The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh

The Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799-1839) died ten years before the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849. his funerary monument or samadhi is located next to the Lahore fort, where the Maharaja lived. The structure is the last state funded project of the Lahore Darbar and represents a high point of nineteenth-century Sikh architecture, second only to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Dr Nadhra Kahn

Professor Kim Wagner, an historian of Global and Imperial History from Queen Mary's University of London, speaks about his book ‘Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear & the Making of a Massacre’ This talk was given at the first UKPHA Virtual Bookclub meeting on 20 April 2020

Nadhra Khan's primary area of research and interest is 19th Century Sikh Art and Architectural Ornament in the Punjab, but she also focuses on Mughal Art and Architecture (16th to 18th century). Her work emphasizes the significance of the Sikh period as the last episode of centuries old indigenous art and architectural tradition before annexation of the Punjab by the British in 1849 that changed, among other things, the visual culture of the Punjab forever. A research project that started with one Sikh funerary monument or samadhi built to honor Maharaja Ranjit Singh has led her to study almost all major monuments dateable to this period, including the Golden Temple Amritsar, Sikh period havelis and various other samadhis.

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Prof Priya Satia

Prof Priya Satia, from Stanford University, joins the UKPHA Bookclub to describe the alternative futures anticolonial thinkers continued to imagine as the new border was drawn, especially through the poetic idioms of Urdu and Punjabi.

Kavita Puri

Kavita Puri joins the UKPHA Bookclub in conversation with Jassa Ahluwalia, to talk about her critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series ‘Three Pounds in my Pocket’, which has charted the social history of British South Asians over four seasons, decade by decade covering the 1960’s to 2000’s.

Gurmeet Rai

Gurmeet is one of India’s most renowned conservation architect's, who has been internationally recognised, most notably by UNESCO, for her work. Gurmeet talks about her 20 year engagement with the city of Amritsar to conserve some of it's historic buildings.

Prof. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh

Prof. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh talks about her work on the Janamsakhis to explore Guru Nanak's portrayal in art and his message on environmentalism.

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UKPHA VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB