Jvala Singh is a lecturer at UC Berkeley, author and a PhD student at the University of British Columbia, where he is examining pre-colonial Sikh historical narratives. This examination explores literature in Punjabi and Brajbhasha from the 18th and 19th centuries, building off his previous M.A. research completed at the University of Toronto, where he focused on Sikh Brajbhasha versions of Sanskrit epics, such as the Ramayana. In furthering accessibility of pre-colonial Sikh Brajbhasha texts, Jvala Singh runs a podcast, the Suraj Podcast, where each episode is a chapter summary in English of the voluminous Suraj Prakash (1843 CE), a historical narrative covering the lives of the ten Sikh Gurus. written by Santokh Singh (1787-1844)

Jvala Singh returns to the UKPHA Bookclub to explore mythological components of Sikh history and scripture, covering different ways to interpret this pervasive narrative language. This talk will use examples from the Guru Granth Sahib as well as stories from the precolonial Sikh historical epic, the Suraj Prakash, as mentioned on the Suraj Podcast.