THESES SIS/LIBRARY TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2 FACSIMILE: +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL: [email protected] CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA USE OF THESES This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be copied or closely paraphrased without the written consent of the author. A World Reconstructed: Religion, Ritual And Community Among the Sikhs, 1850-1909. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Harjot S. Oberoi The Australian National University, Canberra March, 1987 This thesis is the result of my own research carried out while enrolled as a Ph.D candidate at the Australian National University, Canberra, December, 1982 to March, 1987. t) . ~ . c:i!:i.Ji~- Abstract The pluralistic paradigm of the Sikh faith for much of the nineteenth century allowed its adherents to belong to any one of the following traditions: U dasi, Nirmala, Suthresashi, Khalsa, Sangatsaihbie, Jitmalie, Bakhtatmlie, Mihansahie, Sahajdhari, Kuka and Sarvaria. Many of these Sikhs shaved their heads, freely smoked tobacco and hashish and were not particular about maintaing the five external symbols of the faith. In the absence of a centralized church and an attendant religious hierarchy, heterogeneity in religious beliefs, plurality of rituals, and diversity of life styles, were freely acknowledged. A pilgrimage to the Golden Temple could be supplemented with similar undertakings to the Ganges at Hardwar or the shrine of a Muslim saint. Attending seasonal festivals at Benares or Hardwar was in no way considered a transgression of prevailing Sikh doctrines, whatever teleological studies may like to assert today. Contemporary vehicles of knowledge - myths, texts, narratives, folklore and plays produced by non-Sikh authors - were accorded a firm place within the Sikh cosmology. Far from there being a 'single' Sikh identity, most Sikhs moved in and out of multiple identities, defining themselves at one moment as residents of this village, at another as members of that cult, at one moment as part of this lineage, at another as part of that caste, . and at yet another moment as belonging to a 'sect'. The boundaries between what could be seen as the centre of the Sikh tradition and its periphery were highly blurred and several competing definitions of what constituted a 'Sikh' were possible. By the closing decades of the nineteenth century, successive waves of Sikh reform movements like the Singh Sabha, its inheritor the Chief Khalsa Diwan, and the Akali combatants in the 1920s, had succeeded in purging the house of Sikhism of most of the older conventions and practices. In a Nietzschean vein they established a new vision of what it meant to be a Sikh: one who fully subscribed to the five K's; visited only what were exclusively Sikh shrines, considered Punjabi as the sacred language of the Sikhs, conducted his rites de passage according to the prescribed rituals, and abjured prohibited foods. A new cultural elite aggressively usurped the right to represent others within the comunity. Their ethnocentric logic subsumed other identities and dissolved alternate ideals like ascetisism, under a monolithic, codified and closed culture. It gained currency because its dominant characteristics represented an unchanging idiom in a period of flux and change. Henceforth, Sikhs would be required to conceive and speak through one language, that of the cultural elites. Those who deviated or refused to mould themselves according to the standards of this great tradition, were gradually displaced and consigned to the margins of the community. After considerable resistance, these marginalised groups fmally turned their backs on Sikhism and went their own way. The older Sanatanist paradigm of Sikhism was displaced for ever and replaced by what came to be known as the Tat Khalsa. In between the two cultures of the Sanatan Sikhs and the Tat Khalsa were the Kuka Sikhs. The image-breaking, cow-protecting and purity-obsessed Kukas exemplified many axioms of Sanatan Sikhism ( e.g. veneration of the cow), but simultaneously gave a foretaste of what was to follow ( e.g. rejection of idol worship). This thesis is a study of this transitional process: of how one paradigm or vision of the world was replaced by another. In studying this transition this work also raises fundamental issues in the analysis of culture and religion in South Asia: what influences self-perceptions, who defines them and how they gain ground. The theoretical concerns of this thesis are influenced by the intersection of anthropology and history. v Contents Page Abstract iii List of Tables and Figures Vll Acknowledgements Vlll Note on Transliteration X Introduction 1 Chapter One Sikhs of the Punjab: The Punjab of the Sikhs 19 Social Stratification within the Sikh Panth 23 Brotherhood 38 Conclusion 47 Chapter Two Customary Culture in the Punjab and the Sikhs 49 Nature Worship, Village Sacred Spots, Goddesses and Popular Saints 51 Witchcraft, Sorcery and Magical Healing 61 Omens, 'Superstitions' And Quality of Time 67 Astrology, Divination and Prophecies 70 Calendrical Festivals, Rituals and Fairs 79 Conclusion 86 Chapter Three The Kuka Sikhs: Brotherhood of Pure 93 In Pursuit of Holiness 97 In Defence of Holiness 113 The Defenders 127 Conclusion 140 Chapter Four Transmission of Traditions: The Foundation of Sri Guru Singh Sabha 142 Decline in Sikhism? 142 Who defmed the Sikh Religion 147 The Foundation of the Amritsar Singh Sabha 161 Sanatan Sikhism 176 Conclusion 184 Chapter Five The Interpretative Process: The Expansion of The Singh Sabha 185 The Making of the New Elites and the 'Dialogic' Narration 186 VI Reconstituting Elite Sub-Culture: The Boom in the Sabhas 201 Conclusion 217 Chapter Six A New Social Imagination: The Making of the Tat Khalsa 218 Sikhizing the Sikhs 219 The Struggle Over the Appropriation of the Body And Rites de Passage 237 Symbolic Reformulation: Turning Innovations into Traditions 250 The Social Locus of Imagination 255 Conclusion 277 Chapter Seven Resistance and Counter Resistance 278 Sanatan Sikhism Versus the Tat Khalsa 279 Resistance by the Non-Elite 290 The Tat Khalsa Consciousness: From Institutions to Everyday Life 294 Conclusion 306 Conclusions 308 Appendix 315 Glossary 319 Bibliography 323 VII List of Tables and Figures Page 1. The Local Calendar and Agrarian Work. 52 2. Kuka Distribution in the Punjab 132 3. A Select List of Religious 'Sects' Returned by the People of the Punjab and Included Under the Category Hindu 145 4. Guru Lineages in the Nineteenth Century 151 5. Number of Gunnukhi Schools and Pupils in these Schools 160 6. Number of Government Schools and Students Enrolled, 1855-60 192 7. Cumulative Total of Books 1875-80 199 8. Ritual Fees Received in Cash by a Nai 261 9. Sikh Professionals in 1900 267 10. Tat Khalsa Cultural, Religious and Economic Associations, 1868-1908 302 VIII Acknowledgements This study examines the relationship of consciousness, experience and human practice in nineteenth century north India. It endeavours to do so by examining how the notion of a homogeneous religious community emerged among the Sikhs and how at the level of everyday life it was put into practice. My concern is not merely with the relationship between a religious community and society but also the semiotic and affective processes through which ethnic identity gets formulated. Although I embarked on this study long before the subject of the Sikhs and their ethnonationalism became topical, I hope it will throw some light on their present predicaments and politics. I owe many thanks to many people and institutions that helped me in researching and writing this thesis. My deepest appreciation and gratitude go to my supervisor Dr. J. T.F. Jordens, who despite the heavy demands on his time, generously shared his thoughts and observations on Indian religions with me. I was extremely fortunate in having Professor Hew McLeod agreeing to be my additional supervisor. His countless letters from Otago and Toronto in response to my drafts have been a constant source of encouragement and words alone cannot express my indebtedness to him. Dr. Miles my adviser never failed me when it came to integrating history and social anthropology. I am grateful to the staff of the Menzies and Chiefley Libraries; Australian National University, the British Museum, the India Office Library and Records, the SOAS Library, the Dr. Balbir Singh Library, the Punjabi University Library, the National Archives of India, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and the Punjab State Archives for their kind help. Mr. Ajit Ray of the Menzies library made my task particularly easy by tracking and acquiring rare Gurmukhi tracts and books. Countless people in India have contributed to this thesis. My interest in social history was originally provoked and then kindly sustained by my teachers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, particularly Professors Bipan Chandra, Sarvepalli Gopal, Romila Thapar, K.N.Pannikar and Satish Saberwal. I hope this work reflects what I learnt from them. I also wish to thank Professor Harbans Singh and Dr. Amrik Singh, both of whom in very memorable evening walks, always encouraged me to take up this project and what is more IX to finish it To all those who suffered through the reading of this thesis, in one form or another, I am most appreciative. I am particularly grateful to lvlichael Jackson, James C. Scott and Gaillvlinault. Their criticisms and suggestions have improved the fmal version of this work enormously. I remain responsible for its shortcomings. Finally, I wish to express my special appreciation to Susana B.C. Devalle who read this thesis many times from begining to end, and gave valuable criticisms and suggestions. If this work is not theoretical enough, it is not because of lack of trying on her part.