Author : Louis E. Fenech
Publisher :
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 23,32 MB
Release : 2000
Category : Religion
ISBN :
Through an analysis of the Sikh scriptures, eighteenth and nineteenth century Sikh literature, as well as the voluminous tracts and newspapers produced under the auspices of the late nineteenth-century 'reform' movement, the Singh Sabha, this book examines how and why Sikhs began to represent their history as a history of persecutions and martyrdoms.
Author : Louis E. Fenech
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 325 pages
File Size : 42,6 MB
Release : 2008
Category : History
ISBN : 9780195694239
The Divine Court (Darbar) of the Sikh Gurus grew in size and importance as the line of Gurus progressed, beginning with the comparatively simple following, which gathered around Guru Nanak, and climaxing in the celebrated darbar of Guru Gobind Singh. Focusing on the traces of documentary evidence available in Punjabi, Hindi and Persian sources, this book meticulously reconstructs the evolving nature of the darbars of the Sikh Gurus in different historical contexts. Fenech also deals incisively with Nand Lal, the most prominent member of the tenth Guru's many attendant poets. According to the modern Sikh Rahit Marayada, he commands a semi-canonical status equalled only by Bhai Gurdas, yet his works are seldom consulted.
Author : Rahuldeep Singh Gill
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 19,13 MB
Release : 2017
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 0190624086
Bhai Gurdas Bhalla (d. 1636 CE) is widely considered the most important non-canonical poet in Sikh history, having shaped the theology and ethics of the tradition for centuries. Not only are his beautiful poems considered an authoritative illustration of Sikh life, they also defined Sikh identity during a tumultuous period of upheaval in the early seventeenth century. In Drinking from Love's Cup Rahuldeep Gill brings together for the first time a collection of the revered poet's early work, masterfully translated it into English, along with the original Punjabi text.
Author : Margo Kitts
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 361 pages
File Size : 48,72 MB
Release : 2018
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0190656484
Suicide in the forms of martyrdom, self-sacrifice, or self-immolation is perennially controversial: Should it rightly be termed suicide? Does religion sanction it? Should it be celebrated or anathematized? At least some idealization of such self-chosen deaths is found in every religious tradition treated in this volume, from ascetic heroes who conquer their passions to save others by dying, to righteous warriors who suffer and die valiantly while challenging the status quo. At the same time, there are persistent disputes about the concepts used to justify these deaths, such as altruism, heroism, and religion itself. In this volume, renowned scholars bring their literary and historical expertise to bear on the contested issue of religiously sanctioned suicide. Three examine contemporary movements with disputed classical roots, while eleven look at classical religious literatures which variously laud and disparage figures who invite self-harm to the point of death. Overall, the volume offers an important scholarly corrective to the axiom that religious traditions simply and always embrace life at any cost.
Author : Margo Kitts
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 361 pages
File Size : 33,50 MB
Release : 2018-05-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0190656506
Suicide in the forms of martyrdom, self-sacrifice, or self-immolation is perennially controversial: Should it rightly be termed suicide? Does religion sanction it? Should it be celebrated or anathematized? At least some idealization of such self-chosen deaths is found in every religious tradition treated in this volume, from ascetic heroes who conquer their passions to save others by dying, to righteous warriors who suffer and die valiantly while challenging the status quo. At the same time, there are persistent disputes about the concepts used to justify these deaths, such as altruism, heroism, and religion itself. In this volume, renowned scholars bring their literary and historical expertise to bear on the contested issue of religiously sanctioned suicide. Three examine contemporary movements with disputed classical roots, while eleven look at classical religious literatures which variously laud and disparage figures who invite self-harm to the point of death. Overall, the volume offers an important scholarly corrective to the axiom that religious traditions simply and always embrace life at any cost.
Author : Purnima Dhavan
Publisher : OUP USA
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 12,92 MB
Release : 2011-11-03
Category : History
ISBN : 0199756554
Purnima Dhavan examines the creation of the Khalsa Sikh warrior tradition during the 18th century. By focusing on the experiences of long-overlooked peasant communities, she reveals how a dynamic process of debates, collaboration, and conflict transformed Sikh practices and shaped a new martial culture.
Author : Cynthia Keppley Mahmood
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 10,32 MB
Release : 2010-08-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0812200179
The ethnic and religious violence that characterized the late twentieth century calls for new ways of thinking and writing about politics. Listening to the voices of people who experience political violence—either as victims or as perpetrators—gives new insights into both the sources of violent conflict and the potential for its resolution. Drawing on her extensive interviews and conversations with Sikh militants, Cynthia Keppley Mahmood presents their accounts of the human rights abuses inflicted on them by the state of India as well as their explanations of the philosophical tradition of martyrdom and meaningful death in the Sikh faith. While demonstrating how divergent the world views of participants in a conflict can be, Fighting for Faith and Nation gives reason to hope that our essential common humanity may provide grounds for a pragmatic resolution of conflicts such as the one in Punjab which has claimed tens of thousands of lives in the past fifteen years.
Author : Louis E. Fenech
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : pages
File Size : 38,36 MB
Release : 2021-01-14
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0197532853
On the 30th of March, 1699, the Sikh Guru Gobind Singh called together a special assembly at the Keshgarh Fort at Anandpur. Following the morning devotions, the Guru asked for a volunteer, saying, "The entire sangat is very dear to me; but is there a devoted Sikh who will give his head to me here and now? A need has arisen at this moment which calls for a head." One man arose and followed the Guru out of the room. When the Guru returned to the assembly with a bloodied sword, he asked for another volunteer. Another man followed. This was repeated three more times, until at last the Guru emerged with a clean sword and all five men alive and well. Those five volunteers would become the first disciples of the Khalsa, the martial community within the Sikh religion, and would come to be known as the Panj Piare, or the Cherished Five. Despite the centrality of this group to modern Sikhism, scholarship on the Panj Piare has remained sparse. Louis Fenech's new book examines the Khalsa and the role that the the Panj Piare have had in the development of the Sikh faith over the past three centuries.
Author : Pashaura Singh
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 673 pages
File Size : 44,62 MB
Release : 2014-03-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0191004111
The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies innovatively combines the ways in which scholars from fields as diverse as philosophy, psychology, religious studies, literary studies, history, sociology, anthropology, political science, and economics have integrated the study of Sikhism within a wide range of critical and postcolonial perspectives on the nature of religion, violence, gender, ethno-nationalism, and revisionist historiography. A number of essays within this collection also provide a more practical dimension, written by artists and practitioners of the tradition. The handbook is divided into eight thematic sections that explore different 'expressions' of Sikhism. Historical, literary, ideological, institutional, and artistic expressions are considered in turn, followed by discussion of Sikhs in the Diaspora, and of caste and gender in the Panth. Each section begins with an essay by a prominent scholar in the field, providing an overview of the topic. Further essays provide detail and further treat the fluid, multivocal nature of both the Sikh past and the present. The handbook concludes with a section considering future directions in Sikh Studies.
Author : Suzanne Evans
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 27,4 MB
Release : 2007-02-09
Category : History
ISBN : 0773577971
Suzanne Evans finds commonalities between the many images of war mothers - the Canadian Silver Cross mother, the ancient Jewish Maccabean mother of seven martyred sons, the mother of a Palestinian suicide bomber. She compares the lore about mothers of martyrs in the Judeo-Christian, Muslim, and Sikh traditions with stories of World War I Canadian mothers who were depicted in the media as having sacrificed their sons for the sake of civilization, justice, freedom, and God. After the war these mothers were honoured with the Silver Cross medal. Evans argues that, like the mothers of past martyrs, the image of the war-supportive mother in Canada had a powerful influence over public opinion and drew supporters to the cause.
