Gurdwara Sahib Prai

Custodian of a rare century-old Sikh heirloom from Punjab

Gurdwara Sahib Prai

This temple keeps an antique treasure in the form of a century-old copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, which was brought to Malaya by pioneering migrants from Punjab, India. Written in ancient Gurmukhi script, the huge magnificent volume with 1,937 pages was printed and bound in 1904 in Lahore (present-day Pakistan). 

Gurdwara Sahib Prai

It originally belonged to Subedar Chanan Singh, an officer with the Malay States Guides, a paramilitary force in British Malaya. Chanan became a government contractor and was involved in building the Prai Wharf. The Sikh workers there started using the book for their congregational prayers in a makeshift shelter reserved for religious functions at the construction site.

When the Sikh temple was built along Main Road in Prai in 1927, the old book was used there until 1950 when it was replaced with a newer version. The temple was later relocated to its current site at Jalan Kikik in Taman Indrawasih where the book has been kept for safekeeping. The temple was reconstructed in 2000.

A grand celebration is held every year in July when the old Guru Granth Sahib is brought out for worshippers.