ABSTRACT

Sikh Art and Literature traverses the 500-year history of a religion that dawned with the modern age in a land that was a thoroughfare of invading armies, ideas and religions and arts of the East and West.
Essays by art curators, historians and collectors and religion and literary scholars are illustrated with some of the earliest and finest Sikh paintings. Sikh modernism and mysticism is explored in essays on the holy Guru Granth Sahib; the translations and writings of the British Raj convert, M.A. Macauliffe; the fathers of modern Punjabi literature, Bhai Vir Singh and Puran Singh; and the 20th century fiction writers Bhai Mohan Vaid Singh and Khushwant Singh. Excerpts from journals of visitors to the court of the diminutive and new translations of early twentieth century poetry add depth and originality to this beautiful and accessible introduction to the art, literature, beliefs and history of the Sikhs.
Illustrated throughout with 42 colour and 92 black and white images, Sikh Art and Literature is a colourful, heartfelt, and informative introduction to the Sikh culture.

part |88 pages

Art

chapter |23 pages

From Gurus to Kings

Early and Court Painting

chapter |20 pages

An Illustrated Life

Guru Nanak in Narrative Art

chapter |17 pages

The Sikh Treasury

The Sikh Kingdom and the British Raj

chapter |26 pages

Golden Temple, Marble Forum

Form and Meaning in Sacred Architecture

part |82 pages

Literature

chapter |12 pages

The Unstruck Melody

Musical Mysticism in the Scripture

chapter |14 pages

The Western Gateway to Sikhism

The Life and Works of Max Arthur Macauliffe

chapter |12 pages

Poetry Urges Poetry

From the Guru Granth to Bhai Vir Singh

chapter |17 pages

Critical Ecstasy

The Modern Poetry of Puran Singh

chapter |9 pages

Old Culture, New Knowledge

The Writings of Bhai Mohan Singh Vaid

chapter |16 pages

A Mirror to Our Faces

The Short Stories of Khushwant Singh