Sikhism and the Dasam Granth

Sikhism & Dasam Granth

SIKH STUDIES DEBATE-Explore the polarized academic debate surrounding the "Dasam Granth." What issues do the traditional Sikh historians and the critical Sikh historians put forth about the "Dasam Granth"? In the light of the polemical debate, provide your own analysis of the religious significance of the "Rama" narrative of the "Dasam Granth" in the Sikh tradition.

Sikhism is a tradition that has been significantly altered in reflection by the nature of the colonial period. Scholars who seek to dissect the European assumptions, which are specific to the fascination known as Orientalism and that often followed analogous descriptive ideas through to become comparative details that have defined culture, (Khalsa 93-107) must decide how to do so. One of the ways in which this can be done is through textual analysis. (Jurgensmeyer 22) it is not uncommon or illogical to attempt tp follow a tradition through its basic texts, to gain a greater understanding and possibly definition of it. It is also clear that this textual analysis musty be done in context to the culture, not as an independent attempt to translate text into terms that an outsider can understand. The danger of this type of analysis would be not unlike the original European and romantic colored glasses that originally defined Eastern culture in the first place. It is for this reason that one must fully understand the context and challenges of the sacred scriptures of any given faith, just as it is the responsibly of the historian to understand the context and motive of a collective history that was furthered during the manuscript era, in which script could and was frequently changed by the scribe and his or her supporters to reflect political and/or social propriety.

It is clear that the destruction that has been done to a full understanding of Sikhism is in part associated with the definitions that define it as an attempt to reconcile two other world religions, Hindu and Muslim. (Khalsa 93-107) Undoing this assumption, long held and even furthered by many legitimate authorities on faith will require a formative collaborative synthesis of different types of knowledge regarding the faith, as is noted by Jurgensmeyer in the Forgotten Tradition: Sikhism in the Study of World Religions (21-23). The dissection of one aspect of this, the scholarly debate regarding the Dasam Granth or the Book of the Tenth Master, will also help the scholar to build the proper foundation for a more reflective definition and understanding of Sikhism. (22)

Not unlike all scriptural faiths, Sikhism has within it an inherent conflict, regarding the nature of tradition vs. evolution. Later scholars often see newer information and in this case writings as less valid than those that came before, or even simply those that do not reflect the opinion of the codifier of late. This can be seen in Christianity, as the existence of non-canonical gospels is evident but they are not a collective part of the accepted tradition of the faith. It can also bee seen in Muslim cannon as certain books of the Koran are not seen as authoritative, while others are. In Sikhism the text that is considered separate and to some degree is seen as less "authoritative" is the Dasam Granth. This is not to say that the text has little value as a window into the beliefs of Sikhism, but that it must be viewed in context.

Among scholars there are two basic camps, those who wish to regard the Dasam Granth as authoritative, despite its seemed rejection by the Guru Granth Sahib and real and nominal separation from the Adi Granth

Mann 21) and those who wish to see it only as secondary to any scriptural knowledge which can be gleaned from the Adi Granth. These two camps define the tradition of the separation of the known from the unknown and the legitimate from the illegitimate, as they do in all faiths. The traditional Sikh historians place much credence on the fact that the eternal Sikh (Granth Sahib) dismissed the Dasam Granth as folly, to be kept eternally separate from the Adi Granth. The contention being that the documents are mythical and telling but are not to be utilized to understand the faith or guide its followers. Possibly, they were simply intended to intoxicate people into taking a further look at Sikhism, rather than dismissing it altogether, or possibly they were meant simply as an exercise of enjoyment for their writer.

Critical Sikh historians on the other hand wish to look at the Dasam Granth as a work that was rejected based not on its value but on its age and on the fact that its contents to some degree challenge the stark monotheism of the Sihk faith. Nikky-Guninder in fact makes this very point in the work Durga Recalled by the Tenth Guru. Traditional scholars then reject the stories of Guru Gobind Singh as scripture, because they to them are reiterations of older mythologies that allow lesser Gods to be admired and valued by the reader. (Dusenbury 139)There is in fact some evidence that the Guru Gobind Singh intended for these works to be looked at as not scripture but narrative foibles, which might very likely have been rightly interpreted by Guru Granth Sahib, who we must remember was given the Guru title by the living Guru Gobind Singh and presumably studied under him. (Nikky-Guninder 209-210) Critical Sikh historians on the other hand point out that Guru Gobind Singh, meant only to reiterate valor and other human virtues through the development of these fantastic stories, about beings who he clearly stated were made by the "Primal Being." (210) Rama, a pantheon God associated with heroism in ridding the world of daemons, and therefore sin is also recounted by Guru Gobind Singh in the context of the fantastic, to develop a sense of the human, regarding the hero and the power of the "Primal Being" to create tools for the salvation of humanity and the destruction of ones enemies. (210)

One can clearly see the context of heroism within the Dasam Granth, and the Rama narrative. Rama is everything to everyone, seen only as the God he is by the bewitched Sita, first his enemy and then his wife and equal:

The women of the city look (toward Ram), they considered him Kamdev (Cupid) in reality.

The inimical participants comprehend him as an enemy and the saintly persons consider him a saint.102.

For children he is a boy, the kings consider him a king.

The ascetics look towards him as Shiva, with sustenance of air, and the bard considers him a weapons-wielder.103.

For the night he is the moon and for day he is the sun.

The Ganas marked him as Rudra and the gods saw him as Indra.104.

The Vedas comprehended him as Brahman, the Brahmins considered him as Vyas.

Vishnu visualized him as the Immanent Lord, and Sita sees him as Ram.105.

Sita looks towards him as Ram, being pierced by Cupid's arrow. (522)

Rama was a great hero, and the stories of his valor were equal to those of Durga, as described by Nikky-Guninder. (208-211) Rama's adventures were colorful and descriptive, and the wars that are described as well as the resolutions the world experienced as a result of the physical embodiment of Rama upon the earth are significant to the development of creation and peace, a hard won and usually temporary state for man. As the Dasam Granth states, "Ram lightened the burden of the earth and protected the sages.93." (520)