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Fenech's fine monograph is the first approach to this peculiarly interesting text to aim to do proper justice, not just to the immediate setting of its contents, but also to the richness of the broader cultural and literary context in which it was produced. There is a most interesting demonstration of the reasons underlying the fact that nowadays, when Persian has become a language unfamiliar to most Sikhs, this verse is the only fragment of the ZafarnÄma still to be commonly cited, albeit usually out of context. With the ground well prepared by this extensive literary contextualisation in terms of its relationships with classical Persian texts, questions that have been raised about the authorship and the intention of this unusual composition are then explored in more detail with reference to early Sikh texts of the post-scriptural period, including an illuminating discussion of the historiography of the ZafarnÄma.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.) This spirited study by a young scholar of a central topic in early Sikh history makes stimulating use of a carefully creative reading of a notable range of both primary and secondary sources. In questioning the ways in which the modern historiography has long continued to be unconsciously moulded in its approach to the crude categories of 'peace' and 'militancy' by the assumptions and values of the colonial period, Syan's approach is thus very much in line with the revisionism of other contemporary scholars who seek to get behind later biases so as to provide fresh understandings of the earlier history by drawing upon the authentically Indic value systems that inform the primary texts. The succeeding chapter then deals at fitting length with the innovative writings of Guru Gobind Singh in which a new 'public philosophy' for the Sikhs in Mughal India is elaborated with reference to a creative reading of Indic mythology with a poetic virtuosity to which the later Mina leaders were unable to formulate a significant response.

If that was one of those rare doctoral dissertations which open up the way to a paradigm shift in thinking about a whole set of related issues in its field, its substantial revision and expansion in the elegant and substantial monograph under review should now certainly prove to be a key reference point not only for specialists in Hindi literary studies, but for all serious students of pre-modern Indian cultural history. Informed by a very keen literary sensibility which has been honed both by close reading of a wide range of hitherto under-explored Brajbhasha verse texts and by the indispensable first-hand appreciation of their creative relationship to the Sanskrit poetic tradition, the book shows how the dominant understandings of pre-modern Hindi literature have for too long been fundamentally skewed by an almost exclusive concentration on the devotional bhakti poetry at the expense of a devaluation of the significance of the courtly riti tradition. The author also shows some of the ways in which the analysis of the literature of the period needs to be seen in the context of the often more sophisticated approaches characteristically applied to the other arts, like music, architecture and painting.

Recognized masterpieces of Indian literature, the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dasam Granth are fundamental to the Sikh religion, not only in the physical layout of temples and in ceremonies of worship, but as infallible reference texts offering counsel and instruction. Teachings of the Sikh Gurus presents a brand new selection of key passages from these sacred scriptures, translated into modern English by leading experts, Christopher Shackle and Arvind-pal Singh Mandair. Including six longer compositions and many shorter hymns thematically organised by topics such as Time and Impermanence, Self and Mind, Authority, and Ethics, the book's accessible and carefully chosen extracts distil the essence of Sikhism's remarkable textual and intellectual legacy, depicting how its message of universal tolerance suits the contemporary world. The detailed introduction and notes to the translations aid readers' comprehension of the hymns' form and content, as well as providing some historical context, making it an ideal introduction to Sikh literature.

The special importance of the Ādi Granth as the defining scripture of the Sikhs has encouraged the production of commentaries whose language and approach reflect changing understandings of the Gurus' teachings over the last four centuries. The oral style of the earlier commentaries which typically demonstrate a catholic inclusiveness towards the wider Indic tradition came largely to be replaced in the twentieth century by the more exclusive approach of Sikh reformist commentators, in part aroused by the dismissive attitudes of the first English translation by Trumpp. Continuing to shape most modern understandings of the scripture, these highly organized commentaries composed in the new idiom of Modern Standard Panjabi are only now beginning to be challenged by new styles of exegesis being pioneered in the Sikh diaspora.

Seyf-el-Mulook answered him, May God (whose name be exalted!) make it [thy country] ever to be honoured by thy rule, O King! And the King Faghfoor Shah said, Nought hath brought thee hither save some affair that hath occurred to thee; and whatever thing thou desirest to obtain from my country, I will accomplish it for thee. Most English readers may not remember the story these lines from Edward Lane's translation relate to, but the sub-Biblical language in which the exotically named characters converse should be enough to site the story of Sayf al-Mulūk in the magically Oriental world of the Thousand and One Nights as it was conceived in the Victorian imagination.