Filled with the rigorous detail of a historian, this dynamic history of the Sikhs covers their origins in the 16th century, the expansion and transformation of the community, the establishment of a military order, the reformist movement of the 19th century, how Sikhism has separated itself from Hinduism and Islam as well as contemporary issues. Analyzing the essential traits of the Sikh doctrine and touching on important topics like castes and the diasporas, this work is an ideal introduction. "Con rigor y animo divulgativo, esta dinamica historia de los Sikhs cubre los origenes en el siglo XVI, la expansion y transformacion de la comunidad, el establecimiento del orden militante, los movimientos reformistas y politicos a finales del siglo XIX, como se ha demarcado del hinduismo y el islam, al igual que los problemas contemporaneos. Analizando los rasgos esenciales de la doctrina Sikh y tocando temas importantes como las castas y la diaspora, esta obra es una introduccion ideal al mundo Sikh."

McLeod is a renowned scholar of Sikhism. . . . [This book] confirms my view that there is nothing about the Sikhs or their religion that McLeod does not know and there is no one who can put it across with as much clarity and brevity as he can. In his latest work he has compressed in under 150 pages the principal sources of the Sikh religion, the Khalsa tradition and the beliefs of breakaway sects like the Nirankaris and Namdharis. . . . As often happens, an outsider has sharper insight into the workings of a community than insiders whose visions are perforce restricted.--Khushwant Singh, Hindustan Times

This complete and accessible translation of the songs of the saints from the Sikh holy book the Adi Granth provides access to the hymns written by Hindu and Muslim devotional writers of north India, who flourished from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries.

The songs of the saints hold a unique position in Sikhism in that they provide the faith with a prehistory that reaches back to the dawn of north Indian Bhakti and Sant traditions. These works provided a ground upon which Sikh gurus laid the foundations of their faith.

The songs also mark the earliest beginnings of Hindi literature. Although the literary output of these saints comes down to us in various stages of corruption, the works which appeared in the Adi Granth are unchanged since their inclusion in that work in the early 1600s.