The SGPC executive committee on Friday gave nod for the construction of a new building to relocate Sikh Reference Library. The decision was reached at a meeting of the committee presided over by SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo.
Addressing mediapersons, Longowal said the library was ruined during the Operation Blue Star in 1984 and the Army “had taken away a lot of Sikh literature” from there. He said the library had once again turned into a treasure trove of Sikh literature following the efforts of the SGPC.
He said the new building to house the Sikh Reference Library will be constructed at the current location of Bhai Gurdas Hall in Amritsar. Along with it, a ‘sarai’ to facilitate lodging of the pilgrims will also be constructed.
The Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar was established in 1946, vide Resolution No. 822 dated 27.10 1946 of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (S.G.P.C.)1. No doubt, the credit for establishing this library goes to the S.G.P.C., but a significant role was played by the ‘Sikh Historical Society’ (SHC) established as early as in 1930 at Lahore under the leadership of Bawa Budh Singh. Though the Society could not remain active after the death of its founder, yet it sowed the seeds for establishing a central library, which could house the literature related to Sikh Gurus, Sikh religion and the related fields. As a result, a meeting of the Sikh scholars, historians and others interested in this cause was held on Feburary 10,1945 at Khalsa College, Amritsar, under the presidentship of Princess Bamba, daughter of Late Maharaja Duleep Singh, the youngest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In this meeting, ‘Sikh History Society’ was formed and its formal meeting was held at Teja Singh Samundri Hall on April 29,1945, in which bye-laws of the Society were passed and a working committee comprising of Prof. Teja Singh, Bawa Prem Singh, Bawa Harikrishan Singh, Prof. Gurmukh Nihal Singh and Prof. Ganda Singh was constituted, which became instrumental in bringing out the concept of establishment of Central Sikh Library into reality.
Later on, the name was changed to the Sikh Reference Library (SRL) keeping in view the nature of collection of this library, which included mainly the reference books like hand-written Sikh scriptures-the holy Guru Granth Sahib, Hukamnamas, Rehatnamas, books on Sikh history, art, culture, literature, religion and other reference material like encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, biographies, etc.