Devotee to present Rs 1.73-cr ‘kalgi’ at Sri Hazur Sahib

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 19

A Sikh devotee, Dr Gurwinder Singh Samra, who runs Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital at Kartarpur (near Jalandhar), will present a diamond-studded gold ‘kalgi’ (an ornament usually worn on the front of the turban and consists of a single feather or a cluster of feathers) at Takht Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded (Maharashtra).

Takht jathedar may attend event in Pakistan

Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh may attend the ‘Jyoti Jot’ diwas of Guru Nanak in Pakistan. The three-day event from September 20 to 22 has been scheduled at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur (Pakistan).

Costing around Rs 1.73 crore, the ‘kalgi’ and ‘chandoa’ (special decorative fabric hung above the Guru Granth Sahib) will be presented to the Jathedar of Takht Sri Hazur Sahib at the gurdwara tomorrow. Sikh scholars Giani Jaswinder Singh Dardi and Jagjit Singh Jaggi will be present on the occasion.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Samra said the ‘kalgi’ was made of about 2.5 kg of gold, in which a large number of gems including ruby, topaz and sapphire have been studded.

“Its crust has been inlayed with about 2,000 pieces of diamonds by Delhi-based jewellers. Artisans from Ahmedabad, Surat and Jaipur were engaged for the task and it took them a year’s span to complete the task,” he said.

The Samra family reached the shrine today with the ‘kalgi’ that would be kept for sangat darshan. A special canopy, too, has been made at a cost of Rs 7 lakh. Earlier too, the Samra family had presented a ‘kalgi’ worth Rs 1.3 crore to Takht Sri Patna Sahib and another one at the Golden Temple.