Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues with Sikh Militants

2. The Fragrance of Jasmine

2 THE FRAGRANCE OF JASMINE N THIS CHAPTER I look at the basic history and doctrines of the Sikh Faith, as seen through the eyes of the orthodox. Their vision of Sikhism and their understanding ofwhat it means to be a Sikh is somewhat at odds with the perspective of Western academia , which is at the moment a source of considerable controversy . This controversy, and what it can tell us about the value of "inside" and "outside" scholarship, is considered further in Chapter 10. Here, the aim is to get a feel for what the pious Sikh understands of his or her faith that serves as motivation, justification , or explanation for current political actions. FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, wasborn in c.E. 1469 in what is now Pakistani Punjab. His birthplace, called Nankana Sahib, attracts thousands of pilgrims everyyear from all over the world (though the closed border between India, where most Sikhs live, and Pakistan, its sometime enemy, makes this pilgrimage problematic for many). Guru Nanak was probably influenced by both of the major faiths of his time and place, Hinduism and Islam, though Sikhs are upset when scholars emphasize these historical influences over the revealed quality of Guru Nanak's pronouncements.1 It iscertainly clear that the first Guru rejected much of both Hinduism and Islam, at least in terms of how they were practiced. One of the verses in the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, narrates Guru Nanak's rejection of the Brahmin habit of wearing a sacred thread over the shoulder. In this verse Guru Nanak heaps scorn on those who believe that one can use a thread to reach spiritual truth: i Though people commit countless thefts, countless adulteries, utter countless falsehoods and countless words of abuse, Though they commit countless robberies and villainies night and day against theirfellow creatures; Yet the cotton thread is spun, and the Brahmin comes to twist it. Guru Nanak then proposes, characteristically, a thread not of cotton but of truth: Out of the cotton of compassion Spin the thread of contentment Tie knots of continence, Give it the twist of truth. That would make a garland for the soul. . . Such a thread once worn will never break Nor get soiled, burnt or lost, The person who wears a thread like this is blessed. Not only did Guru Nanak reject what he sawas the empty ritualism of the Hindu tradition, but he also famously renounced its most characteristic social organization, the caste system.People from all castes became his sikhs or disciples, and they ate together in the community kitchen or langar which today remains characteristicof Sikh life. All the gurudwaras contain these kitchens, which are not only important symbols of egalitarianism but serve a charitable function as well. (After the Rodney King riots in LosAngeles, local Sikhs went out into the streetswith pots of food to help those displaced from their homes.) The most famous gurudwara, the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar (popularly, "the Golden Temple"), also has four doors facing the four directions, to signify welcome to anybody who chooses to enter. Although caste continues to play a role in Sikh society (expressed, for example, in marriage patterns) despite the clear ideology against it, the egalitarian strain in Sikh culture has been noted by observers from British times to the present.2 Islam, the faith of the rulers of the region at the time of Guru Nanak, also rejected caste hierarchy, including its ban on interdining. But Guru Nanak felt that many Muslims, like many Hindus, were going about their worship devoid of the true spiritbehind the prayers. He says in the Guru Granth Sahib: Five prayers you say five times a day, With five different names; But if truth is your first prayer, THE FRAGRANCE OF JASMINE 27 The second to honestly earn your living, The third to give generously in God's name, If purity of mind is yourfourth prayer, And praise of God your fifth; If you practice these five virtues . . . Then you can call yourself a Muslim. Sikhs today typically express a close solidaritywith Muslims, primarily because both minorities in India claim to suffer the same discrimination at the hands of the Indian government, but also because they both share a monotheistic tradition. (The fact that the greatest persecution of the Sikhs occurred at the hands of Mughal rulers, who were Muslim...