“Kavya of Return: Sikh Memory and Indic Continuity by Rupinder Singh Brar”, Indica Today, December 14, 2025
“In a time when public discourse often frames Sikh identity as a reaction, either as a reformist extension of Sanatan Dharma or a rupture from it, ‘An Empire Speaks’ offers a more rooted, sovereign response. Dr. Rupinder S. Brar’s poetic work revives the ancient literary form of kāvya to articulate a civilizational continuity that includes the Sikh tradition not at the margins of Indic heritage, but at its moral core.
The result is not just a book of poems. It is a literary reclamation. An Empire Speaks belongs not only to the aesthetic realm, but also to the domain of civilizational memory. Through verse that is historically grounded, spiritually luminous, and philosophically resonant, Dr. Brar reclaims a poetic form that once transmitted dharma, sovereignty, and truth.
Kavya as Civilizational Medium
Rooted in the classical tradition of Sanskrit kāvya, but composed in English, the youngest South Asian language, this work builds a literary bridge between epochs, languages, and identities. The kavya tradition has long been the carrier of cultural DNA in India, from the Raghuvamsha to the Ramcharitmanas. In An Empire Speaks, Brar places Sikh figures, Bhakti saints, and historical rebels within this grand tradition—asserting, implicitly but powerfully, that the Sikh poetic voice is not anomalous but anchored…….”
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