Khalsa College’s Sikh centre to digitise paintings

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 2

Khalsa College is set to launch the second phase of digitisation of rare photographs, paintings and important documents at the Sikh History Research Centre on the campus.

Manuscripts and handwritten documents were digitised during the first phase. The second phase will focus on the digitisation of images related to Sikh heritage.  These include photographs of heroes of the two World Wars, pictures of gurdwaras in Pakistan clicked in the 19th century, and paintings of Sikh warriors such as Hari Singh Nalwa. The museum displaying documents of historical importance, weapons, coins and historical artefacts is also being upgraded at the centre.

Established in 1930, the centre has documents available in languages such as Urdu, Persian and Sanskrit, besides over 6,000 books, old newspapers and magazines. The centre was recently shifted to a separate building, which is nearing completion.

“We have a rare collection of manuscripts. The project is about saving our heritage for future generations. We will begin the second phase of digitisation in 2019, most probably in January. Currently, conservation and preservation work is going on,” said Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, honorary secretary of the Khalsa College Governing Council.

The college authorities have also engaged a team of experts for the preservation process. It includes processing manuscripts with Japanese technology, for which a workshop was conducted last month by experts such as Mohammad Ali, former curator, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, and Sajjan Singh, convener, Sikh Heritage Foundation, Hyderabad.

“It is a treasure trove of Sikh history and culture. Hundreds of students use the documents for research,” said Principal Dr Mehal Singh, the overall incharge of the project.

“Anyone can come and peruse the documents. We have our own database. However, the documents cannot be copied,” said Kuldeep Singh, incharge, Sikh history and research department, Khalsa College.

On display

• Manuscripts and handwritten documents were digitised by the centre during the first phase.
• The second phase will focus on the digitisation of paintings and images of Sikh warriors.
• A museum displaying documents of historical importance, weapons, coins and historical artefacts is being upgraded at the centre.