Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708)
Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708)

Author: J. S. Grewal

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-07-25

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0190990384

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The unifying theme in the life of Guru Gobind Singh was confrontation with the Mughals, which culminated in a struggle for political power. This fact is brought into sharp focus when we consider the Guru’s life and legacy simultaneously in the contexts of the Mughal Empire, its feudatory states in the hills, and the Sikh movement. The creation of the Khalsa in 1699 as a political community with the aspiration to rule made conciliation or compromise with the Mughal state almost impossible. Their long struggle ended eventually in the declaration of Khalsa Raj in 1765. Using contemporary and near contemporary sources in Gurmukhi, Persian, and English, J.S. Grewal presents a comprehensive study of this era of Sikh history. The volume elaborates on the life and legacy of Guru Gobind Singh and explores the ideological background of the institution of the Khalsa and its larger political context. Grewal, however, emphasizes that the legacy of the Khalsa was also social and cultural. This authoritative volume on the tenth Guru is a significant addition to the field of Sikh studies.

Cultural Studies in India
Cultural Studies in India

Author: Rana Nayar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1351570374

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This volume discusses the development of cultural studies in India. It shows how inter-disciplinarity and cultural pluralism form the basis of this emerging field. It deals with contemporary debates and interpretations of post-colonial theory, subaltern studies, Marxism and post-Marxism, nationalism and post-nationalism. Drawing upon literature, linguistics, history, political science, media and theatre studies, and cultural anthropology, it explores themes such as caste, indigenous peoples, vernacular languages and folklore and their role in the making of historical consciousness. A significant intervention in the area, this book will be useful to scholars and students of cultural studies and theory, literature, history, cultural anthropology, sociology, and media and mass communication, as well as the general reader.

Punjab Reconsidered
Punjab Reconsidered

Author: Anshu Malhotra

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-02-21

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 0199088772

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What is Punjabiyat? What are the different notions of Punjab? This volume analyses these ideas and explores the different aspects that constitute Punjab as a region conceptually in history, culture, and practice. Each essay examines a different Punjabi culture—language-based and literary; religious and those that define a 'community'; rural, urban, and middle class; and historical, contemporary, and cosmopolitan. Together, these essays unravel the complex foundations of Punjabiyat. The volume also shows how the recent history of Punjab—partition, aspirations of statehood, and a large and assertive diaspora—has had a discernible impact on the region's scholarship. Departing from conventional studies on Punjab, this book presents fresh perspectives and new insights into its regional culture.

Historical Dictionary of Sikhism
Historical Dictionary of Sikhism

Author: W. H. McLeod

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780810850880

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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 expanded and updated second edition of the dictionary 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 copious bibliography, provides readers with an informative and accessible guide toward understanding Sikhism.

The Sikhs
The Sikhs

Author: W. H. McLeod

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 9780231068154

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The Sikhs, a colorful and controversial people about whom little is generally known, have been the subject of much hypothetical speculation. Their non-conformist behavior, except to their own traditions, and their fierce independence, even to demanding autonomy, have recently attracted world-wide attention. Hew McLeod, internationally known scholar of Sikh studies, provides a just and accurate description in his introduction to this religious community from northern India now numbering about sixteen million people, exploring their history, doctrine, and literature. The Sikhs begins by giving an overview of the people's history, then covers the origins of the Sikh tradition, dwelling on controversies surrounding the life and doctrine of the first Master, Guru Nanak (1469-1539). The book surveys the subsequent life of the community with emphasis on the founding of the Khalsa, the order that gives to Sikhs the insignia by which they are best known. The remaining sections concern Sikh doctrine, the problem of who should be regarded as a Sikh, and a survey of Sikh literature. Finally, the book considers the present life of the community--its dispersion around the world to Asia, Australasia, North America, Africa, and Europe, and its involvement in the current trials of the Punjab. Sikh culture is believed to have been settled and unchanging from the time of the Gurus onwards.The Sikhs, a major new work by a leading authority, reveals that this is a very misleading view. McLeod treats a variety of questions sympathetically and in so doing he establishes a new understanding for students of religion and for all those interested in current events in India.