
Author: Louis E Fenech
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 325
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195694236
Description
The court of the Gurus was central to the changing Sikh socio-political and religious formation. Focusing on documentary evidence available in Punjabi, Hindi and Persian sources, this book meticulously reconstructs the evolving nature of the darbars of the Sikh Gurus. It explores the significant connections between the process of description and change in Sikh religion and state formation.
Fenech situates the court of the Gurus in the broader historical context and asks pertinent questions regarding the Indo-Persian influences on its structure and formation. What were the characteristic features of the Sikh court and how did they change over a period of time? What were the terms, symbols, metaphors utilized to signify royalty, authority, and divinity? He critically analyses the imagery and descriptions of the darbar since the mid-eighteenth century.
The volume explores the ideas and lives of the Gurus and the people in their courts. The author examines the court literature and investigates the various reasons behind the elevation of Nand Lal’s poetry as sacred on equal footing with the utterances of Gurus and its connection to the representation of the darbar. The underlying rationale of the Sikh court is suggested through a study of the court of Guru Gobind Singh—of whom most historical information is available. Fenech also carries the narrative forward into the nineteenth century through the history of the court beyond the Gurus.
Contents
The Sikh Darbar
Reforming the Early Sikh Court
Court and Sport
Spirit and Structure: The Court of Guru Gobind Sing
In the Tenth Master’s Court: Bhai Nand Lal Goya
Bibliography
Index