Artifact
B-40 Janamsakhi
also B40 Janam Sakhi, MS Panj B40
An illustrated life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji completed in 1733, with 57 paintings. Its colophon names patron, scribe and artist.[EoS][(tr.)][McLeod][Web]
- Date
- 31 August 1733 (Bhadon sudi 3, 1790 Bk)
- Held by
- British Library (formerly India Office Library)
- Location
- London
- Provenance
- Documented
- Status: Held
- Bought by the India Office Library in 1907 for 10 pounds, from Hafiz Abdur Rahman (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, 1992-98). McLeod (1979-80) cites it as India Office Library MS Panj B40, and the Sikh Museum site (2013) credits the British Library's Oriental and India Office Collection. The British Library catalogue was only partly restored after the 2023 cyber-attack and no record for it could be opened, so no catalogue link is given.
Two notes in the manuscript say Sangu Mall commissioned it, Daya Ram Abrol wrote it, and Alam Chand, a mason, painted it. The manuscript has 231 folios, some missing.
It is said to be a copy of an older lost manuscript. The latest event it mentions is the martyrdom of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji in 1675, and it says nothing of the Khalsa.
Its contents draw on Puratan and Miharban material, a source shared with the Adi Sakhian, and stories from its compiler's local oral tradition, probably near Gujranwala.
Its history is unknown from 1733 until Hafiz Abdur Rahman sold it, though reports of a similar manuscript in Lahore appear in 1885 and 1913.
What is disputed
See it online
Illustrated page. From the B-40 Janamsakhi of 1733, written by Daya Ram Abrol and painted by Alam Chand. It is one of 57 paintings in a manuscript made long after Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time, so the figure is an artist's imagining.
Alam Chand, painter. Image: Ms Sarah Welch, 1733. British Library, MS Panj B40.CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
Illustrated page. From the B-40 Janamsakhi of 1733, written by Daya Ram Abrol and painted by Alam Chand. It is one of 57 paintings in a manuscript made long after Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time, so the figure is an artist's imagining.
Alam Chand, painter. Image: Ms Sarah Welch, 1733. British Library, MS Panj B40.CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
Illustrated page. From the B-40 Janamsakhi of 1733, written by Daya Ram Abrol and painted by Alam Chand. It is one of 57 paintings in a manuscript made long after Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time, so the figure is an artist's imagining.
Alam Chand, painter. Image: Ms Sarah Welch, 1733. British Library, MS Panj B40.CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
Illustrated page. From the B-40 Janamsakhi of 1733, written by Daya Ram Abrol and painted by Alam Chand. It is one of 57 paintings in a manuscript made long after Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time, so the figure is an artist's imagining.
Alam Chand, painter. Image: Ms Sarah Welch, 1733. British Library, MS Panj B40.CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
Detail said on Commons to show Rai Bular Bhatti, from the B-40 Janamsakhi of 1733. The identification comes from the file's title and was not checked against the manuscript.
Alam Chand, painter. Image: Ms Sarah Welch, 1733. British Library, MS Panj B40.CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
