Jump to content

How Sgpc And British Created Sikh-'ism'


GtLoc

Recommended Posts

http://ramblingsofasikh.blogspot.ca/2012/01/how-far-and-in-what-ways-did-british.html

Is this accurate? Idk, because I thought that only an amritdhari is a true sikh, and that we don't deal with devte.

Or that chandi ma is not actually worshipped it seems like the article is finding every way to pull sikhs in;there were also many movements created because bramin and dogra influence had started seeping in and changing sikhi so, Idk.

Could it http://www.panthkhalsa.org/raj/raj_be.php

be that since there was a fold of sikh power it was cooler to associate with it? I know of punjabi hindus who worship guru tegh bahadur ji Idk about all others but they are jewelers not bramins.

Btw forum software really buggy on mobile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Interesting link. A nice read. I think the bit highlighted in quote below is a very important observation that effects us to this day.

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.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Stopped reading the second article at "Brahminism".

The first article is good:

http://ramblingsofasikh.blogspot.ca/2012/01/how-far-and-in-what-ways-did-british.html

I think it is largely accurate.

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 doesn't sound right. Arya Smaj didn't give a hoot about who was Hindu as they hated the word, that's why they called themselves Arya Smaj. To read more about the Arya Smaj-Sikh conflict, check this article by Dr. Ganda Singh. http://sikhinstitute.org/jan_2007/3-gansi.htm

Prior to British Raj, and even prior to Maharaja Ranjit Singh there weren't two communities. There was no word "sikh" that was unique to the sikhs of ten gurus. The word "sikh" was used for anyone who was under a guru. For example, just before Guru Nanak came, there was a Brahmin Guru Ramanand, who preached pretty much the same thing ie Bhagati. Guru Ramanand passed his ideals to his sikhs ie Ravidas, Sain, Pipa, Kabir. These are the same sikhs whose bani was added into Guru Granth Sahib, along with Guru Ramanand, by Guru Arjan Dev ji (additionally, there are approximately 11 authors that contributed to Guru Granth that are Brahmin). They would not be considered sikh today by the new definition, ie, one who follows 10 gurus. There were sikhs who came before the 10 gurusm, and there were sikhs who were not the followers of 10 gurus but followed other gurus in other parts of India. You see.

The house of Nanak was exactly that, Nanak da ghar, and those who followed him were Nanak Panthi. And I believe this was the exclusive identifier, uptill Guru Gobind Singh ji, that separated Guru Nanak's sikhs from say that of Chaitanya MahaPrabhu's sikhs. At this point it gets too complicated to discuss but the word sikh never exclusively identified anyone from Nanak's house, until Singh Sabha. Thus Sikhs never faced the made up boa constrictor that was Britsh propaganda.

The fact is that it was British who essentially maligned the Brahmins, because Brahmins were the largest resistance to them in the intellectual department. The Singh Sabha Sikhs basically bought into their propaganda and started quote mining verses from Guru Granth Sahib which contained criticisms of certain brahmins. These verses from GGS were part of a larger crticism of many communities in India. Not only that but it was rather a criticism of Elitism not of Brahmins particularly. But it was taken out of context as a stand against Brahmin teachings, when it was never the case (see Guru Ramanand, his sikhs and the other Brahmin authors of Guru Granth Sahib).

Edited by BhagatSingh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Mega bump, lets open up Pandora box

Hard to do bro; when so many vested interests remain in perpetuating the current post-annexation Protestant influenced 'Sikhism'. I feel like it will be a ongoing journey to reset our moorings as a community. And it's not like our lot are shy of petty squabbling over such issues. Dispassionate debate and reflection isn't an easy thing for over emotional Panjabis... lol

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...