Dr. Mohinder Singh, director of the National Institute of Punjab Studies (Bhai Vir Singh Sadan, New Delhi) seems so unassuming that when I received the invitation card for the release of his book The Golden Temple (Guidebook Company Lid. Hong Kong) I checked up with him whether he was the same Mohinder Singh.
“Yes, I think so!” he laughed.
And before I go on to write about this book, adorned with some rare photographs “ for the very first time engravings depicting the various Gurus on the golden gate, preserved in the To shakhana, have been used in a pictorial book” let me add that few book releases draw so many people as Singh’s book, though in the last four years, this is the second book on the Golden Temple (the last one was written by Patwant Singh).
“I wanted this book to be totally different from Patwant’s and so are all the photographs. Even in the text I’ve tried to depict the spiritual heritage of the Sikhs and the grandeur and the glory of the Golden Temple. My aim has been to depict the past in its true perspective. In fact this book begins with a picture of Guru Nanak escorted by his companions Mardana, 2 Muslim rabab player, and Bala, a Hindu who accompanied him on his spiritual journeys,” says Singh.
This book could be of special significance to non-Sikhs too, for it is highly informative, and even highlights some near for-_ gotten facts that the foundation of the Golden Temple was laid by a Muslim saint, Mian Mir, the temple was built on a low level thereby depicting the compassion contained in the teachings of the Gurus, the relevance of the kar seva, etc.
The text is crisp but too short and is overpowered by Sandeep Shankar’s beautiful photography. Wish the author had gone into more elaborate details or else least he should had suggested readings for scholars interested in Sikh literature, for further studies.
Courtesy of Tribune
Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 28, 1992
