The Sikh Gurus had a unique place amongst the spiritual leaders, precepters, reformers and saints of India. Their teachings have universal appeal and hold good in all the ages and at all times. The impact of their teachings cannot he easily fathomed. Spiritually and ethically they have influenced the life, thinking and conduct of millions.
Attempts to thread together the relevant information considered necessary to understand the importance of shrines for the followers of a great religion, Sikhism. This book helps in keeping the spirit of Sikhism alive in the minds and psyche of the Sikh population even today. Historical Gurdwaras of Delhi is the result of an in-depth research study that brings to the fore the importance of these shrines and their compelling historical and socio-cultural background. These Gurdwaras, many of which according to Sikh chronicles are consecrated by the Gurus' visits,
Contrary to popular opinion, there is more to Sikhism than the distinctive dress. First of all, there is the emergence of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and the long line of his successors. There are the precepts, many related to liberation through the divine name or nam. There is a particularly turbulent history in which the Sikhs have fought to affirm their beliefs and resist external domination that continues to this day. There is also, more recently, the dispersion from the Punjab throughout the rest of India and on to Europe and the Americas. With this emigration Sikhism has become considerably less exotic, but hardly better known to outsiders. This reference is an excellent place to learn more about the religion. It provides a chronology of events, a brief introduction that gives a general overview of the religion, and a dictionary with several hundred entries, which present the gurus and other leaders, trace the rather complex history, expound some of the precepts and concepts, describe many of the rites and rituals, and explain the meaning of numerous related expressions. All this, along with a bibliography, provides readers with an informative and accessible guide toward understanding Sikhism.
The Sikh Heritage: Beyond Borders dedicates one chapter each to the 84 sites that it documents, transporting readers to the past by narrating the detailed history of each marvel that the author and his team photographed throughout Pakistan. This book is the culmination of decade-long fieldwork of finding and exploring the heritage sites, alongside analyzing multiple Janamsakhis (hagiography accounts). The author's process of doing extensive analysis and cross-referencing with other sources enables readers to comprehend Sikh history, by posing inquiries, applying critical thinking, and investigating hundreds of sources. He includes a multitude of primary sources and Gurmukhi inscriptions, translated into English, to increase local and international heritage-lovers' understanding of these sites and to help preserve their beauty and histories through his writing.
Sikhism traces its beginnings to Guru Nanak, who was born in 1469 and died in 1538 or 1539. With the life of Guru Nanak the account of the Sikh faith begins, all Sikhs acknowledging him as their founder. Sikhism has long been a little-understood religion and until recently they resided almost exclusively in northwest India. Today the total number of Sikhs is approximately twenty million worldwide. About a million live outside India, constituting a significant minority in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Many of them are highly visible, particularly the men, who wear beards and turbans, and they naturally attract attention in their new countries of domicile. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Sikhism covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on key persons, organizations, the principles, precepts and practices of the religion as well as the history, culture and social arrangements. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Sikhism.
This basic guide and resource book targets four fieldsreligious studies, history, world literature, and ethnic or migration studiesin which Sikhism is now receiving greater attention. The authors explain the problems of studying and interpreting Sikhism, and opportunities for integrating Sikh studies into a broader curriculum in each field. They also provide a sense of the Sikh communitys own approach to education, and evaluate materials and approaches at the North American university level. Included are a sample syllabus with an explanatory essay, a bibliographical guide, a glossary, and a general bibliography. Gurinder Singh Manns review of his course on Sikhism is an effective mini-guide to the field as a whole.
Explores how religious travel in India is transforming religious identities and self-constructions. In an increasingly global world where convenient modes of travel have opened the door to international and intraregional tourism and brought together people from different religious and ethnic communities, religious journeying in India has become the site of evolving and often paradoxical forms of self-construction. Through ethnographic reflections, the contributors to this volume explore religious and nonreligious motivations for religious travel in India and show how pilgrimages, missionary travel, the exportation of cultural art forms, and leisure travel among coreligionists are transforming not only religious but also regional, national, transnational, and personal identities. The volume engages with central themes in South Asian studies such as gender, exile, and spirituality; a variety of religions, including Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity; and understudied regions and emerging places of pilgrimage such as Manipur and Maharashtra. Its rare to find such diverse accounts of religious travel collected in a single volume, where scholars engagements with individual places of pilgrimage in India and with the journeys surrounding them are truly in conversation with one another. For readers, it makes for a deeply enlightening journey. It also raises an interesting question: Is the reality of India powerful enough that it absorbs divergent expressions of religious tourism, making of them a common fabric? Here, so unusually, readers have the materials to decide. John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement
