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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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Darbar of the Sikh Gurus
I have not completed reading this book. But whatever I read of this book, its a serious book . Muts read for sikh or whoever want to know about sikhs, Dr Nagi ... Read more

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OTHER VOLS. AVAILABLE. ... Read more

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This book covers the regions of greater Punjab, Asia, and India in general. ... Read more

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In 1812, Sir John Malcom, a Lieutenant General in the British Army wrote "A Sketch of the Sikhs," commonly believed to be the first account of the Sikhs written by a non-Sikh. In truth, soldiers, travelers, diplomats, missionaries, and scholars had provided accounts for many years before that. Drawing on this difficult-to-find material, the editors of this volume have compiled a unique source that offers a fascinating insight into the early developments in Sikh history. From the first ever written accounts of the Sikhs by Persian chroniclers of the Moghul Emperor to the travel diary of an Englishwoman, this volume contains material invaluable to those studying the evolution of the Sikh religion.
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Customer Reviews (4)

An outsiders mine of informations on the early sikhs /khalsa.
This book is specialy interesting and instructive to be read by the sikhs
and those who have allready some knowledge of Sikhism.

Step into the Past
I bought this book expecting to read articles with a bigoted, mis-informed view of the Sikh culture and people from an anti-Sikh western viewpoint, or worse, pure ignorance.I was pleasantly surprised by the detailed and fascinating detail on the circumstances of Sikh people and life during the periods covered.I appreciate that there are gaps in coverage, but that adds to the authencity of the accounts and helps you formulate a view in your mind how the Sikh's could've changed from a small band of warriors under Bhanda Singh to the organised armies under Ranjit Singh.What I liked were the commentaries by the narrators who put the writer's circumstances into context before putting the writer's actual account before the reader.This helps the reader appreciate the limitations of the writer's perspective, and appreciate the actual gems of insight where they are to be found.The book also gives a glimpse into the past when it wasn't necessary to be 'man with turban' to be sikh, but there were other ways to be spiritually sikh without donning the appearance of a Khalsa sikh.

Overall, a gr8 read.Now onto Patwant Singh's book...

A must for Sikh History researchers
This book has got all that you need to avoid reinventing the wheel.A must for Sikh history researchers.

Excellent piece of historical research
Well done to the authors and all who supported them in this long overdue project.

Amandeep and Paramjeet have attempted to write this book in an unbiased fashion, and I must say, have succeeded.This is a rare acheivement for authors of history and historians, as the biased historical accounts of the early Europeans in India show.

The accounts (some apparently eye witness) of Banda Bahadur are particulary informative as to the culture, opinions, attitudes and politics of the rulers and the Sikhs in the early eighteenth century.

It's a shame that there is still a gap in mid eighteenth century Sikh history, although there are accounts of this, they are still very limited in content and historians rely heavily on the hearsay of the time.

Maybe a project on the Sikh Misls could be a possibilty, using all known sources!!There is a lot of misinformation about this period and the Sardaars.A comprehensive and historicalrecords based study is much needed!

There is some very interesting information as to the practices of Sikhs which I never knew of before e.g. stirring amrit with a boars tooth, which is very believable if looked at in the context of the problems faced by the Sikhs of the time.

Unsuprisingly, there are comprehensive reports of Ranjit Singhs darbaar.

In all, this is an eye opening, inspiring and educational book.

Harcharan ... Read more

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This pictorial edition of A History of the Sikhs has updated and edited the most comprehensive two-volume book on the community. Written in Khushwant Singh's trademark style to be accessible to a general audience, it is based on scholarly archival research of original documents in Persian, Gurmukhi, and English.

It examines the social, religious, and political background that led to the formation of the Sikh faith in the fifteenth century. The transformation of the Sikhs from a pacifist sect to a militant group called the Khalsa led by Guru Gobind Singh is portrayed in detail, as is the relationship of the Sikhs with the Mughals and the Afghans, until the consolidation of Sikh power under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The continuing Sikh struggle for survival as a separate community marked by the demand for a distinct Sikh state is chronicled, until the events leading up to and following Operation Blue Star when the Indian army entered the Golden Temple. This edition includes an epilogue that analyzes events following the end of terrorism in Punjab and the achievement of the community's aspirations, never more visible than in the elevation of a Sikh to the country's Prime Ministership. ... Read more

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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.

Customer Reviews (15)

Incredible Un-Biased book.
After reading Operation Blue Star and other books relating to this general topic I finally came across one that was unbiased and took information from the actual 'militants'.This book will take you a while to read because of the way it was written, however I definetly recommend it to all those wishing to learn what is really going on in India.

I wish I could give this book to John Kerry and be read this you ignorant mofo.I'm referring to this Oklahoma speech during the democratic race on January 31st when he referred to Sikhs as terrorists in India.

This book was a very good and informing read.

Very Biased, Full of factual errors.
Sat Sri Akal,

to the first poster of the review, kindly read the following, taken from the very first page:

"Mahmood ... undertook this investigation as a study of the anthropology of violence and based her interviews solely on Sikhs living in North America, including some in prison. The narratives relate primarily to the relationship of the individual to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, or the invasion of the holiest Sikh temple by the Indian government in 1984. The last portion of the book raises questions about membership in communities and violent attempts to force conformity."

Her research was done by asking MILITANTS (some even in Jail!), and by personal testimonies of Sikhs in North America. and almost all are blindly against the GOI for its attack at the Hari Mandir (Golden Temple) in Amritsar. This same 'freedom' movement resulted in the deaths of many innocent people, and the creation of an almost terrorist state, where there were daily bombings on buses and shootings of civlians.

How unbiased is this book when THIS is what it is based on?

The attack at GT was terrible, but lets look at the facts and base them on reality, rather than personal testimonies by people who will, naturally, have their own strong opinions on the subject.

Thank you

Hope through understanding . . .
My recent interest in Sikhism led me to Mahmood's book, which has given me a much better understanding of the tragedy at the Golden Temple in 1984 (including circumstances leading up to, and following, the violence there).

More importantly, it has reinforced my belief that uncovering the truth of the very human circumstances that lead to such violence can help us build bridges of understanding and hope for preventing such tragedies in the future.It is too easy to simply brand one's enemy as a terrorist, religious fanatic, or political extremist--but we must exert a bit more effort to see past such overly-simplistic labels--to see that our enemies are complex humans like ourselves, with many of the same hopes, values, concerns, fears, strengths and weaknesses.

Jesus called upon us to love our enemies, and this book, in my opinion, begins to uncover some of the difficulties and revelations one might encounter in such a pursuit.As with most worthwhile pursuits in life, such attempts at uncovering the truth beneath both sides of an issue can be a complex, difficult, even dangerous paths to tread, but ones that we must traverse if we truly seek peaceful resolution of conflicts between people, countries, religions and cultures now and in the future.

Mahmood treads this difficult path to uncover the human side of the Sikh militants, and in my opinion, succeeds admirably.To be fair, I'd like to read more accounts of the events at Amritsar, to gain a more complete perspective of the thoughts and feelings of all those involved.Because the Indian government apparently made great efforts to conceal the truth behind the events of 1984, it seems finding more books that do as well as Mahmood's at shedding light on the violence may be difficult.Hopefully I'll find more gems like this one.Highly recommended.

1984-India
When Cynthia Keppley Mahmood narrated some of her experiences with the Sikh Militant during the fieldwork to one of her students, he remarked, "These people are magnificent."After reading the book, many readers may feel the same way while others may disagree depending on which side of the fence they stand - victim of terrorism or victim of injustice that leads to terrorism.

Although Mahmood makes it very clear in no uncertain terms about her disagreement in regards to the route the Sikh militants have taken up to seek justice, she still manages to bring together a very unbiased and objective account. This book sheds light on the history and politics behind what led to the disaster of 1984 in India.And then the aftermath is recounted by the eye witnesses and victims now settled in the US.

Inder Malhotra, one of the most distinguished journalists of that time, compared Sant J.S. Bhindrawale to Khoemini and Frankenstien but this first hand accounts of people who grew up with, lived with, and fought with Bhindrewale show a different picture.After reading this book, it is up to the reader to decide which account to believe.

Finally, a version that tells the story on behalf of the militants, their justifications, and their ideology.The first hand accounts of people who were directly involved and affected during the Blue Star operation are extremely moving and shows the image in different light than what one has seen before.The bravery of Sikh men, women and even children is amazing.The illustrations, some provided by the international documentation of human rights violation in India, are tremendously moving.

This is a read that will take a while due to its poignant nature, but worth the time to understand the depth and dimensions of this problem

no sikh in india cares about khalistan any longer
Support for a separate sikh nation is no longer there among sikhs in India. Infact, even during the height of terrorism a very small percentage of sikhs supported the cause. Currently the only sikhs who support this cause are sikhs outside of India who are far removed from realities in India. This book fails to capture that. It also fails to capture the Pakistani hand behind all this which Benazir Bhutto admitted to in one of the interviews. Infact, lots of millitants were Pakistanis posing as Punjabi Sikhs. Also, it needs to be updated now that the struggle is no longer their in Punjab. ... Read more