Book launch seminar of “The Road To Empire: The Political Education of Khalsa Sikhs in the Late 1600s”

Asian Dynamics Initiative invites all to the book launch of “The Road to Empire: The Political Education of Khalsa Sikhs in the Late 1600s” by author and earlier student of UCPH, Satnam Singh.

Abstract

From the late seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century, the Sikh community transformed from a relatively insignificant religious minority to an elevated position of kingship and empire. Under the leadership of Guru Gobind Singh (1661–1708), Sikh elites and peasants began to align themselves with discourses of power and authority, and within a few decades Khalsa Sikh warriors conquered some of the wealthiest provinces of the Mughal and Afghan empires.

In this book, Satnam Singh argues that the Sikhs’ increasing self-assertion was not simply a reaction to Mughal persecution but also a result of an active program initiated by the Guru to pursue larger visions of scholarship, conquest, and political sovereignty. Using a vast trove of understudied court literature, Singh shows how Sikhs grappled with Indo-Islamic traditions to forge their unique ideas of governance and kingship to establish an independent Sikh polity. The Road to Empire offers an impressive intellectual history of the early modern Sikh world.

Author bio

Satnam Singh is a senior consultant to Danish authorities and has worked professionally for more than a decade to prevent political extremism and honour-related violence against women. Former workplaces include the Danish National Center for Prevention of Extremism, the Ministry of Education, and the City of Copenhagen. Satnam has an MA in Cross-cultural Studies from the University of Copenhagen. His research on Sikh intellectual history, youth, and warrior traditions has been cited by leading scholars in Sikh studies.