THIS ABOVE ALL
Gained in transcreation
Khushwant Singh

It is a daunting task; nearly 6000 hymns which take relay of reciters, reading non-stop for two days and nights. For the Sikhs, it is a word of God through six of their 10 Gurus and saints both Hindu and Muslim. Many people translated the more popular portions: Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Osho Rajnish did a commendable job of rendering the morning prayer Japji in Hindi and English. The first to try his hand at translating the entire Granth was the German scholar Trumpp. He gave up after a few pages. The task was taken up by M. A. Macaulliffe who had Sikh scholars to assist him. All his translations are incorporated in six volumes on Sikh religion. The translations, though literal, read poorly.

The first Sikh to undertake the task was Manmohan Singh of Amritsar. He translated the scripture into Punjabi and English prose. They were accurate but without attempt to capture the melodic elements in the hymns. Next came Gopal Singh Dardi who had undoubted ability to handle the task. He presented his translations to the Pope and claimed to have been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature and persuaded Indira Gandhi to nominate him as member of the Rajya Sabha and then Governor of Goa and Nagaland.

Somehow, I felt that anyone who could do that sort of thing could not have imbibed very much from the Gurus’ teachings.I did not read his translation.

The SGPC then commissioned Gurbachan Singh Talib, Professor of English, to do the translations and published them. They too are lacking in poetic content. Two years ago G.S. Maken of Chandigarh published four volumes of his translations. I went through them cover to cover and learnt a lot about the faith I was born into without knowing much about it. He too did not try to capture the poetry of the original.

The most recent translation is by Kartar Singh Duggal published by Hemkunt Press in four volumes: The Holy Granth — Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Duggal has written scores of novels and collections of poetry, won many awards and has been a member of the Rajya Sabha. He rightly describes his renderings as transcreations instead of translation and has done his best to convey their meaning in verse. His work is bound to be more acceptable to readers than any of the others. His volumes should find a place in every public library in the country and abroad, and hopefully in some private homes as well.

European view

While examining old documents for writing The History of the Sikhs I came across many Indian names and places which early European visitors had spelt out in English which made amusing reading. For instance, Sikhs had six different spellings: Siks, Sicques, Sykes, Seeks, Sicks and Seecks. Khalsa was Colsa or Colassa. Amritsar as Ambarsar, Amritsaria and Umraotisioux. And so on.

Though not entirely reliable as source material, they proved a reliable corroboration of events that took place in the 17th and 18th centuries. Father Jerome Xavier, a Jesuit Priest mentions the martyrdom of Guru Arjan in Lahore in 1606. References to the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur in Delhi (1675), the execution of Banda Bairagi and 700 of his followers in Delhi in 1716 were noted down by agents of the East India Company as well as travellers financed by it.

After the execution of Banda Bahadur, Sikhs reorganised themselves into several independent misls and ravaged the plains from the Ganges to the Indus, including Delhi, and its suburbs. The sight of one Sikh on horse-back with matchlock on his shoulder and Kirpan dangling by his side struck terror in the hearts of people:He was like a one-man army (Sava-lakh fauj).

In 1768, Francis Xavier wrote "Among 10,000 men there will be at least as many commanders and what is more each is independent of the other. "In 1716, a Swiss national Major Polier sent a note of warning to the English about Sikh potential as "a snake with many heads".

He wrote "As for the Seikhs, that formidable aristocratic republick, I may safely say, it is only so to a weak defenceless state, such as this is. It is properly the snake with many heads. Each zamindar who from the Attock to Hansey Issar, and to the gates of Delhi lets his beard grow, cries wah gorow, eats pork, wears an iron bracelet, drinks bang, abominates the smoking of tobacco and can command from ten followers on horseback to upwards, set up immediately for a Seik Sardar, and as far as is in his power aggrandizes himself at the expense of his weaker neighbours; if Hindu or Mussulman so much the better; if not, even amongst his own fraternity will he seek to extend his influence and power; only with this difference in their intestine divisions, from what is seen everywhere else, that the husbandman and the labourer, in their own districts, are perfectly safe and unmolested, let what will happen around them."

It is hard to believe that when Baghel Singh of the Karorasinghia misl was invited by Emperor Shah Alam to take Delhi under his protection, all he asked for was land to build Delhi’s seven historic gurdwaras and collect a third of all octroi duties. He left only two Sikhs agents in Subzi Mandi to see the undertaking was fulfilled.

You will find all this in delightful compilation Sicques, Tigers, or Thieves (1606-1809) edited by Amandeep Singh Madra and Parmjit Singh (Palgrave Macmillan).

Many of the characteristics of the Sikhs noted by foreign observers persists to this day. They are notorious for being unable to come together to work as a team, Everyone regards himself as a jathedar (leader) even if he has no jatha (troops) to lead

The Sikhs themselves were well aware of the shortcomings in their character:

Poor Ganguly