ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a more thorough-going and updated account of their history than can be found in other briefer treatments of that history. Turning to the second category of sources, the earliest government sources of Nirankari history are found in the 1881 and 1891 census, both of which provide statements about the Nirankaris. The number of Nirankari sources increased greatly during the twentieth century as Nirankaris became involved in writing and publishing. During the 1920s and 1930s they produced a series of tracts which enabled readers to understand developments in the Nirankari tradition. Accounts of the Nirankaris found in histories of the Sikhs published prior to the first edition of this book tend to follow the dominant narrative developed by the Nirankaris instead of relying on independent research on primary sources and observation.
