When sparrows became hawks
Subtitle: the making of the Sikh warrior tradition, 1699-1799
By: Purnima Dhavan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 253
ISBN-13: 9780199756551
Subjects: Khalsa (Sect); History
Description: Purnima Dhavan examines the creation of the Khalsa Sikh warrior tradition during the 18th century. By focusing on the experiences of long-overlooked peasant communities, she reveals how a dynamic process of debates, collaboration, and conflict transformed Sikh practices and shaped a new martial culture.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Ch. 1 introduction: the origins of the khalsa; title: Ch. 2 early narratives of the last guru and the creation of the khalsa; title: Ch. 3 (re)making the khalsa, 1708-48; title: Ch.4 the making of a sikh sardar: two jassa singhs and the place of sikhs in the eighteenth-century military labor market; title: Ch. 5 rereading alha singh: rebel, raja, and sikh sardar; title: Ch. 6 from peasant soldier to elite warrior: raiding, honor feuds, and the transformation of khalsa identity; title: Ch. 7 devotion and its discontents: the affective communities of gurbilas texts; title: Ch. 8 conclusion.