Kashi House

Shastar Vidya (“science of weapons”) is the traditional North Indian system of armed and unarmed combat that traces its roots back thousands of years. Indian warriors through the ages have strived to master its vast repertoire of devastating battlefield techniques, and to hone their minds with its paradoxical philosophy. Driven underground during the days of the British Raj, this secretive martial art has teetered on the brink of extinction ever since.

The last remnant of this ancient tradition and the only remaining school that teaches this battlefield art today is the Baba Darbara Singh Akhara. Having developed within the Sikh tradition, it has its own rich military history and lineage of masters dating back to the beginning of the 17th century.

Shastar Vidya demonstrations and free workshops

Saturday 4 April:

11.00 am - Area 2
12.15 pm - Secondary Suite

Sunday 5 April:

11.30 am - Outside Area 1
2.00 pm - Gmatt Ring

About the event

MAF UK will be the biggest Martial Arts event ever for the East Midlands (and possibly the UK) and is taking place at Parklands Leisure Centre in Oadby.  Several Martial Arts experts will be supporting MAF UK including Silvio Simac, Chris Crudelli, Pat O’Malley and many more. There will be a tournament, workshops, exhibitors, live demonstrators, entertainers and a fight night at the event, which is set to attract in the region of 10,000 visitors over the two days. 

Venue 

Date & time: Saturday 4 - Sunday 5 April, 10am - 6pm
Address: Parklands Leisure Centre
Telephone: 0116 253 8668

For ticket bookings, please visit www.maf-uk.co.uk.

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Hounslow, 8 April
Empire, Faith & Kinship: Exploring 150 years of the Anglo-Sikh Relationship

Historian and author of In the Master’s Presence: The Sikhs of Hazoor Sahib, Parmjit Singh shares some of his rare photographic discoveries as he delves into the story of the Anglo-Sikh encounter.

The last one hundred and fifty years coincide with the age of the development of photography. In 1849, in the aftermath of the Second Anglo-Sikh War - the event that ended the kingdom created by the legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh - a surgeon in the British Army in Indian took the first grainy shots of Sikhs and the monuments of Lahore. Since then, the history of the Sikhs has been played out in front of the camera’s lens. That pioneering photographer, John McCosh, heralded the first of many photographers who went on to capture the Sikhs in the military. Early Victorian photographs of Sikhs highlight attitudes connected with the British presence in India, indicating the power of photography as a colonial tool of classification and appropriation.

A unique opportunity to view images from many of the world’s finest photographic collections including the British Library, National Army Museum and Imperial War Museum.

About the event

Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Hounslow, hosts a week of exhibitions, gallery talks and lectures to mark the 160th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War and the annexation of Punjab with British India, and the subsequent development of Anglo-Sikh Relationship through history.

The lectures include:

The Court of Lahore
Susan Stronge (Senior Curator, South East Asian & India Dept., V&A Museum)
Saturday 4 April, 3pm

Living Divinely: A King in Every Saddle
Nick Fleming (Photographer)
Monday 6 April, 7pm

Empire, Faith & Kinship: Exploring 150 years of the Anglo-Sikh Relationship
Parmjit Singh (Historian)
Wednesday 8 April, 7pm

In Praise of Steel: Understanding Sikh Arms and Armour
Davinder Singh (Arms & Armour Collector)
Friday 10 April, 7pm

The Future of Sikhism
Guru Kaur (Teacher, Mentor, Spiritual Advisor, Work & Life Consultant)
Saturday 11 April, 7pm

Venue 

Date & time: Saturday 4 April - Sunday 12 April
Address: Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Alice Way off Hanworth Road, Hounslow TW3 3UA
Telephone: 020 8577 2793

For further details, please visit www.sgss.org. Free entry.

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Southall, 18 April
Nihang Singh: Past and Present

A special event that brings together, for the first time, two of the most charismatic and knowledgable experts to ever study the widely misunderstood ascetic-warriors of the Sikh tradition, the Nihang Singhs. 

Living Divinely: A King in Every Saddle
Nick Fleming (Photographer)
Saturday 18 April, 4pm

Photographer Nick Fleming documented his unique experience of living the life of a Nihang, the nomadic Sikh warriors of Punjab. The living embodiment of the Sikh martial tradition, the Nihang is feared and revered in equal measure. He is an atavistic throwback to a time when the Sikh armies defended their religion and way of life on the battlefields of Punjab over 300 years ago.  These warrior-saints rallied to the Sikh banner in the name of God and Guru to fight against oppression and injustice and for peaceful coexistence. Their violent and bloody history is deeply engrained in their psyche and the Nihangs remain an evocative symbol of this heritage.

Nihangs are skilled in the art of swordsmanship and many are also expert horsemen. They are deeply committed and totally uncompromising in their dedication to their way of life. Their spiritual discipline means that they have already addressed their own mortality and they wear symbolically their own death shroud as a cummerbund.  This also manifests through incredible gentleness, spontaneous kindness, defending others’ basic human rights and a wonderful sense of humour. 

For this talk, Nick presents a selection of stunning imagery which portrays another world, both timeless and majestic .

Baba Sukha Singh: Foremost Amongst Warriors
Nidar Singh Nihang (Expert swordsman)
Saturday 18 April, 5pm

To those in the know, the 18th-century Khalsa’a greatest swordsman was the legendary Baba Sukha Singh of Mari Kambo. This venerable warrior was not only a master of Shastar Vidya, India’s ancient art of war, but also the unsung hero who single-handedly saved the Sikhs during their struggle for survival.

Nidar Singh Nihang, the sole-surviving master of Shastar Vidya and Sukha Singh’s successor as the 9th gurdev (teacher) of the Baba Darbara Singh Akhara, is guaranteed to enthral as he demonstrates the incredible battlefield techniques employed by Sukha Singh, who ranks as one of the greatest Indian warriors of all time.

The evening will close with a Q&A session followed by a book signing of Nidar Singh’s debut book, In the Master’s Presence: The Sikhs of Hazoor Sahib. 

Venue 

Address: Ramgarhia Hall, 159 The Broadway, Southall UB2 5PA
Date & time: Saturday 18 April 2009, 4.00 - 6.30pm
Contact: Tejpal Singh Rayit (07831 679969), Parmjit Singh (07939 603 634)

Free entry.

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