Roundtable
Saving Our Heritage
The Roundtable Open Forum # 31 - June 2-8
EDITOR
The Rules of the forum are posted here on the right, and need to be followed strictly by all participants.
The following is this week's (June 2 - 8) topic for discussion, which should focus on the questions posed therein:
SAVING OUR HERITAGE
There are stories galore of Sikh manuscripts and rare artefacts languishing in the hands of individuals, families and gurdwaras across Punjab, and the need for urgent action to help the owners in preserving and conserving the objects for future scholars and generations.
[Please see the story currently posted on sikhchic.com - "Manuscripts Need Urgent Attention"].
POINTS TO PONDER
- What can we as a community do to help save these items and, at the same time, make them accessible to scholars and researchers and, ultimately, museums?
Conversation about this article
1: Gurjender Singh (Maryland, U.S.A.), June 02, 2010, 7:10 PM.
This project must be initiated by the S.G.P.C. who is collecting and has budgets of millions of dollars. It claims to be the supreme body of the Sikhs. It should use money in these conservation projects instead of wasting it on elections.
2: Gur Singh (Boston, MA, U.S.A.), June 02, 2010, 9:40 PM.
Education about preservation to the individuals with select pieces of history may be a better investment. Centralization of history in hands of few individuals might look good on paper but puts it at the mercy of a select few, indifference of the majority and a possible quick end due to man made or natural disasters. [Think of the wanton plunder and destruction of the Sikh Museum and Library in the Darbar Sahib complex by Indira Gandhi's goons, long after cessation of hostilities, in June 1984]. Digitalisation of data can help a long way. The Punjab Digital Library Project seems to be a good initiative.
3: Harsimran Singh (Union City, California, U.S.A.), June 02, 2010, 11:47 PM.
Conservation of such materials would be best carried out by Sikh academic institutions with financial and some logistical support coming from bodies such as the S.G.P.C.