This course is an opportunity for any student to begin building a direct understanding of Gurbāṇī: the holy scriptures and Guru of the Sikh community, through collective learning and discussion. When learning to understand Gurbani in a setting away from Punjab, where the Sikh faith originated, it is easy to become reliant on English translations which, though helpful while learning, are not able to replace the deeper understanding gained from reading and interpreting Gurbāṇī directly. Through the course, students will gain an introductory level of understanding of Gurbāṇī Vyākaraṇ (grammar), build a large knowledge-base of the most common vocabulary used by the Gurus (the “Guruʼs Lingoˮ), get a broad overview of the overarching themes of Guru Granth Sahib, and, last but not least, practice applying these ideas to directly analyze the writings of the Gurus.
It is a soft prerequisite to be able to read and write the Gurmukhi characters, as this is essential to read and study Gurbani directly, and will be necessary for assignments and assessments. However, we encourage any students interested in the course who have an internal drive to learn to read Gurmukhi characters quickly to enroll and do so prior to the start of the semester, or latest within the first 2 weeks of the class. To accommodate such students, we will aim to include transliterated text throughout the course content as much as possible for the first 2 weeks. After that, the class will assume all students can read Gurmukhi characters.
No prior knowledge of spoken Punjabi is required. The large majority of the course will be in English. There is an undeniable benefit to understanding Punjabi, Hindi, and other languages which have similarities to the vocabulary of Gurbani, but such an understanding is not expected for students to have prior to this course.
No prior knowledge of Gurbani is required. This course is intended both for students who are entirely new to understanding Gurbani as well as those who are looking to deepen their knowledge further. We encourage all interested students to enroll.
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