In essays that range from the Kuka Uprising to the Ghadar movement and the inner life of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Harjot Oberoi looks at the role of passion and reason in driving key historical moments in India.
What the connections of sacredness with valour and identity in the Sikh tradition reveal
An excerpt from ‘When Does History Begin? Religion, Narrative and Identity in the Sikh Tradition’, by Harjot Oberoi. 11 hours ago Guru Gobind Singh (pictured left) decided to make the Guru Granth Sahib the eternal future Guru of the Sikhs. | Public domain
Holiness, a fundamental concern of religions, is a concept difficult to define. Broadly speaking, it seems a compound of notions drawn from folk belief and mythology, theology and eschatology, and ideas of salvation and sacredness. The concept endows individuals, texts, times, places, institutions, and communities with a distinctly powerful hold over the human mind and emotions, making it distinguishable from others in circulation within civil society.
Gurudwara Rakab Ganj, which PM Modi visited, sparked an anti-government agitation 100 years ago
An excerpt from Harjot Oberoi’s forthcoming book ‘When Does History Begin: Religion, Identity, and Narrative in the Sikh Tradition’. Gurudwara Rakab Ganj today. | Sidheeq / CC BY-SA 4.0
The “Gurdwara Rikabganj agitation” of Delhi exactly a hundred years ago shows some quite startling parallels with the farmers’ agitation currently roiling New Delhi. As today, the earlier agitation was primarily by Punjabis and Sikhs against autocratic rulers in the capital oblivious to their sensitivities. As today, the ruling regime’s first response was to spread misinformation, demonise the protesters, and suppress the agitation by misguiding the public about their real intention.
Ruchi Ram Sahni was a social reformer and scientist
Despite being a prominent social reformer, scientist, teacher, politician, public intellectual and leading educationist of colonial Punjab, Ruchi Ram Sahni has not been given his due place in the social and academic circles of India and Pakistan. He had worked with renowned physicists Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr but his scientific and educational legacy was largely forgotten till the start of the 21
st Century.
th anniversary in 2013 and digitised all available volumes of his manuscript:
History of My Own Times, and the government of India honoured his legacy with a postal stamp issued during the commemorative event.