In the Master’s Presence: The Sikhs of Hazoor Sahib.Vol 1. History. Nidar Singh Nihang and Parmjit Singh. Prelims, 300 pages with index. 160 colour and b&w illustrations. 290 mm x 220 mm. Hardcover with dust jacket. ISBN 978-0-9560168-0-5.  £45. January 2009

E: info@kashihouse.com W: www.kashihouse.com. Also from the following book shops in East Punjab – Amritsar: Chattar Singh Jeevan Singh; Chandigarh: Capital Books and English Book Depot; Ludhiana: Lahore Book Shop. Price in India Rs 2,500.

RRP in UK is £45, but special offer for £29.99 + p&p on the website to UK residents – also shipped internationally at very favourable rates. 

This landmark work published to mark the 300th anniversary of the passing of spiritual authority to the Sikh scriptures, In the Master’s Presence explores the hidden history of the shrine of Hazoor Sahib (which means Master’s Presence), the final resting place of the tenth Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh (d 1708). The shrine in the deccan near Bombay far from the Punjab is revered as the fourth Sikh takht or throne of temporal and spiritual authority. 

            Superbly illustrated with 150 paintings, photographs, documents, portraits and artefacts from archive and private collections all over the world explains the story of one of the last bastions of early Sikh tradition – an exotic world that has all but disappeared. Among the illustrations is the earliest known painted portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.  

 

The rare work of art, which dates from c1805, shows Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) in conference with a Maratha chief, Holkar Rao. Defeated by the British at Delhi in 1804, Rao fled north to Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs, to raise support for his fight against British expansion in India. Ranjit Singh refused to join him, and instead signed a treaty of ‘perpetual friendship’ with the Honourable East India Company, the first of its kind between two of the most ambitious empires in the subcontinent at the turn of the 19th century. 

Detail.

           The book spans three centuries from the very first modest structure built over the ashes of Guru Gobind Singh to the insensitive destruction of its unique built heritage in the name of modernisation and beautifcation.

            The authors have drawn upon a wealth of written materials and oral tradition to evoke a vivid and startling account of the empires, events and characters, including maharajas, warriors, emperors, nizāms, politicians and policemen, which are intertwined with the sense of mystery and reverence that has surrounded the memory of the tenth Guru.

            It is ironical that all serious academic research on the Punjab and the Sikhs is being carried out not in our homeland but abroad by the scholars of second generation Punjabi immigrants. Apart from resources their dedication and scholarship are unmatched elsewhere. This book a collector’s item is the fruit of authors’ a decade long hard work. Its Volume 2: Traditions due in October 2009 is eagerly awaited. – ac 

Nidar Singh Nihang is the ninth gurdev (teacher) of the Baba Darbara Singh Shastar Vidya Akhārā, which was founded in the 17th century to teach Sikh warriors the battle field arts. He has lectured across the world on the Sikh martial tradition and has contributed to several television documentaries, radio programmes and publications on the subject. His co-author, Parmjit Singh, is an independent researcher specialising in the photographic history of 19th-century Punjab. His previous publications include Warrior Saints: Three Centuries of the Sikh Military Tradition (IB Tauris, 1999) and Sicques, Tigers or Thieves: Eyewitness Accounts of the Sikhs (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). He is a founding member of the UK Punjab Heritage Association (www.ukpha.org), an apolitical heritage organisation founded in 2001 to preserve, promote and increase awareness of Punjab's cultural heritage.

Both the authors made several trips to Hazoor Sahib during 1999-2007 to collect first-hand information for their research.