A review essay by: Amritjit Singh, Professor of English, Rhode Island College

Studying the Sikhs; Issues for North America is a collection of eight essays based on a spring 1989 Conference sponsored jointly by Columbia University’s Southern Asia Institute and the Sikh Cultural Society of Richmond Hill, New York. It is thus the result of the kind of happy collaboration between the community and the academy which is desperately needed 10 give Sikh Studies an Opportunity to develop its best potential in North America. Such continuing cooperation can also help the dialogue between the believer and the scholar to move beyond its current level of recrimination, the contributors include Gurinder Singh Mann, J.S. Grewal, Joseph T. O’Connell, Arthur W, Helweg, N. Gerald Barrier, Mark Jurgensmeyer, and W.H. McLeod.

As the title suggests, the primary goal of the book is to serve as an introduction to the major topics and problems of Sikh Studies in North American Universities, So, along with a source book such as McLeod’s Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism (1984; reprinted, 1990), the book should serve well the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students. But since most of the essays are written in a very readable style, the book will also be found useful by general readers, Besides the eight essays, there is a most useful 26page bibliography of English language materials on Sikh history and religion, Punjabi language and literature, Also appended for the uninitiated reader is an eight page Glossary of Punjabi Terms. Scores of reference 10 World Sikh News throughout the book indicate the need to acknowledge the newspaper as an important new resource for news and views on Sikh issues. This handsome volume, carefully edited by Hawley and Mann, is sure to raise the level of debate and serve as a rich compendium on major issues of Sikh religion and identity for years to some. One has reason to expect a great deal in the future from both editors, Mann, trained in English language and literature in both India and the UK and in religion and South Asian Studies at Harvard and Columbia, is already known widely as a soft spoken but tough minded scholar, a spirited teacher and supportive mentor. And with this volume, Hawley, a major scholar on South Asian religions, establishes a closer link with Sikh Studies.

All the contributors are characterized by their admiration for the rich simplicity of Sikhism and their infectious love of learning, They disagree among themselves without being disagreeable, but in presenting their points of view, each one of them reflects a commitment to the highest standards and methods of inquiry in the West. O’Connell offers a survey of Sikh Studies in North America and hopes many more colleges will initiate courses in the field, even as Toronto, Berkeley, British Columbia, Columbia, and Michigan consolidate their modest programs with generous support from Sikh communities, He welcomes the establishment of a proposed Sikh Studies Center in Los Angeles; he hopes the Center would complement and not compete with Sikh Studies programs within the academy. One of Mann’s two essays in the volume explores the Sikh educational heritage and expresses the confidence that Sikhs in North America will become “creatively involved” in supporting Sikh Studies programs, “in harmony with their vigorous tradition of sup porting education” (109), 1 was pleased, for instance, to learn that in 1904, under the leadership of Maharaja Hira Singh, Sikhs had collected more than 15 million rupees (equivalent to millions of dollars today) for Khalsa College, Amritsar, within a matter of months in addition to Rs.300,000 for a building fund. Sikhs can undoubtedly do this again, once they put all their energy behind one cause. And in my view, for North American Sikhs, no cause is more important than education, While we have done a tremendous job in building a large number of gurdwaras, most of us know that gurdwaras and langars alone will not save our children from becoming “coconuts, brown on the Outside but white on the inside,” (This memorable phrase, remains cent of the “oreo cookie” concept among African Americans was used by a Sikh parent at the 1987 Berkeley conference and is quoted on page 77 by Helweg.)

No wonder, then, that a recurrent theme in the volume is the need to clarify the many confusions regarding Sikh identity and evolution among the Sikhs themselves, the non-Sikh South Asians, and Other interested observers. In subtle and persuasive ways, these contributors make us aware of the complexity of these issues and the need for carefully orchestrated historical perspectives. For ex ample, Mann’s second essay about his Columbia University course on the Sikh tradition brings new and sharp perspective on these issues of evolution and identity (a Subject on which I find Women Cole’s 1984 book Sikhism and its Indian Context, 14691708 quite enlightening.) As Mann’s Sikh Students realized through open and frank discussions in his classroom, analytical and historical views of Sikhism do not “challenge the Sikh belief that the revelation to Guru Nanak was divine,” because even “divine revelations have to be received in the context of specific cultures” (157). Mann’s non Sikh students had a hard time accepting his bold view that Sikhism’s parallels with Islam were at least as Significant as its historical links with Hinduism. This difficulty of young Americans is probably complicated by the continuing assertions of many friendly Indian adults that there is no essential difference between Sikhism and Hinduism, Most contributors to this volume recognize Sikhism as 4 religious tradition in: its own right. They also acknowledge the events of 1984 to represent a historical watershed in the Sikh consciousness and in Western knowledge about Sikhism the Sikhs today are reexamining their history and learning to look upon themselves in new ways.

In recent years, Sikhs have become sensitive to the way sin which Muslims in India have been “demonized” and how Sikhs appear in the past to have been drawn into this unfortunate process. Many Sikhs are coming to new terns with their Gurus’ teaching that injustice against any human being(s) is unacceptable. Caste and religion in India, like race in America, are ultimately devices for maintaining inequality and exploitation. While the ten mite of caste has not yet been wiped out from the Sikh consciousness and whereas the actual position of women among the Sikhs is far from the ideal the Gurus upheld for us, Sikh theology and thought are deeply imbued with notions that undercut racism, sexism, and casteism. In acknowledging the uniqueness of the Sikh tradition, most contributors to this volume reject the syncretic view by which Sikhism was seen, by Khushwant Singh and a few others, as an eclectic mediation between Islam and Hinduism. (Many dictionaries still use this obsolete definition of Sikhism, and I hope some energetic young Sikh will wage a campaign to have these definitions re written by scholars such as Mann.)

Mann has managed to clarify some basic tenets of the Sikh faith by focusing boldly on a few Semitic parallels. Mann feels that these parallels have not been internalized by most Sikhs because of several historical reasons + most early Sikhs were drawn from the Hindu community and have remained socially close to Hindus; Sikhs have often seen the Muslims as “enemy” because of their “18th century confrontation” (143) over issues of religious freedom, a confrontation that Mann’ s students found useful for comparison with the current Punjab situation; the Sikhs were influenced by the attempts of the Udas is and the Nirmalas to “vedanticize” Sikhism; the hostility between Sikhsand Muslims was reinforced again by their unfortunate involvement in the bloodbath that accompanied the migration of 12 million Punjabis during India’s partition in 1947, According to Mann, “the distinct Sikh concern with the writ ten word aligns it more with Islam than with most Hindu communities” (144). For Mann, while the institution of the Khalsa may appear “sinister” if viewed in purely Hindu terms, “it makes: perfect sense if one takes a more Semitic view of the role of religion, as in Islam and Christianity, where the sword was used for both the de fence of faith and its propagation” (147). But is not the Khalsa in separable from the concept of sant sipahi (saint soldier)? And aren’t there serious risks in pushing the Islamic parallels 190 far? For ex ample, does not the Semitic notion of “blasphemy,” as used by some individuals in current debates, militate against the Gurus’ propagation of the living word and a lived faith?

There is so much in this volume one could cite or gloss or reflect upon. Each essay deserves more than one reading. None of us is likely to agree with all the perspectives gathered in these essays. But genuine scholarship never seeks endorsement; its goal is to inform and enlighten us; to challenge some of our assumptions; and maybe to provoke us into civilized debate or, better still, our own research which will modify or even reject the approaches and conclusions of other scholars. As Mann reminds us, disturbing as the views of some scholars might be for Sikh believers, “if other traditions have survived the on slaught of critical scholarship for more than a hundred years and are reasserting themselves effectively, the Sikhs have very little to be worried about” (108).

In praying for the emergence of strong Sikh men and women who do not see “danger to the Panth” in every tum Of phrase (or street), I would like to end this review by referring the readers 10 the wonderful portrait that Helweg has provided in this volume of one Sikh immigrant community in Gravesend, UK. In 20 years, this small community had transformed itself ethnically, economically and politically by rising in chardi kala to meet the tough challenges of British life. In the early 1950s, almost all Sikhs in Gravesend were factory workers. By 1980, the Sikhs had come to own scores of small and big businesses and the “Sikh economy of Gravesend had shifted from one that was dependent on the wider society to a generative economy in which Sikhs were creating jobs and capital for both themselves and the wider English community” (70-71). Later in his essay, Helweg stresses the importance of main training culture within immigrant communities without which individuals are likely to become “shift less” and “directionless” in alien surroundings. (86) I do wish the volume had paid more attention to the social, economic, and political challenges faced by Sikh populations in North America. What kind of alliances can the Sikhs form with other South Asian communities who share culture and politics with us? How can we participate more fully in the social and political arenas of North American life without compromising our basic values and identities? What continuities or discontinuities do young Sikhs see between their Sikh beliefs and the values enshrined in the US constitution? How do we respond to the frustration our children feel at our inability to run our gurdwaras smoothly? How can we help young people prepare for future leadership roles as they “bring up” fathers and mothers? How can we effectively address the issues of caste, gender, and power within our community? As new US or Canadian citizens, are we sensitive to the histories of other North American communities, especially Native Americans, African Americans and Latinos? Where are our writers and artists? I cannot possibly suggest any of these: unanswered questions to represent serious criticism of this fine land= mark volume. But l hope some of these scholars (no women among. them, incidentally) and many others will begin to explore these” important issues in the near future. Studying the Sikhs: Issue for North America edited by John S.Hawley and Gurinder Singh Mann. Albany: State University of New York, 1993. vii + 217 pp. Price:$49.50 (hardcover); $16.95 (paperback), Available directly for price plus $3 shipping charges from SUNY Press care of CUP Services, P.O. Box 6525, Ithaca, NY 14851; Ph.(607) 2772211).

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 1, 1993