Author: Eminent Contributors
Editor(s): Kerry Brown
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 217
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0415202884
Description
Sikh culture emerged with the dawn of the modern age in a region that was a thoroughfare of invading armies, ideas, religions, and arts from the East and West. Sikh Art and Literature provides a captivating introduction to this heroic and revolutionary faith.
Essays by art curators, historians and collectors, and scholars of literature and religion are illustrated with some of the earliest and finest Sikh paintings, the overlooked Janam Sakhi genre, the dazzling treasures of the Sikh kingdoms, the romantic artworks of visiting European dignitaries, the distinctive elements of Sikh architecture and recent works of rising stars in contemporary Sikh art.
Many illustrations are reproduced here for the first time. Excerpts from journals of visitors to the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and new translations of early twentieth-century poetry add depth and originality to this beautiful and accessible introduction to 500 years of Sikh culture.
This scholarly, and very readable, book brings to the attention of the reading public, in India as well as in the West, new insights into the artistic and literary achievements of Sikhism, a dynamic religious community. It is the often overlooked aspects of the Sikh community, not the more familiar story of Sikhs that are presented with scholarly appreciation in this valuable addition to our understanding of Sikh contributions worldwide.
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Art Foreword
Literature foreword
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
PART I- ART
FROM GURUS TO KINGS
Early and court painting
AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE
Guru Nanak in narrative art
THE SIKH TREASURY
The Sikh kingdom and the British Raj
GOLDEN GEMPLE, MARBLE FORUM
Form and meaning in sacred architecture
PART II - LITERATURE
Musical mysticism in the Scripture
THE WESTERN GATEWAY TO SIKHISM
The Life and works of Max Arthur Macauliffe
POETRY URGES POETRY
From the Guru Granth to Bhai Vir Singh
CRITICAL ECSTASY
The modern poetry of Puran Singh
OLD CULTURE, NEW KNOWLEDGE
The writings of Bhai Moan Singh Vaid
A MIRROR TO OUR FACES
The Short Stories of Khushwant Singh
Appendix I
The Ten Sikh Gurus
Appendix II
Contributors to the Guru Granth Sahib
Appendix III
Music and Structure of the Guru Granth Sahib
Appendix IV
Collection of Sikh Art
Glossary
Further Reading
The Sikh Foundation
Index