Author Meets Critics Panel on Rajbir Judge's Prophetic Maharaja

I propose an Author Meets Critics Roundtable Session for discussion on Rajbir Judge’s new book Prophetic Maharaja: Loss, Sovereignty, and the Sikh Tradition in Colonial South Asia published this year by Columbia University Press. This proposal describes the major arguments of the book, with a view to highlighting its theoretical interventions and significance in the study of religion, South Asia, and postcolonial thought. It also briefly describes the format, composition, points of discussion, and possible audience of the proposed panel. Key Themes and Significance of the Book: Prophetic Maharaja asks the question of how do religious traditions and communities grapple with loss, particularly when it is of such magnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration? More specifically it asks this question in the context of examining the thought and career of Maharaja Duleep Singh (d. 1893), the last maharaja of the Sikh empire, and his struggle during the 1880s to reestablish Sikh rule, the lost Khalsa Raj, in Punjab. At its core Prophetic Maharaja argues for what Judge calls “dwelling in loss,” and for exploring the notions of sovereignty and history that such a practice of dwelling might make available. Conceptually, through the example of Duleep Singh and the politics his life and memory make possible, the book seeks to interrupt dominant scholarly notions of historicism and colonial logics of religion and sovereignty, that reappear in varied apparitions in contemporary scholarship as well. The major contribution of this book to South Asian religions is two-fold. First, it offers a theoretically astute and rich example of what a decolonial reading of a colonized South Asian religious figure might look like. In every chapter, the author shows ways in which conceptions of community, the public, knowledge and rumor, and reform that become visible through an exploration of Duleep Singh and the discursive/institutional networks to which he and his memory are entangled, help critique colonial and secular liberal understandings of these concepts and spheres of life. And second, the book is also rich with important and often enticing historical narratives connected to Duleep Singh and the religious and political history of modern South Asia more broadly. So in a sense, the book aims to offer and present a history that does not historicize, and a political theology that rests on visions of sovereignty that cannot be collapsed into colonial and liberal secular expectations of sovereign power. At once theoretically risky and courageous, arguing for a no less than thorough reworking of how we engage in the practice of writing a history of religious traditions and figures, Prophetic Maharaja is yet grounded in a layered reading of a range of Punjabi sources. A major contribution to Sikh Studies, Punjab Studies, and South Asian Religions, the book is also distinct for the way it puts into conversation a wide range of theoretical registers and discourses including critical secularism studies, Subaltern Studies, feminist thought, Zizek, and psychoanalysis. Therefore, this book is particularly well-suited for a co-sponsored panel by SARI and the Theology and Continental Philosophy units. The Proposed Panel: This roundtable panel will bring together both senior and early career scholars invested in questions of religion, history, and secularism in India and beyond from varied thematic perspectives and specializations in Religious Studies and cognate disciplines. The format of this panel will be as follows: following a five-minute introduction to the book and its key arguments by the presider, each panelist will offer reflections on select aspects of the book for ten to twelve minutes. This will be followed by Rajbir Judge’s response to the panelists for around fifteen minutes, leaving ample time for audience questions and participation. Here are some of the key themes that the panelists will raise and discuss. Presenter 1, a specialist in philosophical theology, will discuss the contribution of this book to Western philosophical debates and discourses on questions of religion, theology, and historicism. Presenter 2, a scholar of colonialism and South Asian religions, will engage the relationship and encounter of sovereignty and loss as presented in this book, and its implications for the study of modern South Asia. A specialist in religion and literature in the context of Punjab, presenter 3 will reflect on the contribution of this book to the study of Punjab and Sikhism. Finally, presenter 4, a scholar of Islam, will comment on ways Judge’s book can catalyze cross-pollination and bridge the divide in the study of South Asian Religions across specific religious traditions. This panel is gender inclusive and includes presenters at different stages of their careers; it should attract scholars from multiple fields including South Asian Religions and Theories and Methods in Religious Studies.