Aurangzeb may not have written seized Quran - Experts

The lavishly crafted copy of the Quran seized by an antique dealer in Bangalore earlier this month may not have been written by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

The officer of special duty at National Gallery of Modern Art Rehana Shah, who had verified the holy book on a request from the police, told reporters that the seized Quran could be a seventeenth century manuscript as touted by the antique dealer. “The holy book is definitely old, but not written by Aurangzeb”, she said.

Though the pious Mughal ruler’s purported signature is found on the last page of the 1,000 page copy of the Quran, Rehana Shah said the book may have been gifted to Aurangzeb, who must have read it.

Bangalore City police have requested the Archeological Survey of India to carry out a detailed examination of the holy book, believed to be 400-year-old. “We have sent photographs of the seized book to the officials of Archeological Survey of India for verification. An expert team is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore to authenticate the book”, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) B R Ravi Kanthe Gowda said.

Project officer at the Regional Conservation Laboratory in Mysore B R Karbade said a scientific analysis of the paper fibres should be carried out to fix the age and later compare the same to other specimens of similar vintage. The scientists should also study the binding materials to arrive at the approximate age of the paper.

The Quran, which was seized from a hotel in Bangalore where an antique dealer had put it up for sale for Rs 50 million, weighs 13-kgs and bears a bejewelled cover. The book also bears gold-embossed binding and is decorated with semi-precious stones. Each of 1,000 odd pages are copper plated and said to be fire-proof. Also, each page has a unique fragrance of its own. Gold and silver had been mixed with ink and each of the 30 sections of the Quran had been written in different calligraphic style.