Pithy accounts of spiritual text and power play
Reviewed by Roopinder Singh

Sri Guru Granth Sahib: Historical-socio economic perspective
by Kirpal Singh. Publication Bureau, Punjabi University Patiala. Pages 124. Rs 240.

WHAT happens when a historian looks at what others see primarily as a spiritual text? He finds references which give him a different perspective. Dr Kirpal Singh is a well-know historian of the Sikhs. He delivered two lectures, which were published in 1997-1998 on the historical perspectives of Guru Granth Sahib. However, the subject could not be covered in them and when he was invited to write by Punjabi University, Patiala, he produced this work. As he points out, many of the historical facts have been deduced from various allegories, similes and metaphors depicting the social, religious, and political life of the people at the time when the compositions enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib were written. In this volume, he deals with biographical references of the Gurus, political institutions of the time, musical ragas and their significance, religious traditions and a critique of the way religion was practised, as well as social and economic conditions of the time. Dr Kirpal Singh gives a pithy account which will surely be treasured by many, even as it leaves them wanting for more.

The True Story
by Sirdar Kapur Singh. Lahore Books, Ludhiana. Pages 288. Rs 345.

THE late Sirdar Kapur Singh MA (Cantab), ICS, wrote Sachi Sakhi as an article in 1962, according to the late Dr Ganda Singh. It was too long to be an article and was published as a book 10 years later. Sirdar Kapur Singh was an ICS officer who was also a brilliant linguist. He left behind a formidable body of work on the Sikh religion and its practices. A former Indian Civil Service Officer, he went on to become a Member of Parliament, and an MLA.

Sachi Sakhi, which has now been translated into English by Satjit Wadhva, is an account of pre-Partition and post-Partition Punjab politics, which has the suspension and dismissal of the ICS officer as a backdrop to the narrative. He was well acquainted with the main players of the time, even as he had tumultuous relationships with many of them. Many people who could not read Sachi Sakhi in Gurmukhi will now have access to it.

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