Book excerpt: This unique book attempts to study Sikh history and culture --lauded for its militaristic, hyper-masculine character by India's colonial rulers--from a feminist perspective, an approach that is unprecedented. Beginning with early Sikh history, the author explores 'male'/'female' constructs and demonstrates in her analysis of the Sikh Sabha movement that gender politics (as based on the Victorian notions of gender) were pivotal to this endavour.