Calendars & Power: Unravelling the political economy of Sikh timekeeping practices in Punjab

我的研究将着眼于印度旁遮普邦锡克教社区自实施名为Nanakshahi的太阳历以来的争议。新的历法取代了历史悠久的毕克米历法。支持这一举措的人认为，这是一种区分锡克教徒和印度教徒的手段——印度教徒也使用阴历——并为他们的社区提供资本主义所要求的规律节奏。另一方面，锡克教传统主义者反对它，并希望继续使用农历计算来确定宗教节日。他们声称，纳纳克沙希历法产生了对自我的新理解，因为它将个人和公共时间与一系列不同的天文特征联系起来。结果是，现在在锡克教社区中使用平行日历，经常造成混乱，并反映出宗派基础上的社会分化。计时是社会组织的基本要素，研究这种日历变化将为旁遮普邦锡克教社区的宗教、政治和经济活动提供一个窗口。研究将通过在阿姆利则和昌迪加尔市以及邻近的村庄进行实地考察来获得人种学方面的信息。这将使我能够收集到难以发现的必要材料，以了解新阳历的引入与旁遮普当地政治和经济生活的变化之间的关系。

My research will look at controversies engulfing Sikh communities in the Indian state of Punjab since the implementation of a solar calendar named Nanakshahi. The new chart replaces the long-established Bikrami lunar calendar. Those supporting the move presented it as a means to differentiate Sikhs from Hindus - who also use the lunar calendar - and to provide their communities with the regular rhythms demanded by capitalism. On the other hand, Sikh traditionalists oppose it and would like to continue using lunar calculations to determine religious festivals. They claim that the Nanakshahi calendar generates new understandings of the self since it relates personal and communal time to a different set of astronomical features. The result is that parallel calendars are now in use within Sikh communities, often creating confusion and reflecting social differentiation on sectarian basis. Timekeeping is an essential element of social organisation and studying this calendrical shift will provide a window into the religious, political and economic activities of Sikh communities in Punjab. Research will be ethnographically informed by conducting fieldwork in the cities of Amritsar and Chandigarh, as well as adjacent villages. This will allow me to collect the difficult to uncover material necessary to understand how introduction of the new solar calendar relates to changes in Punjab's local political and economic life.