A critical evaluation of the Ph.D. Thesis of Pashaura Singh entitled done in the Center for Religious Studies, University of Toronto (Canada), “The Text and Meaning of the Adi Granth” the work under the supervision Professor W.H. McLeod.

By Professor Surinder Singh Kohli

The school of thought founded by Professor W.H. McLcod through his research works like Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion Evolution of the Sikh Community of the Sikh Community, Early Sikh Tradition: A Study of the Janamsakhis, Who is a Sikh? : The Problem of Sikh Identity, The Sikhs: History, Religion and Society, The B40 Janamsakhi, The Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama and carried further by his student and admirers like Harjot Singh, Pashaura Singh, Surjit Hans and others is a conscious effort of reconstruction of Sikh History Religion, Philosophy and Theology from the available Sikh Literature, filling the same with desultory discussions, distortions and misrepresentations, leading towards blasphemy and spreading doubts about well-established historical facts. In the words of Dr-Noel Q. King, Dr. McLeod in his works exhibits lack of respect for truth and historical records.

Pashaura Singh, while working under the supervision of Dr.W.H.McLeod, has produced his Ph.D. Thesis entitled “The Text and Meaning of the Adi Granth.” In his abstract of the Thesis, he has mentioned “Examination of early manuscripts has revealed that Guru Arjan worked over a number of drafts to produce the final text in 1604 CE. He prepared the scripture primarily in response to the process of crystallization of the Sikh tradition that was taking place during his period.” This is the basic argument on which the edifice of whole thesis has been raised. But this edifice falls down at once, when we take into consideration the following verses from the Sikh scripture itself: Whatever Bani of the Lord I receive, I pass on the knowledge contained in it ,O Lalo! (Tilang M.1,p.722); Through the True Bani (utterance), one enters the Abode of the Lord. (As a M.3,p.423); The Bani is the Guru and the Guru is the Bani and all the ambrosias dwell in this Bani. (Nat M.4,p.982); This Bani has come from the very outset. (Sorath M.5,p.628).

The above quotations imply the revelatory character of the verses of the Adi Granth. The Scripture is a revelation from God to man, therefore it is blasphemous to suggest or say that Guru Arjan Dev worked over a number of drafts to produce the final text of the Scripture, when he himself says “I speak on what you make me speak, O Lord-God!” (Sorath M.5,p.623).

The manuscript of the Adi Granth, on which the researcher Pashaura Singh has based his Thesis is the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) Manuscript No.1245, which was purchased in 1987 by the University from Harbhajan Singh Harcharan Singh Chawla, the Manuscript dealers of Bazar Mal Sewan, Amritsar. The writer of this article, when he was the Professor and Head of the Department of Punjabi, Punjab University, Chandigarh, during his tenure, from 1962 to 1979, made purchases of several manuscripts from the same dealers which also included one manuscript of the Adi Granth and one manuscript of the Dasam Granth, Pashaura Singh has not visited the Punjab University Library, which is a treasury of many valuable manuscripts. The manuscripts of the Adi Granth before the advent of the Printing Press, had been continuously scribed and copied in large numbers, not only in the Sikh religious centers far and wide in India, but also in various places abroad, where the Sikh settlers, traders and missionaries (Udasis or priests) had gone to stay with their families. There was a great demand for them from individuals, Gurdwaras and Dharmashala, as the Sikh movement grew and the adherents increased. Hundreds and thousands of such manuscripts were destroyed during sacrileges and attacks by the inimical forces. Many old manuscripts were consigned to river waters. But still hundreds of such manuscripts are preserved in Sikh shrines, Gurdwaras and Libraries. There are dealers, who trace them out from various places and old prestigious families and sell them to the institutions of learning and research, There are still several scholars and old houses, in whose personal libraries, there are many valuable collections of manuscripts. The writer of this article has also got a valuable collection of manuscripts in his personal library. Sardar G.B. Singh, the author of “Sri Guru Granth Sahib dian Prachin Biran” in Punjabi, did preliminary research on some selective manuscripts of the Adi Granth, lying scattered in India and abroad Pashaura Singh, seems to have consulted about two and a half dozen manuscripts in India and about one and a half dozen in the United Kingdom. Out of these manuscripts, he has selected one manuscript of Guru Nanak Dev University No. 1245 as the basis of his research, claiming that itis one of the drafts on which Guru Arjan Dev worked in order to produce the final text of the Adi Granth, (a) The above-mentioned manuscript is undated, therefore in order to justify and prove that it was prepared earlier than the famous Kartarpur manuscript, the researcher has mentioned two criteria of textual criticism that ‘the shorter reading is to be preferred to the longer one’ and the more difficult reading is generally preferable,” but no logical and satisfactory proof of its earlier preparation is provided,

(b) It is very childish of the researcher to think that the long eulogistic description of Guru Amar Das’s death indicates that the scribe was possibly Bhai Gurdas, who may have further improved his handwriting by the time he wrote the final draft of the Adi Granth. In this manuscript, a short hymn of four verses is believed to have been written by Bhai Buddha. In its last verse, this hymn contains the name “Nanak” in it, which was only used by the Gurus in their bani or the Minas like Meharvan used it in their verses. How could a true Sikh like Bhai (or Baba) Buddha think of composing a verse in the name of his Guru? Bhai Buddha never wrote any poetry according to the Sikh historical records. According to the introductory note written in the beginning of the manuscript there is a benedictory autograph written in Guru Hargobind’s blessed hand. The researcher himself says that this note is incorrect. He found on examination that a different piece of paper, containing the Mul Mantar written in Guru Teg Bahadur’s hand, was pasted. Then how could he conclude that the said manuscript was one of the drafts, on which Guru Arjan Dev seems to work?

(c) In this manuscript, the researcher has seen blank spaces for insertion of shaloks, difference in raga sequence, some marginal notes, incomplete panegyrics by the bards, different titles in the epilogue and the usage of Gurmukhi script, which is still in the process of development. Such like peculiarities can be noticed elsewhere also, because of the changing mood, whim or disposition and handwriting of the scribe or the copyist. The researcher does not find in the manuscript the Bhagat Bani. He believes that Guru Arjan’s primary concern was to fix the hymns of the Gurus first. This is far from truth, because the. Guru was compiling the bani of both the Gurus and the Bhagats at the same time. It is ludicrous to think that the bani of the Bhagats was included anticipating the attraction of the followers of the Bhagats in the Sikh fold. None would accept the blasphemous statement of the researcher that Guru Arjan Dev, who received the bani intuitively from the Lord, modified his own hymns in a number of places. Why has the researcher not visualized the consequences of denigrating the revelatory character of the scripture and indulging in blasphemy by specifying such a manuscript as the basis of his research, which is undated, unauthentic and without any historical significance?

In his Textual Analysis, the researcher has given the first place to the consideration of Mul Mantar (The Primary Sacred Formula), which is given in the very beginning of the Adi Granth, after which the bani entitled JAPU begins. It is also a part of Japu, and is recited daily by the Sikhs as such. It occurs many times in the body of the Scripture in its complete form as well as in other abbreviated forms at the beginning of various sections and sub-sections of the Scripture. In his analysis, the researcher has referred to its different text, which occurs in volume I of the Goindwal Pothi. The researcher believes that this was the form that was current during the period of Guru Amar Das. In this text the words Satgur Prasad are given instead of Gur Prasad, Sach Nam instead of Satnam, Kartar instead of Karta Purkh, Nirikar instead of Nirvair and Sambhau instead of Saibhang. Satgur Prasad occurs after Ik-Aumkar and with the word Sambhau the Mul Mantar ends. The volume, which the researcher has referred does not contain the bani Japu, therefore we cannot be sure whether the same form or Mul Mantar has been used there. Many a time, the scribes and copyists have stumbled and wrote according to their discretion. We have to see how the master scribe like Bhai Gurdas has written the same, or how Guru Arjan Dev has recorded the same. In the Kartarpur manuscript, Bhai Gurdas has written the form of Mul Mantar, recorded in his own hand by Guru Arjan Dev as confirmed by the researcher himself. There is, of course, no writing available in the hand of Guru Nanak Dev, therefore the original Mul Manwa is the same, which has been recorded by Guru Arjan Dev in his own hand or scribed by Bhai Gurdas, The researcher, in his zeal for bringing forth something new, tries to prove that the earlier draft of Mul Mantar in the Goindwal Pothi changed to the following form of Mul Mantar: Tk- Aumkar Satnam Karta Purkh Nirbhau Nirvair Ajuni Saibhang Satguru Parsad.

In the Guru Nanak Dev University manuscript No.1245, the only being of Satguru Parsad instead of Gur Prasad. But according to the researcher during the development of Mul Mantar, Guru Ram Das changed the word Nirikar to Nirvair, which reflects his firm resolve to counteract the situation of hostility in real life, created by the animosity of his rivals, with the spirit of love and friendliness. Guru Arjan Dev replaced Satguru Parsad with Gur Prasad to provide a more coherent structure to the text of the Mul Mantar. He also added the word Purkh changing the word Kartar to Karta, because by his time the personal (Purkh) aspect of the Supreme being acquired prominence as compared with Guru Nanak’s emphasis on the formless (Nirankar) nature of Ultimate Reality, According to the researcher “This may provide an adequate explanation of the subsequent development that took place in Sikh doctrine as well as within the Panth since the days of Guru Nanak. This will however challenge the traditional understanding of the Mul Mantar as being created in its present form by Guru Nanak himself.” This challenge of the researcher regarding the traditional understanding of the Mul Mantar, is in fact, a challenge to the whole Panth. It is the height of Blasphemy. Generally, the mantra occurs in two forms. One form is the regular prayer in words, which is called Mul Mantar. The other form of the mantra is the combination of syllables. It is called Bija-mantra, which is Wahi-Guru in Sikhism, It may also be IkAumkar. Mul Mantar is prepared only by the founder of the faith, In the case of Sikhism, it was undoubtedly prepared by Guru Nanak himself. None can change any word or letters of Mul Mantra. It was Guru Nanak himself, who used the words Mul Manu in his verses. He says “Mul Mantra is the source of ambrosia, tasting which, one realizes the Perfect Lord.” Thus Mul Mantra is the Name of the Lord, whose recitation leads one towards Ultimate Reality. It is thus sacrilegious to say that the components of the Mul Mantar were prepared at different times to suit the worldly situations or religious developments, The researcher has tried   directly from the works of Guru Nanak, the origin of the major components of the earlier form of the Mul Mantas, as though the founder Guru was not the author of the Primary Sacred Formula. Does the researcher not know that the attributes of the Lord mentioned by Guru Nanak in the Mul Mantar, when practiced by the disciple (Sikh) make him God like. Whereas the Lord is Nirbhau (fearless), the disciple becomes fearless. “He becomes fearless, in whose heart abodes the Lord” (Manu M.1,p.1042). Similarly the Lord is Nirvair and according to Guru Nanak Dev, this disciple destroys all ‘Vair Virodh’ (enmity). How could then the researcher think that Guru Ram Das introduced the word Nirvair in Mul Mantar, because of his personal reason. The researcher does not seem to have hold on the religious philosophy of the Sikh Scripture. He thinks that for Guru Nanak the word Nirankar is of utmost importance. The Sikh Gurus believed in both the aspects of the Lord i.e. Nirguna (Transcendent) and Saguna (Immanent), Guru Nanak Dev said, “Nirgun to Sargun thia” (Ramkali M.1, Siddh Goshta, p.940). Guru Arjan Dev said, “Nirgun aap Sargun bhi Ohi” (Gauri Sukhma M.5,p.387). Did Guru Nanak Dev not say that the Lord has no eyes, no form etc. (Nirguna aspect) and He has thousands of eyes, forms etc., (Saguna aspect)? (Dhanasari M.1,Aamti,p.13) Then what special importance has been given to the Nirguna aspect by using the word Nirankar? Undoubtedly, the Guru pays his obeisance to the Lord, who is above May a, but this world is the abode of the omnipresent Lord, therefore, it has significance for him. The researcher says further that Guru Arjan Dev introduced the word Purkh in Mul Mantar, because with him, the personal (Purkh) aspect of the Lord acquired prominence as compared with Guru Nanak’s emphasis on the formless nature of Ultimate Reality, The researcher seems to be ignorant of the philosophical term Purusha, from which the word Purkh has been formed in Sant Bhasha (the saint-language). According to Sankhya Shastra, after Prakriti, the other co-eternal reality is Purusha, it is pure consciousness eternal, changeless out pas Purusha or Lord-God.

After Mul Maniar, the researchers have taken up the textual analysis of JAPU and some other hymns. According to him, the Guru Nanak Dev University manuscript No,1245 provided an earlier version of Japu before its standardization. Here also has tried to prove that Guru Arjan refined the language of certain passages and polished the meter. While writing about the concluding shaloka of Japu, he says that traditionally this Shaloka is understood to be Guru Nanak’s own composition, but there are scholars who regard Gur Angad as the real author. Along with this, he has made a very obnoxious suggestion “Guru Nanak may have initiated his successor Bhai Lehna into the poetic skill of verse composition in the literary form of a shalok, and the training may have been a part of his designation to the office of guru ship. The two Gurus may have worked together on the teat of the epilogue of the Japji and accordingly both may be regarded as its joint authors.”

The researcher has willfully indulged in an irreligious exercise and act of blasphemy, knowing full well as a Sikh the sentiments and beliefs of his own people. He has been given a wrong advice in selecting an undated manuscript, which is unauthentic and has no focus standi. Many of his statements about the Gurus and their works are ill-conceived and ill considered. They are illogical assumptions. A great disservice has been done through this research. The Sikh religious institutions should take a note of such blasphemous works, which try to demolish the spiritual foundation of their faith.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 16, 1992