Endowed Sikh Chairs at Western Universities

Endowed Sikh Chairs at Western Universities ¹

Bhai Harbans Lal has been recognized with robes of honor by the Shiromani Gurdwara PrabhandhakCommittee, the Chief Khalsa Diwan, and the Sikh Educational Conference.” He has been awarded Doctor of Literature in 1995 by Guru Nanak Dev University in recognition of his contributions in Sikh Studies. He has been conferred with Nishan-e-Khalsa for his superb accomplishments in promoting the glory and pride of the Khalsa Panth by the Anandpur Sahib Foundation in 1999.

Given all these laurels, with an ongoing controversy surrounding the Sikh chairs in Western universities, one would expect Prof. Lal to publicly comment on the writings of W H. McLeod, Pashaura Singh, Harjot Oberoi, and Gurinder Singh Mann -- the holders of these “Endowed Sikh Chairs.” Not only has he refrained to express his views on their writings, his silence on the thesis of Doris Jakobsh, who got her Ph.D. under Harjot Oberoi from the University of British Columbia, is also questionable. Jakobsh's research is beyond the boundary of academic norms, standards and ethics. It is malicious propaganda put together against Gurus and the Sikhs. Lal’s dormant views surfaced when he defended “Endowed Sikh Chairs” in an article “Endowed Sikh Chairs at Western Universities” published in The Sikh Review, February 2006. This article he co-authored is misleading. When requested for an answer, Lal did not respond to the questions I asked in my rebuttal.^2-6Here is a quote from a paragraph (in bold) from their article, which is pertinent to my inquiry:

“While Muslims swordsmen conquered for the faith, Christian missionaries were willing to explore tentatively on the frontiers of empire to bring the good news to even a few more souls. … In our own Sikh tradition, beginning right from the time of our Gurus, Sikh theologians were sent to the centers of higher learning such as the famous Benaras Hindu University for research and dialogue.”

The statement in bold is not much different from the one he made in his article “Sehjdhari Sikhs and Vaisakhi of 1699” in 1999:

Guru Gobind Singh sent some Sikhs to the holy city of Kashi to learn Sanskrit and to establish a Sikh University in Punjab for the purpose of training scholars on Gurmat. This group of Sikhs in turn trained many scholars of Sikh theology, who are well recognized in the Sikh history. Among those were included some great Amritdhari Sikhs such as Gyani Gian Singh and Bhai Santokh Singh.

Now, was there really a famous Benaras Hindu University during the time of Guru Gobind Singh? Of course not! According to AGGS (p. 476) Benaras (Kashi) was known as the center of thugs, and not the center of learning. One must ask: Where did the Sikh scholars who were trained in Benaras establish a Sikh University in Punjab? Could Dr. Lal please enlighten us!

References

1. Prof. Raghbir Singh Bassi, Prof. I.J. Singh, Prof. Harbans Lal and Dr. Indarjit Singh. “Endowed Chairs in Sikhism at Western Universities.” The Sikh Review, February 2006, pp. 56-59.

2. Baldev Singh. “Endowed Chairs in Sikhism at Western Universities: A Rejoinder.” The Sikh Review, April 2006, pp. 71-74.

3. Baldev Singh. “Advocacy of Endowed Chairs in Sikhism at Western Universities.” Abstracts of Sikh Studies, 2006, VIII (2), pp. 52-56.

4. Baldev Singh. “Endowed Sikh Chairs in Sikhism at Western Universities.” SikhSpectrum.com, Issue No. 24, May 2006.

5. Baldev Singh. “Endowed Sikh Chairs in Sikhism at Western Universities.” SikhSpectrum.com, Issue No. 25 May 2006.

6. Baldev Singh. “Endowed Sikh Chairs in Sikhism at Western Universities.” Sikh Virsa, October 2006, pp. 7-9.

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