http://ramblingsofasikh.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-far-and-in-what-ways-did-british.html
Ramblings of a Sikh
The greatest wonder is that each individual knows that Death is the ultimate truth and yet believes that he is immortal
TUESDAY, 24 JANUARY 2012
How far and in what ways did British rule in India influence Sikh identity?
The three hundred years of colourful Sikh history had not generated an all-encompassing definition of a Sikh. However, the hundred years succeeding 1849 saw the intentional and incidental impact of British rule on Sikh identity. During that century there was a systematic undermining of Sikh traditions and practices. At the same time a reformatory movement grew in response to colonial influences and internal disorder. The Singh Sabha supplied the definition of a Sikh within three decades.[1]
Prior to the British Raj the Sikh Panth was united in its devotion to the Gurus and Sikhs occupied diverse cultural locations and articulated a multiplicity of identities.[2] One of the main impacts on Sikh identity during this period has its origins in the history and etymology of religion. In the 3rd century, Lactantius, an early Christian author, defined religion according to the Latin term reliagre, as meaning to bind, in this case being bound to God.[3] This was by far the most significant of all the ancient definitions, as it is this Hellenistic Christian transformation of the term religio that remains highly significant in our attempt to understand the way in which the concept of religion was used to help mould Sikh identity.[4]
Nonetheless, even if Lactantius’ definition of religion is not appealed to directly, religion becomes a matter of adherence to particular doctrines or beliefs rather than the preservation of ancestral traditions.[5] In essence, as a result of the Singh Sabha reformation movement the focus of Sikh thought was shifted from orthopraxy to orthodoxy.[6] In short, the Singh Sabha movement transformed a spiritual path into a religion. Nonetheless, orthopraxy, the concept of preserving ancestral traditions is best described by Cicero’s definition of the term relegare.[7] Cicero’s definition is the closest Western notion of what pre-colonial Sikhi really was rather than the definition of religio as provided to us by Lactantius.[8]
The meaning and denotation of the term religion tends to follow Lactantius’ etymology, thereby constructing a Christianised model of religion that strongly emphasises theist belief and creates a dualism, a fundamental difference, between the human world and the transcendent world of the divine, something that was not present within Sikh thought prior-1849. For instance, it was the incorrect translation of ik onkar as ‘there is one God,’ by Ernest Trumpp in 1877 that injected the notion of God, in an Abrahamic sense, into Sikh thought which consequently created a paradigm of theist belief and a division between the human world and the transcendent world.[9]
Furthermore, we must understand that Descartes heavily influences Trumpp’s understanding of ik onkar. Descartes deduced, via analogy, that there was no doubt of God’s existence because the very thought of ‘Godness’ is something that could not be conceived out of a human mind as the concept of God is too perfect. Therefore, the grounding for Cartesian certainty is located within the human mind. Descartes argues from his own identity and then projects this same kind of methodological scepticism towards postulating the existence of a God. Trumpp takes this understanding and uses this to understand the Adi Guru Granth Sahib Ji. As a result Trumpp creates a distance between ‘God’ and the individual.[10] N.G Barrier indicated that Trumpp’s unapologetic dismissal of Guru Nanak Dev Ji had an influential effect on Sikh mentalities. The publication of Trumpp’s text provided a call to the emerging intelligentsia to protect and respond to the attacks from foreign powers.[11] It was this emerging intelligentsia that would provide the driving for for the Singh Sabha movement. This in itself is not the problem; the problem was that the Singh Sabhaists responded to the external pressures to define who they were within the definitions , lexis and terminology that the British had defined rather than deconstructing these notions and re-constructing them upon their own grounds.
On the other hand, a traditional translation of ik onkar would deduce that the term onkar is the experiential unfolding of existence, experienced subjectively and observed objectively in a number of ways. Before the beginning, the Ik, which is representative of absolute reality, was one and non-dual. It desired to manifest itself, through "I am only one - may I become many."[12] This was the primal cause of creation through an unstruck vibration which eventually became sound (struck vibration), and this sound is Om or Ong (pronounced AUM). Through this primal sound vibration existence began to manifest as a continuum, a wave of creation, sustainment and destruction. [13] The suffix "kar"(form), represents this infinite continuum.
Furthermore, ik onkar represents the four states of all manifested creation. These are creation, preservation, destruction and re-birth. This applies to both those which manifests in time, such as thoughts and subjective experience, just as much all that manifests in time and space, including the Universe itself. Onkar also represents the four states of the Consciousness. The three sounds in Om (A-U-M) represent jagrat, swapna and sushupti. The last state, turiya, is the pure awareness within which all three states are contained.[14]
The miss-translation of the term ik onkar is just one of the fundamental differences between Sikhi and Sikhism. However, another important difference was that Sikhi viewed the Adi Granth, the Dasam Granth and the Sarbloh Granth at par. However, Singh Sabha leadership, in response to the miss-translation of the Adi Granth by Trumpp, was to radically alter this equilibrium.[15] The Dasam Granth, which enshrined the pracitces of Sikhi, such as dheg, chatka and respect toward Chandi Ma, were gradually eased out of everyday Sikh traditions, partly in order to heighten the importance of the Adi Granth. Furthermore by the early 20th century it no longer enjoyed the textual hegemony it once enjoyed. In withdrawing the Dasam Granth from religious circulation and the standardization of the Adi Granth, as a result of the printing press (and Teja Singh Bhasauria), the message being driven home was simple and straightforward: the metaphysical and cultural assumptions of Sikhi as sanctioned by the Dasam Ganth, such as the strong belief in the role of avatars, conceptions of the divine in feminine terms and the consumption of cannabis in order to connect to existence were no longer permissible.[16] Furthermore, it ensured the purge of the heterogeneous nature of Sikhi, and ensured the central role of just the Adi Granth thus paving the road for the Singh Sabha to create life-cycle rituals that were to help define a Sikh within the Singh Sabha mind frame.
This consequently helped to create the Sikh religion known as Sikhism, this is one of the most obvious illustrations of the change of Sikh identity. The creation of Sikhism was part of the trend that took place during the 19th century in the West when western scholars added the suffix, ‘-ism,’ to the names of numerous spiritual orders.[17] As a result of P.J Marshall’s and Romila Thapar’s examination of the production of the category of Hinduism, Oberoi notes that Europeans tended to construct images of Indian religions in the mould of Christianity, stressing that the ‘-isms,’ – Hinduism and Sikhism – were largely the product of the European intellectual frameworks of the late Enlightenment.[18]
In addition, within most Indian languages such as Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi there is no noun for religion as signifying a single uniform and homogenized community of believers.[19] The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis dictates that the structure of language affects the ways in which its speakers conceptualize the world. Therefore we can deduce that the construction and introduction of a religion, in this case Sikhism, into a society that did not posses such a noun created something far from the truth.[20]
At first this simple change of lexis, Sikhi to Sikhism, may be seen as two different names for the same tradition. However, this is not the case for it was Sikh reformers in the 19th and 20th centuries who, for the first time ever, labelled many practices and certain forms of Sikh identity, that were accepted under Sikhi, as unacceptable.[21]
However, to be able to understand what it exactly was that the Singh Sabha edited and reformed we have to look at some of the very first European accounts of the Sikhs and early Sikh art. This is because it is here that we are met with deviations from what is today accepted as the doctrines of the Sikhs, as established by the Singh Sabha. However, we must bear in mind that many European observers of the Sikhs were far more occupied with following the conventions established by Orientalism scholarship in India rather than documenting the behaviour of the practitioners.[22] The accounts provided by European observers were used by the Singh Sabha to endorse their opinion that Sikhi was deviating from what they deemed to be the ideal state of Sikhism.
For example, appendix A is a 19th century cover to a Guru Granth Sahib Ji manuscript, commissioned by the Sraddha family, the direct decedents of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, created by Miha Singh of Kashmir and depicts a twelve-petalled lotus.[23] At the centre of this lotus is Sodhi Bhan Singh worshipping Maha-Kal and Maha-Kali. The Gurus with their wives and children are shown in the ten petals surrounding and the two remain petals house ancestral figures in the Sodhi’s guru-lineage.[24] However, what is interesting to note is not just the depiction of Maha-Kal and Maha-Kali, which are today seen as belonging to Hinduism, but also the tilak that is adorned on the heads of each Guru. This image is completely alien from appendix B, C and D, modern day depictions of the Sikh Gurus, in which the individuals are all shown to be saint like in appearance, eyes closed and certainly not bearing the tilak. The difference in art is just but one way of tracing the impact that the Singh Sabha had on Sikh identity. For art mirrored the practices and accepted norms of the Sikh tradition and as these traditions changed so to did Sikh art.
Furthermore, Lieutenant Colonel James Browne writes in 1788 in his treatise to John Motteux, the chairman of the East India company, about numerous different types of Sikhs, describing degh-drinking, martially orientated Akali-Nihang Sikhs and the more aesthetic Nanakpanthi Sikhs.[25] This is but one of the many accounts that illustrates the heterogeneous nature of the Sikhs. Yet, it was the British fascination of census’s that, to an extent, helped to fuel the Singh Sabha’s fetish with creating a homogenous identity for the Sikhs. For example, during the 1891 census of Punjab some 1,344,862 Sikhs declared themselves to be Hindu.[26]
Furthermore, in the census report provided by Russel Robert Vane, Sikhi was seen as nothing more than a Hindu sect.[27] It was the pressure exerted by the British and the assimilative forces of Hindu groups such as the Arya Samaj, who extensively campaigned with various means to illustrate that Sikhs were a sub-category of the Hindu faith, that caused the creation of a reformatory movement that helped push toward a homogenous Sikh identity.[28] This battle against assimilative Hindu forces has been immortalised in the words of Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, a Singh Sabha Sikh scholar, who proclaimed through a vernacular tract that, Ham Hindu Nahin.[29] It was these four words that added to what was essentially the basis of the Singh Sabha movement.
However, there was another reason for why the Singh Sabha was determined to create a homogenous Sikh identity. This was due to the Hindu connotations within pre-British Raj Sikhi, especially within the Nihang order. Many of the earliest accounts only refer to Akali-Nihangs as Sikhs, as these individuals were the most visible due to, ‘their blue dresses, their high-peaked turbans, the rings of steel, which they wear as the peculiar emblems of their devotion.’[30] The Nihangs were the oldest and most respected order within the Sikh community. [31] The creation of the Nihangs came hand-in-hand with the construction of the Akal Takht – a durbar that was far larger than any of those that belonged to the Mughal Emperors at the time.[32] The Nihangs also have mythical origins that date back some millienia in the army of Chandikha.[33] Nonetheless, the Nihangs did not receive their distinctive dress until the amrit-sanchar of 1699, when the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, created the Khalsa.[34] Unfortunately, it was the very vanguard of the Khalsa who were most affected by the Singh Sabha. For instance the Champlain of the East India Company, James Coley, notes that, ‘these demonicas posses an awful influence over the people, being regarded as demi-gods, and when any public emergency arises, a conviction of Akalees is held at Umritsar, and whatever they decree is considered to be the voice of heaven and acted upon with universal enthusiasm.’[35]
However, because the Nihangs were the biggest threat to the British Raj, their influence was reduced. For example, it was the Akali-Nihangs who placed the largest threat to the British during the Anglo-Sikh wars. During the First Anglo-Sikh War (1846), at the battle of Sobraon the Nihangs suffered a tremendous defeat. However, they had succeeded in psychologically scaring the British. James Coley comments that, “the Seekhs, they say, fought furiously; and there were numbers of naked Akalees among them, whose presence maddened them the more and who are represented to have looked like fiends.”[36] The surviving Akali-Nihangs were betrayed by the Sikh state of Patiala, in which 32,000 Nihangs were killed. As a result the remaining Nihangs travelled south to find haven in the Deccan and would remain in self-imposed exile for 12 years.[37] It is here, even to this day, that practices of the Sikh tradition still exist.
It was in response to the Anglo-Sikh wars that certain laws were past in order to lessen the authority of the Nihangs and to weaken their sphere of influence as much as possible. Viceroy Lord Lytton passed laws such as the Indian Arms Act (XI) of 1878 that ensured that no person could carry arms, except under special exemption or by virtue of a license. As a result the Nihangs could not carry arms and of course the British did not allow any Indian possess a weapon unless they had been deemed ‘civilised’.[38]
In addition, as a result of early observers of the Sikhs only ever referring to the Akali-Nihangs as Sikhs, there was a common misunderstanding that the Sikhs were dying out. This view is endorsed by the likes of Jagjit Singh, Avtar Singh and Rajiv A. Kapur who all suggest that after the annexation of Punjab in 1849 Sikhs were in decline and in a state of decadence, confusion and uncertain about their identity.[39] Ernest Trumpp endorsed this opinion and in 1877 wrote that, ‘Sikhism is a waning religion, that will soon belong to history.’[40] Furthermore, Robert Needham Cust, a British colonial administrator, was of the opinion that the remaining Sikh institutions should be pushed towards their ultimate death.[41] In actual fact the census reports from 1855 and 1868 both illustrate that the number of Sikhs was not in decline.[42] However, in both cases and up until the census of 1933, the definition of the category Sikh remained unclear.[43] Moreover, the belief that there was no decline in Sikh numbers was simply a myth created by the loose definition of the Sikhs, as created by the British.[44]
However, by the time of the 1911 census, the Singh Sabha had successfully established a definition of a Sikh as being anyone who maintained the panj kakar and abstained from tobacco.[45] The downfall of this definition was that it automatically regarded vast swathes of the Sikh community as non-Sikhs including – Nanakpanthis, Sewapanthis, Udhasis, and Nirmalas.
One of the British Raj’s most profound and direct influences upon Sikh identity was undoubtedly as a result of the British Army. As a result of prowess shown by the Sikhs during the Anglo-Sikh wars, the British were convinced that Sikhs were militaristic race.[46] As early as 1846, two Sikh regiments were raised from the annexed trans-Sutlej territories. This was the start of a constant stream of Sikh recruits following the annexation of Punjab. However, it was upon being enlisted that a Sikh recruit was asked to undergo the initiation rite, and it was mandatory for him to maintain the external symbols of the faith. Regiments employed granthis to conduct Sikh ritual observances, even though the Nihangs were traditionally the only individuals allowed to conduct Sikh ceremonies such as amrit, as a result the authority of the Nihangs was lessened further.
Furthermore, there was a deep conviction within the army hierarchy that the martial prowess of the Sikhs flowed mystically out of their religious observances and beliefs. It was feared that if Sikh traditions were not upheld, the ability of Sikh soldiers to act as a ‘fighting machine’ might rapidly deteriorate. Philistine army commanders enforced an extremely narrow, functional and mechanistic definition of Sikh tradition and concluded that only those who carried the five symbols were deemed genuine Sikhs.[47]However, this illustrates an unmindful approach of the complex nature of the Sikh tradition.
Further British influence upon Sikh identity was made possible through the rapid introduction of railways, roads, the electric telegraph, postage facilities and the printing press. This transformation in communication ensured that the Singh Sabha could through their propaganda, endorse certain practices and oppose others. For instance, an editor of the Singh Sabha’s newspaper, the Khalsa Akbar, asked its readers ‘Will the beloved of the Khalsa Quam [community], the firm followers of the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh Ji, ever accept anyone else as a Guru except the ten Gurus and the Adi Granth? The answer was: Never.’[48] This was but part of the propaganda campaign that has led to the controversial debate around the authenticity of the Dasam Granth.[49] This debate originates from the Dasam Granth’s removal from the Akal Takht in the 1940s by the SGPC, the successors of the Singh Sabha movement.[50] However, historical evidence talks louder than Singh Sabha propaganda, and the Anadpuri Dasam Granth can be shown to have certainly been compiled in the Guru’s court for it contains a colophon of 1695/1696 AD as well as numerous handwritten pages by Guru Gobind Singh Ji.[51]
In addition, the Dasam Granth had since the time of Guru Gobind Singh Ji played a pivotal role within Sikhi. Firstly, certain compositions that are recited during the amrit sanchar are taken directly from the Dasam Granth.[52] In addition, Charles Wilkins, a leading orientalist writer, wrote in 1781 that, ‘there stood also near the altar, on a low desk, a great book of a folio size [Dasam Granth], from which some portions are daily read in their divine service. It was covered with a blue mantle, on which were printed, in silver letters, some select passages of their law.’[53]
In addition, to re-balancing equilibrium that existed between the three main Granths, the Singh Sabha formulated life-cycle rituals, created distinctive symbols, established a religious hierarchy and purged a plurality of traditions and beliefs in order to remove the pluralist paradigm of Sikhi and replaced this with a highly uniform Sikh identity with its own distinctive rituals.[54]
An example of one of the life-cycle rituals that the Singh Sabha formulated is the Anand Karaj Act of 1909. The act legally codified a Sikh ritual, thereby providing Sikh separatism with government recognition. Furthermore, thanks to the new innovations brought to India by the British, such as the telegraph and the printing press, any opposition to this act was simply drowned out by an unending stream of tracts and newspapers that were packed with articles in defence of the Act.[55] Furthermore, it put an end to the old marriage rites that were deemed Hindu by the Singh Sabha, due to the central role of a Brahmin Pandit and a haavan.[56]
Furthermore, Dr G. W. Leitner, a Hungarian Orientalist, remarked how the numerous ascetic orders were key in local education.[57] The Udhasis would teach you meditation, the Nirmalas would teach you aryu-vedic science and the Nihangs would teach you shastar-vidiya. However, this changed for in Punjab the British Raj and the church advanced side by side in order to further Christianity and western education. As a result numerous British run schools, mission stations and church-sponsored schools were created, imparting western education that understood Sikhi to be highly mechanical and utilitarian in manner.[58] As a result, students who came out of these new schools posed a serious threat to the heterogeneous nature of Sikh identity and were some of the first practitioners of Sikhism.
In addition, the Singh Sabha created religious symbols that would differentiate Sikhs from other religions. For instance, the khanda, a modern symbol of the Sikhs, is often nowadays seen on the nishan sahib, a tall flag that is situated alongside any gurdwara, as depicted in appendix F. However, with the removal of the Dasam Granth and the Nihangs, the symbology of Sikhi was also removed and replaced with the khanda - a symbol that did not exist before the 20th century. This is because the trisul, a symbol of Sikhi, similar to the khanda, endorsed by the Nihangs had connotations with Shiv.[59]
However, it was due to the connotations of Hindu thought that were entwined within Sikh orthopraxy by practices such as chatka, dheg and shastar-puja that the Singh Sabha, in a bid to create a homogenous Sikh identity, wished to remove. Therefore, the Singh Sabha replaced the array of weapons, clearly visible in appendix H and I, which were typically depicted on nishan sahibs with the khanda. This is because shastar-puja was deemed Hindu due to the connotations of shastars with Chandi Ma.
It seemed that the Singh Sabha would not rest until any connotations with the Hindu tradition were removed. Moreover, in order to maintain control of Sikh practice the SGPC was created in 1925 under the Sikh Gurdwara Act.[60] This was in order to maintain and control the practices and traditions that took place within the confines of all of the gurdwaras. It simultaneously dispelled the old orders who until the passing of this act found haven in the numerous gurdwaras, either as teachers, priests or builders. The late jathedar of the Buddha Dal, Baba Santa Singh Ji comments that, ‘the S.G.P.C. are enemies of the vanguard of the Sikhs, the Akali-Nihangs. This is because only after making pledges did they get the Act passed. The Act was only passed on the promise that the Sikhs would not rise up against the British.’[61]
In nearing conclusion it must be noted that religion, as a systematized sociological unit claiming unbridled loyalty from its adherents and opposing an amorphous religious imagination, is a relatively recent development in the history of India and for the Sikhs. The transition process of how Sikhi was replaced with Sikhism was achieved so by a new cultural elite that aggressively usurped the right to represent others within this newly homogenous tradition. Furthermore, it is clear the central role that the British played in constituting the homogenous Sikh identity was in order to create a loyal Sikh solider that would become the bulwark to British authority and loyal citizens of the Raj.[62]
However, to be able to suggest that the British had a pre-planned strategy would be unjustifiable for whilst the colonial government of India insisted that the administration relinquish its control over Sikh shrines; the provincial administration in Punjab was pressing to retain control over major Sikh shrines and in fact constructed a church tower within the precincts of the Golden Temple, as seen in appendix J, in order to further missionary work.[63]
Overall, it was the new technology, such as the printing press, aggressive policies against any threat posed by certain Sikh orders, such as the anti-Nihang laws, and the conscription of vast swathes of Sikhs into the British Indian Army that set the platform for the Singh Sabha to create a homogenous Sikh identity. A sad result of this was that the rich culture that existed within Sikhi, which was equally at home with ascetics, home owners and warriors was purged into a religion that excluded any order that had connotations with anything that the Singh Sabha determined was not Sikh. In short, the Singh Sabha process created the world religion we see today as Sikhism.
Appendix A
A 19th centuy cover to a Guru Granth Sahib Ji manuscript containing illustrations of Maha-Kal and Maha-Kali alongside the ten gurus. Nidar Singh Nihang and Parmjit Singh, In the Master’s Presence The Sikhs of Hazoor Sahib Volume 1: History (London: Kashi House, 2008):26
Appendix B
Sobha Singh,
http://www.sobhasinghartist.com/pictures/available/large/aa9.jpg. An illustration of Siri Guru Nank Dev Ji
Appendix C
Sobha Singh,
http://www.sobhasinghartist.com/pictures/available/large/aa12.jpg. An illustration of Siri Guru Tegh Bhadur Sahib Ji
Appendix D
Raja Ravi Varma,
http://www.indianartcollectors.com/iabig_images/XXL_RajaRaviVerma-L-940440172.jpg. An illustration of Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Appendix E
This lithograph is taken from plate 5 of Emily Eden's 'Portraits of the Princes and People of India'. 1844.
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000000043u00005000.html
Appendix F
Photo of the two nishan sahibs, with the modern day khanda on the flag, situated in front of the Akal Takht at Siri Harminder Sahib. taken by John Bradley, 6/17/2004.
http://www.johnhbradley.com/photos/061704armitsar/img_5339.jpg.
Appendix G
A trisula.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/resear...h_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=12
Appendix H
Gurmukhi and Urdu script, A picture of Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Faiz Press of Bhai Gujjar Singh, collected by J. Lockwood Kipling, ca. 1874, woodblock print, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Appendix H
An illustration of Guru Gobind Singh Ji travelling through Rajasthan en route to the Deccan. The Akali Nihang Singh carries his battle standard that contains a punch dagar, shield and sword rather than the modern day khanda. Nidar Singh Nihang and Parmjit Singh, In the Master’s Presence The Sikhs of Hazoor Sahib Volume 1: History (London: Kashi House, 2008):7
Appendix I
View of the Golden Temple and a partially constructed gothic-style clock tower, c. 1868-70. Albumen print, James Craddock. © Toor Collection
Glossary
Adi Granth – This is short for Adi Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the foremost Sikh scripture revered as the Eternal Guru.
Akal Takht – Throne of the immortal; the highest seat of temporal power situated in Amritsar directly opposite the Golden Temple. It was once the base of the Akali-Nihangs.
Nihang – The entire Sikh community were militarised to form an army of Nihangs in the late 17th century by Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
Amrit sanchar – The ceremony within which an individual is initiated into the Khalsa.
Anadpuri Dasam Granth – This refers to the Dasam Granth that was located in Anadpur Sahib and is an original copy from the court of Siri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
Anand Karaj – The wedding ceremony that was originally created by the Nirankaris in the 1880s. It was eventually legitimized by the British authorities in 1909.
Arya Samaj – A Hindu reform movement that was founded in 1875.
Aryu-vedic science – A system of traditional medicine native to India.
Avatars – This refers to the numerous demi-gods and demi-goddesses that are nowadays thought to belong exclusively to the Hindu tradition. However, all Sikh scripture, including
the Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, refer to numerous avatars.
Baba Santa Singh Ji – The 13th leader of the Nihangs who sadly passed away in 2008 after being poisoned by the Indian government.
Brahmin Pandit – A religious priest of the highest cast of the Hindu tradition
Buddha Dal – This literally translates to veteran army; the informal name given to Guru HarGobind Ji’s Nihang army in honour of Baba Buddha Sahib Ji, a revered Sikh who first trained its warriors.
Chandikha - The Hindu goddess of war and guardian of righteousness. An incarnation of Shiv Ji’s consort, Parabati.
Chatka – To kill with a single blow; refers to the practice of using a sword to decapitate an animal a offering to the guardian of righteousness, Chandi or Chandika. This tradition is still maintained by the Nihangs.
Dasam Ganth – The compositions of Guru Gobind Singh Ji compiled by Bhai Mani Singh Ji. Although revered by Sikh traditionalists as scripture equal to the Adi Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Sikh revisionists such as the Singh Sabha disdain it. It is placed on par with the Adi Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in any Nihang encampment.
Degh – The name given to the Nihang’s traditional consecrated drink. It is made by grinding almonds, black pepper, cardammon seeds, cannabis leaves and other ingredients in a mortar and pestle. The juices are extracted and mixed with water or milk to produce shaheedi degh, the martyrs drink. If sugar is added, it is dedicated to Hindu-Sikh martyrs. It unsweetened, it is dedicated to the loyal Muslims who died fighting for the Guru. It is still practiced widely amongst Nihangs.
Durbar – Royal court, in the context of the Guru’s court, it refers to the innermost area of a shrine which worshippers can enter and pay their respects.
Granthis – The raeder of a granth; title given to the individual who recites from the scriptures
Granths - Book
Gurdwara – Guru’s gate; a place of worship, which, at a minimum, houses the Adi Siri Guru
Granth Sahib Ji.
Guru – Darkness into light; a respectful title for a teacher or spiritual guide.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji – The tenth Guru of the Sikhs
Guru Nanak Dev Ji – The first Guru of the Sikhs
Haavan – Ritual fire offering; in early Sikh tradition, such offerings were made of decapitated goats and oxen in dedication to Chandi.
Ham Hindu Nahin – We are not Hindu.
Hinduism – The modern Hindu religion
Ik onkar – – The first symbol of the Adi Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Jathedar - leader
Khalsa – Pure; this term was used to signifiy the Sikhs loyal to the Guru.
Khalsa Akbar – One of the many newspapers that were created by the Singh Sabha
Khanda – This often refers to the modern symbol of the Sikhs. However, it can also refer to a double edged sword
Maha-Kal – Great Death; the fiercest form of Shiva and the chief inspiration of marital technique and adoration of Nihangs
Maha-Kali – The consort of Maha-Kal
Nanakpanthi – Followers of Guru Nanak Dev Ji within the old Sikh tradition
Nirmalas – They were specialist scholars and educationalists among the Sikh community and were, therefore, typically well versed in several languages, religious texts and philosophies.
Nishan sahib – A battle standard that marks the presence of the Sikhs
Panj kakar – The 5 symbols that are always on the person of a Khalsa Sikh. They are Kesh (unshorn hair), Kara (steel bracelet), Kirpan (sword), Kachera (breeches) and Kanga (comb).
Panth – Designates a group following particular teachers or doctrines
Relegare – The concept of preserving ancestral traditions as defined by Cicero.
Reliagre – Meaning to bind, typically to bind to God.
Religio – The Latin term for what today is known as religion
Sarbloh Granth – The work of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. It was removed by the Singh Sabha movement but still to this day the Nihang’s place it beside the Adi Granth and Dasam Granth
Sewapanthis – They are known for their close ties with Muslim communities and indiscriminate supply of free medicine and medical care. They were established by Bhai
Kanheya Lal in 1704
SGPC – The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, it was established by the British through the passing of the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925.
Shastar-puja – The worship of weapons
Shastar-vidiya – The science of weapons
Shiv – The destructive aspect of the Formless Supreme Being; the primordial Indian deity and archetypal shaman who later became revered by the Nihangs as the primordial grandmaster of martial arts. In the Sarbloh Granth, Guru Gobind Singh Ji refers to the form of his Khalsa as being in the form of Shiv.
Sikh – Literally translates to ‘learner.’ However, it also designates the followers of the Gurus.
Sikh Panth – A group of Sikhs following a particular path
Sikhi – This is in reference to the older Sikh tradition that existed in its entirety prior to the Singh Sabha and the British Raj.
Sikhism – This is the modern religion that advocates the belief in One God and poses a homogenous Sikh identity.
Singh Sabha – The reformist movement of the 19th century.
Sodhi Bhan Singh – A descendent of Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Tilak – A mark worn on the forehead that signifies the third eye. This is often seen as a sign of enlightenment.
Trisul – The three pronged trident of Shiv Ji.
Udhasis – Followers of the Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s son, Baba Siri Chand. These were the detached ascetics.
Bibliography
Primary Sources in English
Coley, James. The Sutlej Campaign of 1845-6. London: Smith Elder and Co., 1856.
Goswami, Amit. Qunatum Physics & Consciousness 1 of 3, November 21, 2011,
Amit Goswami, Quantum Physics & Consciousness 1 of 3 - YouTube
M’Gregor, W.L. The History of the Sikhs. 1846. Reprint, Dehli: Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd., 2007.
Singh, Parmjit and Amandeep Singh Madra. Sicques, Tigers of Thieves, Eyewitness accounts of the Sikhs, 1606-1809 New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004.
Singh, Vir. Satwant Kaur. Patiala, Punjab University: 1900.
Siri Dasam Granth Sahib Ji.
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Primary Sources in Punjabi
Bhasaur, Teja Singh. Panch Khalsa Rahit Nama. Bhasaur: Pnach Khalsa Divan, 1907.
Khalsa Akbar, 9 April 1887 and 18 September 1886.
Nabha, Khan Singh. Ham Hindu Nahin. Amritsar: Shri Guru Singh Sabha Shatabdi Committee, 1898.
Singh Ji, Baba Santa. Pracheen Panth Prakash Steek. (Amritsar: Singh Bros, 2004)
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Grewal, J.S. From Guru Nanak to Maharaj Ranjit Singh, Essays in Sikh History. Amritsar: Guru Nanak University Press, 1972.
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Singh, Kushwant. A History of the Sikhs, Volume II: 1839-2004. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. The Meaning and End of Religion. New York: Macmillan Press, 1963.
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[1] There were 115 Singh Sabhas by 1900. These local institutions helped pressure standardization of practice as now each Singh Sabha could keep in contact via means of telegraph or printing press. However, when referring to the Singh Sabha it is in reference to the Amritsar Singh Sabha that was established in 1873. Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994):45
[2] Tony Ballantyne, Between Colonialism and Diaspora, Sikh Cultural Formations in an Imperial World (London: Duke University Press, 2006):33
[3] Henry S. Nash, The Nature and Definition of Religion, The Harvard Theological Review, 6 (1913): 7
[4] Richard King, Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and the Mystic East (New York: Routledge, 1999): 37
[5] Richard King, Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and the Mystic East (New York: Routledge, 199): 36
[6] Ibid., 36
[7] Ancient History Encyclopaedia, 2nd September 2009,
http://www.ancient.eu.com/religion/
[8] The term Sikhi refers to pre-colonial Sikh tradition where as Sikhism refers to
[9] Ernest Trumpp, The Adi Granth or Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs (1877; reprint, Dehli: Munishiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2010): 1
[10] ‘He who walks in Gods order,’ this clearly illustrates there is a distinction between God and the individual. Ernest Trumpp, The Adi Granth or Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs (1877; reprint, Dehli: Munishiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2010): 1
[11] Tony Ballantyne, Between Colonialism and Diaspora, Sikh Cultural Formations in an Imperial World (London: Duke University Press, 2006):54
[12] Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Page 470,
http://www.searchgurbani.com/guru_granth_sahib/ang/470/line/21284
[13] Dr. Amit-Goswami , Ph.D. (2007) Amit Goswami, Qunatum Physics & Consciousness 1 of 3 [Video] Viewed, November 21, 2011,
Amit Goswami, Quantum Physics & Consciousness 1 of 3 - YouTube
[14] Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Page 30, Line 13,
http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=30&english=t&id=1259#l1259
[15] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994):319
[16] ibid.,
[17] Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1963): 60
[18] Tony Ballantyne, Between Colonialism and Diaspora, Sikh Cultural Formations in an Imperial World (London: Duke University Press, 2006):37
[19] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994): 12
[20] Edward Sapir, The Status of Linguistics as a Science, Linguistic Society of America, 5 (1929): 207
[21] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994): 32
[22] ibid., 31
[23] Miha Singh, Twelve Petalled Cosmic Lotus, 27, folio originally attached to a manuscript of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
[24] Siri Dasam Granth, Page 113-144. Guru Gobind Singh Ji starts from the origins of the Sodhi clan up until the time of the Gurus. Out of the 10 gurus, 7 were from the Sodhi clan and the other three were from the bedi clan.
[25] James Browne, Browne’s Treatise on the Sikhs, 1788, in Sicques, Tigers or Thieves, Eyewitness accounts of the Sikhs, 1606-1809, ed. Amandeep Singh Madra and Parmjit Singh (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004): 91
[26] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994): 11
[27] Russell Robert Vane, The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India (London: MacMillan, 1916): 193
[28] Historical the term Hindu was first used by the Persians to label anyone who had been conquered by the Persians but were not Muslim. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1963): 64. ‘On the 11th Anniversary of the Arya Samaj held on 25th November, 1888, the late Pandit Guru Dutt, made certain uncalled remarks on Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh…’ Jawahir Singh, Arya Samaj-Singh Sabha, in The Singh Sabha and Other Socio-Religious Movements in the Punjab, ed. Ganda Singh (Patiala: Yesman Printers, 1997):92
[29] Kahn Singh Nabha, Ham Hindu Nahin (Amritsar: Shri Guru Singh Sabha Shatabdi Committee, 1973)
[30] Emiliy Eden, Akalees, JPG,
http://ogimages.bl.uk/images/019/019XZZ000000043U00005000[SVC1].jpg. See appendix E
[31] When referring to the Sikh community it is not in relation to a homogenous Sikh community but rather the collective name for the numerous Sikh orders which included the Udhasis (identifiable mostly by their dreadlocks and loin cloths), the Nirmala (identifiable by their pink robes), the Seva Panthis (identifiable by their white cloths) and the Nihangs (identifiable by their blue robes, tall turbans and numerous weapons that will be on their person).
[32] Vir Singh, Satwant Kaur (Patiala: Punjab University, 1900):222
[33] Siri Dasam Granth, Page 321.
[34] Emiliy Eden, Akalees, JPG,
http://ogimages.bl.uk/images/019/019XZZ000000043U00005000[SVC1].jpg. See appendix E
[35] James Coley, The Sutlej Campaign of 1845-6 (London: Smith Elder and Co., 1856): 105
[36] James Coley, The Sutlej Campaign of 1845-6 (London: Smith Elder and Co., 1856): 68
[37] Exile of the Immortals, Golden Temple Exhibition, 2011,
http://goldentemple1588.com/resource/exile-of-the-immortals/ (14 November 2011)
[38] Defanging the Snake, Golden Temple Exhibition, 2011,
http://goldentemple1588.com/resource/exile-of-the-immortals/ (21 November 2011)
[39] Jagjit Singh, Singh Sabh Lahir (Ludhiana: Lahore Book Shop,1974): 1-10; Avatar Singh, The Singh Sabha Movement in The Origin and Development of Religion, ed. G.S. Talib (Patialia: Punjab University Press, 1975):85-91; Rajiv A. Kapur, Sikh Separatism: The Politics of Faith (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1986):27
[40] Ernest Trumpp, preface to The Adi Granth or Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs (1877; reprint, Dehli: Munishiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2010): VIII
[41] Peter Penner, Robert Needham Cust, A Personal Biography (New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987): 235
[42] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994): 207
[43] Census of India 1931, Volume XVII Punjab Part I: Report, by Khan Ahmad Hasan Khan, Lahore, 1933, 290, quoted in Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994): 211
[44] J.S. Grewal, Historical Perspectives on Sikh Identity (Patiala: Punjabi University, 1997):36
[45] ibid., 148
[46] Gavin Rand, Martial Races and Imperial Subjects: Violence and Governance in Colonial India 1857-1914 (London: Routledge, 2006): 13
[47] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994):361
[48] Khalsa Akbar, 9 April 1887, pg. 5
[49] R. Singh, Darshan Singh’s anti-Dasam Granth Phobia, May 23, 2008,
http://panthic.org/articles/4115
[50] G.S. Mann and K. Singh, Siri Dasam Granth Sahib, Questions and Answers (London: Archimedes Press, 2011):10
[51] G.S. Mann and K. Singh, Siri Dasam Granth Sahib, Questions and Answers (London: Archimedes Press, 2011):26
[52] The following compositions are still to this day used within the amrit sanchar and are part of the Dasam Granth – Jaap Sahib, Chaupai Sahib and Tva Prasad Svaiye.
[53] Charles Wilkins, Visit to the Takht at Patna, 1781, 294, in Sicques, Tigers and Thieves
[54] ibid., 25
[55] Khalsa Akbar, 18 September 1886, 3-5
[56] Harjot Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994):342
[57] ibid.,130
[58] ibid., 211
[59]http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=178943&partid=1&searchText=shiva&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&images=on&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=12. See appendix G
[60] The Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925, 6th December, 2011.
http://www.punjablaws.gov.pk/laws/33.html
[61] Nihang Nidar Singh and Parmjit Singh, The Multifarious Faces of Sikhism throughout Sikh History, Sanatan Sikhi, 2009,
http://www.sarbloh.info/htmls/article_samparda_sgpc6.html, (14 November 2011)
[62] Richard Fox, Lions of the Punjab (California, University of California Press, 1985):140
[63] J. Kerr, British Relationships with the Golden Temple, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 21, (1984): 139-51
Posted by A Rambling Sikh at 16:00
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Harry Haller ji
