Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage
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Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage Edited by Pashaura Singh Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Religions www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage Editor Pashaura Singh MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin Editor Pashaura Singh University of California USA Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special issues/Sikh). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Volume Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-0365-1783-4 (Hbk) ISBN 978-3-0365-1784-1 (PDF) © 2021 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Editor .............................................. vii Preface to ”Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage” ......................... ix Pashaura Singh Introduction to Special Issue: Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage Reprinted from: Religions 2021, 12, 538, doi:10.3390/rel12070538 ................... 1 Pashaura Singh Speaking Truth to Power: Exploring Guru Nanak’s B¯abar-v¯an. ¯ı in Light of the Baburnama Reprinted from: Religions 2020, 11, 328, doi:10.3390/rel11070328 ................... 7 Louis E. Fenech The Image of Guru Nanak in Dadu-Panthi Sources Reprinted from: Religions 2020, 11, 518, doi:10.3390/rel11100518 ................... 27 Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal Religious and Political Dimensions of the Kartarpur Corridor: Exploring the Global Politics Behind the Lost Heritage of the Darbar Sahib Reprinted from: Religions 2020, 11, 560, doi:10.3390/rel11110560 ................... 51 Sangeeta Kaur Luthra Remembering Guru Nanak: Articulations of Faith and Ethics by Sikh Activists in Post 9/11 America Reprinted from: Religions 2021, 12, 113, doi:10.3390/rel12020113 ................... 71 Jasjit Singh Narratives in Action: Modelling the Types and Drivers of Sikh Activism in Diaspora Reprinted from: Religions 2020, 11, 539, doi:10.3390/rel11100539 ................... 85 Narinder Kaur-Bring Autoethnography: A Potential Method for Sikh Theory to Praxis Research Reprinted from: Religions 2020, 11, 681, doi:10.3390/rel11120681 ...................103 Gurbeer Singh The Institution of the Akal Takht: The Transformation of Authority in Sikh History Reprinted from: Religions 2021, 12, 390, doi:10.3390/rel12060390 ...................117 v About the Editor Pashaura Singh is Distinguished Professor and Dr. J.S. Saini Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies at the University of California, Riverside. His research is in early Sikh history and scriptural studies, particularly the formation of the Adi Granth in 1604. He is the author of four Oxford monographs, including Life and Work of Guru Arjan: History, Memory and Biography in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford University Press 2006) that was on the “Best Seller’s List” in India. He has edited or co-edited ten volumes, including the notable The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (OUP 2014). His recent monograph, A Dictionary of Sikh Studies, was launched on Oxford Quick Reference in 2019 in commemoration of Guru Nanak’s 550th Birth Anniversary. vii Preface to ”Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage” This volume grows out of the articles published in the Special Issue (SI) on “Sikh Traditions and Heritage,” in the Open Access Online Journal, Religions. These articles were selected for publication only after a rigorous peer-review process. As a matter of fact, this volume has been a significant venture for me, and I would like to thank the esteemed authors for their patience and collaboration, and for accepting the critique of their work in the review process with grace and perseverance. I would also like to offer my sincere thanks to more than two dozen of external reviewers who took extraordinary measures to go through the specific submissions and to reread at least three revised versions in a time-consuming process before they were accepted for publication. A special credit goes to the editorial staff of MDPI for being meticulous in copy-editing the selected articles before their online publication. I also acknowledge the support of the Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies at the University of California, Riverside, Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Trust and the Sikh Foundation of Palo Alto, California. Finally, I would like to express my foremost gratitude to Ms. Macy Zong, Managing Editor, MDPI Beijing, for inviting me initially to edit this Special Issue and for overseeing this project right from the beginning. This volume presents original research on various topics from different theoretical frameworks. The editor has provided an interpretive discussion of various essays in his introduction in the beginning. Although the essays are well documented and discuss certain sensitive issues in a scholarly fashion, the interpretations are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the editor or the publishers. Considering the essays being available to the worldwide readership through open access, we welcome suggestions and constructive criticism that may be useful to the authors in their future research. Pashaura Singh Editor ix religions Editorial Introduction to Special Issue: Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage Pashaura Singh Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; [email protected] It was quite an exciting moment when the Religions Editorial Office reached out to me to be a guest editor of a Special Issue (SI) on a broad theme of “Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage” for the celebrated Open Access Online Journal, Religions. In the specific “Call for Proposals” (CFP), we invited scholars to explore Sikh traditions and heritage through interdisciplinary approaches, resulting from academic inquiries into Sikh texts, as well as the practices that surround them and their performance. We encouraged a diverse range of theoretical and methodological approaches, including the disciplines of religious studies, historical studies, textual studies, ethno-musicology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, ethnography, political science, South Asian studies, art and material culture, and ritual and performance studies. After a rigorous process of peer-review of about a dozen submissions only seven articles made the cut for publication in this Special Issue (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Sikh, accessed on 25 June 2021). The main purpose behind the idea of this Special Issue was to enhance the field of Sikh studies and to contribute to the production of novel research. It was also meant to usefully supplement or relate to existing literature in the field. Thus, we invited both younger scholars following fresh approaches and established scholars who have already made significant contributions to the study of Sikh traditions and heritage. It is heartening to know that MDPI has decided to produce a Special Issue reprint in the book format, Citation: Singh, Pashaura. 2021. thereby promoting both the Special Issue and the book via social media and conferences, Introduction to Special Issue: and improving the visibility of the Sikh tradition. Exploring Sikh Traditions and Most instructively, the early twenty-first century continues to be a very exciting time Heritage. Religions 12: 538. https:// for the field of Sikh studies. Within the last two decades, scholars have begun to question doi.org/10.3390/rel12070538 prevailing approaches to the study of Sikhism in both the west and India itself to the point that this least examined, and perhaps, most misunderstood, of South Asia’s religious and Received: 30 June 2021 cultural traditions is now an established part of curricula and scholarly programs across Accepted: 14 July 2021 North America and the United Kingdom. Much of the foundational scholarship in the field Published: 16 July 2021 of Sikh studies has followed historical and textual approaches, sometimes to the extent of softening the focus on Sikh practices, performances, and every day “doings” of Sikh Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral lives. The growing turn in religious studies toward “lived religion” calls scholars to be with regard to jurisdictional claims in aware that “religions” are at least as much about the things that people “do” as about the published maps and institutional affil- iations. ideas, ideals, and central narratives enshrined within their texts and scripture. Rather than dichotomize text and practice, the articles in this Special Issue have drawn attention to the intersections between Sikh sacred texts and actual practices of the Sikh community. It should be emphasized at the outset that there is a continuing conflict over the nature of traditions and between opposing views of history and practice among Sikhs for over Copyright: © 2021 by the author. a century, covering a wide