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VJKKVJKF i love to read books about sikhi, especially autobiographies and history. I have read these books already: In English: Se Kinehiya Autobiography of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh Autobiography of Bhai Rama Singh (In search of the true guru) Warrior Saints (volume 1) Chalda Vaheer Jatha life of Bhai Rajinder Singh ji Kurbani 1978 Zafarnama Hymns from Bhai Gurdass Compositions Ascending Spirits Bhai VIjay Singh Cosmic Symphony In punjabi: Jail chitthiya Puratan Itihaasik Jeevania Puratan So Sakhi (100 sakhi) Satwant Kaur some more i can't remember right now but if you have any suggestions like these books please let me know.. I would like to read more punjabi books as my punjabi is not that great at the moment and would like to improve. I can read and write okay but my vocabulary is limited so I have a hard time following along punjabi books especially jail chitthiya, i could not understand any of it. I have read Bhai Rama Singh jis autobiography in Punjabi too and that was pretty straight forward. Thank you ? VJKKVJKF

I wanted to understand the relationship and history of these 2 Sikh Contemporaries. I have heard of various stories that they didnt get along issues such as the creation of Bandai Khalsa and that a leaf was dropped in the sarovar of Harmander Sahib that would decide who the real Guru of the Sikhs was... is that true? Heard about Baba Deep Singh Ji abandoning Baba Banda Singh Bahadur as the Mughals were closing in... But then again I heard they never joined forces as Baba Deep Singh Ji didnt agree with the way Baba Banda Singh Bahadur conquered Mughal areas. Not sure what is true. Is there any fact based historical accounts of what happened?

So i came across this documentary type video on youtube quite interesting information I hadn't know before.

Wjkk Wjkf! What is the historical source on which the Panja Sahib sakhi is based? Is there any historical sakhi or is it only a legend of oral tradition? I even read somewhere that it is the story of a Buddhist monk that people somehow confused. Should I believe the sakhi of Guru Nanak Sahib ji stopping the boulder thrown by Wali Qandhari with their hand? I could not find a source. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks! Wjkk Wjkf!

Hi Just a list of ways that Hindus have shown active hatred towards Sikhs in recent history (with proof). The point of this thread is not to promote hatred of Hindus. Hatred is against religious all tenets (God is Nirvair, so sikhs should strive to be too), and also obviously not all Hindus are bad/hate Sikhs. A lot of Hindus have spoke up for Sikhs, both in the past and now, even at risk to themselves and their careers. Also, alot of Hindus have interest in Sikhi and Gurbani and go to Gurdwara, I would not like those Hindus to feel bad or put off at all. In fact they may also find this enlightening. 1. Santa Banta / Sardarji Jokes throughout the 80s, 90s and early 2000 it was common for hindu media and popular culture to promote vicious 'jokes' trying to ridicule Singhs and always frame them as stupid. the whole tenor of these jokes was nasty. i wish some one would compile them to show the world what kind of 'humour' was being promoted. the whole aim was to belittle sikhs and insult them in the public imagination. this compares to how Nazis targeted Jews in their media. 3. Bollywood depiction of Sikhs again, I wish someone would compile the blatant nastiness shown against sikhs in cinema from 80s up until present, and put it on youtube to show the real nature of 'bollywood'. I have been quite disgusted by the amount of times my aunt has been watching some bollywood film and i have randomly sat down and seen some sort of ridicule or put down of sikhs (always with a turbaned character to make it clear). 4. Sunny Leone- Bollywood had to go all the way to Canada to get Sunny Leone. Why? Aren't there Hindu girls in India who work as pornstars? Of course there are, but Hindu audiences don't want to see that... 5. Dharendra and Dara Singh had to convert to Hinduism (Arya Samaj) in order to have film careers. (though not sure why Dara kept 'Singh' in his name?) 6. Hindi Dramas- in Hindi tv dramas Hindu woman are always depicted as ideal wives, doing religious ceremonies and running around after their Hindu husbands. Where as Sikh women are shown as devious, running around with their 'bf' behind their parents backs etc. again, why the double standard? 7. Subramanium Swami- theres footage on Youtube some where of him addressing some Hindus in USA I think, where he says Manmohan Singh "was only good at taking orders" and the audience start laughing exaggeratedly and hysterically (diss at Manmohan SIngh). He also admits working with some other 'Singh' in his speech but lowers the tone when he mentions his name. basically trying to take credit for Singhs work. i can't find this anymore i suspect he had it taken down because it was at a small function in USA (he didn't want anyone to see it). 8. Amrita Pritam vs Kamala Das Indian media loves to hype up Amrita Pritam. Pritam got famous for one (!) poem. After she won a literary prize (which gave her money) she dumped her husband and started running after the most famous male poet at the time (a muslim). he slept with her once then dumped her without telling her and got a hindu girlfriend instead. she spent the rest of her life running after him. now is a man acted like this after a woman people would say he was a loser and a creep, but Pritam is some how praised as some romance figure and great poet (for one poem?) meanwhile, there was Hindu lady poet - Kamala Das, at the same time. Das was very famous for a number of books (not just one poem). After her husband died, she fell in love with a muslimsand converted to Islam. And guess what? She was blacklisted. No one even bothers to mention her name anymore. Again, double standard? 9. Master Madan- child prodigy at music. Natural gift for singing. was murdered by poising at age of 15. funny, no one ever tied to poison any hindu or muslim singers? 10. Ishmeet Singh- winner of Indias first national TV singing competition. Found drowned in a swimming pool with signs of violence of his body (basically murdered) whilst on tour with other Hindu singers and crew. Again, nothing like this has happened to any Hindu winners? Btw, Ishmeet couldn't swim, so would not have gone into the pool by his own accord. 11. Joyce Pettigrew- anthropologist working in India in the 80s. When she suggested the situation with the Sikhs would be suitable for study, she was beaten and raped. 12. Chandigarh- Panjab has to 'share' Chandigarh with Haryana. No other state in India has to do this. guys add more points if you think of any.

What are the reliable Books to read about Akaali Phoola Singh ? Are there any books written Solely on Akaali Phoola SIngh ?

I found a really cool account of Timur relating how he conquered india. He was brutal.but he lists in detail every city he invaded and how many people he killed. But one can see how islam motivated him and his hatred for idolators: https://www.ibiblio.org/britishraj/Jackson5/chapter09.html Heres an excerpt from his infamous sack of delhi: For these various reasons a great number of fierce Turkish troops were in the city. When the soldiers proceeded to apprehend the Hindus and infidels who had fled to Delhi, many of them drew their swords and offered resistance. The flames of strife thus lighted spread through the entire city from Jahan-panah and Siri to Old Delhi, consuming all they reached. The savage Turks fell to killing and plundering, while the Hindus set fire to their houses with their own hands, burned their wives and children in them, and rushed into the fight and were killed. The Hindus and infidels of the city showed much alacrity and boldness in fighting. The amirs who were in charge of the gates prevented any more soldiers from entering Delhi, but the

No i idea this existed but it is Gangu bhamans house where mata gujri ji and the chote sahibzade stayed.

Does anyone have any info on the main things Guru Arjan Devi Ji achieved in his life, and what he setup for the future...?

Can anyone sum up his life, and how he passed the guruship to the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji?

Do they, to increase their population and awareness, but should there be a point where they give up, and go into the masses?

I was watching this video about Azia Bibi and the thing about it is that the presenter says that "islam like any other religion has contradictions" What contradictions are there in Sikhi aside from: Meat eating Chandi worship Necessity of the paaj Keeping non-amriti panth members from wearing kirpan Also, I recommend reading the article about this situation as we in our power must defend all peoples from this type of religious oppression. It is our duty through and through! If you feel moh during this I do not blame you since we are kept with out hands tied as these events unfold around the world. Our Guru went to war over situations such as this, OUR GURU WAS KILLED OVER SITUATIONS SUCH AS THIS! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case

Lovely channel giving historic knowledge about current state of Sikhi in Punjab , Ranjit Singh is so straight like an arrow to the target

As advertised on FB by Sikh Discover Inspire Talk 9 at Khalili lecture Hall london EC1H 0XG on 9th sep 2018 at 17:00 , tickets 5 GBP: Musician and PhD researcher, Kirit Singh, delves into the story of music at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with a talk and unique performance reflecting some of the music associated with the Court of Lahore in collaboration with the dhrupad vocalist, Shri Prassanna Vishwanathan. This illustrated talk and musical performance will be followed by a Q&A session. Kirit Singh is a PhD student at SOAS university where he is undertaking research on the development and interaction between Hindustani music and the Gurbani Kirtan tradition, during the historical period in which Sikh patronage of the arts was at its greatest. He is also a musician and disciple of one of the leading torchbearers of dhrupad vocal music, Pt. Uday Bhawalkar. As a co-founder of the South Asian Music Forum, he is activeley involved in supporting young and talented UK-based musicians and encouraging intimate and authentic concerts of South Asian music. This lecture series has been organised by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) in partnership with the SOAS South Asia Institute (SSAI) . Image: Detail from a painting by August Schoefft of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Amritsar listening to Gurbani Kirtan, circa 1841-43 (Princess Bamba Collection, Lahore Fort)

Talk eight as advertised on Sikh Discover Inspire taking place at Khalili Lecture Hall london EC1H 0XG , Sunday 9th Sept 2018 at 15:00 , ticket 5GBP: The series continues with our eighth talk, in which historian and ethnomusicologist, Radha Kapuria, establishes how Punjab emerged as a major centre for classical music patronage under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, revealing the particular centrality of sword-yielding, cross-dressing female dancers in his diplomatic negotiations with political rivals. This illustrated talk will be followed by a Q&A session. Radha Kapuria trained as a historian at the University of Delhi before joining the Jawaharlal Nehru University for her MPhil degree. Her research investigated the oldest classical music festival of north India- the Harballabh of Jalandhar, Punjab. She built on this ‘micro-history’ by researching a more macro-level social history of music in the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for her PhD at King’s College London. She currently divides her time between preparing a book manuscript titled Music in Colonial Punjab: A Social History, based on her PhD, and working as part-time Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at King’s. This lecture series has been organised by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) in partnership with the SOAS South Asia Institute (SSAI). Image: Dancing girls and musicians at the Court of Lahore, by Bishan Singh, 1874 (Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan)

Talk seven as advertised on FB of Sikh Discover Inspire GT1588 Initiative page , taking place at Khalili lecture hall , london WC1H 0XG. On Sunday 9th Sept 2018 at 13:00 , Tickets 5GBP: For our seventh talk in the series, Dr Sâqib Bâburî, Curator for the Persian Manuscripts Digitisation Project at the British Library, explores the patronage of Persian manuscripts during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors, including several recently made discoveries. This illustrated talk will be followed by a Q&A session. Sâqib Bâburî is the Curator for the Persian Manuscripts Digitisation Project at the British Library, presently cataloguing the Delhi Persian collection. Specialising in the history of mediaeval India, his doctoral research focused on the Royal Collection’s Padshanamah. Bâburî’s expertise covers most aspects of Persian codicology, calligraphy, palaeography and art history. This lecture series has been organised by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) in partnership with the SOAS South Asia Institute (SSAI). Image: Detail of the opening folio of a Gita Gobind manuscript, dated Ramnagar, 3 March 1835 (British Library, Or. 2767)

advertised talk on FB of Sikh Discover Inspire GT1588 Initiative page , taking place at Khalili lecture hall , london WC1H 0XG on September 8th 2018 at 13:00 ticket 5GBP In our fifth talk of the series, Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick, Eleanor Nesbitt, takes a journey of discovery through the writings and artworks of western women including the Eden sisters, Madame Helena Blavatsky and JK Rowling to reveal unique perspectives on the Sikh ladies they encountered over two centuries. This illustrated talk will be followed by a Q&A session. Eleanor Nesbitt is Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick. Her career specialism was the ethnographic study of the UK’s Hindu and Sikh communities. She has written numerous scholarly books, monographs and journal articles and has spoken at conferences in Europe, Africa and North America on the subject. She often features on BBC radio and also acts as consultant for radio and television programmes, publishers and solicitors. She is on the editorial board of the journals Fieldwork in Religion and Religions of South Asia, is a founder member of the Punjab Research Group, and is co-editor of Brill’s Encyclopedia of Sikhism. She is currently working on her next book, Sikhs: Two Centuries of Western Women's Art & Writings (Kashi House: 2019). This lecture series has been organised by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) in partnership with the SOAS South Asia Institute (SSAI). Image: Portrait of Emily Eden and a detail of a watercolour by her of a female Sikh warrior and her family, cica 1838. Note the dastar and chakar and farla ... another example of suppression of Kaurs' history by our own ?

HI all, I am looking for someone whom I can ask Sikhi question to? I have questions about diet and history in sikhism and would like to discuss it with someone knowledgable and qualified. The questions involve eating meat, drinking, and sex from a scientific perspective and historical perspective I am also looking for someone whom I can debate with on Sikh Channel TV on these issues.

In the year 1510 AD, Taajudin Naqshbandi, a Persian/Arabic writer met Guru Nanak Dev ji during his journey through the Middle East. For the next two years, Taajudin lived with the Guru and kept a detailed eyewitness account in a manuscript titled Siyahto Baba Nanak Fakir. After taking a leave from Guru ji, Taajudin deposited the manuscript in a library in Medina. In the year 1927, Mushtaq Hussein a young man from Kashmir, while studying as a moulvi in Medina came across Taajudin's manuscript. The manuscript changed Mushtaq's life, and he converted to Sikhism and and went on to become famous as Sant Syed Prithipal Singh. While in the Middle East, Mushtaq visited several places built in the memory of the Guru and spoke to Arabs who were still Guru ji's Sikhs. The book ‘Taajudin’s Diary’ is based on the unpublished autobiography of Sant Ji. The book retraces the transformational journeys of Taajudin and Mushtaq Hussein following in the footsteps of the great Guru. This remarkable must-read book references historical documents and monuments little-known in Sikhism. The appendices in this book also contain information on lesser-known travels of Guru Ji in Nepal and Himalayas. You can get a PDF version of the book Taajudin’s Diary by emailing to ijSingh6002@gmail.com or by downloading from the link below: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RZarO1zbeiH7OmgxJ1pjTJ-Z4LN38PuJ

The shocking sight of a condemned man tied to the mouth of a cannon ahead of being obliterated by its blast. This was a form of execution that was designed to simultaneously terrify the population and defile the victim further. Just imagine the horror of the act itself and then what the family have to endure to somehow deal with the aftermath. Now imagine 65 men facing the same execution - that's what happened over two days in 1872 when the British Police in Punjab massacred 65 Namdhari Sikhs for their insurgent activities. The mass execution over two days was (on the face of it) in retaliation for a violent riot in which Sikhs and Muslims were killed, but for which the Sikhs were blamed. In reality it was in recognition of the rise of a new revolutionary force in the form of the Namdhari movement which caused the British to react in such an extreme manner. In addition to the violent horror of the blowing to pieces of 65 Namdhari Sikh men, a 12 year old boy (a son of one of the victims) was also cut to pieces. - Amandeep Singh Madra UK This picture is from Iran where this method of execution was used until more modern times. The 'Blowing from Guns' execution was used in India extensively during the mutiny and for very public executions in the decades that followed.

After I am done reading the sikh history of 18th century , a feeling of dread envelops me . Its hard to explain but I feel like a state of panic . So many tyrants and so many torturous methods. Indeed superhero were the singhs and singhnia who survived all that ordeal . I can't even wrap my head around the fact that successive mughal governors of lahore , be it abdus khan , zakaria , yahya , mir mannu , all of them sliced , crushed between wheels, drowned , dragged to death the singhs . Yet, we somehow survived beyond the 18th century is indeed a miracle in itself. I feel very very depressing because there's so much of pain in sikh life of 18th century . I mean i can literally feel the pain and challenges that came with being as a sikh in that time period just by reading those historical books. Sikhs were without food , shelter , hunted like animals and dehumanized and declared outlaws. BUT the worse part , we didn't even get our fair share . Maharaja Ranjit singh established an empire with non-sikh majority in 1799 but less than a decade later Britishers were already in the picture. And within 50 years, that hard earned empire was lost. Its so hard to believe that thousands and thousands of sikh men , women and children bore torture and agonizing death for a period of self-rule so short. Heck , marathas and rajputs had it better without even a fraction of our sacrifices. What strange kind of justice god has . We atleast deserved 500 years of self rule for so much of blood paid. I don't understand what god was thinking. now you know why its depressing.

SSA all, 15 years ago I found 2 miniature paintings in an old fort. They are on paper that is 2-4 inches in height and width , with glass on top that is meant to protect them. They are now very old and the paper needs to be restored/protected. One of them is with Guru Gobind Singh Ji on a horse and the other one is of Guru Nanak with Sidhs and Pirs [more than 9 people so probably not of the Gurus]. Question of the art and history aficionados what is the earliest depiction of the Guru's in the above manner? Here are some dates regarding the fort/people that I found them in: http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/families/jalawalia.html

Waheguru ji K aKhalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh On this weekend , 4th March Guru Manieyo Granth Gurdwara sahib , Slough, UK will host the art exhibition " Without Shape, Without Form" admission free spread the news amongst your loved ones .

Why is the Amritsar gurdwara the most holy shrine in Sikhism? From my understanding the Gurdwara itself is quite newly built. As it was repeatedly attacked several times and had to be rebuilt over again many times. hence the original Gurdwara that was first built would have looked completley different to what it is now. When it was most recenctly built by Ranjit Singh. Are other Gurwaras not more important or historical in terms of history. Also having visted the Amritsar recently. I was saddened to see shops selling hindu god pictures along with the Gurus pictures.This was just outside the Gurdwara complex. On side note I personaly dont see the point with having all these pictures of gurus. God is not contained in any picture or murti.

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji Ki Fateh enjoy the seminar and the beautiful proofs