London, UK 19th February 2013 (Bharat Sandesh News):– The Panjab Digital Library (PDL) launched in the UK with a permanent installation at Europe’s largest Gurdwara, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall (SGSSS), celebrating the Sovereign Sikh spirit under the leadership of Banda Singh Bahadar and the resultant Khalsa Raj.
"Over the last century, Sikhs migrated to every corner of the world. To maintain their bonds with the homeland, many took along the literary and art heritage while others started acquiring them later. Since one of the largest concentrations of the Sikh Diaspora resides in London, SGSSS is proud to host the Khalsa Raj installation,” remarked Dr. Parvinder Singh Garcha, General Secretary SGSSS.
Spanning 1708-1716, the installation covers major incidents, places, forts and introduces newly discovered artifacts, starting from Banda’s meeting with Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. Quoting contemporary sources, it attempts to bring to life the complete sequence of events as they occurred till Banda’s martyrdom.
"With more than seven million pages in PDL’s archive, it has already become the largest free online resource of Panjab heritage. We hope to facilitate more Panjabis and non-Panjabis connecting with the ‘land of five rivers’ and unfold its linguistic and cultural vastness to the world", shared Davinder Pal Singh, co-founder. PDL is looking for partners in Europe to sponsor over 90 million pages awaiting digitization, which includes collections from Takhat Hazur Sahib and Gadhar movement.
Jagdeep Singh, PDL’s UK Coordinator, mentioned the "growing need for the digital preservation of Panjab-related artifacts in the Diaspora. To increase its presence and make its services available to all, PDL will expand its reach to the UK with a pilot digitization project later in 2013."
The mission of PDL 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 human condition.
