Asha Marie Kaur

Research Assistant

Asha Marie Kaur is a Research Assistant with SikhRI. She has a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she was born and raised.

Her work at SikhRI is tied to her love of the Persian language and the ways it connects Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. She is working on writing sabad in Perso-Arabic script to reassert gurbani's place in the Persian literary world. A self-identifying mixed-up Sikh, she is also working on creating resources for Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike that offer ways to connect the word of the Guru to concepts of justice in today's world. One day she hopes to get a PhD in Iranian politics, and for now can be found between Newark, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois with her travelling cat Mac.

Videos

Wednesday
,
24
June
2020

Love & Justice: Week 5 - Introduction to the Guru Granth Sahib

This course is an immersive introduction into the principles of the Sikh faith told through the primary source of the Guru Granth Sahib and secondary historic texts on the life of Guru Nanak Sahib. This course has been created with an audience of young ad

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Wednesday
,
17
June
2020

Love & Justice: Week 4 - The Janamsakhis

Biographical accounts of Guru Nanak Sahib’s life depend largely on the janamsakhis (Witnessed-Narratives) which are devotional accounts told in a poetic style of the Guru’s life, written by various authors, decades after his death.

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Wednesday
,
10
June
2020

Love & Justice: Week 3 - Historical Influences of the Era

While it is true that Guru Nanak Sahib regularly engaged with the beliefs and practices of Muslims and Hindus, the notion that Sikhi is simply a blend or revision of these faiths is misguided.

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Wednesday
,
3
June
2020

Love & Justice: Week 2 - The Bhakti Movement

The Bhakti movement is key to understanding the historical environment Sikhi was founded in. Bhakti can be roughly translated to “devotion” and is a movement defined by the collected thoughts and writings of bhagats that contemplated the nature...

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Wednesday
,
27
May
2020

Love & Justice: Week 1 - Introducing the Sikh Paradigm

The Love and Justice sessions offer a profound exploration of the Sikh faith, centering around the legacy of Guru Nanak Sahib. As the first of the Ten Sikh Gurus, Guru Nanak Sahib transcended the boundaries of conventional labels, serving as a thinker...

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Podcasts

Monday
,
13
December
2021

O Siblings

In this transcreation, the original Gurmukhi is followed by an English transcription to guide the Sabad’s (Divine Word) pronunciation in its original form.

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Monday
,
1
November
2021

O Friends, Any Good News

In this transcreation, the original Gurmukhi is followed by an English transcription to guide the Sabad’s (Divine Word) pronunciation in its original form.

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Wednesday
,
20
January
2021

Reflect on the Knower

This is a continuation of the Persian Voice of the Guru's featuring the Sikh Research Institute's Researcher, Asha Marie Kaur.

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Monday
,
19
October
2020

Great is Your Nam

In this episode from the Persian Voice of the Guru Granth Sahib series, Asha Marie Kaur tells us of the Persian linguistic influences of a Sabad by Guru Arjan Sahib. 

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Tuesday
,
17
September
2019

Introduction: The Politics and Poetics of Persian in Gurbani

Persian is one of the many languages found in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak Sahib, Guru Arjan Sahib, and several of the bhagats revealed bani (Wisdom) in the Persian language.

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Articles

Monday
,
27
April
2020

Allah the Unseeable

Persian-based Sabad is difficult to read and understand for both native Panjabi speakers and native Persian speakers. Panjabi grammar and South Asian vernacular speech is imported into Persian and vice versa, creating new deviations of standard pronunciations. The hybridized language of Gurbani takes influence from the languages of South Asia at the time (Panjabi, Persian, Sanskrit, Braj, and many more) in which the bani was revealed, but often defies the rules of language and poetry to create new meaning. The language of Gurbani stands alone, therefore the following commentary was created to help guide readers through the meaning of this Sabad and enrich understanding.

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Monday
,
25
May
2020

Let Compassion Be the Mosque

Sabad is Infinite; we are very finite. This is our understanding at the moment, which was different yesterday and may evolve tomorrow, as we deepen our relationship with the Sabad. In this transcreation, we have chosen to keep the repeating words in the Sabad the same. We aspire to learn and retain the Divine attribute as used in the original Sabad and avoid terms like God or Lord.

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Presenting at Upcoming Events

Asha Marie Kaur
 is not presenting at any upcoming events as of yet. Explore our upcoming events.