Allegory: A Tapestry of Guru Nanak's Travels is a 24 episode multilingual docuseries, directed by Amardeep Singh and Vininder Kaur. [1] The docuseries documents various multi-faith sites across 9 countries which were visited by Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, during his travels in the 16th century. [2] [3]
The docuseries was filmed in nine different countries; Sri Lanka, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet (China), Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and India, and covered more than 150 multi-faith sites. [3] Initially, the docuseries was intended to be completed in one year [2] but it took more than three years to finish. [4]
The series has been produced in English and Punjabi (both Gurmukhi & Shahmukhi) languages with the production cost of approximately $2 million. [5] The Hindi version was released in March 2023. [6] There are plans to produce an Urdu version of the series as well.
The 24 episode series in English is available on the TheGuruNanak.com website. The episodes were released on a weekly basis starting from 14 October 2021. [4]
The Punjabi version titled Sainat, Guru Nanak Dey Paindeyan Di Roohani Chaap is also being released on the website on a weekly basis from 11 May 2022. [7]
The series received more than 500,000 views on the website from September 2021 till June 2022. [5]
Guru Nanak Dev University is a Public State University in Amritsar, India. It also offers many higher studies degree courses online. The university's campus is spread over 500 acres (200 ha).
Guru Har Sahai is a city and a municipal council in Ferozepur district in the Indian state of Punjab. Nearby cities are Ferozepur, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Fazilka, Bathinda.
Jagmeet Singh Bal is a popular Indian music video director who is known for his traditional and religious Punjabi music videos.
The Sikhs are adherents to Sikhism, the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with around 25 million adherents. Sikh History is around 500 years and in that time the Sikhs have developed unique expressions of art and culture which are influenced by their faith and synthesize traditions from many other cultures depending on the locality of the adherents of the religion. Sikhism is the only religion that originated in the Punjab region with all other religions coming from outside Punjab. All the Sikh gurus, many saints, and many of the martyrs in Sikh history were from Punjab and from the Punjabi people. Punjabi culture and Sikhism are mistakenly considered inseparably intertwined. "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, strictly not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhism has seldom sought converts, most Sikhs share strong ethno-religious ties, therefore it is a common stereotype that all Sikhs share the same ethnicity. Many countries, such as the U.K., therefore misconcievingly recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikhs included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".
Gurū Nānak, also known as Bābā Nānak, was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Satinder Satti is an Indian television anchor, actress, poet, dancer, singer, and former Punjab Arts Council chairperson. She has won accolades for her performances as a popular television host on a non-profit platform launched to spread experiences and ideas among people in Punjab.
Roopinder Singh is an Indian journalist and author. He retired as Senior Associate Editor with the English daily newspaper, The Tribune, published from Chandigarh, India. in 2020. His specialization is Sikh history and culture, information technology, and education. He is the author of six major books in English, including a critically acclaimed volume on the founder of Sikh religion, Guru Nanak Dev, and a volume on Sikh heritage. He lives in Chandigarh, Punjab.
Sikhism in Iraq does not have a permanent population, but has a historical presence because of travels by Guru Nanak and Sikh soldiers stationed in Iraq during World War I and World War II.
Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai is a 1969 National Award winning Punjabi film directed by Ram Maheshwary, starring Prithviraj Kapoor, I. S. Johar, Nishi, Veena and Vimi. The film is based on a true incident which took place at Golden Temple, Amritsar. The film was awarded the 1970 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Punjabi, and National Film Award for Best Music Direction,
Harbans Singh was an educationist, administrator, scholar and the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. He was respected for his contributions to Sikh scholarship and Punjabi literary studies and had a vital and pervasive influence in the field of religious studies, with special reference to Sikhism.
Nepali Sikhs first entered Nepal in the 18th century. Today, there is a small community of Sikhs living in Nepal, with varying claims of their numbers totaling around 609 according to the 2011 census of Nepal whilst others have asserted the true number is in the area of 7,000 people.
Student Organization of India (SOI) is the student division of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) party in India. The organization is a part of Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Jagat Guru Nanak Dev Punjab State Open University (JGND-PSOU) is a distance learning Public State University established through Punjab Act No. 19 of 2019, located in Patiala in the Indian state of Punjab.
G. S. Sohan Singh was a Punjabi Sikh artist who specialized as an oil-colourist. He was an influential Sikh artist who developed the Sikh school of oil-paintings, realism, and block-making.
The Guru Nanak Darbar is a Sikh gurdwara at the Churches Complex in Jebel Ali Village, Dubai, founded in 2012 to serve over 50,000 Sikh residents in the Emirate. The community-run gurdwara is the first official Sikh gurudwara in the GCC region and the Middle East, and it was established by Surender Singh Kandhari, a resident of Dubai since 1976.
Sikhism is a minority religion in Russia, with an estimated population of under one thousand adherents. There is one gurdwara in Moscow, Russia.
Gurmeet Kaur is a Punjabi American writer and publisher known for creating a series of children's books under the project Fascinating Folktales of Punjab.
Amardeep Singh is an Indian researcher, writer, photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Singapore. Currently, he and his wife, Vininder Kaur, are the managing directors of Lost Heritage Productions, a media production house started by them. He formerly worked in the financial sector as an executive. He won the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize in 2022 for retracing the journey of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, in his docu-series Allegory: A Tapestry of Guru Nanak's Travels.
Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad is an Indian Sikh politician and former President of All India Sikh Students Federation. As of 2022, he is serving as general secretary and spokesperson of Shiromani Akali Dal.
Harish K. Puri is a Punjabi political scientist and historian. He retired as a professor of political science and the chairman of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Chair from Guru Nanak Dev University. His areas of focus are the Dalit issues of Punjab, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Ghadar Movement.