Hukumnamas penned by Sikh Gurus come into public domain

The rare pictorial copies of “hukumnamas” (edicts) and “messages”, mostly penned by Sikh Gurus, have come in public domain.

The documents written in medieval prose in Gurmukhi script have been compiled by founder director of the Centre for Sri Guru Granth Sahib Studies set up at Guru Nanak Dev University, Prof Balwant Singh Dhillon (retd), in a book titled “Hukumnamae: Sikh Itihaas De Samkaali Dastavez”, which was released today.

The 480-page book consists of 144 images, including 56 genuine “hukumnamas” of Guru Gobind Singh or issued on his behalf, 31 historical documents issued by Banda Singh Bahadur, Mata Sundri, Mata Sahib Devan and the Sikh Takhts. To obtain first-hand information about the “hukamnamas”, documents and manuscripts, the author visited several Sikh museums and also got in touch with persons whose ancestors were associated with the Sikh Gurus.

As a result, new “hukamnamas”, unknown and hidden from scholars’ eyes, have come to light. “It all started in 1978 when I was a research student with the GNDU and was assigned a pilot project on Sikh history sponsored by the Centre. This project infused an inclination in me to study the rare Sikh manuscripts,” he said.

Two “hukumnamas” mentioned in the book pertain to the Khalsa Sajna Divas on Baisakhi. A month prior to these edicts, February 28, 1699, and March 12, 1699, were a sort of ‘invitations’ on behalf of Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh to the masses to join for “pahul” (amrit sanchar) ceremony, encouraging them to get baptised. These invitations were written by Saina Singh.

“The authenticity and significance of ‘hukumnamas’ are unquestionable as these contemporary documents of Sikh history had been authored, dictated and endorsed personally by Sikh Gurus. These documents are of organic origin that offer living testimony to the dynamics of the Sikh Panth spreading its wings in and outside Punjab.” he said.

Interestingly, the writing style of Gurus carried no space to separate the words and phrases. Similarly, there were no punctuation signs, such as commas and full stops, to separate the text in the original documents. “Thus, connecting a phrase with the preceding and succeeding text was a difficult task. Predominantly, the vocabulary employed is pre-modern, with a mix of Persian and indigenous words, which was also challenging to decode,” he said.

“It is a pity that some of the edicts have disappeared from where they were initially preserved,” he said.

Before June 1984, many of the original “hukamnamas” of the Sikh Gurus were preserved in the Sikh Reference Library at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. “Mystery shrouds about their disappearance, whether they were destroyed along with the library allegedly burnt during Operation Blue Star or were in the possession of the Indian Army,” he said.

Punjab