Sikhs are against the Sotheby’s plans to auction off historic body armour on April 9, which may have belonged to the tenth Sikh Guru. London’s premier auction house Sotheby’s doesn’t claim that the artefact belonged to Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th guru of Sikhs, but a number of Sikh organizations, including SGPC, suspect a piece of steel armour plate that will be put on the block at Sotheby’s Arts of the Islamic World Sale on April 9 is indeed a relic of the last Sikh guru. SGPC has already appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene & stop this auction.

Sikhs said, “Anything related to Guru Gobind Singh ji should be kept in the Sikh museum. SGPC & the government of India should get objects related to him back to India”. The UK government does not want to get involved nor can they say how Sotheby’s got the suit of armour.

On its part, Sotheby’s auction catalogue describes the steel plate as “a rare Sikh steel armour of rectangular form, decorated with gold overlay with a central panel of calligraphy”.

It doesn’t claim that the plate belonged to Guru Gobind Singh, but cites its similarity with the one belonging to the royal house of Patiala. “This side plate is virtually identical to a single plate in a complete set of charaina (back, front & two side plates) in the collection of the royal house of Patiala,” reads the catalogue. The steel armour has verses on its front from the writings of Guru Gobind Singh. The breast-plate measures 29cm x 21cm.

Punjab government said, “The first & the foremost thing is that authenticity must be established & this thing should be clear that it belongs to Guru Gobind Singh. Once the authenticity is established then government is going to have it in whatever way possible”.

If the suit of armour is genuine, not only will the government have to get it back, they will also have to explain how it reached Sotheby’s.