‘New perspective needed on Baba Nanak’s life’

Chandigarh, November 13 

Prof Gurinder Singh Mann from the Global Institute for Sikh Studies, New York, said a new perspective was needed on Baba Nanak’s life, while delivering a lecture on ‘Baba Nanak: His life and legacy’ at Guru Teg Bahadur Bhawan, Panjab University, on Tuesday.

“In 2019, a fresh understanding of Baba Nanak is needed. The availability of new data calls for revision in the existing narrative,” he said. A graduate of Panjab University (1969), Prof Mann taught the religion at Columbia University, New York (1988-99), and held Kapany Chair of Sikh Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1999-2015). 

He called for studying secondary sources and generating a fresh perspective. He added for extended framework of thinking and returning to original sources and reading them closely. 

He praised the works of SS Bal, JS Grewal and Darshan Singh. “No new interpretative study has come on Baba Nanak recently. Nor do I know of any in the making. There is a blank on the scholarly scene.” — TNS