Man donates rare gold-leaf miniature

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 6

City-based manuscript collector Rajnish Khosla has donated gold leaf miniature of ‘Vishnu Sahasranamam’, part of the epic, the “Mahabharata”, to the Sikh reference library in the Golden Temple complex.

The manuscript collector, popularly known as the ‘manuscript man’ has also given a rare piece of literature written on palm leaves. Kholsa , 52, has been collecting such scripts from various parts of the country for the past 20 years. He has preserved all manuscripts he inherited from his ancestors. These scripts are rare and are routinely collected by Khosla. His father, Raj Kumar Khosla, has been an avid collector, too, and was the one adding to gold-leaf miniature manuscripts in his collection.

Rajnish said, “The words have been written in gold and there is a considerable gold on the sides as well. I have given it for research purposes. It is a privilege that it is a part of the Sikh library.”

The other unique thing is an undecipherable language written on palm leaves. All the writings on these leaves are handwritten. Kholsa said, “This is a unique thing. I had kept this with me.” Not only is Khosla passionate about collecting such unique manuscripts, but his home as well is a reflection of his personality, as rare manuscripts from his collection have been displayed in his living room. Rajnish has been preserving such rare manuscripts written in Persian and Sanskrit with the help of a preserver from Pataudi. “These have heritage value. They must be preserved for future generations. This is the only reason to donate such manuscripts to the library at Golden Temple.”