MICHIGAN: Dr.Pashaura Singh Of the University of Toronto has been appointed to the Chair of Sikh Studies Program at the University of Michigan.

Born at Sudhar in the Ludhiana District of the Punjab he received his early education at Guru Hargobind Higher Secondary School Gurusar Sudhar. He won a merit scholarship at middle and higher secondary levels. With University Merit Scholarship he completed his B.Sc. at Gurusar Sudhar Khalsa College. He reform the Punjabi University Patiala in 1973

At the invitation of the Sikh Society Calgary he came of Canada in April 1980. At the University of Calgary he earned his Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies with thesis on “Sikh Self-Definition and the Bhagat Bani.” He completed his Ph. D degree in Sikh Studies at the University of Toronto. During the Course of his research he examined more than a hundred old manuscripts of the Adi Granth in India and England. His examination included the celebrated Kantarpur Bir dictated by Guru Arjan Dev Jito Bhai Gurdas.

He worked as the head of the Sikh Dharmik Studies Department at Guru Harkishan Public School New Delhi In Calgary Canada he served the Sikh Society in its religious activities. During his 12 years of stay in Canada Dr.Pashaura Singh travelled extensively throughout North “America to deliver lectures on the message of the Sikh Gurus. He is interested in the education of the Sikh youths who are growing in this environment. He has been instrumental in organizing Sikh Youth Camps Seminars and Study Circles in Toronto and the adjoining areas on the voluntary basis.

Before joining the Sikh Studies Program at the University of Michigan he was at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar at the Center for Religious Studies University of Toronto. He taught courses in Punjabi (Gurmukhi) Language.

The University of Michigan has initiated done of the most ambitious programs in Sikh Studies in Noh America and indeed outside India The goal is two-fold: To provide Sikh Americans with university-level instruction their religious and cultural tradition and to-make that tradition accessible to the wider non-Sikh community Dr Pashaura Singh has primary responsibility for instruction in Punjabi Language and Sikh studies.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 24, 1992