‘Walking With Nanak’ by Haroon Khalid
This month, we’re travelling through time and place, in a book that is an unusual combination of a popular history, myths and legends, and some fiction: ‘Walking With Nanak’ by Haroon Khalid.
Haroon Khalid is a travel writer and journalist based in Pakistan. ‘Walking with Nanak’ was first published in 2016 by Tranquebar, an imprint of Westland Publications. Amazon acquired Westland five years ago and recently announced its closure, much to the dismay of the reading community. We are very glad to bring one of Westland’s many stellar non-fiction titles to you, and urge you to pick up as many of their titles as you can.
In ‘Walking with Nanak’, Khalid is fascinated by the personality and mythology around Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion. He sets out on a personal quest to understand “Nanak the son, Nanak the father, Nanak the philosopher, Nanak the poet and Nanak the wanderer,” rather than ‘Nanak the Saint’. We read of Nanak’s movement in its socio-historical context, exploring its strong anti-caste origins, and its syncretic traditions that are deeply rooted in the regional cultural landscape. Multiple examples from Sufi poetry and Nanak’s teachings establish this context, and we are introduced to accessible contemporary scholarship on Sikhism and the geography and preservation of Sikh monuments in modern Punjab.
Khalid is hopeful of the future in the spirit of Nanak’s deeply democratic message of equality and fraternity, which has contemporary resonance in the region and the world.
Read this unique story with us in the Champaca Book Subscription. We’re very glad to bring you one of Westland’s titles that deserves space and attention, and hope you will read along with us.