Table Of Contents  For 'South Indian Studies on Sikhism' By Dr.N.Muthu Mohan

Introduction To Book 'South Indian Studies on Sikhism' By Dr.N.Muthu Mohan

South India is important in the sacred geography of Sikhism due to the travels undertaken by Guru Nanak Dev to Rameshwaram and to Sri Lanka. In Rameshwaram, a historical Gurdwara has come up to the celebrate the memories about Guru's visit to South. South India is also significant to Sikhism because the Bhakti movement had an indigenous beginning in the Tamil country. Sikhism remains the latest source of inspiration of Bhakti movement an d developing it into a post-Bhakti thought.

It is appropriate that Sikh that Sikh studies have found a fresh fertile soil in South India.

Guru Nanak Devji Chair of Madurai Kamaraj University is a unique centre in South India that is working since 1987. During the last 17 years, the Chair has done commendable works in teaching, translating and doing research in Sikhism. The Chair is participating in conducting a Post-Graduate Course in Philosophy and Religions, individually conducts a Post-Graduate Course in Sikhism and Comparative Religion. With the help of the South Indian Sikhs, Guru Nanak Devji Chair is bringing out small volumes of selected writings of Gurbani in Tamil translation. The chair is having close collaboration with SGPC, with the academic and research faculties of universities of Punjab. It is pleasing to note that Guru Nanak Devji Chair is able to conduct almost ten seminars in Madurai Kamaraj University with the participation of scholars from the Punjab mainland.

The present volume of book title "South Indian Studies on Sikhism" stands to witness that Guru Nanak Devji Chair has enabled itself to develop a South Indian Scholarship on Sikh studies. More that ten learned scholars are contributing to the making of the present volume with their erudite scholarship in Sikhism. We must tell that more scholars are associated with Guru Nanak Devji Chair in the native language, Tamil.

It is interesting to note that most of the papers in the present volume are dealing with the philosophy of Sikh religion. This has been conditioned by the situatedness of Guru Nanak Devji Chair in South India, far away from Punjab, the homeland of Sikhism. Although distance is not a big factor in recent times, the fact remains that Guru Nanak Devji Chair has not yet developed its infrastructure in terms of library and literature of Sikh history and modern life of Sikhs. This is the reason why the Tamil scholars have sought more to the philosophical research. Well, philosophical research on Sikhism has its own advantages. Due to so many reasons, the philosophy of Sikhism is not adequately represented in Indian Universities. There is a tendency in Indian Universities to limit themselves with the ancient Brahmanic Schools of Philosophy. It is heartening to see that the Tamil scholars are working different from the dominating tendency in Indian academic bodies.

Some of the papers in the present volume are dedicated to comparative studies of Sikhism with South Indian religious traditions. The Sikhs and the Tamils do have certain remarkable similarities that make the comparative studies fertile with results. Both the Sikhs and Tamils occupy a non-centric position in relation to the centristic Hinduism. This we state not out of contempt, but as a fact of history. Both the Sikh and Tamil cultures have worked out indigenous roots and developments. Both the cultures claim distinct historical consciousness of their own. Even in modern times, this he exhibited in developing the Akali and Dravidian movements respectively in Punjab and Tamilnadu. This identity and distinctness bring the two cultures closer and give ample opportunities to do comparative studies. The present book registers this fact.

The editors are thankful to Prof.Dr.S.P.Singh, Vice Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University for kindly permitting to bring out the collection of articles through the Publication Division of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The Publication Division has done all the needful in a short span of time to bring out the volume.

Dr.N. Muthu Mohan