The Sikh Renaissance

Veteran historian Dr. Balwant Singh Dhillon returns to the Sikh Renaissance to discuss his latest book on the Hukamnamahs (edicts) of the Sikh Gurus.After almost a near-century, Dr. Dhillon is the first historian to review the extant Hukamnamah manuscripts and recompile them. In this episode he discusses his various findings, what these manuscripts reveal, and the multiple fabrications he identified on his scholarly journey.More importantly, these Hukamnamahs counter the myth of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, being a pacifist ascetic meditating his life away until called for Guruship. Contrastingly, they reveal an intelligent statesman and an astute Gurmukh engaged in both political maneuvering and converting the masses to Sikhi.Listen to find out more!

Self-professed Sikh rationalists and western academia have created a myth that the Sikhi of Guru Nanak is inherently different to the Sikhi of his successors, especially Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the Khalsa. In this episode, we refute their argument using Guru Nanak's own words from the Guru Granth Sahib itself.Listen to find out more!

Sirdar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia (1723-1803) was the founder and most prominent leader of the legendary Ramgarhia Misl, one of the 11 Sikh confederacies that comprised the theocratic Dal Khalsa government. Famed for his realpolitik and strategic acumen, the Ramgarhia Sirdar was instrumental in leading the Panth through some of its darkest days during the genocidal era of the mid-late 18th century.His vision, much like that of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur before him, conflicted with that of his fellow Sirdars sparking heavy discord. After the fall of the Misls, Ramgarhia's image was unnecessarily attacked and vilified by detractors envious of his unprecedented success.We are joined by eminent researcher S. Gurdev Singh Rooprai in dispelling the allegations against Ramgarhia. S. Rooprai traces the genesis of these unfounded allegations and exposes the entrenched hatred of pristine Sikh history among those who slander Jassa Singh Ramgarhia.

Forty-one years ago, the Indian army stormed the sacred Sri Darbar Sahib in Amritsar to suppress the Sikh civil rights movement. The Indian state, subsequently, incited a Sikh genocide thereafter to arrest the fallout from the storming.Fast forward four decades later and Sikhs themselves are abetting their own continuing genocide by intermixing modernist/postmodernist ideologies with Sikhi that erode its religiopolitical base.We are joined by the plain-spoken Nihang Mangal Singh who denounces fractional infighting among Sikhs, pandering to anti-Sikh ideologies, and who identifies the Sikh hunger for moral validation as being the Panth's greatest Achilles heel in the 21st century.This episode is politically incorrect, has its fair share of pejoratives, is scathing in its denouncements of modern Sikh intelligentsia but it also showcases the anger many Sikh youth have towards their own elders who have failed in preserving the Khalsa's sacrosanct image as a warrior-saint rooted in this world.For otherworldly gains, we are betraying the sacrifices our forefathers made in this world for our liberty.Listen and be shocked.Disclaimer: *Disclaimer: views endorsed and voiced by our guests, on various Jathebandis and Sikh figures, are not necessarily our own.

First published on 8th June 1949, George Orwell's dystopian novel '1984' has ironic similarities with the state of the Sikhs today. In almost prophetic fashion, Orwell seems to have spelt out the subjugation and mental regression of the Sikhs to enslave them to the overarching agendas of Hindus and Muslims post-independence.This episode furnishes a Sikh-led reading of Orwell in the current context of the ongoing Indo-Pak conflict and how both nations are enacting the same charades that Orwell's states in '1984' enact to distract their populations by uniting them around a convenient external aggressor.Can the Sikhs not only survive but also thrive in this conflict? Listen to find out more.

A recent article by Karminder Dhillon PhD (Boston) castigating the Akal Takhat as a false Sikh institute, coupled with Harjinder Dilgeer's denial of his previous research on the authenticity of Akal Takhat, has incited much excitement among their age-group.What is problematic with their logic, however, is that it is rooted not in any incisive application of rigorous academic and intellectual standards but rather make-believe and superficial appeals to emotionalism.In this episode we are joined by savvy historian Anmol Singh Rode in exposing the canards of both these self-proclaimed Sikh preachers and how they misuse and misquote historical sources to push their own secularistic agenda.

With Sikh boomers ensuring that chairs defy gravity over issues of Diwali and spirituality, while traditionalists wile their lives away in meditation chambers-the temporal aspect of Gurmat is fast eroding. In this episode we analyze Gurmat's emphasis on warrior physicality and what this means for Sikhs today.

In this English episode, we sit down with Pablo Singh of the USA and discuss the difference between the theocratic Khalsa Raaj envisioned by the Gurus and the modern nation-state model of Khalistan that seems to be nothing more than India 2.0 minus the Sikh genocide. Can Constitutions and democracy truly ensure the survival of the Sikhs? Listen to find out.

We are joined by Nihang Singh Mangal Singh who discusses the fall of Sikh-Khalsa masculinity in the 21st century from a Nihang perspective. In a blunt 1-hour discussion, he lays bare the controversies that plague the Panth and how to resolve them.*Disclaimer: views endorsed and voiced by our guests are not necessarily our own.

An egregious myth-that Dalit leader B.R. Ambedkar was prevented from converting to Sikhi by casteist Sikh leaders-has resurfaced again after historian Tarlochan Singh's unverified claim that he has discovered correspondence from Gandhi dissuading Ambedkar from accepting Sikhi.In this episode, we not only surgically dissect this claim but also expose how Ambedkar was a willing pawn of the Hindutvadi forces when it came to chaining Sikhs to Indian tyranny.