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Sikh Identity

Author: Opinderjit Kaur Takhar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1351900102

It is commonly assumed that all Sikhs are the same, but the very existence of different groups who have varying beliefs and practices within the Sikh community shows that a corporate identity for the Sikh community is not possible and serves to alienate a substantial proportion of Sikhs from the overall fold of the Sikh faith. Introducing the beliefs and practices of a range of individual Sikh groups, this book addresses the issue of Sikh identity across the Sikh community as a whole but from the viewpoint of different types of Sikh. Examining the historical development of Sikhism from the period of Guru Nanak to the present day, the author takes an in-depth look at five groups in the Sikh community - the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha; the Namdharis; the Ravidasis; the Valmikis; and the Sikh Dharma of the Western hemisphere (associated with the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization - 3HO). Their history, beliefs and practices are explored, as well as their diverse and shared identities. Concluding that there is no authoritative yardstick with which to assess the issue of Sikh identity, the author highlights Sikhism's links to its Hindu past and suggests a federal Sikh identity with one or two fundamental beliefs at the core and individual groups left to express their own unique beliefs and practices.

Who is a Sikh?

Author: W. H. McLeod

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780195664478

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This book surveys the history of the Sikh people, showing how various circumstances influenced the criteria by which people could be identified as Sikhs. McLeod concludes by asking and answering the question presented in the title, the response to which is of relevance to Sikhs all over the world.

Sikh Identity

Author: Pashaura Singh

Publisher: Manohar Publishers

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 9788173044014

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Papers presented at an international conference in 1996.

Sikh Nationalism

Author: Gurharpal Singh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-11-25

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 100921344X

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This important volume provides a clear, concise and comprehensive guide to the history of Sikh nationalism from the late nineteenth century to the present. Drawing on A. D. Smith's ethno-symbolic approach, Gurharpal Singh and Giorgio Shani use a new integrated methodology to understanding the historical and sociological development of modern Sikh nationalism. By emphasising the importance of studying Sikh nationalism from the perspective of the nation-building projects of India and Pakistan, the recent literature on religious nationalism and the need to integrate the study of the diaspora with the Sikhs in South Asia, they provide a fresh approach to a complex subject. Singh and Shani evaluate the current condition of Sikh nationalism in a globalised world and consider the lessons the Sikh case offers for the comparative study of ethnicity, nations and nationalism.

The Birth of the Khalsa

Author: Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0791482669

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Sikhs trace the genesis of their religious rites, prayers, dress codes, and names to Guru Gobind Singh's creation of the Khalsa in 1699. The Birth of the Khalsa is the first work to explore this pivotal event in Sikh history from a feminist perspective, questioning the ways in which Sikh memories have constructed a hypermasculine Sikh identity. The book argues that Sikh memory needs to acknowledge the vital female dimension grounded in the universal human condition and present at the birth of the Khalsa. Inspired by her own father, the eminent Sikh scholar Harbans Singh, Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh rediscovers the feminine side of the words and actions of the founders of Sikhism. She looks at the basic texts and tenets of Sikh religion and demonstrates the female aspect in the sacred text, daily prayers, dress code, and rituals of the Sikhs. Singh reminds us that Guru Gobind Singh's original vision was an egalitarian one and urges present-day Sikhs to live up to the liberating implications set in motion when he gave birth to the Khalsa.

Who is a Sikh?

Author: W. H. McLeod

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13:

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What is Sikhism and who is a Sikh? This book surveys the history of the sect, showing how various circumstances influenced the criteria by which people could be identified. One belief is that Sikhism is the complete acceptance of the teachings of the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh. According to the tradition, a true Sikh must be of the Khalsa, the community founded by Guru Singh; yet, there are many who belong to families with a Khalsa heritage but no longer observe the tradition in its full rigor. And, there are many others who regard themselves as Sikhs but do not follow the discipline of the Khalsa, such as the so-called Sahaj-dhari Sikhs. McLeod examines these discrepansies and disagreements, offering a new discussion and analysis of who and what defines Sikhism.

Exploring Sikhism

Author: W. H. McLeod

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13:

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McLeod's interest embraces all aspects of the life and beliefs of the Sikh people, and is of particular value as an outsider's research into a living religious faith."

Sikh Nationalism and Identity in a Global Age

Author: Giorgio Shani

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-12-06

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1134101880

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Sikh Nationalism and Identity in a Global Age examines the construction of a Sikh national identity in post-colonial India and the diaspora and explores the reasons for the failure of the movement for an independent Sikh state: Khalistan. Based on a decade of research, it is argued that the failure of the movement to bring about a sovereign, Sikh state should not be interpreted as resulting from the weakness of the ‘communal’ ties which bind members of the Sikh ‘nation’ together, but points to the transformation of national identity under conditions of globalization. Globalization is perceived to have severed the link between nation and state and, through the proliferation and development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), has facilitated the articulation of a transnational ‘diasporic’ Sikh identity. It is argued that this ‘diasporic’ identity potentially challenges the conventional narratives of international relations and makes the imagination of a post-Westphalian community possible. Theoretically innovative and interdisciplinary in approach, it will be primarily of interest to students of South Asian studies, political science and international relations, as well as to many others trying to come to terms with the continued importance of religious and cultural identities in times of rapid political, economic, social and cultural change.

Sikh Identity

Author: Pashaura Singh

Publisher: Manohar Publishers and Distributors

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13:

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Sikhs Have Struggled With Questions Of Identity For Over Five Centries. Various Events During This Century Have Forced Sikhs In The Punjab And Diaspora To Rethink Assumptions And Relationships Both Within The Community And Outside. Papers In The Volume Address The Core Issue Of Sikh Identity And Are Organized In Three Sections. Section One Deals With Issues Relating To Symbols Of Identity And Sikh Tradition; Section Two Relates To Recent Sikh History And Issues Of Identity And Section Three Addresses Political, Social Issues And Contemporary Sikh Identity. An Glossary Of Punjabi Terms And Index Help The Reader Better Understand The Presentation.

The Construction of Religious Boundaries

Author: Harjot Oberoi

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1994-12-15

Total Pages: 526

ISBN-13: 9780226615929

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In this major reinterpretation of religion and society in India, Oberoi challenges earlier accounts of Sikhism, Hinduism, and Islam as historically given categories encompassing well-demarcated units of religious identity. Through an examination of Sikh historical materials, he shows that early Sikhism recognized multiple identities based in local, regional, religious, and secular loyalties. As a result, religious identities were highly blurred and competing definitions of Sikhism were possible. In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, however, the Singh Sabha, a powerful new Sikh movement, began to view the multiplicity in Sikh identity with suspicion and hostility. Aided by cultural forces unleashed by the British Raj, the Singh Sabha sought to recast Sikh tradition and purge it of diversity, bringing about the highly codified culture of modern Sikhism. A study of the process by which a pluralistic religious world view is replaced by a monolithic one, this book questions basic assumptions about the efficacy of fundamentalist claims and the construction of all social and religious identities.