Sunday, July 20, 2003		Books

Studying place of women in Sikhism
Belu J. Maheshwari

Relocating Gender in Sikh History: Transformation, Meaning and Identity
by Doris R Jakobsh. Oxford University Press. Pages 296. Rs 625.

THE place of gender in religion has come in for a lot of academic research and discussion, especially with reference to Sikhism. As Sikhism represents an attempt to break free from the shackles of orthodoxy, caste, class and gender divides, it becomes imperative to examine the social history of Punjab before the advent of Guru Nanak and take cognisance of the changes that his philosophy brought about. The book acquires a special significance in the context of the recent debate on the position of women in Sikhism that started when women were stopped from performing seva inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple.

In the past, two distinct trends were visible in the treatment of women in Sikhism, as well as in society. The overarching theory was that women enjoyed a much better position in Sikhism than in other religions. The other trend was to ignore the existence of women both in Sikh history and religion.

Doris R. Jakobsh’s arguments are based on a theoretical analysis of the gender question in two critical phases of Sikh history. The first is the period of the Gurus and the second is the period of Singh Sabha reform movement, that is the period from the 15th to the early 20th century.

The approach adopted by Jakobsh has inherent dangers because of its preoccupation with methodology. A hermeneutic approach has been used for the literary texts, while a study of the feminine principle in the Sikh literary tradition demands an analysis of the vocabulary, imagery and themes articulated by the Gurus and seers.

It is interesting to note that the author questions the basis of the theory of gender during the colonial period as it developed under the British administration in Punjab. This theory, according to her, was based both on gender ideals formed by the British, Sikhs and other communities of Punjab for their own ends. Reform movements during the colonial period were pivotal to the discourse on the power dynamics of the period.

In first chapter the contemporary writings on women in Sikhism are analysed and categorised on the basis of four principles. The first of these principles is silence, on the basis of which most Sikh historians neglect the question of the very existence of women. The second is negation which is based on Canada-based scholar Harjot Oberoi’s analysis of how heterogeneous elements in Sikh history are labelled deviant, marginal, threatening or unimportant in order to generate homogeneity and represent the Sikhs as a collective entity. This is followed by the principle of accommodation, using which authors like US-based scholar Nikki Guninder Kaur Singh use images and texts to show the Gurus’ positive attitude towards women. The fourth is the principle of idealisation on the basis of which women were idealised in some portions of history and scriptures.

In the second chapter Jakobsh tries to study and analyse Sikh scriptures like Adi Granth and Janamsakhies from a gender perspective. She uses literary texts from the 15^th to the early 18^th centuries. She tries to study the issue of gender without understanding the social context of the period.

The next chapter is devoted to defining the shifting paradigm of the orientalists on gender during the British rule. It shows how the Sikh elite, educated in the British system, tried to give women a place in the Singh Sabha movement. The analysis is based on the perceptions of a handful of scholars.

The writer further analyses the movements that took place in colonial Punjab like the Namdhari and Nirankari movements and studies how most communities in Punjab tried to outdo each other is defining new roles for women. The Singh Sabha reformists directed their attention to female education and also tried to establish a separate identity for Sikh women. The next chapter is devoted to studying how religious symbols and rituals were used to differentiate the Sikhs from the other communities.

The author borrows extensively from Harjot Oberoi’s thesis, which itself is controversial, to understand the relevance of women in Sikhism and to study representative Sikh writings, and its social and cultural history in order to gain an understanding of the status of women in Sikhism.

The book is an attempt to understand the place given of women in Sikh history. It shows how established facts can be used to gain a fresh perspective on an issue. The book comes at a juncture when gender studies are getting a fresh impetus.