Teachings of the Sikh Gurus: Selections from the Sikh Scriptures

摘要

Teachings of the Sikh Gurus contains a selection of poetic compositions from the two principal Sikh scriptures, the Adi Granth ('original volume') or Guru Granth Sahib ('the volume in its role as spiritual teacher'), and the Dasam Granth ('volume of the tenth Guru'). Professor Shackle is a specialist in Urdu and Punjabi as well as Sikhism and Sufism, while Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair has a background in philosophy and theology with a special interest in Sikh mysticism. As a result they could scarcely be better qualified to convey the subtleties of the language and the teaching of a selection from these two collections.rnThe translations are prefaced with a long introduction, which contains some useful background information and rewarding, if sometimes demanding, discussion. After explaining that the context from which the poems emerged was the overlapping traditions of devotional poetry which began to develop in India from the thirteenth century ce, Shackle and Mandair review the development of the two collections, emphasising that there is much that is distinctive and original about them, especially the Adi Granth.