Rare books, manuscripts digitised at Khalsa College

Neeraj Bagga

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 30

Following a six-month long process, hundreds of rare books, manuscripts and hand-written documents, even those belonging to the era of the Sikh Gurus, have been successfully digitised at the historic Khalsa College.

Khalsa College’s Sikh History and Research Department In Charge Dr Inderjit Singh Gagoani said the company handed over about 1.74 lakh digitised pages to the college library. He said there was no longer any fear of losing the content because it was secured in computers and could be accessed with the click of a mouse.

The library boasts of a treasure trove of over 6,000 books, including the ones from the 16th and 17th centuries. These books are in different languages like English, Persian, Sanskrit and Urdu.

The precious books, historic newspapers and journals, reflecting Punjab’s rich cultural heritage, were preserved at the 83-year-old Sikh Research Library and Museum at over the century-old Khalsa College.

The material has been digitised through computerisation following a rigorous six-month long digitisation process by a Jalandhar-based private company.

Khalsa College governing council president Sardar Satyajit Singh Majithia had inaugurated the digitisation work on July 5. The attempt was meant for restoration and preservation of the precious material for posterity. He said in the next phase the museum’s photographs would also be preserved through digitisation.

The Sikh Research Library was established in 1930 and is a treasure trove of historical documents, dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. It houses more than 6,274 books, which include rare books in English and Punjabi and there are hundreds of manuscripts and documents in Urdu, Sanskrit and Persian also, apart from newspapers and magazines as old as those from 1904 and some of the books are available only here.

Among the rare books, there are two Birs of Guru Granth Sahib, which are hand-written, and the newspapers of the early 20th century in the library are also a major attraction for the students and researchers.

These rare manuscripts, books, documentaries and newspapers will now be available to the public at large on the internet after a month.