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The Sikhs: Their
Religion, Social Customs, and Way of Life
His purpose of writing this book is to provide the essential knowledge about the Sikh way of life and the teachings of Gurus. He plans to write three books to cover his entire project. In his first book of the trilogy, he deals with the lives and teachings of the Gurus; the various Sikh orders; Sikh philosophy and theology; way of life; status of women; religious and domestic ceremonies; festivals; emerging trends and the need for reforms. While the second book will focus on historical perspectives, including the Sikh empire and battles, the third one will deal with historical gurudwaras. The author has provided the relevant information on all aspects of Sikhism, as laid down and formulated by Sikh religious authorities. These are written in easily understandable terms and should be a good guide to those interested in this. However, this coffee table book has one problem: the size is not too convenient for reading, especially for the younger generation who study with their normal contortionist reading positions. But the author has certainly achieved his aim of imparting the needed knowledge. Describing all ceremonies connected with the Sikh way of life, he gives due importance to the status of women in the Sikh religion, "Of women we are born, of women conceived; to women engaged, to women married. By women is civilisation continued. When woman dies, woman is sought for. It is by women that the entire social order is maintained. Then why call her evil of whom are great men born." Without mentioning it, the author has managed to point out some major aspects needing attention. In History of the Sikh People, Dr Gopal Singh uses the term "Sikh Khalsa", which appears to be most appropriate to denote the major segments of the religious adherents and needs to be used more often, especially now that the outward shape of the Sikhs is evolving into many contours. The book contains photographs of paintings of the Gurus displayed in some museums set up by various gurudwaras. The author discusses the Rahat Maryada in some detail, and on page 277 is the injunction "worshipping of statues or even bowing to pictures of Gurus is strictly forbidden". Are the religious authorities exercising the required supervision, or even practicing it themselves? An actual incident is pertinent to mention. A renowned Sikh artist happened to have a Sikh battalion located near his place. He approached the Commanding Officer and got permission to inspect the entire parade to select men who he thought could represent the Gurus. And the paintings of the same Guru are not the same. Is this not idol worship? The only painting which may turn out to be actual is that of Guru Gobind Singh (which is included in the book The Sikh Heritage by Dr Daljeet) when he was supposed to have visited the Mandi state as a guest of Raja Siddhaswn and the state artists made his painting. This would of course need further investigation to confirm its authenticity. Written in an easy-to-understand style, the book is a welcome addition to the literature available on Sikh religion, which will surely be of much use to all, being one of the very few with so much detail of everyday life and practices.
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