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ਦਰਸ਼ਨ Darshan · Heritage Art

A Darshan a Day

One masterwork of Sikh heritage each day — Janamsakhi paintings, the earliest photographs of the Harmandir Sahib, the court of the Sikh Empire — with its story, and the long road each treasure travelled to reach you.

ਦਰਸ਼ਨ · Today’s Darshan

The Road to Mecca — Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana meet fakirs on the way (Alam Chand Raj, 1733)

The Road to Mecca

Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana meet fakirs on the way

Alam Chand Raj · 1733 · British Library, London (MS Panj B40)

This page is almost three hundred years old. In 1733 — within living memory of Guru Gobind Singh's time — a patron in Punjab named Sangu Mal commissioned a Janamsakhi, a book of stories from Guru Nanak's life, and the painter Alam Chand Raj filled it with fifty-seven paintings like this one. It is one of the oldest illustrated books of Sikh stories that survives anywhere.

Here the Guru travels west toward Mecca with Bhai Mardana and meets a company of fakirs on the road. The story says the fakirs took a year to reach Mecca — and found that Baba Nanak had arrived the very day he set out. The manuscript is named 'B-40' after its shelfmark in the India Office Library, where it arrived in 1907; it is kept today at the British Library.

The road it travelled

  • 1733 — commissioned by Bhai Sangu Mal; written by the scribe Daya Ram Abrol and painted by Alam Chand Raj in Punjab
  • 1907 — acquired by the India Office Library, London, and given the shelfmark 'B40' that became its name
  • today — held at the British Library; published in full by Punjabi University scholar Surjit Hans (1987)
Medium
Opaque watercolour on paper, Janamsakhi folio
School
Punjab — the B-40 Janamsakhi
Collection
British Library, London (MS Panj B40)
Licence
Public domain

The collection

The Maharaja Listens — August Theodor Schoefft The Maharaja Listens August Theodor Schoefft · c. 1850–55, from an 1841 sketch The Road to Mecca — Alam Chand Raj The Road to Mecca Alam Chand Raj · 1733 The Earliest Light — Felice Beato The Earliest Light Felice Beato · 1858–59 The Court of Lahore — August Theodor Schoefft The Court of Lahore August Theodor Schoefft · c. 1850–55, from drawings made at Lahore c. 1841 The Illuminated Word — Unknown scribe and illuminator The Illuminated Word Unknown scribe and illuminator · c. 1820 The General Rides Out — Attributed to the family workshop of Abdullah The General Rides Out Attributed to the family workshop of Abdullah · c. 1825–35 The Boy King — Franz Xaver Winterhalter The Boy King Franz Xaver Winterhalter · 1854 The Search at the Kali Bein — Unknown The Search at the Kali Bein Unknown · late 18th – early 19th century The Throne of the Timeless — William Simpson The Throne of the Timeless William Simpson · 1864 The Rebel Queen — Unknown The Rebel Queen Unknown · 19th century The Marble Bridge — Samuel Bourne (attributed), Bourne & Shepherd The Marble Bridge Samuel Bourne (attributed), Bourne & Shepherd · c. 1863–64 The Durbar of the Lion — Imam Bakhsh Lahori The Durbar of the Lion Imam Bakhsh Lahori · c. 1841 The Rider with the Falcon — Unknown The Rider with the Falcon Unknown · early 19th century The Lion of Punjab — Emily Eden The Lion of Punjab Emily Eden · drawn 1838, published 1844 The Akali by the Causeway — William Carpenter The Akali by the Causeway William Carpenter · February 1854 The Ten Masters — Unknown The Ten Masters Unknown · late 19th century The Warrior-Saint — Unknown The Warrior-Saint Unknown · c. 1700 The Shield of Conscience — Unknown The Shield of Conscience Unknown · c. 1800 The Gentle Master — Seu-Nainsukh atelier The Gentle Master Seu-Nainsukh atelier · c. 1800–1825 The Birth of the Khalsa — Unknown The Birth of the Khalsa Unknown · c. 1890s A Promise Kept — Unknown — Gurdwara Baba Atal muralists A Promise Kept Unknown — Gurdwara Baba Atal muralists · 19th century Two Sardars — Unknown Two Sardars Unknown · late 18th century Painted on Glass — Kehar Singh Painted on Glass Kehar Singh · c. 1849 The Court of Sher Singh — Kehar Singh The Court of Sher Singh Kehar Singh · c. 1842–46 The Akalis on the March — Company School (possibly the artist Sanee) The Akalis on the March Company School (possibly the artist Sanee) · c. 1850–60

Every work shown here is in the public domain (or released CC0 by the museum that keeps it), and each panel links its original source record. Reproductions are shown whole, never cropped or recoloured; one low-resolution source (The Boy King) has been gently enlarged with AI for screen display. Gurbani belongs to all — and so, we believe, does the art history of the Panth.