Post by irrational on Feb 16, 2008 15:22:32 GMT
I am attaching an article from Sikhnn.com and a response to that by some one. I think this is something we all need to be aware of.
* Losing Heritage at Hazur Sahib, Darbar Sahib is Next
India
Posted Feb 28, 2007 - 12:28 AM
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PATIALA - Despite desperate pleas and worldwide attention, the demolition of historic structures on the premises of Gurdwara Sach Khand Hazur Sahib is continuing. The Ramgarhia Bunga has been destroyed.
Gurmeet Rai, director of the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative, again demanded the immediate removal of Parvinder Singh as president of the management committee of Hazur Sahib for his failure to protect its heritage.
“How can an officer in service of the state justify making management decisions of Hazur Sahib? He has many compulsions for the state,” Rai said at a Punjabi University seminar. Parvinder Singh is an Indian Police Service officer who is also serving as director general of police of Maharashtra state.
In December, Rai led a team of conservation architects and urban designers to Nanded, in Maharashtra, to evaluate the demolition plans on the Hazur Sahib grounds. They found the plans to be detrimental to historic buildings as well as the gurdwara.
Meetings with the project’s managers were unsuccessful. Parvinder Singh had invited Rai to meet with him personally, but that never took place.
"The threat to historical heritage has started. The gurdwara and state authorities have begun bulldozing monuments in preparation for visitor housing. …The proposed plan lacks adequate sensitivity to heritage buildings," Rai said. The site is slated for construction of large buildings and open spaces, referred to as a Galiyara, around the inner sanctum.
The Ramgarhia Bunga was built during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The building accommodated the masons he sent from Punjab to build the inner sanctum of Hazur Sahib. It can only be seen in photographs now.
Some structures in close proximity to the inner sanctum of Hazur Sahib were already demolished, and a food storage building, called the Modikhana, was being demolished during her December visit, Rai said. Other heritage structures were crumbling from neglect.
The management is holding off on the destruction of parts of the Baradari, where the Guru Granth Sahib and Guru Gobind Singh's weapons were kept during construction, for now, she said.
Rai was speaking at a seminar on Punjab handicrafts organized by Patiala Heritage Society.
She also criticized the construction of a 5.35 km elevated road to Darbar Sahib. The Rs.173 crore project will increase traffic chaos around the complex. And the close proximity of vehicles traveling to Darbar Sahib will disturb its sanctity.
“It will be disastrous.”
Note: Report and top photo by Gagan Deep Singh, SikhNN, Patiala.
gdsingh@sikhnn.com
Response to this article at Sikhnn.com
* Heritage Heartbreak
India
Posted Feb 12, 2008 - 05:49 PM
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I read with great sadness about the destruction of our heritage at Hazoor Sahib. Sometimes I wonder if we are not our own worst enemy in this regard. I do not know who is responsible, but a lot of important historical sites associated with the Sikhs are either being changed or completely destroyed.
I visited India three years ago after a long pause of about 16 years to show my kids to see all the historic gurdwaras. The first gurdwara we visited was Fatehgarh Sahib. I had told the kids the story of Mata Gujari and chote Sahibzaadey. I told them about the Thanda Burj where they were incarcerated and how Mata Gujari gave up her life by jumping from the Burj after the both the Sahibzaade had been bricked alive.
To my horror when we reached the gurdwara to see the Thanda Burj, it was not there. It had been replaced by a marble-and-brick building. I was devastated. How could we as a community do this to ourselves? The building where Mata Gujari spent her last days and cold nights, the floor she walked on, the walls she had touched had been destroyed by Sikhs themselves. No power in this universe can return that to us.
My grandfather had taken me to the Thanda Burj when I was 6 or 7-years-old and told me the saakhi of Mata Gujari. That moment and the words of my grandfather are etched in my mind and I wanted to tell the same story to my children. I probably have never been more heartbroken and disappointed.
When I talked to my father about this, his response was that some Sikh contractors with connections get these big contracts and make money while raping their, and our own, heritage. I have no idea how this can be stopped but it needs to be.
It has always been my gripe that there never ever has been a well-educated forward-looking professional at the helm of the SGPC. Most or our leadership comes from a conservative and inward-looking background, with very little education and awareness of the world in general. And, of course, they all want to make money.
I heard that the Sargrahi Memorial School in Amritsar might be destroyed to make room for a shopping complex or some such thing. The Battle of Sarghari is the shining moment of Sikh valor and fighting spirit. Here is a description of the battle as written in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The Battle of Saragarhi was fought during the Tirah Campaign on 12 September 1897 between twenty one Sikhs of the 4th Battalion (then 36th Sikhs) of the Sikh Regiment of British India, defending an army post, and 10000 Afghan and Orakzais tribesmen in a last stand. The battle occurred in the Northwest Frontier Province, now a part of Pakistan, which then formed part of British India. The contingent of the twenty-one Sikhs from the 36th Sikhs was led by Havildar Ishar Singh. They all chose to fight to the death. Sikh military personnel and Sikh civilians commemorate the battle every year on 12 September, as Saragarhi Day. This battle has frequently been compared to the heroic stand of a small Greek force against the mighty Persian Army of Xerxes at Thermopylae in 480 B.C."
The Battle at Saragarhi is one of eight stories of collective bravery published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It has been mentioned as one of the five most significant events of its kind in the world, which includes the Saga of Thermoplyae associated with the heroic stand of a small Greek force against the mighty Persian Army of Xerxes in 480 B.C.
How and why don't we, as community, feel the need to preserve things related to such important and heroic examples of the bravery of the Sikhs is something I have never been ale to understand.
Daya Singh
Hope to have a good discussion on this.
Love to all
Surd.
* Losing Heritage at Hazur Sahib, Darbar Sahib is Next
India
Posted Feb 28, 2007 - 12:28 AM
Printer friendly page Print this story Send this story to a friend Email this to a friend
PATIALA - Despite desperate pleas and worldwide attention, the demolition of historic structures on the premises of Gurdwara Sach Khand Hazur Sahib is continuing. The Ramgarhia Bunga has been destroyed.
Gurmeet Rai, director of the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative, again demanded the immediate removal of Parvinder Singh as president of the management committee of Hazur Sahib for his failure to protect its heritage.
“How can an officer in service of the state justify making management decisions of Hazur Sahib? He has many compulsions for the state,” Rai said at a Punjabi University seminar. Parvinder Singh is an Indian Police Service officer who is also serving as director general of police of Maharashtra state.
In December, Rai led a team of conservation architects and urban designers to Nanded, in Maharashtra, to evaluate the demolition plans on the Hazur Sahib grounds. They found the plans to be detrimental to historic buildings as well as the gurdwara.
Meetings with the project’s managers were unsuccessful. Parvinder Singh had invited Rai to meet with him personally, but that never took place.
"The threat to historical heritage has started. The gurdwara and state authorities have begun bulldozing monuments in preparation for visitor housing. …The proposed plan lacks adequate sensitivity to heritage buildings," Rai said. The site is slated for construction of large buildings and open spaces, referred to as a Galiyara, around the inner sanctum.
The Ramgarhia Bunga was built during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The building accommodated the masons he sent from Punjab to build the inner sanctum of Hazur Sahib. It can only be seen in photographs now.
Some structures in close proximity to the inner sanctum of Hazur Sahib were already demolished, and a food storage building, called the Modikhana, was being demolished during her December visit, Rai said. Other heritage structures were crumbling from neglect.
The management is holding off on the destruction of parts of the Baradari, where the Guru Granth Sahib and Guru Gobind Singh's weapons were kept during construction, for now, she said.
Rai was speaking at a seminar on Punjab handicrafts organized by Patiala Heritage Society.
She also criticized the construction of a 5.35 km elevated road to Darbar Sahib. The Rs.173 crore project will increase traffic chaos around the complex. And the close proximity of vehicles traveling to Darbar Sahib will disturb its sanctity.
“It will be disastrous.”
Note: Report and top photo by Gagan Deep Singh, SikhNN, Patiala.
gdsingh@sikhnn.com
Response to this article at Sikhnn.com
* Heritage Heartbreak
India
Posted Feb 12, 2008 - 05:49 PM
Printer friendly page Print this story Send this story to a friend Email this to a friend
I read with great sadness about the destruction of our heritage at Hazoor Sahib. Sometimes I wonder if we are not our own worst enemy in this regard. I do not know who is responsible, but a lot of important historical sites associated with the Sikhs are either being changed or completely destroyed.
I visited India three years ago after a long pause of about 16 years to show my kids to see all the historic gurdwaras. The first gurdwara we visited was Fatehgarh Sahib. I had told the kids the story of Mata Gujari and chote Sahibzaadey. I told them about the Thanda Burj where they were incarcerated and how Mata Gujari gave up her life by jumping from the Burj after the both the Sahibzaade had been bricked alive.
To my horror when we reached the gurdwara to see the Thanda Burj, it was not there. It had been replaced by a marble-and-brick building. I was devastated. How could we as a community do this to ourselves? The building where Mata Gujari spent her last days and cold nights, the floor she walked on, the walls she had touched had been destroyed by Sikhs themselves. No power in this universe can return that to us.
My grandfather had taken me to the Thanda Burj when I was 6 or 7-years-old and told me the saakhi of Mata Gujari. That moment and the words of my grandfather are etched in my mind and I wanted to tell the same story to my children. I probably have never been more heartbroken and disappointed.
When I talked to my father about this, his response was that some Sikh contractors with connections get these big contracts and make money while raping their, and our own, heritage. I have no idea how this can be stopped but it needs to be.
It has always been my gripe that there never ever has been a well-educated forward-looking professional at the helm of the SGPC. Most or our leadership comes from a conservative and inward-looking background, with very little education and awareness of the world in general. And, of course, they all want to make money.
I heard that the Sargrahi Memorial School in Amritsar might be destroyed to make room for a shopping complex or some such thing. The Battle of Sarghari is the shining moment of Sikh valor and fighting spirit. Here is a description of the battle as written in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The Battle of Saragarhi was fought during the Tirah Campaign on 12 September 1897 between twenty one Sikhs of the 4th Battalion (then 36th Sikhs) of the Sikh Regiment of British India, defending an army post, and 10000 Afghan and Orakzais tribesmen in a last stand. The battle occurred in the Northwest Frontier Province, now a part of Pakistan, which then formed part of British India. The contingent of the twenty-one Sikhs from the 36th Sikhs was led by Havildar Ishar Singh. They all chose to fight to the death. Sikh military personnel and Sikh civilians commemorate the battle every year on 12 September, as Saragarhi Day. This battle has frequently been compared to the heroic stand of a small Greek force against the mighty Persian Army of Xerxes at Thermopylae in 480 B.C."
The Battle at Saragarhi is one of eight stories of collective bravery published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It has been mentioned as one of the five most significant events of its kind in the world, which includes the Saga of Thermoplyae associated with the heroic stand of a small Greek force against the mighty Persian Army of Xerxes in 480 B.C.
How and why don't we, as community, feel the need to preserve things related to such important and heroic examples of the bravery of the Sikhs is something I have never been ale to understand.
Daya Singh
Hope to have a good discussion on this.
Love to all
Surd.