Contents: Preface. Indu Banga, the historian/Sheena Pall. Introduction/Reeta Grewal. 1. Foundation of the Sikh faith/J.S. Grewal. 2. The earliest manual on the Sikh way of life/Karamjit K. Malhotra. 3. Martial and political culture of the Khalsa/Iqtidar Alam Khan. 4. Sikh patronage of painting/B.N. Goswamy. 5. Sikhs in the early census reports/Anurupita Kaur. 6. Transition from socio-religious to political concerns: Sikh periodicals of the early twentieth century/Joginder Singh. 7. Mission abroad: Sant Teja Singh in the western world/Darshan S. Tatla. 8. The Nabha affair: Akali interest in a Sikh princely state/Mohinder Singh. 9. The Patiala enquiry: Paramount Power protects its Sikh protege/Kuldeep Kaur Grewal. 10. Sikh spatial dispersal (1881-2001)/Gopal Krishan. 11. Punjab agrarian economy: role of remittances by the Sikhs overseas/Shinder Singh Thandi. 12. Sikh identity and the issue of Khalistan/J.S. Grewal. 13. Five Hundred years of the Sikh educational heritage/Gurinder Singh Mann. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.
"These pathbreaking essays by historians, geographers, economists and scholars in Sikh religion and Punjabi literature cover the whole span of Sikh history and nearly all its important aspects.
Three essays in this volume provide refreshing perspectives on such basic issues as the nature of Guru Nanak's mission, the Sikh way of life, and the marital and political culture of the Khalsa. In four other contributions fresh light is thrown on Sikh patronage of painting, journalism, demographic change, and spatial dispersal. Two essays deal with the princely states of Nabha and Patiala, the first in relation to the Sikh community and the second in relation to the Paramount Power. Two papers relate to the Sikhs overseas: one, on the role of a Sikh 'missionary' in North America and UK and another, on the socio-economic significance of remittances made by the Sikhs from UK in the early 1970s. One essay examines the problem of Sikh identity in relation to the issue of Khalistan. The last contribution covers five hundred years of Sikh educational heritage." (jacket)
