Prophetic Maharaja: Loss, Sovereignty, and the Sikh Tradition in Colonial South Asia

Rajbir Singh Judge's book Prophetic Maharaja explores how traditions and peoples grapple with loss, particularly when it is of such magnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration. It examines the Sikh peoples responses to the loss of the Khalsa Raj in the 1880s, including military, political, and psychological loss, through theological debate, literary production, bodily discipline, and ethical practice.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 10 September 2024
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Rajbir Singh Judge's book, "Prophetic Maharaja: Sikh Sovereignty and the Writing of History," has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Winner, 2025 Best First Book in the History of Religions, American Academy of Religion, and Finalist, 2025 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Analytical-Descriptive Studies, American Academy of Religion. In this book, Judge explores the ways in which traditions and peoples grapple with loss, particularly when it is of such magnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration. He focuses on the story of Maharaja Duleep Singh and his struggle during the 1880s to reestablish Sikh rule, the lost Khalsa Raj, in Punjab. Sikh sovereignty in what is today northern India and northeastern Pakistan came to an end in the middle of the nineteenth century when the British annexed the Sikh kingdom and exiled its child maharaja, Duleep Singh, to England. In the 1880s, Singh embarked on an abortive attempt to restore the lost Sikh kingdom. Judge explores not only Singh's efforts but also the Sikh peoples responses—the dreams, fantasies, and hopes that became attached to the Khalsa Raj. He shows how a community engaged military, political, and psychological loss through theological debate, literary production, bodily discipline, and ethical practice in order to contest colonial politics. This book argues that Sikhs in the final decades of the nineteenth century were not simply looking to recuperate the past but to remake it—and to dwell within loss instead of transcending it—and in so doing opened new possibilities. Bringing together Sikh tradition, psychoanalysis, and postcolonial thought, Prophetic Maharaja provides bracing insights into concepts of sovereignty and the writing of history.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231214483