“Dialogues with/in Sikh Studies: Texts, Practices and Performances” (May 10-12, 2013)

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

3rd Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair in Sikh Studies Conference

On

“Dialogues with/in Sikh Studies: Texts, Practices and Performances”

(May 10-12, 2013)

http://www.religiousstudies.ucr.edu/SPS/events/Abstracts-3rdSikhStudiesConference-May2013.pdf

http://www.religiousstudies.ucr.edu/SPS/events/

The main purpose of this conference is to explore interdisciplinary approaches, resulting from academic inquiries into Sikh texts, as well as the practices that surround them and their performance. The dialogues to be explored are made possible by the environment of the university, which serves as a place where scholars from many fields and disciplines come together to pursue critical inquiries and comparisons. In many ways the Sikh community has been very supportive of academic inquires – though, at times, they have voiced outright criticism. Our hope for this conference is to provide a forum that focuses on how academic discussions and those arising in the community at large can complement one another, rather than being at odds

8. “The Textual History of the Dasam Granth Sahib”

Dr. Kamalroop Singh, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

W.H. McLeod (1979/2007) states that ‘Research on the Dasam Granth has been very 

limited, with the result that most of the major questions which it raises cannot be 

answered at present.’ The previous research has been limited to the examination of its 

poetry, with the exception of one detailed study of Dasam Granth manuscripts (Jaggi 

1966). Very little research has been undertaken on the development of the Dasam 

Granth (DG) in the lifetime of the Tenth Guru, and therefore this paper addresses this 

gap. This paper begins with an examination of the editing and dating of primary 

sources, so that an accurate chronology can be constructed of the textual history. This 

has been explored in reference to late seventeenth and eighteenth century hagiographies

which are examined alongside several extant seventeenth century DG manuscripts; and 

with supplementation from later secondary sources. A major development in the textual history 

of the DG was its standardisation and subsequent printing in 1897, however 

some original manuscripts contain extra ‘apocrypha’ which are absent from the printed 

edition. The compositions in the standard version of the DG will be discussed, along 

with new translations and discussion of the ‘apocrypha.’ By re-examining the earliest 

sources, it is clear that the Scripture of Guru Gobind Singh was compiled in his Court. 

The juxtaposition against later sources brings the modern Singh Sabha theory that the 

compilation of the DG was compiled by Bhai Mani Singh into question.