Religion (1984) 14, 193-198

MATERIALS FOR THE STUDY OF SIKHISM

A SURVEY OF SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Owen Cole

The reasons why the study of Sikhism in higher education in Britain--the university sector anyway--is so slight could be a matter for research rather than speculation. However, one excuse that is sometimes offered is the dearth of materials, especially access to primary sources in translation, and another is the lack of tools for acquiring skill or some proficiency in either modern Punjabi or the language of the "Guru Granth Sahib and early Sikhism. Consequently, until recently most non-Sikh students of that religion have been people who lived for some time in the lbunjab. Even now, of course, most of the rest fall into the category of those who, like the present writer, have lived among Sikhs here in Britain. It is likely that Sikh studies will be developed by members of these two groups, and Sikhs themselves of course, and therefore the approach is probably always going to differ from that which westerners have traditionally adopted towards Hinduism and Buddhism, nevertheless the time is fast apprgaching when those who have no direct contact with Sikhs will be able to study their religion to a degree and in a manner which is academically respectable. Readers of this article might hopefully be persuaded that this time has already arrived; some may be encouraged to join the small but growing band of students, and those who are leading the field might be directed towards filling some of the most important gaps which still, remain.

Ability to read in the original language the scriptures of the religion one is studying must ahvays be a goal which the student desires to achieve. Not only is he conditioned by the British academic tradition that this is essential, but before long, his meetings with adherents of the religion will also persuade him of the need. They will speak with some reservations of the passages found in Macauliffe The Sikh Religion (Oxford University Press, Indian,

0048--721 X/84/020193 + 06502.00/0 O 1984 Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd.

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reprint 1978), even though Sikhs themselves still use them when quoting the Guru Granth Sahib in English. The student's own dissatisfaction with the English style of Manmohan Singh's rendering of the Adi Granth (Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee 1962-1969) will make him uneasy in using it. Now substantial if not complete help is available. It comes in the form of two books by Christopher Shackle, both published by the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University. First to appear, in 1981, was A Guru Aranak Glossary, price s This is a glossary of the words found in the hymns of Guru Nanak which are contained in the Guru Granth Sahib. It also includes additional words used by Guru Angad and those in compositions attributed to Sheikh Farid. In effect this important publication opens up much of the Adi Granth though, of course, the hymns of tile most prolific Guru, the compiler, Guru Arjan, include many words not found in tile Glossary. Here further work needs to be done. This volume of Dr. Shackle's is also useful for students attempting to translate thejanam sakhis, the hagiographical accounts of the life of Guru Nanak. The words are arranged in the order of their gurmukhi spellings, that is, following the gurmukhi alphabet. A helpful preface and section on transcription should assist newcomers in finding their way round the Glossary and each word as well as being translated into English is transliterated in Roman script.

Any one wishing to move from relying on one of the English versions of the Sikh scriptures to using them in the original can now turn to Dr Shackle's other recent book, An Introduction to the Sacred Language of the Sikhs price s published in 1983. The title may seem a little long-winded or pedantic but it is necessary. It is over-simplistic to call the language Punjabi, even though the script used is that in which Punjabi is written, Gurmukhi. Here is not the place for further explanation, suffice it to say that the title fits the requirement of Trades Description Act perfectly. The book is in three parts. The first fifteen pages explain the gurmukhi script and are preceded in the preface by the injunction that the script should be throughly mastered. This advice must be heeded because, with only a few exceptions, there is not use of transliteration in the rest of the book. Pages 16 to 157 consist of twenty-four lessons and exercises which take this student through the grammar of The Sacred Language of the Sikhs. The exercises comprise, at first very brief sentences and, later, sometimes two or three line verses, but all have the virtue of being taken from the Guru Granth Sahib, from the hymns of Guru Nanak. Part three is itself divided into three parts. The first is of longer passageg from the Guru Granth Sahib, some Shaloks, Shabads, and a Var. Not all of these are compositions of the first Guru. Then there are short extracts from the vars of Bhai Gurdas, nephew of the third Guru, and an amanuensis of Guru Arjan during the compilation of the Adi Granth. The third group of prose readings is from the janam sakhis. In addition to the

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g rammar each exercise and passage for translation is provided with a detailed vocabulary. Consequently, this Introduction can be used indepen- dently of the Glossary. This is how Dr Shackle would prefer it to be used, so that the student learns the new words but also in order to prevent new comers spending over much time in struggling with a new dictionary order or being confused by words which, to the uninitiated may appear the same. The Glossary is best reserved for those who have negotiated the Introduction and are ready for their own encounter with Guru Nanak's hymns or the j anam sakhis--not the vars of Bhai Gurdas. Introduction to SLC, will become for the Adi Granth what 'Nunn ' and 'Wenham' have been and are for students of New Testament Greek. It is probably the most important contribution to Sikh studies for many years and Dr Shackle deserves the gratitude of everyone studying this religion. As yet no key to the exercises exists because the author wishes to protect his students from the temptation of looking.up the answers, but one is promised. The only present aid which the 'teach yourself' student is given relies on the Guru Nanak Glossary and possessing a copy of Manmohan Singh's translation, a wholly unsatisfactory arrange- ment. The sooner the 'key' appears the better.

At this point it might be appropriate to draw readers' attention to another book by Dr Shackle, Punjabi, in the Teach Yourself series, (English Universities Press, 1972). I t provides the means by which students can learn modern Punjabi, but once they have some to the end of exercise twenty-six they are on their own. True the author has produced a Punjabi newspaper reader, called Punjabi Book II, (SOAS. s which contains helpful vocabularies, but in this writer 's experience the leap to it from the teach yourself book is very daunting. There would seem to be a need for a gentler transition in the form of a book of easy prose passages. One suspects that what is available has the Punjabi mother tongue speaker who wishes to become proficient in reading.and writing his language, in mind, rather than the person who is coming to it as a foreign language.

I f many of the linguistic barriers to studying Sikhism are being overcome by. the generous efforts of Christopher Shackle, opportunities to read and understand Sikh sources in translation are being provided by Professor Hew McLeod. He is, of course, well known for two books which have inaugurated a new epoch in Sikh studies, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (O.U.P.,

1968), and The Evolution of the Sikh Community, (O.U.P., 1976), but two more recent publications have made original sources available to the student and a third has provided a guide to evaluating and understanding the janam sakhis. In 1980 Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, published The B40 ]anam-Sakhi in English translation and with an introduction and annota- tions, (price 30 rupees 25 paise de lux, 25 rupees paperback). Dr Ernest T r u m p p (The Adi Granth, reprinted by Munshiram Manoharlal , New Delhi,

196 Owen Cole

1970) had, in 1877, translated two janam sakhis but without annotations, merely with rather derogatory comments. The janam sakhis, rather like the Sikh, or any other scriptures for that matter, are only partially intelligible without commentary. They belong to a culture and to a faith community. Hew McLeod's detailed notes take the reader a long way towards understanding what the janam sakhis mean to Sikhs who hear them narrated in gurdwaras and enable him to understand idioms drawn from Indian life and philosophy. The English reading student can now savour, study and evaluate one janam sakhi, and then go back to Trumpp to examine two more. Using Dr Shackle's SLS and his Glossary he may then be able to make some inroads of his own into the originaljanam sakhi texts. When he does he will need Professor McLeod's comprehensive notes to make them intelligible.

Red hot from the presses of Manchester Universil;y Press is Professor McLeod's Sikhism June 1984: price s hardback, s paperback, in the Textual Sources for the Study of Religion Series, edited byJohn R. Hinnells. The other early titles in this series, also available in June, 1984, which are intended for use by undergraduates or 'A' level students are Zoroastrianism (hardback'only s and Judaism (s hardback, s paperback). It is good to see three rather neglected world religions being first off the mark. Usually Hinduism, Buddhism, and perhaps Islam vie for precedence, and . the rest struggle for eventual inclusion, if the series is successful. Presumably tile influence of John Hinnells is responsible for this correction of balance. Hew McLeod's book falls into four sections. The first is a survey of Sikh literary activity from the Adi Gr~tnth to the still ,influential Singh Sabha movement. The second is a collection ofsakhis narrating important incidents in the lives of the ten Gurfis and the development of the Sikh community. The Guru Granth Sahib, the Dasam and two other works approved for recitation in gurdwara, the compositions of Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nanad Lal, provide extracts for the third section. In the final section the Rahit Maryada, the Sikh code of conduct and discipline is quoted in full; there are also passages from important writers concerned with the revival and development of Sikhism in this century. Diversity within the Panth is covered by extracts relating, to tile Niran Kari's, Namdharis and Nihangs. Comprehensive notes, a bibliography, and a brief glossary complete a valuable and important book of 163 pages. This should be ti~e constant companion of new students of the Sikh religion. From it I would gradually direct them to this eminent scholar's other books , arriving eventually at chapters ' two, three and four of Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, long after they had used chapter five!

The third valuable contribution of Professor McLeod's which must be reviewed in this survey is his Early Sikh Tradition Clarendon Press 1980, s This was expected to appear after The BqOJanam-Sakhi (see footnote 4, p. 2 of that book), but in fact the order of publication was reversed. It is best

Materials for the Study of Sikhism 197

studied after the B40 and probably T rumpp ' s j anam sakhi translations have been read. Subtitled 'a study o f t h e j a n a m sakhis', it defines them, describes them, sets them out in families, in section one, and then goes on to analyse their origins, growth, evolution and contents in the second section. In the third par t of this very learned and thorough study Professsor McLeod analyses their purposes function and value. To some extent this book is a development of the first part of his Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, especially of chapters two and three. Perhaps it might also be regarded as something of an antidote! In the earlier book the j anam sakhis, like the Christian gospels were ana lysedand evaluated as historical documents using tile methods of form criticism. The consequence was that many Sikhs came to their defence as historical documents and everyone ignored the fact that their pa ramount importance is religious. In this book the balance is restored. One hopes that all students o f t h e j a n a m sakhis will keep in mind some words quoted by Professor McLeod on page 11 and taken from one of them,

'He who reads or hears this sakhi shall attain to the supreme rapture. He who hears, sings or reads this sakhi shal find his highest desire fulfilled, for through it he shall meet Guru Baba Nanak. He who with love sings of the glory of Baba Nanak or gives ear to it shall obtain joy ineffable in all that he does in this life, and in the life to come salvation.'

To these books might be added one more edited by Mark Jeurgensmeyer and N. Gerald Barrier, Sikh Studies, Comparative Perspectives on a Changing Tradition, Berkeley, 1979, s (liable to violent increases as the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate fluctuates). This volume resulted from a symposium held in August 1976. Whether the papers of such a conference should be so lavishly produced, and therefore be so slow in becoming generally available is doubtful. Some of the scholars show only a peripheral interest in Sikhism and have probably not glanced in its direction again since the gathering took place. However, many papers have considerable worth because of the suggestions in this survey which they offer of areas meriting further research. The book is included in this survey because it may stimulate a reader who has followed the path beaten by Christopher Shackle and Hew McLeod to find a research subject of his or own to pursue.

Meanwhile there are still some gaps to be filled. Everyone acknowledges the importance of the Vars of Bhai Gurdus but only a few of them have yet been rendered into English. There is a need for more o f t h e j a n a m sakhis and other documents relating to the lives of the Gurus to be translated, but even more, students would welcome guidance as to the reliability of the various sources. An academically sound as well as aesthetically acceptable English version of the Guru Granth Sahib is needed,.not only to help scholars but to meet the more serious requirement of many young, and not so young, Sikhs in the western hemisphere whose Punjabi is not, and never will be, good

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enough for them to respond to the gurbani in its original form. I fSikhism is to continue to be a matter of personal faith as well as outward form for them the Panth must meet this need. However, as it hoped that this brief article has shown, it is now within the competence of English speaking Sikh or non- Sikh students to take the study of Sikhism seriously. There is no longer the argument that sources are inacessible to be used to justify treating it a Cinderella religion in religious studies courses, and three hundred thousand Sikhs living in Britain exist who can bring its study to life. The one hundred thousand or so of north America may be more widely scattered but they totz constitute a robust community capable of inspiring the student and the researcher.

Needless to say every book mentioned in this survey should be easil} available to all students of Sikhism. Those teaching Sikhism in higher education will, of course, possess them.

O W E N C O L E teaches religious studies and multicultural education at West Sussex Institute of Higher Education. In Autumn 1983 he was a visiting lecturer at the Punjabi University, Patiala. With Piara Singh Sambhi he wrote "The Sikhs; Their Religious Beliefs and Practices" (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978). His other studies include, 'The Guru in Sikhism" (1982), and 'Sikhism and its lndian Context 1469-1708' (1984), both by Darton/

i Longman and Todd.

West Sussex Institute of Higher Education, Bishop Otter Campus, College Lane, Chichester, Sussex, UK.