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

我的研究将着眼于自实施名为Nanakshahi的阳历以来，印度旁遮普邦的锡克教社区所面临的争议。新的图表取代了历史悠久的Bikrami农历。那些支持这一举措的人将其作为区分锡克教徒和印度教徒的一种手段--印度教徒也使用农历--并为他们的社区提供资本主义所要求的有规律的节奏。另一方面，锡克教传统主义者反对它，并希望继续使用月亮计算来确定宗教节日。他们声称，纳纳克沙希日历产生了对自我的新理解，因为它将个人和公共时间与一组不同的天文特征联系起来。其结果是，锡克教社区现在使用平行的日历，往往造成混乱，反映出教派基础上的社会分化。计时是社会组织的一个基本要素，研究这种地理变化将为旁遮普锡克教社区的宗教，政治和经济活动提供一个窗口。将通过在阿姆利则和昌迪加尔两个城市以及邻近村庄进行实地考察，为研究提供人种学资料。这将使我能够收集难以发现的必要材料，以了解新阳历的引入如何与旁遮普当地政治和经济生活的变化有关。

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.