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punjab, as it was and even now, has a rich past that is being delved into by serious researchers who want to put history of the region in the correct perspective. For this, an analytical study is needed. Editors have published a set of papers giving an insight into the history of the region.
Gurinder Singh Mann, through his essay, implores scholars to closely scrutinise the life of Guru Nanak, the first Guru of the Sikhs. Brotherhood of the Poor by Harjot Oberoi makes for an interesting read. The author talks about Kukas , their belief and their culture. Farina Mir discusses the famous Qisa of Hir–Ranjha Genre and Devotion in Punjabi Popular Narratives. Brave Converts in the Arya Samaj, by C.S. Adcock focuses on the role of Dharm Pal, one of the first converts to Arya Samaj. Dharm Pal was a Muslim whose conversion to Arya Samaj was treated no less than a victory by the Arya Samajists. Later, his gradual differences with the Arya Samajists because he (Dharm Pal) “upheld a commitment to the radical reform of caste.” Being Middle Class in late Colonial Punjab by Markus Daechsel dwells on the class formation and its role. Bhagat Singh and his supreme sacrifice is discussed by Simona Sawhney. In the confusion how to build solidarity between the different tensions of region, nation and the world, Bhagat Singh advises, “Indians should be guided by the ideal of unifying the entire world, but before that, they must create one language, one script, one ideal and one nation.” Anna Bigelow feels that there are many shared religious sites between the different communities residing in the subcontinent (from Multan to Malerkotla) that ‘promote pro-social encounters’. Making of British Sikh Communities by Tony Ballantyne records the struggle of the Sikhs in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. The Sikhs as a community are a force to reckon with anywhere in the world yet it took “cultural visibility”, to make them assert their identity. The humble dress code worn by the women of the community, the salwar-kameez, was a way by the community to keep in touch with its roots. As Anna Bigelow writes, “From Alexander’s invasion to Mahmud o Ghazna’s raids to Bhindranwale’s campaigns, Punjab can seem like a gateway to and battleground of the subcontinent.” The effort is to understand an area that has always remained in a flux and is home to an ever-assimilating population with an economy that feeds itself as well as the surrounding areas.
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The volume talks about cultural history of Punjab and Punjabiat as it existed. The essay by Alyssa Ayres, Language, the Nation , and Symbolic Capital, discusses the need to retrieve Punjabi language along with the history of Punjab. It talks about the process in which Urdu and English gradually mitigated the role of Punjabi for they were considered elite languages. The example of the phenomenal movie Maula Jat, released in 1979, led to establishing Punjabi as the major language of Pakistani cinema. Louis E. Fenech’s essay, The history of the Zafar-namah of Guru Gobind Singh,( Epistle of Victory) treats the historic letter more as, “a moral emphasis; of holding true to one’s vows and of galvanising one’s faith in protective embrace of Akal Purakh or God……..” 