Foreword To The Book 'Studies In Indian Poetry - Sacred And Secular' By G. S. Talib

I am happy to be asked to contribute this Foreword to the Tagore Lectures for 1982-83 delivered by Professor Gurbachan Singh Talib at the Panjab University during January-February, 1983. Professor Gurbachan Singh Talib was the first Professor to occupy the Guru Nanak Chair in this University and has established himself as a deeply sensitive and authentic interpreter of teachings of the Sikh faith. He was also Head of the Department of Comparative Religion at Punjabi University, Patiala. He is associated with the deliberations of eminent literary bodies, including the Sahitya Akademi and Bharatiya Jnanpith. In the course of these Lectures he has thrown light on certain aspects of the mystical thought and ethical principles of Sikhism and presented studies in the Persian poetry of India which are generally by-passed by those engaged on working on this field. To the general reader not introduced to these fields he has brought fresh insights and interpretation which should make these Lectures valuable literary studies. Especially interesting to the reader should be Guru Nanak's rich poetry of mystical experience in the idiom of love and the studies of Iqbal as an indefatigable crusader against Western imperialism.

I have great pleasure in commending these lectures to the reader and hope these will stimulate further studies in the fields explored therein.

RAM CHAND PAUL

Vice-Chancellor

Panjab University, Chandigarh