Name: Harpreet Singh
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume-11, Issue-1, January-June 2026 (Special Issue)
Page Number: Harpreet Singh
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19452008

ABSTRACT
Guru Tegh Bahadur’s hymns occupy a distinctive space in the Sikh scriptural tradition, marked by their profound ethical clarity, contemplative orientation, and a linguistic texture shaped by Braj and other regional Indian vernaculars. This article examines these hymns through the theoretical lens of intertextuality, arguing that the Guru’s selective engagement with Vedic and Upanishadic motifs is neither derivative nor polemical, but a purposeful dialogic gesture. By drawing upon familiar metaphors, terms, and cosmological concepts from earlier Indic texts, Guru Tegh Bahadur cultivates what may be described as an interfaith hermeneutic—one that acknowledges antecedent wisdom traditions while reinterpreting them within the Sikh vision of universality, interiority, and liberation. The article further employs the theological notion of “superabundance‖ to show how the Guru’s vocabulary opens into layered, expansive meanings that transcend sectarian boundaries. Through this synthesis, the study highlights how Guru Tegh Bahadur’s Bani models a mode of spiritual discourse that respects scriptural inheritances while reorienting them toward a shared, humanistic consciousness essential for contemporary inter-religious dialogue. The broader scope of this article is to suggest that such intertextual openness helps address the misunderstandings and tensions that can arise around the claims of a higher religion. It argues that Sikh thought recognises these complexities yet provides interpretive possibilities that encourage clearer understanding across communities.

Keywords: Intertextuality, Comparative Theology, Sikh Scripture, Indic Textual Traditions, Interfaith