History to a nation, according to Thomas Sowell, is same as memory to an individual. Experiences of life get registered in one"s mind as memories and they, in turn, mould the personality of an individual. Similarly, various happenings in the history of a nation mould the culture of a nation.

If, as a hypothetical case, a person loses all his/her memory one evening, on getting up the next morning, he/she will not be the same person. It will be virtually as if the yesterday"s person died and a new person is born the next morning. Similarly, if the history of a nation is lost it will be the death of the nation. Again, if for some reason the memory of a person is subjected to sudden and/or serious disturbances, he/she may become afflicted with maladies like depression, paranoia and schizophrenia. Similarly, the culture of a nation which is inseparably intertwined with its history, may be seriously affected if its history gets distorted. It is therefore of paramount importance for the health and well-being of a nation that special care is taken to keep its history pristine, free from distortions and contamination.

The Sikh nation is only a little over five hundred years old. One would therefore expect its history to be relatively free from any serious distortions. However, a careful study of the Sikh history will show that it is fraught with self-contradictory and illogical episodes. Some of the sakhis narrated by our "ragis" and "parcharaks" in "Gurdwaras" are even against the basic tenets of Sikhism. This seems to have encouraged some contemporary authors who have used these contradictions as a crutch to question even the occurrence of some of the most important events in the Sikh history on which the very foundation of the Sikh nation rests.

It seems that ever since the time of the Gurus efforts have been made to systematically distort the Sikh history. Stories were concocted about the lives of the Gurus that were remotely in corroboration with the values that were being taught by them.

Two main forces have generally been working against the Sikh interests: internal and external. The internal forces comprised schismatic groups like Minas, Dhirmaliyas, Hindalis, etc. The Minas, in particular, were responsible for writing history of Sikh Gurus wherein they mingled stories and episodes that served their own interests. For example, Meharban, the son of Prithi Chand, the elder brother of Guru Arjun Dev, wrote the "Janam Sakhi" of Guru Nanak. In this book he wrote that Guru Nanak was the "Avatar" of Raja Janak, reborn in the age of Kali, and distorted his biography by introducing legends gathered from the "Puranas" and all kinds of miracles borrowed from Hindu mythology. He also composed a poem which he called "Sukhmani" to rival the composition of the same name by Guru Arjun Dev. In this composition he packed the praises of Rama, Krishna, and other Hindu Avatatars. This was one of the main reasons why Guru Arjan Dev compiled the Adi Granth so that the authentic utterances (banis) of the Gurus could be kept free from any contamination and thus save the innocent Sikhs from the cunning impostors. No such efforts, however, seem to have been made to keep the history from being contaminated by these schismatic sects.

The external forces were those of the bigot governments of the time which, more often than not, had been deadly against the Sikhs and were out to annihilate them. They, for political reasons, entered in their records whatever they felt would justify their actions of discrimination and bigotry. Enigmatically, little or no efforts seem to have been made by Sikhs to correct the historical events that were recorded by these unsympathetic sources.

Gradually some of these stories and episodes, because of ignorance or self-interest of the Udasi caretakers of the Gurdwaras at that time, and our own preachers found their way into the congregational services and even today are being narrated by many "ragis" and "parcharaks".

Often the excuse offered for this omission is that after the death of Guru Gobind Singh a period of great turmoil began during which period even the very existence of the Sikh nation was in danger. This period continued until the establishment of the Sikh empire by Maharaja Ranjit Singh towards the end of eighteenth century. However, nothing seems to have been done even during this golden period of Sikhs, probably, due to preoccupation of the Maharaja in consolidation of his empire, or due to the relatively low priority of history on his agenda. Then came the British rule and with it an influx of Christian missionaries who had their own priority of proselytis, and correction of Sikh history was nowhere in their list of priorities. As a matter of fact the appointment of a person like Ernest Trumpp to translate Guru Granth Sahib is a clear proof of their priorities.

After the independence of India a grand scale conspiracy, (which is persisting even today, maybe even with higher intensity) to undermine the Sikhs and the Sikh religion seems to have been hatched by the so called secular leaders who used Sikhs as the sacrificial lambs on the altar of independence. Subtle and sinister methods have been employed to introduce changes in the Sikh history, efforts are being made to create controversies regarding the authenticity of some Sikh scriptures, and differences of opinion and disputes are being created where sincere and dedicated Sikhs feel some corrections are necessary in our history! Many Sikhs, because of their ignorance, gullibility or selfish interests, seem to have acted either as passive observers or accepted whatever has been dictated by our adversaries. As a result, a chaotic situation has developed. Unfortunately, our religious leaders have not only closed their eyes and let this chaos prevail but seem to have disdainfully rejected the efforts of some dedicated and farsighted Sikhs who have raised their voices to warn the nation of the dangers lurking ahead.

Recent publications by some presumptous Western researchers and their (Sikh) students have further worsened the situation by publishing certain psuedo-research papers and/or books. Young Sikhs, specially those born and/or brought up in the Western countries who cannot read or understand books written in Punjabi and whose only source of information regarding the Sikh history and Scriptures are these publications, get a totally distorted picture*2. It is therefore extremely important that we examine our history critically and carefully and incorporate appropriate changes that are conducive to the Sikh teachings and culture.

There is a somewhat erroneous impressioniii that Sikhs are overly fond of history because in their daily prayer (Ardas) glimpses of glorious period of the Sikh history are briefly narrated. However, in the words of Joyce Pettigrewiv, who interviewed many leaders of the Sikh militant movement of the eighties: "all those interviewed show a pride in their history rather than a critical look at it". This is further substantiated by Sardar Kapur Singhv. According to him, "our chroniclers and modern historians said what they saw and heard, but they lacked the skill of critical appraisal, the art of interpreting through relating the past, through the present, with the future, and the result has been a sorry confusion in - and serious damage to - the objectivity and quality of the Sikh history. To restore the Sikh history to its true pedestal and stadium is the real task before Sikh historians today."

A ray of hope has recently become visible when on May 14, 2000, some Sikh leaders held a meeting at Akal Takht. These representative of the "Panth" made some decisions which they adopted in the form of "Gurmattas". Among these "Gurmattas", one relative to the issue at hand was : "A committee of historians dedicated to the Sikh doctrine should be constituted in order to remove confusion created by anti-Panthik forces and the so-called scholars, as a part of conspiracy or out of ignorance and to get the Sikh history rewritten and published in a scientific manner after it is tested on the touch stone of Gurbani3".

It is sincerely hoped that this "Gurmatta" does not get lost in the red tape of the SGPC bureaucracy, or buried under the pressure of political forces bent upon seeing the Sikh nation to follow the path of annihilation of Buddhism and Jainism. That will be a real "Panthik" tragedy.

References

i. W. H. McLeod, "The Sikhs: History, Religion and Society", Columbia University Press, 1989, P.16.

ii. "Sachi Sakhi" By Sardar Kapur Singh, Dharam Parchar Committee, SGPC, 1993.

iii. I. J. Singh, The Uses of History, The Sikh Review, Nov. 1995, P.194.

iv. Joyce J.M. Pettigrew, Sikhs of the Punjab, Zed Book Ltd. 1995. P.194.

v. Fateh Nama and Zafar Nama, by Devinder Singh Duggal, Institute of Sikh Studies, 1980, PP iv-v.

2. Most English books published in India by Sikh researchers are not available in the libraries of Western universities or book stores outside of India.

3. In my forthcoming book entitled "A Fresh Look at Our History" a number of frequently narrated stories and episodes by our "Ragis" and "Parcharaks" have been presented and critically examined in the light of teachings of Guru Granth Sahib and Sikh traditions.