BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:The Moynihan Institute’s South Asia Center presents \;Rajbi r Singh Judge from California State University\, Long Beach\; and the Inst itute for Advanced Study at Princeton.How do traditions and peoples grappl e with loss\, particularly when it is of such magnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration? Rajbir Singh Judge offers new way s to understand loss and the limits of history by considering Maharaja Dul eep Singh and his struggle during the 1880s to reestablish Sikh rule\, the lost \;Khalsa Raj\, in Punjab.Sikh sovereignty in what is today north ern India and northeastern Pakistan came to an end in the middle of the ni neteenth century\, when the British annexed the Sikh kingdom and\, eventua lly\, 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 people’s respons es—the dreams\, fantasies and hopes that became attached to the \;Khal sa Raj. \;He shows how a community engaged military\, political and ps ychological loss through theological debate\, literary production\, bodily discipline and ethical practice in order to contest colonial politics. Th is book argues that Sikhs in the final decades of the nineteenth century w ere not simply looking to recuperate the past but to remake it—and to dwel l within loss instead of transcending it—and in so doing opened new possib ilities.Bringing together Sikh tradition\, psychoanalysis and postcolonial thought\, “Prophetic Maharaja” provides bracing insights into concepts of sovereignty and the writing of history.This talk is co-sponsored by the H istory Department and the Department of Religion. \;Rajbir Singh Judge is assistant professor of history at California State University\, Long B each and\, during this academic year\, a member of the School of Social Sc ience at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His first book\, “ Prophetic Maharaja: Loss\, Sovereignty\, and the Sikh Tradition in Colonia l South Asia” \;was published by Columbia University Press in Septembe r 2024. His previous publications have appeared in numerous journals inclu ding \;Comparative Studies of South Asia\, Africa\, and the Middle Eas t\, \;Modern Asian Studies\, \;Theory &\; Event\, \;positio ns: asia critique\, \;Cultural Critique\, \;History &\; Theory\ , and the \;Journal of the History of Sexuality\, among others. DTEND:20250304T190000Z DTSTAMP:20260317T123639Z DTSTART:20250304T173000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Book Talk | ‘Prophetic Maharaja: Loss\, Sovereignty\, and the Sikh Tradition in Colonial South Asia’ UID:RFCALITEM639093333998492256 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

The Moynihan Institute’s South Asia Center presents \;Rajbir Singh Judge from California State University\, Long Beach\; and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.

How do tr aditions and peoples grapple with loss\, particularly when it is of such m agnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration? Rajbir Singh Judge offers new ways to understand loss and the limits of history by considering 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 cam e to an end in the middle of the nineteenth century\, when the British ann exed the Sikh kingdom and\, eventually\, exiled its child maharaja\, Dulee p 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 people’s responses—the dreams\, fantasies and hopes tha t became attached to the \;Khalsa Raj. \;He shows how a community engaged military\, political and psychological loss through theological de bate\, literary production\, bodily discipline and ethical practice in ord er to contest colonial politics. This book argues that Sikhs in the final decades of the nineteenth century were not simply looking to recuperate th e past but to remake it—and to dwell within loss instead of transcending i t—and in so doing opened new possibilities.

Bringing together Sikh t radition\, psychoanalysis and postcolonial thought\, “Prophetic Maharaja” provides bracing insights into concepts of sovereignty and the writing of history.

This talk is co-sponsored by the History Department and the Department of Religion. \;

Rajbir Singh Judge is assistant professor of history at California State University\, Long Be ach and\, during this academic year\, a member of the School of Social Sci ence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His first book\, “P rophetic Maharaja: Loss\, Sovereignty\, and the Sikh Tradition in Colonial South Asia” \;was published by Columbia University Press in September 2024. His previous publications have appeared in numerous journa ls including \;Comparative Studies of South Asia\, Africa\, and the Mi ddle East\, \;Modern Asian Studies\, \;Theory &\; Event\, \ ;positions: asia critique\, \;Cultural Critique\, \;History &\; Theory\, and the \;Journal of the History of Sexuality\, among others .

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