The Sikh fundoos have distorted out of all recognition the
militant order of Khalsa that Guru Gobind Singh instituted in
1699. It is incomprehensible how anyone can project nine years
of Khalsa as theraison d’êtreof Sikhism and give it precedence
over 239 years of the history of Sikh Gurus.
THE UGLY spectacle of sword-wielding mobs clashing with the
followers of Saccha Sauda — seen by the clerical establishment
as heretical — is a mockery of Sikhism on the auspicious
occasion of Guru Gobind launching the first Khalsa, on March
30, 1699, at Anandpur Sahib. The real bone of contention this
time is not just over religion, but caste, which the Sikh
politicians, like other political parties, are lavishly using
to strengthen their fundamentalist constituencies. The false
pretensions of secularism on which the Shiromani Akali Dal won
the February 2007 Punjab Assembly election are exposed by its
jumping on the Hindutva bandwagon of the Bharatiya Janata
Party. This is a poisonous nexus designed to destroy the
secular and multicultural character of Indian civilisation.
The instigations have cut across national frontiers, with the
Babbar Khalsa vultures waiting to pounce as they watch,
sitting on the branches of Taliban trees across the border in
Pakistan. The situation recalls the 1978 clashes between the
Khalsa and the heterodox Nirankari sect, which unleashed the
decade of Khalistan terror.
Recent events are an appalling desecration of the secular and
pluralist grassroots culture of Indian civilisation that Guru
Nanak promoted. He gave precedence to “duties and devotion” in
the conduct of daily life and became a devotee of a god who he
refused to delimit by sectarian description. Sikh tradition
has it that at the age of 30, Guru Nanak declined to say
anything more than repeating: "There is no Hindu, there is no
Muslim." Nanak believed that faith was a matter of personal
belief and he urged Muslims to be true Muslims and Hindus to
be true Hindus. His followers included many Hindus and
Muslims, simply called Sikhs, meaning disciples (shishya).
Guru Nanak preached against caste discrimination and racial
prejudice at a time when slavery was customarily practised
worldwide. Thousands of people, irrespective of their
religion, caste, creed, or sex flocked to pay homage to Guru
Nanak when he passed away on September 22, 1539. His tangible
shining legacy is the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the
foundation stone of which was laid in December 1588 by Hazrat
Mian Mir — an eminent Muslim Sufi saint of Lahore. The sanctum
of the shrine is named Harmandir, after Hari (God).
As misfortune would have it, the Sikh and Hindu `fundoos’ (a
nickname given by the novelist Githa Hariharan) have jumped on
the BJP’s Hindutva bandwagon to destroy the multicultural and
pluralistic magnificence of Indian civilisation. The Sikh
fundoos have sidelined Guru Nanak’s egalitarian, secular
culture and smashed to bits the “Three Pillars of Sikhism”
that he erected: meditation, earning an honest living, and
sharing with others. The institution of langar — the common
community kitchen, which Guru Nanak established to break the
discrimination of the caste system — has been undermined as
separate gurudwaras have mushroomed in Punjab for lower-caste
Sikhs, while higher status elitists frequent exclusive langars
where they are not obliged to sit and eat as equals with Dalit
Sikhs. Many Sikhs have started flaunting their higher status
by adding caste suffixes after their name Singh, a practice
strictly prohibited by the Sikh Gurus.
Notwithstanding the media images of Punjab’s prosperity, the
region has become the ghetto of caste apartheid. As a recent
editorial in The Hindu points out: "Almost one in three
residences of Punjab belongs to the Scheduled Castes — the
highest percentage in India — and atrocities against them have
been mounting. Ever since the seizure of a shrine at Talhan by
upper-caste villagers provoked large-scale rioting, there has
been a string of violent attacks on both Sikh and Hindu
Dalits. In response, Dalits have increasingly turned from
established faiths to new spiritual leaders who articulate
their anger. In 2001, Piara Singh Bhaniarawala set off a
small-scale version of the ongoing violence when he released
the Bhavsagar Granth, a 2,704 page religious text" extolling
the spiritual in the Guru Granth Sahib in Dalit Sikh homes.
The Sikh fundoos have distorted out of all recognition the
militant order of Khalsa that Guru Gobind Singh instituted in
1699, barely nine years before his death in 1708. The order
was formed during a state of emergency to confront the Mughal
army in guerrilla warfare. The ever-ready equipment of the
Five Ks was essential for the militants as they moved from
place to place under cover of forest. He also broke the feudal
stranglehold of the Moghul administration by directly
distributing plots of crown land among the Khalsa followers,
who comprised both Hindus and Muslims. It was thanks to his
Muslim disciples that Guru Gobind Singh was able to escape
from the siege of the fort at Anandpur by Mughal and Rajput
armies. The rabble-rousing caste fundoos must also know that
three of the five Panj Pyaras baptised by Guru Gobind Singh
belonged to the lowest of castes.
In fact, following the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the
importance of the purely militant character of the Khalsa
organisation diminished. This is evident from Guru Gobind
Singh’s policy of reconciliation as he joined with Aurangzeb’s
successor, Bahadur Shah I, to reduce the conflict. An
outstanding statesman, poet, and scholar of Persian and
Sanskrit, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs never initiated an
anti-Muslim crusade. Instead, Guru Gobind Singh followed in
the footsteps of his predecessors who had supported Prince
Khusro against his father Jahangir in the latter’s battle for
the throne, and later Dara Shikoh against Aurangzeb.
Historical records show that during his journey to Nanded in
Maharashtra for discussions with Bahadur Shah, Guru Gobind
Singh emphasised Guru Nanak’s original ethical tenets over
Khalsa militancy. With his enormous popularity, he might well
have nominated the eleventh Guru of the Sikhs from among his
loyal disciples. Instead, Guru Gobind Singh asked them to
accept the Granth Sahib as their guide, which contains
compositions by the Gurus as well as traditions and teachings
of saints, including Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, and Sheikh Farid.
The Taliban-inspired decision taken by the Delhi Sikh
Gurudwara Management Committee to expel clean-shaven Sikh
students and those sporting short hair from the schools it
runs is astounding, considering that none of the nine Gurus
with Hindu names before Guru Gobind Singh was obliged to carry
the Five Ks: Kesh (uncut hair), Kanga (comb), Kaccha (short
trousers), Kara (steel bangle), and Kirpan (sword). Guru
Gobind Singh himself adopted the Five Ks only during the last
nine years of his life when he changed his name, Gobind Rai,
to Gobind Singh. It is incomprehensible how anyone can project
nine years of Khalsa as the raison d’être of Sikhism and give
it precedence over 239 years of the history of Sikh Gurus. It
is as preposterous as giving religion precedence over secular
culture and faith over reason.