By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
Chandigarh : It has missed a number of completion deadlines, but the Khalsa Heritage Complex (KHC) in Punjab, touted as a landmark monument of Sikhism, will finally be inaugurated next month – possibly by no less a person than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Manmohan Singh, a Sikh himself, has agreed ‘in principle’ to a request by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to inaugurate the KHC at Anandpur Sahib, 80 km from here, and dedicate it to the nation, sources in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said here Saturday.
“The dates would be finalised by the Prime Minister’s Office in consultation with the state government. Badal had yesterday (Friday) personally extended an invitation to the prime minister in New Delhi to inaugurate the monument next month,” a senior official in the CMO told IANS.
The Rs.275 crore project, announced in April 1999, was originally expected to be completed by September 2004 to coincide with the celebrations of the 400th year of the Golden Temple, but the completion deadline was pushed back several times.
In December last year, the Punjab government set the “final” deadline for July 30 but even that was missed by the authorities.
Boston-based internationally acclaimed Israeli-architect, Moshe Safdie has designed the KHC, which is shaped like open hands offering prayers. The monument is termed as a ‘wonder in the making’ – something that has no comparison in the country. Safdie is being assisted by a museum expert from the US, Kirstin Kelly.
Being built on a 100-acre site at Anandpur Sahib, the KHC is to stand at a site that is the birth place of the ‘Khalsa Panth’, the present day Sikh religion. The second holiest Sikh shrine, Takht Keshgarh Sahib, is located here.
It was here in 1699, on the day of Baisakhi, that the 10th Sikh master, Guru Gobind Singh, founded the Khalsa Panth and baptized the ‘Panj Piaras’ (the first five baptized Sikhs known to be the loved ones of the guru).
The budget of the project has nearly doubled from its original estimates. Funds for the KHC project have come from the government, Punjab’s rich non-resident Indian (NRI) community and religious organisations.
Badal, in whose earlier tenure (1997-2002) the project was announced, had shown personal interest in setting up the heritage complex. It will finally be completed when the Badal government is to complete its present term in March next year.
Badal said: “The holy city of Sri Anandpur Sahib had sacred religious values for the Punjabis, especially the Sikh diaspora settled all over the world. It would not only highlight the Sikh history but also infuse the spirit to imbibe high moral values of Sikhism on one hand and cultural heritage amongst the future generations on the other.”
Popularly known as the ‘ajooba’ (miracle), the KHC museum, the first of its scale in the world, is a story-telling monument covering 6,500-square metres of fully air-conditioned space. The story to be told within the museum’s monumental architectural spaces will be deeply spiritual, passionate and emotional.
Punjab Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur said: “This project is a unique endeavour of the Punjab government to showcase the different facets of 400 years of Sikh history for the future generations about their rich Punjabi culture and glorious traditions.”
“The museum will cater to a wide audience – Sikhs from rural, semi-urban and urban milieu; NRI Sikhs; the devout and the sceptic; other Punjabis and tourists; the non-literate, the scholar, the aesthete; children, teenagers and the aged,” the foundation claims.
The roof of the flower-shaped building is in the form of five petals – depicting the Panj Piaras of Guru Gobind Singh. Building material from all over India has been picked up to put up the project as a marvel of comprehensive Sikh heritage.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at [email protected])