Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition Playing the 'Game of Love'

by Fenech, Louis E.

• ISBN13: 9780195649475
• ISBN10: 0195649478
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-05-31
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Through an analysis of the Sikh scriptures, eighteenth and nineteenth century Sikh literature, as well as the voluminous tracts and newspapers produced under the auspices of the late nineteenth-century 'reform' movement, the Singh Sabha, this book examines how and why Sikhs began to represent their history as a history of persecutions and martyrdoms.

Author Biography

Louis E. Fenech is Assistant Professor of South Asian History, University of Northern Iowa.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
Note on Orthography	xvii
Abbreviations	xviii
Introduction	1	(32)
Sahid and Sahidi
The Term Sahid in Early Sikh History
Rhetorical Strategy and the Singh Sabha Project
The Tradition and its Transmission	33	(30)
Tradition
Transmission
The Singh Sabha and Martyrdom
Conclusion
Theology and Personnel	63	(53)
The Martyrological Interpretation of Guru Nanak's History and Theology
Martyrdom and the Sikh Gurus in Popular History
Martyrdom and the Sikhs of the Eighteenth Century
Martyrdom in the Early Sikh Tradition	116	(29)
Sources for the Execution of Guru Arjan and the Testimony of the Adi Granth
The Gur-bilas Literature
The Life and Death of Banda Bahadur
British Accounts of Sikh Sacrifice and Martyrdom
Dhadhis, Chroniclers and Gurduare
The Shahid's Roles in a Mystical Universe	145	(33)
Sahid-Parasti (Martyrolatry)
The Game of Love: The Singh Sabha and the Rhetoric of Martyrdom	178	(48)
The Tat Khalsa
Vir Singh, Ratan Singh Bhangu, and the Transformation of Sahidi
Ditt Singh and the Rhetoric of Martyrdom
Newspapers
Tracts and Other Publications
Playing the Game: The Movement for Gurdwara Reform	226	(62)
The Rules of the Game
The Tat Khalsa
Chief Khalsa
Diwan and Gurdwara Reform
The Beginning: Gurdwara Rakabganj 1913-19
Blood and Gurdwaras Martyrdom and the Nationalist Campaign
Puratan Jhakian, Scenes from the Khalsa's Past
The Term Akali
Gurduare Morche as Spectacle
Post-1925: Conclusions	288	(13)
Index	301