MS University teacher to present paper at international conference on 'Sikhism, Literature and Films' in US

VADODARA: A teacher from M S University's department of history will be presenting a paper at the International Conference on 'Sikhism, Literature and Films' at Hofstra University, New York in United States.
Dr Raj Kumar Hans will be presenting his paper on 'Interplay of Literature and History: An Epic of 1690s and major issues pertaining Guru Gobind Singh' at the conference scheduled between October 19 and October 21.Dr Hans has also been invited to chair a panel on 'Diaspora and Politics' and has been entrusted with the responsibility to be a discussant of three papers in another panel 'Film and Cinema' as well.
Before the conference, the department has organized a paper reading on Thursday at its seminar hall.
The paper studies 'Sri Gur Katha' - as a powerful and evocative epic, a 'story' of Guru Gobind Singh's life which has potential of settling a few important historical questions and controversies generated by contentious interpretations of the Sikh tradition.
Rather than exploring all nuances of the long poem, the paper has a limited purpose: to analyze Sri Gur Katha to suggest correction of dates respecting Guru Gobind's birth and the creation of the Khalsa.
While highlighting the details about 'amrit-bidhi' and 'rahit', the code of conduct, the paper also argues that the epic turns out to be the first unambiguous source on the innovative measures introduced by Guru Gobind Singh including the five symbols of the Khalsa.