Rattan Singh Jaggi
Courses
Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth: An Introduction
A scholarly introduction to the ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਤਾਪ ਸੂਰਜ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ of ਕਵੀ ਸੰਤੋਖ ਸਿੰਘ (1769-1843) — the vast 51,820-verse poetic biography of the Ten Gurus and Banda Singh Bahadur. The course surveys its twelve ਰਾਸ volumes plus the ਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼, its ਬ੍ਰਜ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ idiom, its composition under Sikh patronage at ਕੈਥਲ, the rich ਟੀਕਾ tradition it generated, and its complex standing between devotional masterpiece and contested historical source.
Suraj Prakash: The Life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji
An intermediate, semester-length study of the life of ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ as narrated in the first Rut (ਰੁੱਤ) of Kavi Santokh Singh's monumental Braj-Punjabi epic ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਤਾਪ ਸੂਰਜ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ, popularly called ਸੂਰਜ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼. Following the framework of Dr. Rattan Singh Jaggi's critical scholarship, the course reads the Suraj Prakash account of ਜਨਮ-ਸਾਖੀ tradition alongside its sources, tracing Guru Nanak's birth at ਰਾਇ ਭੋਇ ਦੀ ਤਲਵੰਡੀ, the childhood ਸਾਖੀਆਂ of the snake's shade and the grazed fields, the Sultanpur years and the ਵੇਈਂ revelation, the four ਉਦਾਸੀਆਂ, the great encounters with ਸੱਜਣ ਠੱਗ, ਭਾਈ ਲਾਲੋ, ਮਲਿਕ ਭਾਗੋ and ਵਲੀ ਕੰਧਾਰੀ, and the founding of ਕਰਤਾਰਪੁਰ. Throughout, students learn to read the text critically — as ਹੈਜੀਓਗ੍ਰਾਫੀ (hagiography), as theology, and as a literary monument of nineteenth-century Sikh devotional historiography.
Sri Nanak Prakash: Theological Biography of Guru Nanak
An advanced study of ਸ੍ਰੀ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼, the early nineteenth-century poetic life of Guru Nanak composed by ਕਵੀ ਸੰਤੋਖ ਸਿੰਘ. The course examines the work's ਬ੍ਰਜ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ poetics, its relationship to the later ਸੂਰਜ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼, its theological framework of Guru Nanak as the ਜੋਤਿ incarnate, its major ਸਾਖੀਆਂ drawn from the ਜਨਮਸਾਖੀ tradition, and its enduring place in Sikh hagiography and the wider ਨਿਰਮਲਾ scholarly milieu.
Suraj Prakash: Guru Gobind Singh Ji — The Warrior-Saint
An advanced textual and historical seminar on the portions of Kavi Santokh Singh's monumental Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth (1843) that narrate the life of the tenth Master, ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ. Reading the relevant Ruts of the Suraj Prakash alongside primary contemporary sources — the ਬਚਿੱਤ੍ਰ ਨਾਟਕ, the ਜ਼ਫ਼ਰਨਾਮਾ, the rehatnamas, and the Bhatt vahis — students examine the Guru's birth at Patna, the Paonta years and the literary darbar of fifty-two poets, the founding of the ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ in 1699, the battles of Bhangani, Nadaun, and the Anandpur sieges, the evacuation and shaheedis at Chamkaur and Sirhind, the composition of the ਜ਼ਫ਼ਰਨਾਮਾ, the southern journey, and the conferral of eternal Guruship upon ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ. The course foregrounds the figure of the ਸੰਤ-ਸਿਪਾਹੀ and trains students to read Braj-inflected nineteenth-century Sikh hagiography critically, distinguishing kavi convention from historical kernel.
The Misl Period: Sikh Confederacy and Self-Governance
An advanced, semester-length study of the Sikh Misl period (c. 1748-1799), the era in which the Sikh Panth, emerging from the trauma of the Ghallugharas, organized itself into twelve confederate misls under the umbrella of the ਦਲ ਖਾਲਸਾ. The course examines the political genesis of the misls under ਨਵਾਬ ਕਪੂਰ ਸਿੰਘ and ਜੱਸਾ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਹਲੂਵਾਲੀਆ, the distinctive governance instruments of ਗੁਰਮਤਾ, ਰਾਖੀ, and the biannual ਸਰਬੱਤ ਖਾਲਸਾ, the economic and land-tenure systems that financed Sikh power, and the shifting diplomacy among Afghans, Marathas, and Mughals. It closes by analyzing how this decentralized commonwealth was consolidated into monarchy under ਮਹਾਰਾਜਾ ਰਣਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ, and what the period reveals about Sikh political philosophy translated into practice.
