All aboard the Guru Express!

The Holy Book was brought to Siri Guru Singh Sabha Nairobi for safekeeping and at some point taken to Kericho Sikh Temple, where the organisation has built a new temple including a technical college for the youth regardless of creed or caste.

I am still curious to know if the Guru Granth Sahib returned to Makindu Sikh Temple is the 1892 version.

“This is the only hand-illuminated copy of the Granth Sahib that l have ever seen,” says Babaji as he is fondly called.

“This particular copy may be one of its kind in the world today.” The white-bearded Babaji, simply clad in white cotton kurta and pyjamas with the traditional “kilemba” (turban) of the “kalasinghas,” as Kenyans call them, goes on to describe the history of the Granth Sahib.

“This version has 2,452 pages and the technique used was to cut the letters on marble fonts to stamp on the pages.” But this technology was used in the 1920s. It seems then that perhaps the Guru Granth Sahib is not the original brought to Africa but nevertheless one of the first ones on the continent.

Email: rupi.mangat@yahoo.com