INDIA: Over four million Sikhs are expected to arrive in their holy city of Amritsar in northern India tomorrow to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the installation of Sikhism's scriptures in the Golden Temple.
The scriptures, known as the Adi Granth or the Guru Granth Sah, compiled by Sikhism's fifth guru, Arjan Dev, were installed in the Golden Temple on this day four centuries ago.
The Granth or Sikhism's Bible was later ordained as the embodiment of the Sikh faith by Sikhism's 10th and last guru, Gobind Singh, who died in 1708.
Ever since, the holy book has been the source of spiritual guidance for all Sikhs and is revered as the symbolic representation of the 10 Gurus. It is also accorded the same respect that would have accrued to all the gurus.
Sikhism was founded by Nanak Bedi, a visionary peasant from northern India, as an eclectic and secular faith in the 15th century, and is amongst the world's youngest faiths, followed by around 25 million people around the world.
Sikhs constitute around two per cent of India's population of over one billion and are concentrated in northern Punjab State.
But a controversy is brewing over whether the holy book in the Golden Temple is genuine.
Some Sikh historians believe that the original holy text was stolen in the 17th century by Dhir Mal, a relative of Sikhism's sixth guru, Hargobind, to stake his family's claim for succession as the community's leader.
Mal's descendants, the Sodhi family in the northern town of Kartarpur, around 60 kilometres from the border city of Amirtsar, claim to hold the completed Granth and maintain that the version in the Temple was incomplete and never accorded the status of a guru.
Despite the controversy, the Golden Temple is planning elaborate ceremonies focusing on the Scriptures that are inside the complex's white marble sanctum sanctorum, Harimandir Sahib, surrounded by a holy pond in which millions of devotees will bathe.
Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh to head the country is expected in Amritsar for the main function. Alongside, the Muslim president, Abdul Kalam, and several other dignitaries from other faiths will be among those arriving in Amritsar, which has donned a festive look for the occasion.
Devotees, beating drums, playing flutes and dancing, made their way through the city yesterday as festival organisers planned to re-enact the original installation of the holy book.