Soon, devotees to see printing of saroops at Golden Temple

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 23

Soon, the devotees visiting the Golden Temple will be able to get a live tour of the printing and upkeep process of Guru Granth Sahib ‘saroops’ and other holy books.

Only the SGPC in Amritsar and the DSGMC in Delhi have the exclusive and legal rights for publication of the authentic version of ‘saroops’. In Amritsar, the printing is done by the SGPC’s publication department, Guru Granth Sahib Bhawan, located above the Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib at the Golden Temple complex.

The first ‘saroop’, known as the Adi Granth Sahib, which later became the living guru and the successor of Guru Gobind Singh, was written by hand at this spot.

The SGPC conceptualised the project to glorify the significance of the place and inform the visitors about the process and ‘maryada’ being adopted while printing the copies of ‘saroops’.

Tours to educate Schoolkids, youth

We are planning to make visitors, especially schoolkids and youth, aware of the journey of Guru Granth Sahib by organising visits to the press. We will let them know the process of printing the scriptures. —Bibi Jagir Kaur, SGPC Chief

SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur said an additional structure would be raised that would be fireproof and dustproof, having the provision of a see-through glass wall. This would facilitate the visitors to have a glimpse of the holy books, their upkeep, and ‘maryada’ being observed during the printing procedure.

“We are planning to make visitors, especially schoolchildren and youth, aware of the journey of Guru Granth Sahib by organising visits to the press. In these tours, we will let them know the process of printing the scriptures,” she added.

The holy book has 1,430 pages. A special kind of maplitho paper and ink is needed for the printing of Guru Granth Sahib.

SGPC former secretary Joginder Singh Adliwala said printing was done on an ultra-modern and fully computerised offset machine, procured from Germany. On an average, 8,000 copies, including the big, medium and small copies of holy scriptures, are printed annually, besides, Gutka (a breviary with hymns from Sikh scriptures), the Gurbani and books on the life of Sikh gurus.

“The norms dictate that the persons involved must be teetotaller and cover their heads. They need to abandon their shoes outside and wear special rubber ones,” he said.

The discarded ‘angs’ (pages) are collected and confined to flames with ‘maryada’, just like the old copies are cremated.