UC Berkeley's Institute for South Asia Studies is delighted to host a book reading and conversation with Nikky-Guninder K. Singh about her recently published book, Poems from the Guru Granth Sahib (Harvard University Press, 2022), a compilation of spiritual lyrics showcasing the range and depth of Guru Nanak’s literary style while conveying his pluralistic vision of the singular divine and his central values of equality, inclusivity, and civic action.
Speaker: Nikky-Guninder K. Singh, Crawford Family Professor of Religion and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Colby College
Moderator: Jvala Singh, Punjabi Language Instructor, UC Berkeley
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Guru Nanak (1469-1539), a native of Panjab, founded the Sikh religion. His vast corpus of nearly a thousand hymns forms the core of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikhs’ sacred book of ethics, philosophy, and theology. The scripture was expanded and enriched by his nine successors, and Sikhs continue to revere it today as the embodiment of their tradition.
Poems from the Guru Granth Sahib offers a compilation of spiritual lyrics showcasing the range and depth of Guru Nanak’s literary style while conveying his pluralistic vision of the singular divine and his central values of equality, inclusivity, and civic action. This new English translation includes celebrated long hymns such as “Alphabet on the Board” and “Ballad of Hope” alongside innovative shorter poems like “The Hours.” It is presented here alongside the original text in Gurmukhi, the script developed by the Guru himself.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nikky-Guninder K. Singh is the Crawford Professor and head of the Department of Religious Studies at Colby College. Her interests focus on Asian Religions, feminist issues, and sacred art and poetry. Dr. Singh has published extensively in the field of Sikh Studies and Punjabi Literature, including The First Sikh:The Life and Legacy of Guru Nanak (India Viking, 2019), Of Sacred and Secular Desire: An Anthology of Lyrical Writings from the Punjab (IB Tauris 2012), Sikhism: An Introduction (IB Tauris 2011), Cosmic Symphony (Sahitya Akademy, 2008), Birth of the Khalsa (SUNY 2005), The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus (HarperCollins and Penguin), Metaphysics and Physics of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sterling). Her book on Sikhism was translated into Japanese. She has lectured widely in North America, England, France, India, and Singapore, and her views have been aired on television and radio in America, Canada, Bangladesh, Australia, Ireland and India.
26 окт 2022
