Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Granth?

I was reading an article in the UK Independent, and came across that strange word:

The election of the Speaker is the only business MPs are allowed to conduct before they have taken the oath - or made the non-religious solemn affirmation - to the Queen.

The Speaker is the first MP to take the oath, followed by Father of the House Sir Peter Tapsell, the Cabinet, the shadow cabinet and other privy counsellors and ministers.

Backbench MPs are taken in order of seniority, based on length of service in the Commons. The procedure is expected to run into next week.

MPs can choose to swear on either the New Testament, the Old Testament (in English or Hebrew), the Koran, the Granth, the Welsh Bible or the Gaelic Bible.


Wikipedia defines granth as Any of a number of sacred texts in Sikhism, e.g., the Guru Granth Sahib.

So it's the Sikh version of the Bible. Learn something new every day, which is gratifying.

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