Manohar Publishers and Distributors

19 July, 2012

Bhakti Movement in Medieval India: Social and Political Perspectives

By- Shahabuddin Iraqi

This well documented study brings into focus the picture of Medieval Indian society in different ways - the nature of relationship between the state and the Hindus; the mutual understanding between members of the two communities; different trends of Bhakti thought and movement and the interaction between the thoughts and practices of different Sufi orders and Bhakti cults. The detailed account of the literature of Bhakti Saints provided by the author constitutes a veritable treasure trove of source material on different aspects of medieval Indian history. Besides, an attempt has been made to trace the evolution of the Nirguna aspect of Bhakti movement with its aims and objectives.

The volume offers an in-depth study of the conflicting as well as cordial relationship of the leaders of different schools of Bhakti thought with the state and their approach to society, politics and administration. It also analyses the circumstances that led some of the spiritual movements to assume political and even a militant character. Much interesting evidence has been explored from the sources hitherto unknown in the preparation of this book. The work will prove to be a valuable contribution to medieval Indian historical studies.

Shahabuddin Iraqi is Chairman, Department of History and Coordinator of the Centre of Advanced Study (History), Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He has been engaged for a long time in exploring and procuring source material in Hindi on History of Medieval India, and has published a number of articles bearing on the theme in reputed journals. He has written an edited several books, most recently, Medieval India 2 and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Vision and Mission (Manohar, 2008). The author has also prepared a standard text of the sayings of Kabir on the basis of contemporary sources and is at present engaged in finalizing for the press his monograph Kabir: A Reformer or Revolutionary.

ISBN 978-81-7304-800-5 2009 290p. Rs.725/ pounds 45

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Recent Debates in Sikh Studies: An Assessment

By- J.S. Grewal

Sikh studies in recent decades have been marked by a prolonged controversy involving most of the basic issues related to the Sikh tradition: the life of Guru Nanak, and the

Janamsakhis; the teachings of Guru Nanak, the nature of his faith, and his status in the history of religion; evolution of the Sikh community and its politicization; the Khalsa rahit and the doctrines of Guru Panth and Guru Granth; the history of the Dasam Granth, its status, and its importance in the life of the Sikhs; the Sikh tradition of martyrdom; the Sikh and Khalsa identity; tension between the ideal of equality and the presence of caste and gender distinctions in the Sikh social order; and the making of the Sikh scripture known as Guru Granth Sahib.

The author’s comments and his perspective based on his extensive study of Sikh history and literature, meaningfully moderate between the opposing views held by the Western academia and the Sikh intelligentsia. As a result, this volume becomes an exceptionally insightful introduction to the Sikh tradition. It is indispensable for all readers and scholars interested in Sikh studies.

Padmashree and a renowned historian, J.S. Grewal served the Indian Institute of Advanced Study at Shimla as its Director and Chairman of its Governing Body after serving Guru Nanak Dev University at Amritsar as its Vice-Chancellor and Professor of History. He has written extensively on Historiography, Medieval India, the Punjab and Punjabi Literature, and the Sikhs. His publications include Guru Nanak in History (1969); The Sikhs of the Punjab (1990); Sikh Ideology, Polity and Social Order (2007); A Study of Guru Granth Sahib: Doctrine, Social Content, History, Structure and Status (2009); and The Sikhs: Ideology, Institutions and Identity (2009).

ISBN 978-81-7304-883-8 2011 324p. Rs.895/ pounds 50

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Sikh Coinage: Symbol of Sikh Sovereignty

By- Surinder Singh

The Sikh coinage has a number of distinct and unique features vis-à-vis prevailing currencies in India. Almost every Sikh historian, European or Indian who wrote about Sikhs, has commented on Sikh coins, based on earlier accounts with some modification but without any examination of the coins which were readily available. These accounts have spread disinformation and distortions to such an extent that the few numismatists who examined the Sikh coins also succumbed to the historical fiction based on hearsay.

An attempt has been made in this study to correct various disinformations and distortions, e.g. the incorrect translation of the legends, incorrect nomenclature of Sikh currency, coins alleged to having been struck by the Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the name of a courtesan, coins struck by Hari Singh Nalwa in his own name, etc. From the evidence collected from detailed examination of historical accounts and meticulous numismatic investigation, the true perspective has been arrived at about Sikh coinage, in his pristine beauty and as a symbol of Sikh Sovereignty.

Sikh coins were first issued by Banda Bahadur between 1710 and 1713 and after a gap of almost half a century they were again issued from 1765 till 1845. In the field of Indian numismatics, Sikh coins in particular have received scant attention. Scholars and academics have been guilty of neglecting the subject. The present work attempts to fill this gap.

Dr. Surinder Singh, after a short spell as a research scholar in University of Delhi and as a Lecturer in Political Science, Government College, Gurdaspur, was selected to the Indian Defence Accounts Service, where he served from 1956 to 1987.

After retirement, Surinder Singh took up the study of Sikh coinage, of which he had collected over a thousand pieces, during the last few years of his service in Punjab.

He has published over thirty research papers in reputed national and international journals and books.

Dr. Singh is at present working on the ‘Concept of Sikh Sovereignty’ as a Senior Fellow of Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi.

ISBN 978-81-7304-885-2 2010 284p. Rs.495/ pounds 28

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A Contemporary Look at Sikh Religion: Essays on Scripture, Identity, Creation, Spirituality, Charity and Interfaith Dialogue

By- James Massey

The ten essays in this volume are divided into four parts. In part one, the first essay deals with the Sikh scriptures, including Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The second essay discusses in detail, the vision and mission of Universal Humanhood of Sri Guru Gobind Singhji. In part two, the essays deal with ‘Sikh Identity’, and show that till today the struggle for identity is continuing. Part three contains four essays dealing with the Sikh concepts of ‘creation’, ‘spirituality’, ‘charity’, and ‘suffering and death’. Part four contains two essays. One dealing with ‘interfaith dialogue’ offered by Sri Guru Nanak Devji and the last essay on the historical development of the same process, with special reference to the contribution of the Sikh community.

This volume will be of great interest to scholars working on Religion in South Asia in general and Sikh Studies in particular.

James Massey is currently the Director of the Centre for Dalit/Subaltern Studies and Community Contextual Communication Centre, New Delhi and Hon. Secretary of the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (University), West Bengal. He is Privatdozent, the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Dr. Massey is the translator of the Punjabi Bible and has authored and edited more than 25 books, which include: Minorities in a Democracy: The Indian Experience (1999); Minorities and Religious Freedom in a Democracy (2003); Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: A Study in Just Society (2003) and Church in Dialogue with the Poor (2005).

ISBN 978-81-7304-857-9 2010 154p. Rs.450/ pounds 35

Moral Languages from Colonial Punjab: The Singh Sabha, Arya Samaj and Ahmadiyahs

After its annexation in 1849, the Punjab became the most important agricultural province of British India. Within a few decades, much changed in the region, including the intellectual horizons of the Punjabi elite. This monograph tells the comparative socio-intellectual history of the Singh Sabha (Sikh), Arya Samaj (Hindu) and Ahmaiyah (Muslim) voluntary reform movements.

As a new contribution to this field, the term ‘moral languages’ is introduced to discuss the reformers’ redefined traditions that emerged in response to Western reason and Christianity. Underwriting the Singh Sabha, Arya Smaj and Ahmadiyh moral languages was the fundamental process of strengthening doctrine, conduct, and ritual through a dialogic process in which readings of the traditional literature (often as interpreted by European Orientalist scholars) were combined with an understanding that frequently invoked the authority of science.

In particular this volume argues that the secular-religious binary opposition, which has been so dominantly in existence since the European Enlightment, hides more than it shows. Significant to the social consciousness of the Punjabi reformers was the partial overlap with the British civilizing mission’s underlying notion of improvement. The term moral languages emphasizes that since the nineteenth-century religion is nothing more than morally motivated and spread through modern institutions and practices. Hence, he Singh Sabh, Ary Samaj and Ahmdiyah moral languages are discussed in terms of modern traditions based on rational knowledge and practices that became vital to the struggle or authority and status n the context of an emergent liberal public sphere and processed of state formation.

This timely book will be of great interest to scholars of British Punjab, South Asian colonial history and comparative religion.

Bob van der Linden (Ph.D., Amsterdam University, 2004) is a modern South Asia historian. He has recently published on the relationship between music and empire in Britain and Indi.

ISBN 81-7304-759-6 2008 268p. Rs.670/ pounds 45

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18 July, 2012

Sikhs in Latin America

Sikhs in Latin America: Travels among the Sikh Diaspora

By- Swarn Singh Kahlon

Sikhs in Latin America: Travels among the Sikh Diaspora is an endeavour by the author to complete the Sikh migration map by covering countries about which little is known and hence is a pioneering effort in Diaspora studies. It has been a heartwarming experience for him to meet some of these Sikh Khalsas, at times, all alone in a big city keeping their faith against heavy odds. Then there are Singhs who have lost touch with their ancestral heritage and do not know why they are Singhs.

The actual destination of the immigrants was North America but if that was closed to them, they would go anywhere in the Americas: Argentina being a prime example. This trend exists even today. The USA is still the El Dorado for them.

‘Singh Khalsa’ signs on shops are a sight to behold in the far corners of the globe. The spirit of Sikh enterprise is very much alive. Setting up of gurdwaras, though somewhat late, is helping rebuild connections with Sikhi and Punjab. An interesting aspect is the conversion of locals almost all over Latin America, to Sikhism, by Yogi Harbhajan’s 3HO.

The author has included a chapter on his student days in the USA in the late 1950s, when for the Americans, India was a land of snake charmers and Maharajas. A Sikh was considered either a Maharaja or a pauper with no money to even get a proper shave. It provides a unique contrast to the scene in Latin America.

The author opens these exotic locales for the readers and introduces the early and present Sikh immigrants who are keeping the flag of this adventurous community flying.

Swarn Singh Kahlon, has been travelling extensively in an effort to complete the global migration map of Sikhs. In the first phase, he has focused on Latin America.

ISBN 978-81-7304-938-5 2012 362p. Rs.1075/ pounds 55

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Ardās of the Sikhs: A Distinctive Prayer

Ardās of the Sikhs: A Distinctive Prayer
By- Jaswant Singh Neki

This book, Ardās of the Sikhs, is an inclusive, yet discreet work on the subject. While acknowledging the universality of prayer and its efficacy, the author attends to this multisensate phenomenon in all its dimensions—historical, hermeneutical, psychological, philosophical etc. He does this with all deference to the various other extant spiritual disciplines.

Ardās for the Sikhs is the way of life ordained by the Gurus. It is but another way of simran or Practising the Presence of God. It pithily condenses the cosmic glory, spiritual experiences and ethical values enshrined in the perennial holy Word of the Ādi Granth.

Profoundly expounding every phrase of the Ardās, the book has been considered a precious addition to the existing spiritual literature of the world. Its version in the Punjabi language had been described ‘an all-time classic’ by the Chief Editor of Encyclopaedia of Sikhism.

Jaswant Singh Neki is Prof. of Eminence in Religious Studies at Punjabi University, patiala. He has been decorated with 'Order of the Khalsa’ and 'Shan-e-Khalsa' awards.

An outstanding metaphysical poet in the Punjabi language, he received the national Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980.

ISBN 978-81-7304-961-3 2012 286p. Rs.750/ pounds 45

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