AMRITSAR: In a historic judgment delivered by Professor Manjit Singh, Jatheder of Sri Akal Takhit, the highest spiritual and temporal authority/ seat of Sikhs, Pashaura Singh was declared guilty of five charges of blasphemy. Pashaura Singh had made a number of baseless observations in is Ph, D, thesis, “The Text and Meaning of the Adi Granth,” submitted to the University of Toronto in 1991. ‘The unanimous verdict followed a detailed hearing of Pashaura Singh’s case in an 8 hour non-stop session of the Five High Priests presided over by Prof, Manjit Singh at the Akal Takht Sahib on June 25, 1994.

The judgment says that Pashaura Singh had attacked the authenticity of Si Guru Granth Sahib, which had deeply hurt the sentiments ‘of the Panth, He had also leveled baseless charges against the Fourth and the Filth Masters, saying that they had made allocations in the Mul Mantra as well as linguistic and theological changes in the bani of Guru Nanak.

The tankhah (religious punishment) awarded to Pashaura Singh for the offences committed by him, includes dusting of shoes of the sangat, washing of the parkarma of Sri Harmandir Sahib, besides listening to Kirtan and reciting of Japuji Sahib, over a period of five weeks. At the completion of this penance he has been directed to appear before the sangat at the local gurdwara in Michigan, where he resides, and request the granthi to pray for his forgiveness. It may. ‘Still be necessary for him to finally appear before the Akal Takhit for forgiveness as is the normal procedure in such matters.

It may be recalled that Pashaura Singh’s thesis had attracted sharp criticism from scholars, and incurred indignation and condemnation of the masses for its blasphemous formulations. SGPC, the highest elected religious body of the Sikhs, took cognizance of the offence, and after a thorough scrutiny by two Expert Committees of scholars, referred the matter to Sri Akal Takht Sahib for appropriate action.

The judgment which is reproduced, also directs Pashaura Singh not to publish his thesis in the present form. During the hearing Pashaura Singh submitted a confessional statement in which he pleaded guilty to all charges, and undertook to revise his thesis as well as his previous publications in the light of the findings of the present inquiry.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 22, 1994