Portraiture of Guru Nanak, the Founder of Sikhism :

Colonial Transformation and the Social Role

Abstract

Today, single portraits representing Guru Nanak are very popular among Sikhs and are frequently hung on the walls of house and temple. This paper explores the implications of the emergence of the wall-hung portraits in the British colonial period on the formation of the modern Sikh identity. After the Punjab region was annexed in 1849, the middle class emerged across ethnicities and religions, and the intellectuals were later engaged with the socio-religious movements led by the Singh Sabhas, which aimed to normalize Sikh orthodoxy in opposition to the Christian propagation. The urban middle class, along with the British, patronised the art of the Punjab region after the Sikh royalty and nobility collapsed. Since they received western education and enjoyed western culture, portraits of Guru Nanak likely came to be hung on the walls of Sikh’s temple and house. Portraits of Guru Nanak, which were painted both in a unique three quarter face and in a Hindu-like frontal, have played a pivotal role on the social cohesion among Sikhs who belonged to different factions. It is fair to say that portraiture of Guru Nanak is an indispensable viewpoint in the study of modern and contemporary Sikhism.