Cultural Diplomacy Boosted as Scots prepare to showcase 300‑Year‑Old Sikh Scripture

A team from India’s Commercial Embassy in Scotland convened in Edinburgh on Tuesday with officials from the University of Edinburgh and Sikh representatives from Gurudwaras in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The meeting’s goal was to facilitate a viewing of a three‑century‑old handwritten version of the Guru Granth Sahib.

The manuscript entered the university’s holdings in 2020 after being recovered from the university’s archive. Its provenance traces back to Maharaja Khadak Singh of Punjab, taken during the 1848 Dulewala Fort occupation and later gifted to the university by Sir John Spencer Login.

The document had its inaugural public exposure at the Guru Nanak Gurudwara in Edinburgh last November, an occasion the embassy lauded as a milestone linking faith, heritage, and community.

The embassy expressed gratitude to the Gurudwara Sangat, university staff, and the wider Sikh community for making the event possible, and reaffirmed its pledge to support cultural and heritage initiatives across Scotland.

University officials note that the Guru Granth Sahib is one of three Sikh scriptures safely stored on campus, underscoring the institution’s role in preserving world‑heritage materials.