- 29 Sherwood Estates
Wagha Bydpass
Chheharta Amritsar 143105 - 7383352176
- History, Literature, Religion, Gender, Sociology of Literature, Humanities, and 40 moreCulture, Anthropology, Dalit studies, Dalit Literature, Sikhism, Sikh Studies, Gujarati literature and Bhagat Singh, Bhagat Singh and Gandhi in Gujarat, Punjab Studies, Bhagat Singh in Gujarat, Dalit Sikhs, Dalits of Punjab, Bhai Jaita, Punjabi diaspora in Canada, Dalits in Sikh religion, History of Dalit Sikhs, Punjabi Dalit Literature, Dalit Intellectuals, Sikhs in Canada, Punjabi Culture in British Columbia, Punjabi Press in Canada, Colonialism, South Asian Studies, Cultural History, Caste, South Asian History, History of Punjab, Intellectual History, Hinduism, Hypertext, South Asia, Anthropology of Religion, Religious Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Jacques Rancière, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Sikh history, Social Psychology, and Social Sciencesedit
- After serving the M. S. University of Baroda for 37 years and retiring as a Professor of History, i settled down in A... moreAfter serving the M. S. University of Baroda for 37 years and retiring as a Professor of History, i settled down in Amritsar in 2016. I continue my research and academic work related to subaltern groups of Punjab and their history in the Sikh tradition.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Written in the prevalent old Punjabi (sadh bhasha) of the Sikh tradition, Sri Gur Katha is a testimony of Bhai Jaita (c1657-1704) as a master poet besides an accomplished warrior. Rather than exploring all nuances of the long poem the... more
Written in the prevalent old Punjabi (sadh bhasha) of the Sikh tradition, Sri Gur Katha is a testimony of Bhai Jaita (c1657-1704) as a master poet besides an accomplished warrior. Rather than exploring all nuances of the long poem the paper has a limited purpose to analyse Sri Gur Katha to suggest correction of dates respecting Guru Gobind‘s birth and the creation of the Khalsa. While highlighting the details about amritbidhi and rahit the paper also argues that it turns out to be the first unambiguous source on
Guru Gobind Singh‘s novelties including the five symbols of the Khalsa.
Guru Gobind Singh‘s novelties including the five symbols of the Khalsa.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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... Raj Kumar Hans ... 1985, pp 32-67; Hugh Johnston, The Voyage of Komagatamaru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada's ColorBar, New Delhi 1979; Sohan Singh Josh, Tragedy of Komagata Maru, New Delhi 1975; his Hindustani Gadar Party,... more
... Raj Kumar Hans ... 1985, pp 32-67; Hugh Johnston, The Voyage of Komagatamaru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada's ColorBar, New Delhi 1979; Sohan Singh Josh, Tragedy of Komagata Maru, New Delhi 1975; his Hindustani Gadar Party, New Delhi, 1977-78; and Khushwant ...
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L'A. analyse les relations complexes entre l'Agha Khan, les Khojas de l'Inde de l'Ouest et le pouvoir colonial britannique au XIX e siècle. Une nouvelle constitution en 1986 soulignait que l'Iman des Nizaris avait... more
L'A. analyse les relations complexes entre l'Agha Khan, les Khojas de l'Inde de l'Ouest et le pouvoir colonial britannique au XIX e siècle. Une nouvelle constitution en 1986 soulignait que l'Iman des Nizaris avait plein pouvoir sur ces derniers, notamment dans les domaines religieux ...
Research Interests: Sociology, International Relations, Nineteenth Century Studies, Colonialism, History of Religions, and 7 moreIslam, Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Gujarat, regional histories especially Gujarat and deccan, Islamic Culture, Political Strategy, and Agha Khans and Ismaili Khojas in the nineteenth century
The paper explores Punjabi Dalit poets’ engagement with understanding and knowledge about wider reality. This literary tradition begins with Bhai Jaita (1657c-1704), a close disciple of Guru Gobind Singh who composed a devotional epic... more
The paper explores Punjabi Dalit poets’ engagement with understanding and knowledge about wider reality. This literary tradition begins with Bhai Jaita (1657c-1704), a close disciple of Guru Gobind Singh who composed a devotional epic 'Sri Gur Katha' at the close of the seventeenth century. After a long gap we find Sant-poet Sant Wazir Singh (1790c-1859) prolifically composing spiritual, social and philosophical poetry in the first half of the nineteenth century. Thereafter, Giani Ditt Singh (1852-1901) emerged as a poet, polemicist, journalist, teacher, intellectual, orator and an ardent Sikh missionary who left behind more than 50 books to his credit. The last intellectual poet covered in this paper, Daya Singh Arif (1894-1946), composed his first book of poetry in 1914 when he was 20 years and all his four works of poetry by 1921 had turned him as the most popular poet of modern Punjab. The fact that the work of last two of the four Dalit poets occurred during the age of print in Punjab and was widely published but failed to find any space in standard histories of Punjabi literature speaks volumes of prevailing caste prejudices. The paper hence also addresses the question of Dalits’ exclusion from historiographical praxis.
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A short introduction to Punjabi writer Des Raj Kali When Des Raj Kali entered the world of Punjabi prose, the language moved away from its roundedness and assumed its sharpness and depth. Kali"s writings brought a new turn to Punjabi... more
A short introduction to Punjabi writer Des Raj Kali When Des Raj Kali entered the world of Punjabi prose, the language moved away from its roundedness and assumed its sharpness and depth. Kali"s writings brought a new turn to Punjabi storywriting as it entered its fourth generation. His writing is abstract as well as absurd. He was so confident of the novelty of his style that he entitled his first anthology as Kath Kali (Stories of Kali, 1996). The collection quickly attracted the attention of some of the master storytellers. His characters retain their distinct plebeian identity while challenging hegemonic discourses. There are strains of Sufi philosophy and the influence of Islam in their language. Their issues are different, and consciousness is distinct. There is no contempt for anybody; they just seek love. In his second collection Fakiri (Mendicancy, 2006), Kali surpasses his earlier self. He picks up such subjects in which characters leave behind authentic traces of the past. He starts weaving together Dalit characters living in the excluded quarters of central Punjab. He delves deep into the philosophical roots of the Dalit lifeworld. For this, analysing Indian mythology, which he had actually started reading in his school days, became a necessity for him. With the publication of his collection Yahan Chai achhi nahi banti (Good Tea Is Not Served Here, 2015) he gets established as an experimental writer. As Kali moves towards the genre of the novel, his first novel Parneshwari (2008), named after a local peasant goddess, introduces Dalit characters waging a war of existence against the cultural hegemony of Sikhs and Hindus. One confronts a dense picture of the complexity of Dalit culture. With this novel, Kali conceives a series he names Nar-Natak (The Male Play). He thinks whatever men are doing in the world is a drama. So far four more novels have appeared in the series: Antheen (Without End, 2008), Pratham Pauran (First Puran, 2009), Shanti Parav (The Book of Peace) (2009), and Shehar vich Sahn honn da Matlab (Meaning of Bull in the Town, 2018). The first two address the traumatic impact of two decades (1980s-90s) of Sikh militancy/terrorism on the new generation. In his latest novel he has taken "Bull" as a metaphor and symbol of the financial world. To him the finance capital has completely taken over people"s life since 1990. It has brought about an atmosphere of insecurity, uncertainty and alienation for the poor. People have turned more towards plastic religiosity, even to superstitions. Kali has experimented with subject and form, giving the Punjabi novel a new meaning. He reinterprets the Indian myth from Dalit perspective and represents the marginalised materialistic traditions such as Charavaks, Buddhas, Siddhas and Nath Yogis. One can see the philosophical sparks emerging from his prose. Overall, the politics of his literature focuses on the liberation of women and Dalits. Besides producing four books on historical research of the Gadar Party (a revolutionary organisation founded in America in 1913 to free India from British imperialism), Kali has
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The paper explores Punjabi Dalit poets’ engagement with understanding and knowledge about wider reality. This literary tradition begins with Bhai Jaita (1657c-1704), a close disciple of Guru Gobind Singh who composed a devotional epic... more
The paper explores Punjabi Dalit poets’ engagement with understanding and knowledge about wider reality. This literary tradition begins with Bhai Jaita (1657c-1704), a close disciple of Guru Gobind Singh who composed a devotional epic 'Sri Gur Katha' at the close of the seventeenth century. After a long gap we find Sant-poet Sant Wazir Singh (1790c-1859) prolifically composing spiritual, social and philosophical poetry in the first half of the nineteenth century. Thereafter, Giani Ditt Singh (1852-1901) emerged as a poet, polemicist, journalist, teacher, intellectual, orator and an ardent Sikh missionary who left behind more than 50 books to his credit. The last intellectual poet covered in this paper, Daya Singh Arif (1894-1946), composed his first book of poetry in 1914 when he was 20 years and all his four works of poetry by 1921 had turned him as the most popular poet of modern Punjab. The fact that the work of last two of the four Dalit poets occurred during the age of print in Punjab and was widely published but failed to find any space in standard histories of Punjabi literature speaks volumes of prevailing caste prejudices. The paper hence also addresses the question of Dalits’ exclusion from historiographical praxis.
Research Interests:
The crystallization of the Agha Khan's authority over Khojas, and subsequently other Nizaris as well, got realized not solely due to devotion of khojas but also due to imperialistic interests of the British in Sindh and Afghanistan, where... more
The crystallization of the Agha Khan's authority over Khojas, and subsequently other Nizaris as well, got realized not solely due to devotion of khojas but also due to imperialistic interests of the British in Sindh and Afghanistan, where the Agha Khan had militarily supported them. The paper explores the colonial context of internationalization of the Agha Khans as Imams of Nizari Ismailis, and it argues that their realization of power and authority over Khojas, though reinforced by the history and tradition of the community, did not go uncontested.
