Panjab Digital Library | |
---|---|
Location | Chandigarh, Punjab, India |
Type | Digital library |
Established | 2003 |
Collection | |
Items collected | Manuscripts, books, photographs, newspapers, magazines, sound recordings |
Size | 1,000,000+ titles, over 85 million pages digitized |
Access and use | |
Access requirements | Open to anyone with a genuine need to use the collection |
Other information | |
Director | Davinder Pal Singh |
Funding | Donations |
Website | panjabdigilib |
The Panjab Digital Library is a voluntary organization digitizing and preserving the cultural heritage of Panjab since 2003. With over 85 million digitized pages, it is the biggest resource of digital material on Panjab. [1] [2] There are many historically significant documents stored and made available online. Its scope covers Sikh and Punjabi culture. [3] The library funded by The Nanakshahi Trust was launched online in August 2009. Its base office is located at Chandigarh, India. [4]
The library's mission is to locate, digitize, preserve, collect and make accessible the accumulated wisdom of the Panjab region, without distinction as to script, language, religion, nationality, or other physical condition. [5]
Davinder Pal Singh is the co-founder and the executive director of the Panjab Digital Library, contributing significantly to its mission of preserving Punjab's cultural heritage. [1] [6]
PDL is interested in digitizing anything which is lying in the Panjab region (Panjab, Haryana, Himachal, Kashmir and Pakistan). It is also interested to digitize anything concerning the Panjab region or in Gurmukhi script lying anywhere in the world. PDL is an archive being presented in the form of a library. It digitizes manuscripts from rural areas with the same vigor as it digitizes government files for posterity. It also operates abroad, such as in the United Kingdom. [7]
Library at Virasat-e-Khalsa – PDL signed an agreement with Anandpur Sahib Foundation to develop and manage a library at Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum. PDL plans to establish a library of books related to Panjab's art, culture, and history. Rare manuscripts and old magazines will also become part of it. Amongst all these, newspapers will be kept in a big way. About 15 titles from 1960 onwards will be part of the library. A small library shop to sell interesting books and ephemeral material is also on the agenda. PDL opened this library in May 2016.
Digitization Projects
Exhibitions
and many more public and personal libraries.
* Estimated pages to be digitized by the year end
In 2003, the first year of operations, 60,000 pages were digitized. [12] By December 2024, over 85 million pages had been digitzed. [2]
Media type | Number digitzed |
---|---|
Books | 87,700+ |
Files (pre-1947) | 545,000+ |
Manuscripts | 12,350+ |
Magazines | 18,600+ |
Pamphlets | 3,900+ |
Maps | 10,700+ |
Pictures | 211,000+ |
Articles | 47,000+ |
Documents | 19,000+ |
Newspapers | 40,000+ |
Posters | 2,700+ |
Coins | 33,000+ |
Letters | 10,500+ |
Poems | 16,000+ |
Legal documents | 6,000+ |
Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth and last human Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs after his father Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed by Emperor Aurangzeb. His father was the ninth Sikh Guru. His four biological sons died during his lifetime – two in battle and two executed by the Mughal governor Wazir Khan.
The following outline is provides an overview of Sikhism, or Sikhi.
Anandpur Sahib, also referred simply as Anandpur, is a city in Rupnagar district (Ropar), on the edge of Shivalik Hills, in the Indian state of Punjab. Located near the Sutlej River, the city is one of the most sacred religious places in Sikhism, being the place where the last two Sikh Gurus, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh, lived. It is also the place where Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699. The city is home to Takhat Sri Kesgarh Sahib, the third of the five Takhts in Sikhism.
The Sarbloh Granth or Sarabloh Granth, also called Manglacharan Puran or Sri Manglacharan Ji, is a voluminous scripture, composed of more than 6,500 poetic stanzas. It is traditionally attributed as being the work of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru. Scholars, on the other hand, attribute the work to after the Guru's death, being authored by an unknown poet. The work is mostly revered by the Nihang sect.
Kesgarh Qila or Takht Kesgarh Sahib, alternatively spelt as Keshgarh Qila, is one of the five takhts of the Sikhs located in Anandpur Sahib in Rupnagar district of Punjab, India. It is located just 40 km from Rupnagar city, the district headquarters and 78 km from state capital Chandigarh. The fort is also called Takhat Keshgarh Sahib. This Gurdwara was one of the forts constructed by Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur Sahib for the defense of the Sikhs. He spent his 25 years at Anandpur Sahib and, to protect the Sikhs from the Rajas of the Hill States and Mughals, began the construction of five defensive Qilas (forts) all around the town.
Bhai Mani Singh was an 18th-century Sikh scholar and martyr. He was a childhood companion of Guru Gobind Singh and took the vows of Sikhism when the Guru inaugurated the Khalsa in March 1699. Soon after that, the Guru sent him to Amritsar to take charge of Harmandir Sahib, which had been without a custodian since 1696. He took control and steered the course of Sikh destiny at a critical stage in Sikh history. He was also a teacher of the Gianian Bunga, later becoming known as the "Amritsari Taksal", currently located in Sato Ki Gali.
Daya Singh was one of the Panj Pyare, the first five Sikhs to be initiated into the Khalsa order in 17th-century India. Among the inaugural panj piare quintet, he is traditionally the highest-regarded as he was the first to answer the call for a sacrifice from the guru. Daya Singh was an educated Sikh, with literature being attributed to his authorship.
Bhai Himmat Singh (1661–1705), born Himmat Rai, was one of the inaugural group of Panj Pyare, or the first group of the Five Beloved in Sikhism.
The principal Sikh scripture is the Adi Granth, more commonly called the Guru Granth Sahib. The second most important scripture of the Sikhs is the Dasam Granth. Both of these consist of text which was written or authorised by the Sikh Gurus.
Guru Nanak founded the Sikh religion in the Punjab region of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the 15th century and opposed many traditional practices like fasting, Upanayana, idolatry, caste system, ascetism, azan, economic materialism, and gender discrimination.
Giani Gurdit Singh was born in Mithewal village in the state of Punjab, India. He was considered one of the greatest contemporary writers in Punjabi, and his book Mera Pind is regarded as a classic. It is now in its 14th edition and has been in print continuously since 1961. He was also a pioneering journalist, the Owner-Editor of Parkash from 1947–1978. He was also the editor of Singh Sabha Patrika, a monthly magazine of Sikh history and divinity. Giani Gurdit Singh graduated as "Giani" from Punjab University, Lahore in 1945, and he specialised in literature, divinity, history and folklore. He was a member of the Punjab Legislative Council from 1956 to 1962. He contributed to the debates at that time and in the creation of Punjabi University, Patiala and the recognition of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, as the 5th Takht of the Sikhs. He was General Secretary of the Singh Sabha Shatabadi Committee, Amritsar, renamed Kendriya Sri Guru Singh Sabha. As the editor of the magazine Singh Sabha Patrika, he focused on issues of importance to the Sikhs. He also established two Guru Granth Vidya Kendras, one in Chandigarh and another in Mehrauli, Delhi.
Harjinder Singh Dilgeer is an Indian historian and author.
Punjab has a long history of education.
Virasat-e-Khalsa is a museum of Sikhism, located in the holy town, Anandpur Sahib of the state of Punjab, India. The museum celebrates 500 years of the Sikh history and the 300th anniversary of the birth of Khalsa, based on the scriptures written by the tenth and last human guru, Guru Gobind Singh. It serves to attract tourists and pilgrims. This results in a consultation between religion and emerging need in the building environment. One side it promotes hand crafts to locals as well as nurturing a sense of heritage, besides it recalls to infinity by the volumetric interference of existing skyline is another phase of a visible Urbanism dilemma.
A takht, or taḵẖat, literally means a throne or seat of authority and is a spiritual and temporal centre of Sikhism. There are five takhts, which are five gurudwaras that have a very special significance for the Sikh community. Three are located in Punjab whilst the remaining two are located outside of it.
Ganda Singh was an Indian Punjabi and Sikh historian and Padma Bhushan awardee. In addition to scores of research papers, booklets and pamphlets, he published over two dozen full-length volumes of historical value.
The 350th Prakash Parv or birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh ji was celebrated in January 2017 in Patna, India. 2017 is the year of the 350th anniversary of the 10th Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. At the date of this anniversary, a number of events was organized on the occasion in Patna marking a grand celebration in their history.
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