Katak Ke Vaisakh: Our neglect of Sikh history
Chapter 1 of Karam Singh Historian's Katak Ke Vaisakh, discussing how Sikhs have neglected their own history with comparisons to other religions.
Foreword: This translation is carried out, in an attempt by the Khalsa Chronicle team, to make Singh Sabha-era books more easily accessible for English speakers. This project commences with the translation of Katak Ke Vaisakh, of which we have begun with the first chapter.
Chapter 1: Our neglect of Sikh history
During this era of enlightenment, every community is trying to work towards betterment. Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and followers of other philosophies are toiling day and night, but the Sikh community cannot compare with these other religions. Although, it can be said we (Sikhs) are indulging quite a bit on scholarship but it is also true that we do not have the capacity to keep up with others. Leaving other matters aside, it is evident how much we lack behind in important issues such as historiography.
It is a generally accepted truth that since the beginning of every community’s history, there have been scriptural manipulations. The intention behind these nefarious manipulations has been to rearrange history with the direction of the current milieu or to add appendages, according to the imagination of a historian. The former is done without any ill intentions and the latter by those who seek to portray that community’s history in a more favourable light. It is for certain that in both situations that what is referred to as pure history does not remain as such, there are additions and retractions.
This principle can be truly assessed from the liturgical texts of the Jews, Christian, Muslims and other faiths. Koenen and Val Heusen both compared and analysed the Jewish scriptures and history to Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian coins. From their search, they concluded that the Old Testament that is circulated currently is not the same as the one that first compiled. The conclusion of the search of these two researchers is summarised by a priest in this way:
‘For the ancient history of Israel, the only sources we have are what is contained in the Old Testament. To our disappointment, no book has reached us in its original form. The work of the previous scribes has shed such an impact that the original form is no longer available and the intention of these scribes was not to pass down the original texts as much as it was to embellish them with fictitious details, so that the people in their age could relate to and learn from religious teachings from these texts in a didactic way.’
To obtain that result, they did not shy away from manipulation of the texts so that the text meets with their own perspective. To obtain the original form of the Old Testament, it would be necessary to remove the additions and correct the mistakes. Even though, from the first step, it seems impossible but there are three steps that make it easier.
This situation is not common in just Jews but to a greater extent, for Christians. Just after the lifetime of Prophet Jesus, multiple individuals compiled imaginary gospels in the name of the 12 apostles. To increase the numbers of martyrs amongst their ranks, they portrayed contemporary kings as tyrants; to increase the following of St Paul amongst the Roman soldiery, monks came up with a huge number of forged letters that they added to their texts. In the 14th century, to get the Armenian Church to reconvene with the wider Christian community, Pope Boniface VIII forged writings that say that the Armenian and Georgian elders had submitted to the authority of Pope Sylvester in the 4th century. In the same way, the New Testament, in the prevalent gospels available today, is not the original book that was first compiled. Everyone accepts that there have been many additions and retractions. The works of the 4 apostles are not originally authored by their namesakes, instead they are written by others. There is so much contention within these books that today’s archbishop of the Anglican Church accepts that books written until the 5th century AD are full of errors.
In the texts of the Islamic faith, there are perhaps many more alterations. Who does not know what blasphemies the scribes have added about Aisha? What has been written about the wedding of Zainab, how the number of slaves has been increased and how imaginary stories have been added? There is such contention for Al-Waqidi’s Kitab al-Tirakh wa al-Maghazi that even a fatwa has been issued that proclaims it cannot be used as a source, even though it is the oldest primary source of Islamic history. Hammad ibn Salamah writes that the Zanadiqah sect has forged 14,000 hadiths. Vazah ibn Abdu Allah himself admits he has forged up to 4000 hadiths. To portray as Shias as inferior, the Sunnis wrote condemnations about their respective imams and in response, the Shias compiled falsehoods about the lives of the Khalifas. But the more interesting fact is that, to give more weight to their arguments, both sides said their arguments were straight from the mouth of Prophet Muhammad. Out of utmost devotion, some scribes even made additions about the life of the Prophet and just like the Jewish and the Christians used to make fictitious additions about their elders; Muslims, in direct competition with them, made such unintelligent and imaginary remarks, which were not even conceivable in the lifetime of the Prophet.
The Shias praise the Ahl al-Bayt so much so that in their devotion they wrote falsities that were not even thought of during the time of their elders. In the same way, the Sunnis imbued their imams with many miracles and added as many tales as a man can conceive of and linked them with other elders who had nothing to do with them, who were all innocent. Passing through the Euphrates after 500 years; Moses punching Azrael in the neck to steal the bag of souls; are not small things! A poet’s imagination and an artist’s creativity cannot compare with such magnificent exaggerations. The mere thought of non fictional miracles had fled from existence. The only miracle that was left was when the sun was stopped for 1 or 3 hours because Prophet Ali’s evening prayer time was going on. Jibrail was made to come down from the skies with a text and the respected prophet was made to sign on it, which meant that the Prophet Imam Husayn’s martyrdom was accepted. Prophet Ali was made to jump into a well where he slayed either 100 or 1000 or 100,000 worth of jinns. In the battleground of Karbala, the king of the jinns reported for duty for the aid of Prophet Imam Husayn but he did not accept. Prophet Ali held the Khyber Pass in his one hand. Full rations of food were said to drop from the sky everyday, etc. In another place, talking about the darkness in the hadiths, it was said that:
‘If a thousand of the hadith stories were brought in front of the holy Prophet Muhammad then hardly one would be verified as truthful.’
All this has been told as just a point of reference, otherwise the scriptural manipulations in the aforementioned communities’ historical texts are apparent to any rational reader. The point being that if this is the state of the scriptures of these communities which have been compiling their history carefully, then one can only imagine what is our (Sikhs) state, those who do not value their own history. It is certain that in the way that there are manipulations in the texts of other communities, ours is no exception, but the unfortunate fact is that the other communities have addressed the points of contention amongst their scriptures, which in their present form appear closer to their actual form, but it is only the Sikh community who is aware that manipulations have occurred and takes no steps towards resolving it. Our history is no stranger to illogical canards and every other day, heretical non-believers attack the panth with the aid of such sakhis. The panth has adopted such a passive stance that upon hearing these contentions, it does not even feel the need to examine these texts and do not even think about doing so. Leaving the whole multifaceted history of the panth aside, we will examine the history of the Guru Sahibs. From which we shall begin with examining of the birth of Guru Nanak. How surprising it is that we are not even sure about the specific time, at that blessed time in which the reign of Kalyug was vanquished and Satyug had commenced. At which time, the mantras of falsehood hid away from the Satnam. At which time, forged religion was uprooted and the seed of the religion of the Khalsa was sowed. At which time, ego and pride were defeated and humility and devotion were promoted. At which time, disunity was lodged away and unity was led to the forefront. At which time, millions of beings’ chance of salvation was confirmed. At which time, the mist of ignorance was erased and the brightness of true dharam and knowledge emerged. How disappointing it is that huge learned elders and readers have passed this world but none could find that special blessed time; many kings and chiefs have lived but none could commission a finding of that blessed second. It is shocking that even until now that no one has paid any attention to this aspect, some say that on the third day of the Vaisakh ‘the mist cleared and the light scattered all around’ and some say on the day of the full moon night in the month of Katak ‘Guru Nanak came to redeem the Kalyug’ but there is no general consensus on which day is the original correct date. Bhai Mani Singh also says it was the third of Vaisakh and other ten to twelve janamsakhis also agree with that dating. According to Bhai Bala’s janamsakhi, that blessed day was the day of the full moon night of Katak, recently created janamsakhis also give the date of Katak too. In this way, there is a lot of contention but no firm consensus.
To erase this contention, the first attempt was taken by the Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Amritsar, for which the original intent was to correct Sikh history. But the surprising fact is that what was decided might have been justified, at that specific time, but today it is laughable how such an important question was hastily and carelessly resolved. It is said that Bhai Gurmukh Singh, who was at the time studying at the Oriental College, used Bhrigu Sangta as a source but his source was not as widely known because in Samvat 1941 Bikrami, in the ‘Sudhararak’ newspaper, of which he was the editor, he penned a long essay on the birth charts of the Bhai Bala Janamsakhi.
After this, there has been utter silence. Recently, the Singh Sabha of Bhasaur released their Theses or ‘Bhulemein’, of which number 9 stated their decision on which month did the Nativity of the True Guru occur? They argued that the actual day was in the month of Vaisakh but I am not aware if this decision presented before the Panth has in essence been accepted by anyone or not. Despite there being no official decision on it, it is clear that the question perplexes many a Sikh either consciously or subconsciously. A thought which constantly re-emerges in one’s heart despite unsuccessful attempts for its fruition is surely a rightful one. Wrong thoughts never re-emerge once entertained and met with failure, but the truth is always bestowed with the honour to shine through and becomes stronger every time. Do we not see around us how falsehood tries to bury logic like the plants during the season of autumn? Has one not heard of how in the end the truth always vanquishes falsehood? How much disappointment had the truthful Singhs faced after the passing of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur? But for the sake of presenting the truth to the whole world they did everything they could. Did the truth remain buried? No, it jumped, during every opportunity, and spread everywhere. Disappointment had reigned which is why it got silenced for some time. But with time, again with the same fervour it did emerge again, and what was the end result? The truth spread everywhere and just like in the words of the True Guru:
ਕੂੜ ਨਿਖੁਟੇ ਨਾਨਕਾ ਓੜਕਿ ਸਚਿ ਰਹੀ।
Falsehood will come to an end, O Nanak, and Truth will prevail in the end. (Ang 953)
In the same way it seems that this question exists, on which we are to discuss. After so many attempts that have been met with disappointment, the mere fact that it keeps lingering in someone’s consciousness proves that there is truth that has been concealed and it deserves to be hailed in the end once discovered. Even though time, tradition and the majority of the Sikh sangat are against it, they are nothing to stop the course of the truth. It shall uproot the existence of both time and tradition and the congregations shall fall back onto the rightful path by themselves. Come dear reader, let us at least attempt in manifesting this truth and witness where it shall take us.