Chapter 6

 

Spurious Anti-Sikh Writings

 

 

 

Today we hear some individuals with a revisionist mindset claiming that the Jewish holocaust is a myth. Jakobsh might as well join them. But here Jakobsh is up for something entirely different: earn her doctorate while at the same time malign the Sikhs and their Gurus in the process. Also, she is thrusting upon Sikhs spurious writings that don’t belong to them. Commenting on janam-sakhis (biographies) she says:

 

“While the historical elements of this literature must be questioned, it does point to later understandings of the guru, and indeed, of the role of women in the ensuing society.”¹

 

Yet, she has no qualms using such writings to malign the Gurus. For example, she uses Bala Janam-Sakhi to depict Guru Nanak’s relationship with his wife and other women of the family.² She has quoted McLeod frequently, but here she ignores his observation that Bala Janam-Sakhi is the work of Hindalis, a heretical sect³ who were the bitter enemies of the Sikhs.⁴

 

Bala Janam-Sakhi denigrates Guru Nanak and his family and friends. In his analysis of this janam-sakhi, Professor Surjit Hans writes:

 

Guru Nanak is a lesser bhagat than Kabir. He [Guru Nanak] prophesies a greater bhagat, Handal to come.⁵

 

The first clue to grasping the true character of the Bala Janamsakhi is the fact that the persons related most closely to Guru Nanak are presented in uncomplimentary light. His father, Kalu, for instance, is a cruel man; he is greedy and ill spoken; he blames Mardana for spoiling his son; and Guru Nanak is rather chary of meeting him. Guru Nanak’s wife regrets marrying him, she is hot-tempered and full of anger. His mother-in-law is quarrelsome and hardhearted. His father-in-law curses his fate to have a son-in-law like Guru Nanak. The Guru’s constant companion, Mardana, is pleased with counterfeit coins and cast off clothes; he is all the time hungry.

 

The image of Guru Nanak in Bala Janamsakhi is hopelessly tarnished. … The climax comes when he is placed almost at par with Bala and Mardana, his old familiar friends (yar).⁶

 

Speaking about Dasam Granth, Jakobsh says:

 

Many historians and theologians have downplayed the importance of this work; its actual authorship has been a point of heated controversy. By and large it has been posited as unlikely to have stemmed from the tenth guru. This perspective must be traced to the early twentieth century. According to Macauliffe (1990, vol. V: 260), several intelligent Sikhs were of the opinion that the tales and translations in the volume, as at present found, ought not to have been included in it, for many of them are of Hindu origin, others not fit for perusal and none comparable with hymns contained in Adi Granth. The Sikhs, therefore, maintained that the Hikayats or Persian Tales, and whole of the Triya Charitra or stories illustrating the deceits of women, should be omitted and included in a separate volume which may not be read for religious purposes but for entertainment and delectation of the public. …

 

Thus regardless of whether its authorship can be attributed to Guru Gobind Singh or not, the work is of considerable importance in understanding gender construction in the immediate post-guru period; remnants of these attitudes towards women can be traced directly to the Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama.⁷

 

And she goes on to say, “If we look to the writings of Guru Gobind Singh, which have been incorporated into the Dasam Granth, the Pakhyan Charitra, also known as the Triya Charitra, forms a bulk of the volume.”⁸

 

First, she acknowledges that it is unlikely that Dasam Granth “stemmed from the tenth guru,” but she sees no problem using it to malign him. Many historians and theologians have pointed out that Guru Gobind Singh is not the author of Dasam Granth. Recently, Dr. Jasbir Singh Mann has pointed out that Dasam Granth was written/compiled at the behest of the East India Company by the mahants (monks/priests) of Takhat Patna (Sikh religious centre in the State of Bihar) for the purposes of subverting Sikh theology and history. According to Mann, there is no evidence that Dasam Granth was found in Punjab or Delhi in the eighteenth century. There is also no evidence that in the eighteenth century Aad Guru Granth Sahib was not given exclusive preference over the bani (composition) attributed to Guru Gobind Singh. Prior to Malcolm’s mention of Dasam Granth (1810 C.E.), there is no reference to it either in Sikh or non-Sikh sources (Muslim and European).⁹

 

However, there were thirty-two Dasam Granths circulating around Amritsar area by 1890. The present-day published Dasam Granth (1902) is the work of the Sodhak Committee made-up of British cronies (1895-1897). This was done to bring it into closer conformity with the Granth floated by the British in the late eighteenth century prepared by mahants (Nawal Singh, Dayal Singh and Sukha Singh) of Takhat Patna. The Patna copy of the granth was implanted in the East India Company Library by Colebrook and Charles Wilkins and used by John Malcolm to write his Sketch of the Sikhs in 1810. Devanagari version of this granth was written in February 1847 after the Sikhs lost the first Anglo-Sikh War (Second treaty with Lahore, December 16, 1846 at Bhairowal when the British became virtual masters of Punjab). Treacherous Sardar Tej Singh was the chief of the regency council when this Devanagari Dasam Granth was created. In recognition of his services, the title of Raja was conferred on him on August 7, 1847.⁹  Takhat Patna came under the control of East India Company in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The revenue records of Patna treasury show that mahants of Takhat Patna were provided with pension and opium from 1814 onwards by the East India Compnay.⁹

 

Often I have wondered why the author of Bachittar Natak, (part of Dasam Granth) portrayed the relationship between the Sikh Guru and Mughal rulers as cordial when in reality the Mughal rulers executed Guru Arjan and Guru Teg Bahadur. Moreover, the Mughals committed unspeakable atrocities on the Sikhs and there was a bloody struggle between the Mughals and Sikhs that lasted for almost half century until the establishment of Sikh rule/Khalsa Raj. Dr. Jasbir Singh Mann’s discovery of the relationship between the East India Company and the mahants of Takhat Patna goes a long way in solving this riddle. It is quite likely that before the East India Company took control of Takhat Patna, the mahants were on the payroll of the Mughal rulers.

 

In chapter 13 of Bachittar Natak¹⁰ the writer implies that the Gurus approved of the Mughal rulers and as quid-pro-quo, the latter respected and supported the former:

 

God Himself created the successors of Baba Nanak and Babur. Recognize the former as spiritual and the latter as temporal sovereign. The successors of Babur punished and looted the property of those who failed to tithe the house of Nanak. When the penniless wretched ones who deserted the Guru, begged Sikhs for help, the Mughals looted the Sikhs who helped them.

J. P. Sangat Singh, Bachittar Natak Steek, pp. 199-200.

After declaring Guru Gobind Singh the author of Dasam Granth, Jakobsh dwells upon the practice of polygamy by Guru Gobind Singh. While discussing the role of women in “Khande Di Pahul,” the initiation ceremony for the Khalsa, she writes:

 

While accounts vary as to the central participants of this event, tradition maintains that Guru Gobind Singh’s wives played an important role in the proceedings; a feminine element thus came to be added to this decisively male-dominated rite of initiation. According to most popular accounts, Mata Jito, the Guru’s second wife, came to the gathering out of curiosity, carrying sweets. The Guru instructed her to add the sweets to the water while he stirred the mixture with a two-edged sword. Mcauliffe (1990, Vol. V: 95) relying on popular account notes: ‘He had begun, he said to beget the Khalsa as his sons, and without a woman no son could be produced. Now that the sweets were poured into the nectar, the Sikhs would be at peace with one another, otherwise they could be at continual variance.’ In a different rahitinama, it was the third wife of Guru Gobind Singh, Mata Sahib Devi, who was responsible for the sweetened water (Padam 1974, cited in McLeod 1987: 230-1).

 

An account from the early twentieth century, however, insists that it was Mata Sundri, the first wife of the Guru who added sweets to the water (Singh, B. C. 1903: 280). The Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama emerging about fifty years after Guru Gobind Singh’s death added an entirely new perspective. It maintained that a man named Dharam Chand suggested to the Guru that the water be sweetened, but it was Chaupa Singh himself who prepared the mixture (McLeod 1987: 169-70). As these variances indicate, historical sources are not at all clear as to who actually took part in this pivotal event.¹¹

 

In an attempt to come to terms with the tenth guru’s practice of polygamy, tradition notes that while Sahib Devan was offered to the Guru in marriage, she was rejected by Gobind Singh on the ground of his having relinquished family life. Her father, however, agreed to a life of service to the guru for his daughter without conjugal privileges, it was thus that a marriage took place between them .¹²

 

This absurd narrative doesn’t deserve any comment except for Guru Gobind Singh’s alleged polygamy. Before discussing this issue we must remember that Nanakian philosophy (Gurmat) categorically rejects ascetic and celibate life and it advocates and emphasizes the life of a householder as the right way to realize God and to contribute to human society. Furthermore, Gurmat condemns polygamy and approves only of monogamy:

A manmukh (degenerate man) seeks sexual pleasures with multiple women.

AGGS, M 5, p. 176.

A manmukh driven by Kam (lust) who has sex with many women always lusts for other’s women.

AGGS, M 5, p. 672.

 

On the other hand, fidelity between the couple is the core of marriage according to Nanakian philosophy. For example, Guru Amar Das describes marriage as a spiritual bond between the couple:

 

Mere performance of worldly duties does not make a couple wife and husband rather it is the spiritual union between the two, which makes them wife and husband.

AGGS, M 3, p. 788.

 

Bhai Gurdas, who was Guru Amar Das’ nephew and an amanuensis for Adi Granth, confirms a Sikh being a monogamous while describing the attributes of a Sikh:

 

A Sikh/gurmukh practices monogamy and remains faithful to his wife and respects other women as daughter and sister.

Bhai Gurdas, Varan Bhai Gurdas, 6, p. 53.

 

Bhai Gurdas exerted a strong influence on young Guru Hargobind after the execution of his father, Guru Arjan. In the next two verses Bhai Gurdas confirms that Guru Hargobind was spiritually one with his predecessors:

In contrast to the first five Gurus, the sixth Guru, Hargobind Sahib (openly proclaimed spiritual and temporal sovereignty by donning two swords and royal dress). However, his message was the same as if his predecessor Guru Arjan was speaking through him.

Bhai Gurdas, Varan Bhai Gurdas, 1, p. 19.

 

Guru Hargobind imbibed the teaching of Guru Nanak and he instructed his successor, Guru Har Rai to do the same:¹³

 

The teaching of Guru Nanak is immensely blissful. Guru Har Rai was instructed to imbibe this teaching in his heart, as it is the Word of the Infinite Being.

Gur Bilas Patshahi 6, p. 796.

 

Accept only Guru Nanak’s guidance and serve his Sikhs.

Gur Bilas Patshahi 6, p. 796.

 

Furthermore, it is to be noted that when referring to marriage in the AGGS, the Gurus used the word “wife” not “wives” like dhan, dara, banita, klatr, suhgan, sulakhani, nari, kaman, mund; all these words are singular. Hardly a surprise, for a Sikh, monogamous lifestyle is not only a social requirement but also a spiritual one.

 

The Gurus lived in a culture where polygamy was prevalent but the Gurus were monogamous. However, in the spurious writings about Gurus, three of the Gurus, Hargobind, Har Rai, and Gobind Singh are mentioned to be polygamous. How and why polygamy came to be associated with these three Gurus? Who is responsible for these writings? What is the truth? To find the answers we have to examine what happened to Sikhs and Sikhism after the death of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708.^{14, 15}

 

All sacred writings of the Gurus are enshrined in the AGGS. And there are no additional historical documents or manuals of moral instructions written by the Gurus. According to the Sikh tradition, the entire collection of literature in the possession of Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur Sahib was lost during transportation or destroyed and looted by the enemies. Detractors and opponents of Nanakian philosophy (Gurmat) were instrumental for writing the janam-sakhis and other spurious literature. In addition, we suspect interpolations were injected into the writings of the Sikhs with anti-Sikh materials.

 

After Guru Gobind Singh’s death, the enemies launched an all out assault to destroy Sikhs and the Sikh philosophy. There were two major massacres of Sikhs as pointed out earlier and then there was a systematic extermination of the Sikh population under Farrukh Siyar and Zakariya Khan and his Diwan, Lakhpart Rai.^{14, 16} A price was fixed on the heads of Sikhs; rewards bestowed on the informers and bounty hunters, and hunting parties organized for searching the Sikhs. While being looted wholesale, the government confiscated their homes and lands. The utterance of the words, Guru or Granth and the keeping of Guru Granth Sahib or Gurbani in any form were proscribed. As a consequence of this campaign only a few thousand Sikhs survived by taking shelter in the desert of Rajasthan and the forests of Shivalik hills, and among their ranks only a few could read and write. Among the heads of twelve Sikh Misls (confederacies) only Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1718-1783) could read or write.

 

In the meantime, an ascetic Hindu order, Udasis (pujaries, mahants) had taken control of Sikh religious places and they played havoc with Gurmat using anti–Gurmat literature that was created during this period.¹⁷,¹⁸ How and who could have saved Sikh literature under such circumstances? Whatever little was left was further subverted through interpolation. It is through writings like janam-sakhis, Gur Bilas Patshahi 6, Gur Bilas Patshahi 10 and Dasam Granth that Nanakian philosophy is being subverted and made a part of elusive Hinduism. Recently, Joginder Singh Vedanti and Amarjit Singh have edited Gur Bilas Patshahi 6,¹³ from a dozen different versions of this manuscript and there are quite a few more. It is full of absurd, chimerical, fantastic and miraculous anecdotes, and Puranic tales and Brahmanical beliefs and rituals that are contrary to Nanakian philosophy.

 

Further, it portrays Guru Hargobind in the image of Guru Gobind Singh. He is depicted as the twenty-fourth incarnation; the idea is an echo of the Chaubis Avtar (twenty-four incarnations) attributed to Guru Gobind Singh (Dasam Granth). Incidentally, the question of not writing bani (sacred hymns) by the Gurus after canonisation of Adi Granth was also there in both the cases.¹⁹  Moreover, in the spurious literature, both Gurus Hargobind and Gobind Singh are depicted more like Lord Krishna who had 16,108 wives and numerous girl friends in his harem. Thus Guru Hargobind is made to have three wives and a mistress, a Muslim girl named Kaulan, and Guru Gobind Singh three wives.

 

About a century back, when Macauliffe wrote about the marriages of Gurus Hargobind, Har Rai, and Gobind Singh, he consulted about the various absurd and illogical accounts to make some sense. Here is what he has narrated: Guru Arjan had refused to marry Hargobind to Chandu’s daughter. The reason for the second and third marriages is ludicrous. Hargobind was already married to Damodri when Hari Chand offered to marry his daughter to the Guru.²⁰ Later on Dwara whose daughter Marwahi has taken a vow of celibacy, beseeched Guru Hargobind to marry her. In case the Guru had refused the marriages, their daughters would have remained unmarried all their lives and that would have been a great sin and shame for their families.²¹ So Guru Hargobind (1595-1644 C. E.) was forced to marry. This may have been the custom among Hindus, but the Gurus rejected all the essentials of Hinduism and Hindu customs and rituals. He and his wife Damodri had four sons and a daughter. Guru Hargobind’s three sons, Baba Gurdita, Baba Suraj Mal and Guru Teg Bahadur were married only once.

 

The story about Guru Har Rai’s seven or eight wives is rather bizarre and defies common sense: One day Daya Ram, a Sikh from Anupshahar on the bank of Ganges, appeared before Guru Hargobind. He had come with people of his country and some members of his family to pay homage to the Guru. His daughters had previously heard of Har Rai (1630-1661 C. E.) and conceived a desire to wed him collectively. On seeing Har Rai the Guru’s grandson, Daya Ram bethroded his daughters to him.²² Guru Har Rai had two sons, Ram Rai and Har Krishan.

 

Professor Surjit Hans’ analysis of Gur Bilas Patshahi 10¾ Brahmanical version of Sikhism is startling and an eye opener, which McLeod and Jakobsh should have consulted instead of Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama before accusing the Gurus of practicing polygamy or caste consideration in the marriages of their children and selection of successors. It is legitimate to ask why McLeod and Jakobsh did not consult Hans’s work, which was published in 1988. Is it because it does not support their manipulation, deception and lies? It should also be noted that Chaupa Singh was a Brahman just like another Brahman, Kesar Singh Chibbar who wrote Bansavali-nama Dasan Patsahian Da (1769), which is also a Brahmanical version of Sikhism. Here are some highlights from Hans’ analysis of Gur Bilas Patshahi 10:

 

Guru Gobind Singh does not consider himself to be Guru. It was Goddess (Devi) who asked for the creation of Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh arranged an elaborate ritual to make the Goddess appear at the Ganges. A sixteen years old girl was sacrificed. The Goddess appeared before the Guru. She liked her eulogy and blessed the Guru with the power to rule the world and to destroy the Turks. The Guru was detached from the world. He left the heavy burden of responsibility of creating the Khala to the Goddess. The Khalsa Panth was placed at the feet of the Goddess. The number of Sikhs who were sacrificed to make the Goddess appear was a lakh and a quarter [one hundred and twenty five thousand]. The Goddess told Guru Gobind that he ‘was her son like Shiva’ and she gave him a khanda. All the gods appeared to give Guru Gobind Singh their individual ‘powers’: Hanuman gave him his briefs; hair were given by Vishnu; and weapons, by the Goddess.²³ [parenthesis by the author]

 

Besides, doctrinal heterodoxy, Guru Gobind Singh is portrayed paradigmatically as a Hindu incarnation. Guru Gobind Singh’s departure from Patna echoes the sentimentalities of Ram leaving Ayodhia for banishment. Rama killed the demon Ravna with the help of monkeys. In the same way the Guru gave rulership to the Jats. The Guru takes after Hindu incarnations. He is Vishnu. Makhowal (Anadpur Sahib) is like Brindaban. Guru Gobind Singh is Krishna. The climax of the Hinduized portrayal of Guru Gobind Singh is reached when his mother Mata Gujri vanishes at the time of her death like Sita into the earth.²⁴

 

This account leaves no doubt about who is behind generating false stories about the polygamy of Gurus -- Hargobind, Har Rai, and Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708 C. E.) was married to Mata Jito Ji in 1677 and they had four sons. The other two marriages are facetious, created by those who saw him as incarnation of Krishna:

 

One day as he was seated in darbar some new converts to the Sikh faith came to do him homage. Among them was a Sikh, who had a daughter, called Sundri, of marriageable age. He proposed to the Guru to wed her and make her the slave of his feet. The Guru did not desire the alliance, but it was pressed on him by his mother and not long afterwards the Guru’s nuptials were solemnised.²⁵

 

However, in the footnote Macauliffe remarks:

 

A learned Sikh informs us that Sundri, a word which means the beautiful, frequently applied to the heroines of Indian history, was an epithet of Jito and not a second wife of the Guru. The same learned Sikh thinks that Jito who was generally known Sundri, did not die in Anandpur, but lived in Delhi after the demise of Guru Gobind Singh. ²⁶

 

I may add further that in Punjab it was once a common practice to change the unmarried name of a woman to another one after her marriage by her in-laws. All of my cousin sisters born and raised in the twentieth century experienced the same ritual. Mata Jito Ji and Mata Sundri Ji happened to be same person. The story about the third marriage is rather bizarre like the marriages of Guru Hargobind and Guru Har Rai:

 

Several Sikhs from the north of the Punjab came to visit the Guru and present their offerings. A Sikh residing in Rohtas in the present district of Jihlam thought the most suitable offering he could make the Guru was his daughter Sahib Devi. He accordingly took her to him in a palki. The Guru, in response to this offer, said he had relinquished family life. The girl’s father on hearing this became much disappointed and distressed. He pointed out that he had long since dedicated her to the Guru, that in consequence every one called her mother, and now no one would wed her after rejection. On the other hand if she remained single, great sin would in the estimation of pious persons attach to her parents. He accordingly pressed the Guru to reconsider his decision. The Guru then told him to ask her if she would consent to serve him. She replied in the affirmative. The Guru upon this baptized her, gave the name Sahib Kaur, and consigned her to his mother’s apartments.²⁷

 

However, again, in the footnote, Macauliffe says, “Bhai Sukha Singh makes this event occur when Guru was on his way to South India. In that case the father of the girl might have come from Rohtas in Bihar.”²⁸  In either case carrying a young woman in a palanquin from the North in Punjab to Anandpur or from Bihar to Guru Gobind Singh who was travelling to South India via misplaced route seems like a tale from Hindu mythology.

 

 

References

 

1. Doris R. Jakobsh. Relocating Gender In Sikh History: Transformation, Meaning and Identity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 28.

2. Ibid., p. 28.

3. W. H. McLeod. Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 22-25.

4. Sangat Singh. The Sikhs In History. New Delhi: Uncommon Books, 4th edition, 2001, pp. 97 and 100-101.

5. Surjit Hans. A Construction Of Sikh History From Sikh Literature. Jalandhar: ABS Publications, 1988, p. 205.

6. Ibid., pp. 204-205.

7. Doris R. Jakobsh. Relocating Gender In Sikh History: Transformation, Meaning and Identity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 45.

8. Ibid., p. 44.

9. J. S. Mann. “Fresh Look at Text and History of Dasam Granth.” Guru Nanak Memorial Lecture, Punjabi University, December 9, 2003.

10. J. P. Sangat Singh. Bachittar Natak Steek. Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 1991, pp. 199-200.

11. Doris R. Jakobsh. Relocating Gender In Sikh History: Transformation, Meaning and Identity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 38-39.

12. Ibid., p. 225.

13. Joginder Singh and Amarjit Singh (Eds.). Gur Bilas Patshahi 6 (Punjabi). Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), 1998. There are certain elements inscribed in this book that are compatible with the Nanakian philosophy. However, most of it is a distortion of Gurmat.

14. Sangat Singh. The Sikhs In History. New Delhi: Uncommon Books, 4th edition, 2001, pp. 68-130.

15. Rattan Singh Bhangu. Prachin Panth Parkash (Vir Singh, Ed., Punjabi). New Delhi: Bhai Vir Singh Sahit Sadan, 1993.

16. Ibid., pp. 323-234, 306-310.

17. J. S. Grewal. The Sikh Of The Punjab. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 116-117.

18. Surjit Hans. A Reconstruction Of Sikh History From Sikh Literature. Jalandhar: ABS Publications, 1988, pp. 208-211, 250-251.

19. Ibid., pp. 270-272.

20. Max A. Macauliffe. The Sikh Religion (Vols. III & IV). New Delhi: Low Price Publications, reprint, 1993, Vol. IV, p. 50.

21. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 65.

22. Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 224-225.

23. Surjit Hans. A Reconstruction Of Sikh History From Sikh Literature. Jalandhar: ABS Publications, 1988, p. 267.

24. Ibid., P. 268.

25. Max A. Macauliffe. The Sikh Religion (Vols. V & VI). New Delhi: Low Price Publications, reprint, 1993, Vol.V, pp. 3-4.

26. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 4.

27. Ibid., Vol. V, pp. 143-144.

28. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 143.

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