Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
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<strong>Madan</strong>'s ignorance about <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> ideology <strong>and</strong> Guru Granth is evident, it is not<br />
understood why instead of attributing <strong>Fundamentalism</strong> to <strong>the</strong> Tenth Master he does not<br />
mention its roots in <strong>the</strong> Torah, <strong>the</strong> Bible <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Qoran, because both Judaism <strong>and</strong> Islam<br />
sanction <strong>the</strong> use of force for political objectives.<br />
So far as <strong>Sikh</strong>s are concerned, it is because of <strong>the</strong>ir religious ideology that <strong>the</strong>y<br />
not only suffered extreme persecution in <strong>the</strong> eighteenth century, but also achieved some<br />
unparalled objectives, first, of stopping, once for all, a thous<strong>and</strong> year wave of invasion<br />
that <strong>the</strong> Indian socio-politcal life had been unable to challenge, much less repel. Of this,<br />
Gupta, <strong>the</strong> doyen of Punjab history writes; "We now close <strong>the</strong> narrative of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong>s, who<br />
placed <strong>the</strong>mselves at <strong>the</strong> head of <strong>the</strong> nation; who showed <strong>the</strong>mselves as <strong>the</strong> interpreters of<br />
<strong>the</strong> rights of <strong>the</strong> people; who maintained <strong>the</strong> struggle between .good <strong>and</strong> evil, between<br />
sovereign will of <strong>the</strong> people <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> divine right of kings, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> opposition of liberty to<br />
despotism; who avenged <strong>the</strong> insults, <strong>the</strong> outrages <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> slavery of many generations<br />
past; who delivered <strong>the</strong>ir mo<strong>the</strong>r country from <strong>the</strong> yoke of <strong>the</strong> foreign oppressor; who<br />
displayed all that was great <strong>and</strong> noble; who left to <strong>the</strong> children of this province a heritage<br />
unsullied <strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> presence of any foreign solider; who won for <strong>the</strong> Punjab <strong>the</strong> envied title<br />
of '<strong>the</strong> l<strong>and</strong> of soldiers'; who alone can boast of having erected a 'bulwark of defence<br />
against foreign aggression', <strong>the</strong> tide of which had run its prosperous course for <strong>the</strong><br />
preceding eight hundred years; <strong>and</strong> to whom all o<strong>the</strong>r people of Nor<strong>the</strong>rn India in<br />
general, <strong>and</strong> of <strong>the</strong> Punjab in particular, owe a deep debt of gratitude."<br />
The second achievement of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> <strong>Religious</strong> Revolution, has been <strong>the</strong> raising<br />
of <strong>the</strong> level of <strong>the</strong> lowest classes <strong>and</strong> enabling <strong>the</strong>m to st<strong>and</strong> level with <strong>the</strong> highest classes<br />
in all fields of life." It is <strong>the</strong> dichotomy in o<strong>the</strong>r Indian religions, that has enabled <strong>the</strong><br />
inequitous system of caste <strong>and</strong> pollution to survive in Indian society for thous<strong>and</strong>s of<br />
years without any serious socio-political or organised protest. The sanction is so strong,<br />
that even in modern India, <strong>the</strong> statue of a Brahmin Chief Minister, unveiled <strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Deputy Prime Minister of India, Shri Jagjiwan Ram from a Scheduled caste, had to be<br />
purified with holy water from <strong>the</strong> Ganges, because it was considered to have been defiled<br />
<strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> touch of one belonging to a Scheduled caste. For like ideological reasons Indira<br />
G<strong>and</strong>hi was not allowed entry in a sacred temple in <strong>the</strong> South.<br />
<strong>Madan</strong> has attributed fundamentalism to Guru Gobind Singh <strong>and</strong> also to B<strong>and</strong>a<br />
Bahadur. But, is it not remarkable that, while <strong>the</strong>ologian Niebuhr has, after <strong>the</strong> Christian<br />
experience of two millenia, suggested only now <strong>the</strong> giving of political power to <strong>the</strong><br />
down-trodden classes, B<strong>and</strong>a Bahadur accomplished it two hundred years earlier, <strong>by</strong><br />
elevating <strong>the</strong> lowest strata of Indian Society, so that <strong>the</strong>y could st<strong>and</strong> up with dignity <strong>and</strong><br />
strength against <strong>the</strong> upper castes <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> elite ? For <strong>the</strong> first time in history, as Qazi Nur<br />
Mohammad wrote, Kalals, Mazhbis, Ramdasias, Ramgarhias <strong>and</strong> Jats became feared<br />
soliders <strong>and</strong> leaders whom <strong>the</strong> ruling elites, both Muslims <strong>and</strong> Hindus, faced with respect.<br />
It is <strong>the</strong> same whole-life system that made significant achievements in <strong>the</strong> time of Ranjit<br />
Singh, who not only once for all stopped <strong>the</strong> wave of invasions <strong>and</strong> tyranny in <strong>the</strong> North<br />
of India, but also gave peace <strong>and</strong> equality of treatment to all communities. It is significant<br />
that it was because of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> ethos, that despite <strong>the</strong> persecution of <strong>Sikh</strong>s at <strong>the</strong> h<strong>and</strong>s of<br />
<strong>the</strong> earlier Moghal Empire, <strong>the</strong>w was never any expression of bitterness against <strong>the</strong><br />
Muslims or any attempt to convert persons of o<strong>the</strong>r communities to <strong>Sikh</strong>ism. Although it<br />
was a part of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> tradition, his armies had soldiers from all religions <strong>and</strong> castes,