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March 2, 1978 – THE CANADIAN INDIA TIMES, PAGE5

Book Review 
By 
Jagpal S Tiwana

The Evolution of the Sikh Community By W.H.McLeod.Oxford University Pr., 1976 ,p.119  

Dr.  Hew Mcleod is professor of history at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. He spent nine years in the Punjab, learned to speak and read Punjabi and founded a Christian institute of Sikh studies at Barring College, Batala where he served as professor of history.

His first book, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion,1968, a work of outstanding scholarship, created a stir among Sikh scholars, by refusing to accept many of the traditional concepts of Guru Nanak. His second book, The Evolution of the Sikh Community, consisting of five essays, is also going to be quite controversial.

Traditionally, it is believed, that the Sikh Panth developed in three stages: first, its founding by Guru Nanak; second, its resort to arms under Guru Hargobind and; third, the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh.

McLeod accepts the three-stage hypothesis, but he studies the development of Sikhism in its historical sociological context. As a historian he believes that nothing is created; everything evolves.  Guru Nanak, himself inherited the Sant synthesis which emerged from the influence of Nath doctrine and practice upon the Vaisanva bhakti.  He reworked it according to his own genius , and passed it on in a form unequalled by that of any other representative of the Sant tradition.  “The greatness  of Guru Nanak”, says McLeod, " lay in his capacity to integrate a somewhat disparate set of doctrines and to express them with clarity and compelling beauty...others accepted the teaching as valid and the teacher as inspired. In this manner the Sikh Panth was born.”

Development in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was considerably influenced by the influx of Jats into the Panth.  By the time Guru Hargobind gave the call to arms, a large number of Jats had joined the Panth. Jats did not join empty handed; they came with their weapons.  The five Ks which the tenth Guru, in 1699, pronounced to be the exclusive symbols of the Khalsa brotherhood reflect the complex of Jat culture.  According to McLeod, uncut hair and the bearing of a dagger were Jat customs.  With these two symbols may be paired the comb and the bangle. McLeod is, however, not clear about the origin of the breaches, the Kachh.

Some of these statements must be viewed with certain reservations. Was uncut hair a Jat custom ? If so, why and when did the Hindu Jats of Haryana and the Muslim Jats in Pakistan stop bearing long hair.  The Sikh Gurus did not cut their hair.  Were they Jats?  Perhaps a better explanation could be that uncut hair was a common feature of holy men in those days, and Guru Gobind Singh wanted his followers to appear as soldier-saints.

Though McLeod does not accept most of the stories told in the Janam Sakhis, yet he accepts one in which a  Sikh sells his hair to provide food for Guru Nanak.  By this he seeks to show that the Jat customs had not entered the Panth in the time of Guru Nanak.  Who would buy hair in that age and for what purpose ? Was hair in great demand ? Would Guru Nanak have encouraged his follower to sell hair ? The sakhi is not very reliable.

According to McLeod , Jats became followers of the Khatri Gurus because, by tradition, a Khatri was teacher and a Jat his disciple. Who were the Khatri teachers before Guru Nanak ? In fact, it was a Brahman who was by tradition a teacher.  The Jats became the disciples of their Gurus because their egalitarian teachings appealed to them.

The essay on Sikh scriptures is very fascinating.  McLeod has studied and analyzed the whole Adi Granth and found it quite clear and orderly, “ ...there can be few scriptures which posses  a structure as consistent as that of the Adi Granth," observes Mcleod.  He is looking for some explanation, however, as to why the Guru Arjan's Ramkali hymn has only the opening lines and then blank space in the Kartarpur vali Bir believed to be the original as dictated by Guru Arjan to Bhai Gurdas. Dr. McLeod wished to examine the Bir personally and it is a pity that he was denied permission by the Sodhis of Kartarpur who own it.

The essay on “Caste in the Sikh Panth" is quite informative. According to the 1881 census, Jats formed

 66 per cent of the Sikh population. From the Jat total, there was a considerable drop to the next group

 who turned out to be Tarkhans with 6.5 per cent. It is quite surprising to know that Khatris who

 represent the intelligentsia of the Sikhs were only 2.2 per cent. McLeod has rightly observed the diversity

 in the Sikh community, yet he finds that the Panth has succeeded in eliminating many of the

 discriminatory aspects of the caste system. The increase in the number of Sikhs in the half

 century(1881-1931) when a large number of agrarians, artisans and outcastes joined the Panth shows that

 it still retained the egalitarian appeal preached by the Gurus.

The  Evolution of the Sikh Community is indeed a thought provoking work.  Sometimes it becomes difficult for a mind  nurtured on the centuries-old traditions to accept McLeod.  Religion is a matter of faith, not reason.  But McLeod should be given credit for his first rate historical research. His style is so simple and stimulating that the book can be read with interest both by the common reader and the scholar looking for new ideas.  It has a good glossary, a good bibliography and an index.

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