazing stuff..!!!

[Jonny101]

Vah Jee Vah!! the restored Bir looks so beautiful. May Guru Jee bless these people with preserving more of our heritage like this.

[GSMANN]

The Anandpuri bir in the pictures in not the Anandpuri Bir of Dasam Granth Sahib. That is a different birh.

[DSGj]

The Anandpuri bir in the pictures in not the Anandpuri Bir of Dasam Granth Sahib. That is a different birh.

Veer Jee,

where is the Dasam Granth Sahib Anandpuri Bir?

Everyone keeps on saying it's in a "private collection" and was "bought", etc, etc, etc.. yet no one gives any specifics.

Or is it because there is very little information available?

[GSMANN]

The Anandpuri bir of Guru Gobind Singh was kept at Amritsar: Akal Takht Sahib and then moved to Bombay as to what GPS says.

There is only a handful of people who have ever seen it.

A photograph appears in Sri Dasam Granth Sahib Q and A:

I have seen a copy of the whole birh in a private collection.The original cannot be located but it was last seen was in Chandigarh

The findings and analysis of this manuscript will be in The Granth Of Guru Gobind Singh: Essay, lectures and Translations.

[DSGj]

Thank you very much for the information!

Pretty interesting that it was kept at Akal Takhat Sahib and then moved all of a sudden.

[lsingh]

There have also been statements in the press that the Indian army burnt many Sikh texts at Amritsar and took away some in bags that are held somewhere. Should it not be the duty of all Sikh groups to get these documents returned?

[GPS]

Sadar Manohar Singh Marco is a well known historian and an expert on handwriting styles from the times of the gurus. He always believed that since Guru Gobind Singh ji spent so many years in Sri Poonta Sahib with a court full of scribes and poets some writing of Guru Sahib must have survived. In 1963, Manohar Singh Marco discovered and located the Anandpuri Bir.

What GS Mann ji has stated is 100 percent correct.I knew the person who was holding it in Bombay since part of my life was spent in Bombay.My interest grew in Dasam granth sahib when kala afghana wrote against it and then i read myself about the priceless treasure Guru sahib gave to Sikhs. And that person in Bombay by that time was no more.His family sold it to someone else.

By the way dasamsarbloh granth ji, i have to disagree on Manohar singh marco.He was one of the few critics of Dasam granth that time. I may call him a gurnindak as he propagated against Guru sahib's bani. First i considered him to be a gursikh when i used to read his " Chithian sikhan diyan likh satgur wal payiaan". But when i read about his views about dasam granth all my respect for him vanished.He has not seen Anandpuri beer himself. I do not believe in integrity of site from where this article about manohar marco is taken.They are merchants who are on the prowl after such items.Put something fake on ebay telling it is a manuscript and see how they come to buy it.

GS Mann has dedicated his life for research on dasam granth sahib. He knows much more than any of us. The man who has digitized copy of real anandpuri beer will not allow us to have a deep look of it. Such is the attitude of so called sikhs towards common treasure of all of us. By the way Piara singh padam has seen and written about this beer in his book "Dasam beer de darshan"