The Sikh tradition produced some of the earliest vernacular prose narratives beginning in the mid-sixteenth century known as Janamsakhis. These accounts of Guru Nanak Sahib’s life remain central to the lives of Sikhs across the globe today. This talk reviews scholarly debates about Janamsakhi’s and argues that examining the Janamsakhis from a critical literary perspective helps better determine their role in Sikh intellectual and ethical life. Their longevity and continuing importance, Grewal argues, is better understood from such a perspective.

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Presented by the Center for South Asian Studies and co-sponsored by The Humanities Institute.