In this major reinterpretation of religion and society in India, Harjot Oberoi challenges earlier accounts of Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam as historically given categories encompassing well-demarcated units of religious identity. Through a searching examination of Sikh historical materials, he shows that early Sikh tradition was not concerned with e...

Ramachandra Guha

The third book I nominate on South Asia is by a compatriot and contemporary. This is Harjot Oberoi’s The Construction of Religious Boundaries. Set in the undivided Punjab of the 19th century, this study subtly explores the evolution of a corporate identity within the Sikhs, whose ideologues sought to more explicitly demarcate their faith from that of Hindus and Muslims. Deeply empirical as well as sharply analytical, Oberoi’s work blends the best of the British and French intellectual traditions. It is also thoroughly Indian, drawing on the author’s own rich immersion in the culture and language of his native province.