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THIS ABOVE ALL
Learned scholar’s controversial
book
Khushwant
Singh 
The
most enigmatic scholar whose works I keep close to me is
Bhai Kahan Singh of Nabha (1861-1938). The amazing thing about
him is that though he did not go to school or college, he
acquired working knowledge of Sanskrit, Persian and English.
Kahan Singh went to England to help Macauliffe in translating
Gurbani into English. While there, he also appeared before the
Privy Council in some case in which Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha
was involved. He held a variety of posts in the state government
but he is best known for his four-volume Mahan Kosh, an
encyclopaedia on Sikhism. It is the standard book of reference.
At long last, the Punjab Government has decided to honour his
memory on his birth anniversary, August 30. It has also
commissioned Panjab University to translate Mahan Kosh
into Hindi and English. It would have given the encyclopaedia
immortality if it had been brought up to date.
Bhai Kahan Singh went to England to help Macauliffe in translating Gurbani into English |
A highly
controversial 100-page book he wrote was entitled Hum Hindu
Nahin. The trouble is that Sikh theology is entirely based
on the Upanishads. Most of the names for God are Hindu
— Hari, Ram, Murari, Bhagwan, Govind, Vitthal, Prabhu,
Parmeshwar, etc. The only difference with Hinduism is that Sikhs
are monotheists, against idol
worship, and are ahle kitab — people of the book, i.e.
Guru Granth Sahib.
Even the last
Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who created the Khalsa Panth, paid
homage to Hindu deities — Shiva, Chandi, Durga. That is why
many Punjabi Hindus prefer to worship in gurdwaras and recite
Sikh prayers.
Kabir
Very little is
known of Kabir, except that he was born in Varanasi in the 15th
century and was a weaver. I was looking forward to reading Songs
of Kabir, translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Everyman),
a renowned poet of English. But neither he nor Wendy Doniger,
who has written the preface, tell you much about his life. Yet
he is the one Indian poet known to most people, both lettered
and illiterate, who can recite his dohas by heart. His
verses are to be found in the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth.
We don’t know
whether he was a Hindu or a Muslim or born into one faith and
converted into the other. The best I can do is to quote Mehrotra’s
translations. I quote two of them. The first one:
Chaturai
na chaturbhuj payeh
Try though you may;
Neither
punditry, nor penance;
Nor telling
beads will bring you;
To the
four-armed God;
At all times
keep cool;
Don’t covet
another man’s wife or wealth;
And wipe the
bootlicker’s smile`A0off your face;
It is no use
praying to stone idols otherwise;
Keep it simple,
says Kabir.
It will get you to Rama;
Quicker than
you know.
The second one:
Jee pai
karta baran bicharai
Were the Creator concerned about caste;
We’d arrive
in the world;
With a caste
mark on the forehead;
If you say you’re
a Brahmin;
Born of a
mother who’s a Brahmin;
Was there a
special canal;
Through which
you were born?
And if you say you’re a Turk;
And your mother’s
a Turk;
Why weren’t
you circumcised before birth?
Nobody’s lower caste;
The lower
castes are everywhere;
They’re the
ones who don’t have Rama on their lips.
Family planning
Choudhary Nar
Singh was a famous pracharak right from the days of
Chhotu Ram, Revenue Minister of erstwhile Punjab. Later, Bansi
Lal made him in charge of the family planning campaign during
the Emergency days. One day, Nar Singh came to our village
Chaupal and started delivering a lecture on the merits of family
planning to a gathering of 200 persons.
One boy got up
and asked: "Tauji, it is learnt that the physical
prowess of the man gets diminished after the operation. Is it
true?" Nar Singh retorted promptly: "Bhai chhorey,
during the operation it is only the cultivator that is taken
off. The tractor ploughs the land as fast as ever." The
whole gathering burst into peals of laughter and the function
ended on a happy note.
(Contributed by Raghvir
Singh Malik, Rohtak)
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