The Consulate General of India (CGI) in Scotland has announced a collaborative initiative to allow devotees to pay their respects to a rare, 300-year-old handwritten manuscript of the Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The sacred text, regarded as the oldest handwritten copy of the scripture in the United Kingdom, will be hosted at the Central Gurdwara in Glasgow following a successful coordination meeting between Indian diplomats, regional Sikh representatives, and University of Edinburgh officials.
Believed to have been transcribed in the early 1700s, the manuscript originally belonged to Maharaja Kharak Singh, the second ruler of the Sikh Empire. Historical records indicate British colonial forces confiscated the document from the Dullewalla Fort in Punjab in 1848, after which it was transferred to the University of Edinburgh’s repository by Sir John Spencer Login. It remained largely unnoticed in the institution’s institutional archives for decades until researchers rediscovered references to it online in 2020.
The Indian mission highlighted that the holy text, which is viewed by the community as a living embodiment of the faith rather than a mere historical archive, has recently received critical conservation care. “The sacred manuscript, once belonging to Maharaja Kharak Singh of Punjab, has undergone extensive restoration and preservation,” the consulate noted in an official statement, terming the upcoming public darshan “a meaningful step in preserving and celebrating our shared heritage.”
