Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume II Part 29

In other compositions attributed to Nanak greater prominence is given to Maya and to the common Hindu idea that creation is a self-expansion of the deity. Metempsychosis is taught and the divine name is Hari.

This is characteristic of the age, for Nanak was nearly a contemporary of Caitanya and Vallabhacarya. For Kabir, the disciple of Ramananda, the name was Ram.

Nanak was sufficiently conscious of his position as head of a sect to leave a successor as Guru,[669] but there is no indication that at this time the Sikhs differed materially from many other religious bodies who reprobated caste and idolatry. Under the fourth Guru, Ram Das, the beginnings of a change appear. His strong personality collected many wealthy adherents and with their offerings he purchased the tank of Amritsar[670] and built in its midst the celebrated Golden Temple. He appointed his son Arjun as Guru in 1581, just before his death: the succession was made hereditary and henceforth the Gurus became chiefs rather than spiritual teachers. Arjun a.s.sumed some of the insignia of royalty: a town grew up round the sacred tank and became the centre of a community; a tax was collected from all Sikhs and they were subjected to special and often salutary legislation.

Infanticide, for instance, was strictly forbidden. With a view of providing a code and standard Arjun compiled the Granth or Sikh scriptures, for though hymns and prayers composed by Nanak and others were in use there was as yet no authorized collection of them. The example of Mohammedanism no doubt stimulated the desire to possess a sacred book and the veneration of the scriptures increased with time.

The Granth now receives the same kind of respect as the Koran and the first sight of a Sikh temple with a large open volume on a reading-desk cannot fail to recall a mosque.

Arjun's compilation is called the adi-granth, or original book, to distinguish it from the later additions made by Guru Govind. It comprises hymns and prayers by Nanak and the four Gurus who followed him (including Arjun himself), Ramanand, Kabir and others, amounting to thirty-five writers in all. The list is interesting as testifying to the existence of a great body of oral poetry by various authors ranging from Ramanand, who had not separated himself from orthodox Vishnuism, to Arjun, the chief of the Sikh national community. It was evidently felt that all these men had one inspiration coming from one truth and even now unwritten poems of Nanak are current in Bihar. The Granth is written in a special alphabet known as Gurmukhi[671] and contains both prose and poetical pieces in several languages: most are in old western Hindi[672] but some are in Panjabi and Marathi.

But though in compiling a sacred book and in uniting the temporal and spiritual power Arjun was influenced by the spirit of Mohammedanism, this is not the sort of imitation which makes for peace. The combination of Hinduism and Islam resulted in the production of a special type of Hindu peculiarly distasteful to Moslims and not much loved by other Hindus. Much of Arjun's activity took place in the later years of the Emperor Akbar. This most philosophic and tolerant of princes abandoned Mohammedanism after 1579, remitted the special taxes payable by non-Moslims and adopted many Hindu observances.

Towards the end of his life he promulgated a new creed known as the Din-i-ilahi or divine faith. This eclectic and composite religion bears testimony to his vanity as well as to his large sympathies, for it recognized him as the viceregent or even an incarnation of G.o.d. It would appear that the singular little work called the Allopanishad or Allah Upanishad[673] was written in connection with this movement. It purports to be an Upanishad of the Atharva Veda and can hardly be described as other than a forgery. It declares that "the Allah of the prophet Muhammad Akbar[674] is the G.o.d of G.o.ds" and identifies him with Mitra, Varun?a, the sun, moon, water, Indra, etc. Akbar's religion did not long survive his death and never flourished far from the imperial court, but somewhat later (1656) Muhammad Dara Shukoh, the son of Shah Jehan, caused a Persian translation of about fifty Upanishads, known as the Oupnekhat,[675] to be prepared. The general temper of the period was propitious to the growth and immunity of mixed forms of belief, but the warlike and semi-political character of the Sikh community brought trouble on it.

Arjun attracted the unfavourable attention of Akbar's successor, Jehangir,[676] and was cast into prison where he died. The Sikhs took up arms and henceforth regarded themselves as the enemies of the government, but their strength was wasted by internal dissensions. The ninth Guru, Teg-Bahadur, was executed by Aurungzeb. Desire to avenge this martyrdom and the strenuous character of the tenth Guru, Govind Singh (1675-1708), completed the transformation of the Sikhs into a church militant devoted to a holy war.

Though the most aggressive and uncompromising features of Sikhism are due to the innovations of Govind, he was so far from being a theological bigot that he worshipped Durga and was even said to have offered human sacrifices. But the aim of all his ordinances was to make his followers an independent body of fighting men. They were to return the salutation of no Hindu and to put to death every Mohammedan. The community was called Khalsa:[677] within it there was perfect equality: every man was to carry a sword and wear long hair but short trousers. Converts, or recruits, came chiefly from the fighting tribes of the Jats, but in theory admission was free. The initiatory ceremony, which resembled baptism, was performed with sugar and water stirred with a sword, and the neophyte vowed not to worship idols, to bow to none except a Sikh Guru, and never to turn his back on the enemy. To give these inst.i.tutions better religious sanction, Govind composed a supplement to the Granth, called Dasama Padshah ka Granth or book of the tenth prince. It consists of four parts, all in verse, and is said to inculcate war as persistently as Nanak had inculcated meekness and peace. To give his inst.i.tutions greater permanence and prevent future alterations Govind refused to appoint any human successor and bade the Sikhs consider the Granth as their Guru. "Whatsoever ye shall ask of it, it will show you" he said, and in obedience to his command the book is still invested with a kind of personality and known as Granth Sahib.

Govind spent most of his time in wars with Aurungzeb marked by indomitable perseverance rather than success. Towards the end of his life he retired into Malwa and resided at a place called Damdama. The accounts of his latter days are somewhat divergent. According to one story he made his peace with the Mughals and accepted a military command under the successor of Aurungzeb but it is more commonly a.s.serted that he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by a private enemy. Even more troublous were the days of his successor Banda. Since Govind had abolished the Guruship, he could not claim to be more than a temporal chief, but what he lacked in spiritual authority he made amends for in fanaticism. The eight years of his leadership were spent in a war of mutual extermination waged with the Moslims of the Panjab and diversified only by internal dissensions. At last he was captured and the sect was nearly annihilated by the Emperor Farukhsiyar. According to the ordinary account this victory was followed by an orgy of torture and Banda was barbarously executed after witnessing during seven days the torments of his followers and kinsmen. We read with pleasure but incredulity that one division of the Sikhs believe that he escaped and promulgated his peculiar doctrines in Sind. Asiatics do not relish the idea that the chosen of G.o.d can suffer violent death.

The further history of the Sikhs is political rather than religious, and need not detain us here. Despite the efforts of the Mughals to exterminate them, they were favoured by the disturbed state of the country in the early decades of the eighteenth century, for the raids of Afghans and Persians convulsed and paralyzed the empire of Delhi.

The government of the Khalsa pa.s.sed into the hands of a body of fanatics, called Akalis, but the decision of grave matters rested with a council of the whole community which occasionally met at Amritsar.

Every Sikh claimed to have joined the confederacy as an independent soldier, bound to fight under his military leaders but otherwise exempt from control, and ent.i.tled to a share of land. This absolute independence, being unworkable in practice, was modified by the formation of Misals or voluntary a.s.sociations, of which there were at one time twelve. From the middle of the eighteenth century onwards the Sikhs were masters of the Panjab and their great chief Ranjit Singh (1797-1839) succeeded in converting the confederacy into a despotic monarchy. Their power did not last long after his death and the Panjab was conquered by the British in the two wars of 1846 and 1849.

With the loss of political independence, the differences between the Sikhs and other Hindus tended to decrease. This was natural, for nearly all their strictly religious tenets can be paralleled in Hinduism. Guru Govind waged no war against polytheism but wished to found a religious commonwealth equally independent of Hindu castes and Mohammedan sultans. For some time his ordinances were successful in creating a tribe, almost a nation. With the collapse of the Sikh state, the old hatred of Mohammedanism remained, but the Sikhs differed from normal Hindus hardly more than such sects as the Lingayats, and, as happened with decadent Buddhism, the un.o.btrusive pressure of Hindu beliefs and observances tended to obliterate those differences. The Census of India,[678] 1901, enumerated three degrees of Sikhism. The first comprises a few zealots called Akalis who observe all the precepts of Govind. The second cla.s.s are the Guru Govind Sikhs, who observe the Guru's main commands, especially the prohibition to smoke and cut the hair. Lastly, there are a considerable number who profess a respect for the Guru but follow Hindu beliefs and usages wholly or in part. Sikhism indeed reproduces on a small scale the changeableness and complexity of Hinduism, and includes a.s.sociations called Sabha, whose members aim at restoring or maintaining what they consider to be the true faith. In 1901 there was a tendency for Sikhs to give up their peculiarities and describe themselves as ordinary Hindus, but in the next decade a change of sentiment among these waverers caused the Sikh community as registered to increase by thirty-seven per cent. and a period of religious zeal is reported.[679]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 651: It is exemplified by the curious word an-had _limitless_, being the Indian negative prefix added to the arabic word _had_ used in the Sikh Granth and by Caran Das as a name of G.o.d.]

[Footnote 652: See especially G.H. Westcott, _Kabir and the Kabir Panth_, and Macauliffe, _Sikh Religion_, vol. vi. pp. 122-316. Also Wilson, _Essays on the religion of the Hindus_, vol. I. pp. 68-98.

Garcin de Ta.s.sy, _Histoire de la Litterature Hindoue_, II. pp.

120-134. Bhandarkar, _Vaishn?. and Saivism_, pp. 67-73.]

[Footnote 653: The name Kabir seems to me decisive.]

[Footnote 654: Dadu who died about 1603 is said to have been fifth in spiritual descent from Kabir.]

[Footnote 655: From a hymn in which the spiritual life is represented as a ride. Macauliffe, VI. p. 156.]

[Footnote 656: But Hari is sometimes used by Kabir, especially in the hymns incorporated in the Granth, as a name of G.o.d.]

[Footnote 657: Though Kabir writes as a poet rather than as a philosopher he evidently leaned to the doctrine of illusion (_vivartavada_) rather than to the doctrine of manifestation or development (_Parin?amavada_). He regards Maya as something evil, a trick, a thief, a force which leads men captive, but which disappears with the knowledge of G.o.d. "The illusion vanished when I recognized him" (x.x.xIX.).]

[Footnote 658: He even uses the word nirvan?a.]

[Footnote 659: From Kabir's acrostic. Macauliffe, VI. pp. 186 and 188.

It is possible that this is a later composition.]

[Footnote 660: Macauliffe, vi. pp. 230. 209, 202, 197.]

[Footnote 661: Westcott, _l.c._ p. 144, "I am the creator of this world.... I am the seed and the tree ... all are contained in me--I live within all and all live within me" and much to the same effect. Even in the hymns of the adi Granth we find such phrases as "Now thou and I have become one." (Macauliffe, vi. p. 180.)

This identification of Kabir with the deity is interesting as being a modern example of what probably happened in the case of Kr?ishn?a.

Similarly those who collected the hymns which form the sacred books of the Sikhs and Kabirpanthis repeated the process which in earlier ages produced the R?ig Veda.]

[Footnote 662: "The atma mingles with Paramatma, as the rivers flow into the ocean. Only in this way can Paramatma be found. The atma without Sabda is blind and cannot find the path. He who sees atma-Ram is present everywhere. All he sees is like himself. There is nought except Brahma. I am he, I am the true Kabir." Westcott, p. 168.]

[Footnote 663: The Census of 1901 gives 843,171 but there is reason to think the real numbers are larger.]

[Footnote 664: Consecrated by washing in it wooden sandals supposed to represent the feet of Kabir. It is stated that they believe they eat the body of Kabir at their sacred meal which perhaps points to Christian influence. See Russell, _l.c._ pp. 239-240.]

[Footnote 665: See Russell, _Tribes and Castes of Central Provinces_, p. 217, where it is said that some of them are householders.]

[Footnote 666: See especially Macauliffe, _The Sikh Religion_, six volumes.]

[Footnote 667: Macauliffe, I. p. 82.]

[Footnote 668: The original is Karta purukh (=purusha), the creative male. This phrase shows how Hindu habits of thought clung to Nanak.]

[Footnote 669: The Guru of the Sikhs are: (_a_) Nanak, 1469-1538, (_b_) Angada, 1538-1552, (_c_) Amardas, 1552-1575, (_d_) Ramdas, 1575-1581, (_e_) Arjun, 1581-1606, (_f_) Har-Govind, 1606-1639, (_g_) Har-Rai, 1639-1663, (_h_) Har-Kisan, 1663-1666, (_i_) Teg-Bahadur, 1666-1675, (_j_) Govind Singh, 1675-1708.]

[Footnote 670: Amritasaras the lake of nectar.]

[Footnote 671: It appears to be an arbitrary adaptation of the Deva-nagari characters. The shape of the letters is mostly the same but new values are a.s.signed to them.]

[Footnote 672: This is the description of the dialect given by Grierson, the highest authority in such matters.]

[Footnote 673: See Rajendrala Mitra's article in _J.A.S.B._ XL. 1871, pp. 170-176, which gives the Sanskrit text of the Upanishad. Also Schrader, _Catalogue of Adyar Library_, 1908, pp. 136-7. Schrader states that in the north of India the Allopanishad is recited by Brahmans at the Vasantotsava and on other occasions: also that in southern India it is generally believed that Moslims are skilled in the Atharva Veda.]

[Footnote 674: _I.e._, not the Allah of the Koran.]

[Footnote 675: This Persian translation was rendered word for word into very strange Latin by Anquetil Duperron (1801-2) and this Latin version was used by Schopenhauer.]

[Footnote 676: He is said to have prayed for the success of the Emperor's rebellious son.]

[Footnote 677: This Arabic word is interpreted in this context as meaning the special portion (of G.o.d).]

[Footnote 678: _Census of India_, 1901, Panjab report, p. 122.]

[Footnote 679: _Provincial Geographies of India_, Panjab, Douie, 1916, p. 117.]

CHAPTER x.x.xII

SaKTISM[680]

Among the princ.i.p.al subdivisions of Hinduism must be reckoned the remarkable religion known as Saktism, that is the worship of Sakti or Siva's spouse under various names, of which Devi, Durga and Kali are the best known. It differs from most sects in not being due to the creative or reforming energy of any one human founder. It claims to be a revelation from Siva himself, but considered historically it appears to be a compound of Hinduism with un-Aryan beliefs. It acquired great influence both in the courts and among the people of north-eastern India but without producing personalities of much eminence as teachers or writers.