The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition, by Harjot Oberoi. Oxford University Press: Delhi, 1994. 494 pages. Reviewed by Douglas Tennant.

RS 398 – Directed Reading Course - book summary. 

Douglas Tennant B.Sc., B.A., CMMIII,

Instructor:  Dr. Doris Jakobsh

January 31, 2018

The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition, by Harjot Oberoi. Oxford University Press: Delhi, 1994. 494 pages. Reviewed by Douglas Tennant.

A book summary of The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition, by Harjot Oberoi.

Introduction

Harjot Oberoi, professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, affirms that Sikhs in the northern Indian sub-continent, for much of their history, lived their religious lives within a localised, diverse, and pluralistic setting. They went about their daily affairs incorporating rituals, local pilgrimages and a broad spectrum of acts of religious piety without being constrained by specific religious tradition boundaries. Oberoi traces the construction and evolution of Sikhism from its early form to its twentieth century structure. He writes about the early Sikh Khalsa, Sanatan Sikhism, folk Sikhism, the impact of colonialism, and the influence of the Singh Sabha and its progeny, a rejuvenated Tat Khalsa. He structures this comprehensive discourse of the construction of Sikhism using Foucaultian epistemes (26).

            Within the examination of the socio-cultural, political (British colonial state/Punjabi) aspects of the Sikh panth evolution, Oberoi included the impact of the emergence of a new cultural elite within Sikhism, the popular religious activities of rural Sikhs, and the praxis of Sanatan Sikhism. He takes us on a detailed journey through time and Punjab to explore such overarching questions as (i) why did religious elites enjoy such a following, (ii) how did the evolution of the Sikh panth entail much solidarity and (iii) also generate such notable divisiveness? What were the perceptions, boundaries, and tensions between the religious profane and the sacred in reference to the religious elites and the general population’s folk religion? Oberoi is steadfast in his presentation of the fluidity, depth, and breadth of early Sikhism through to the homogeneous outward symbolism of Five K Sikhism today.

           

Chapter One               Boundaries and Transgressions

Oberoi provides a concise overview of the history and geographical touchpoints of the Punjab. He outlines how the early Sikh story is centred within the Punjab and the numerous other Punjabi religious communities. Oberoi focuses upon how early Sikhism was diverse and ambiguous. He makes it clear that religious boundaries were amorphous to early Sikhs. He delineates the development of the Sikhs into a ‘textual community’ (49) with the production of the Sikh text Adi Granth. With the Adi Granth, and other early Sikh related compilations, such as exegetical writings about Sikh guru compositions and Janam-sakhi literature, Oberoi points out that boundaries start to appear even as the emerging body of Sikh literature remains very fluid and heterogeneous. Oberoi describes the continuing transformation of the Sikhs and implementation of boundaries through the institution of the Khalsa order in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He outlines the Khalsa order’s essential components including such aspects as life cycle rituals, delineation of taboo behaviours and the precursor status of the eternal living Guru in the Adi Granth.

Oberoi points out the paradox of the Khalsa/Sahajdhari Sikh duality wherein it was acceptable to remain a Sikh while not participating in the sacred initiatory rite and entering into the Khalsa order. He compares Khalsa order Sikhs with Udasi Sikhs and why this duality of Sikh identity became prominent notwithstanding the Khalsa transformation during what Oberoi terms the Khalsa episteme. Indeed, Oberoi clearly points out that during the rise of the Khalsa order, Sahajdhari Sikhs would remain integral within the still fledgling Sikh boundaries. Oberoi then sets the stage for the journey which the Sikh panth was to traverse towards the next Sikh episteme in the early nineteenth century.

Chapter Two               Sanatan Tradition and its Transmission: Gurus, Saints, Ascetics, and Scholars

            In this chapter the author focuses on the epistemological change from the Khalsa order to the era of Sanatan Sikhism and presents a chronological overview of the Sanatan Sikh episteme. Employing a questioning attitude, Oberoi explores the roots and placement of Sanatan Sikhism. He expounds upon the Dasam Granth as an equal devotional text to the Adi Granth, along with an overview of the Sanatan tradition’s relationship with other texts such as the Vedas, Gurbilas, and the Puranas.

            The author outlines that during this episteme of Sikhism, members of the Sanatan tradition were accepted as every bit a Sikh, as a member of the Khalsa. To this state of affairs, Oberoi affirms that the Sanatan tradition was intrinsically enveloped in the Brahmanical paradigm known as varnasramadharma. The mutually pragmatic and intricately woven relationship, which was awkward at times, between the Khalsa and the varied guru lineages associated with Sanatan Sikhs is outlined by the author.

            Oberoi expands upon the role and influence of various Sikh holy men, or Bhais, who were able to be recognised as such, not only through a birthright, but by the ‘local’ Sikh population. Additionally, the author presents, in due order, the roles, responsibilities, and transmission of Sikhism that other Sanatan tradition personages played in the establishment of Sikhism. To this end, for example, he writes of the successful efforts of various ascetic orders and educational establishments such as akharas. Oberoi especially notes the success of the priestly Nirmalas “who championed the cause of Sikhism and became custodians of the faith” (128). During this Sikh episteme, the author provides ample details to demonstrate that Sanatan/Sahajdhari Sikhism was front and centre in the Sikh worldview.

Chapter Three             An Enchanted Universe: Sikh Participation in Popular Religion

            The author leads with an foundational discussion on the role of Sikh folk or popular religion in mainly agrarian Punjab in the nineteenth century. Oberoi provides a broad a review of Sikhism, especially Sikh folk religion, (or as he refers to it, ‘the enchanted [Weberian] forest’), to provide a foundational context in which to appreciate the evolutionary path to modern Sikhism. Recognising the importance of the kaleidoscope of Sikh popular religion, he distinguishes it from the more formal and constrained Khalsa and Sanatan experiences and frames the essence of it within the everyday village life and cultural elements of those who used popular religion for daily pragmatic purposes.

            With a dearth of source material regarding folk religion to draw from, the author presents information garnered from official histories, records of the Raj, and writings from the late 1800s of Sikh intelligentsia. Oberoi provides notable details about village folk religion and its appropriate relation to Sanatan Sikhism. Oberoi covers many aspects of Sikh folk religion including, but not limited to, worship of popular saints, goddesses, nature, and village sacred sites and shrines; the associated activities with evil spirits, witchcraft, sorcery, magic cures; attendance at calendrical festivals, rituals and fairs including Diwali, Holi and Baisakhi; and the use of astrology and divination by rural village Sikhs.

            The author identifies that village folk religion was clearly visible and noticeable. He writes of those, such as the Kukas, who railed and actively protested, sometimes with violence, against village folk. Notwithstanding the foregoing protests, the author acknowledges that folk religion, the basic householder version of Sikhism, and Sanatan Sikhism were able to achieve a working relationship.

Chapter Four               Conserving Sanatan Sikh Tradition

Oberoi opens this chapter with an overview of what is best called a faux perceived decline in Sikhism during the Sanatan episteme. He describes how those associated with colonial rule propagated reports about the drop in quality of Sikh faith through to inaccurate census information, supposedly showing a decline in the Sikh population. The author then introduces the Singh Sabha and notes that its leaders took advantage of this perception of decline to assume the ostensible responsibility for rescuing the Sikh “community from the dark ages and [taking credit for creating] the golden epoch without which Sikh tradition was doomed” (215).

The author carries on to outline how Sikhism continued to be negatively impacted under colonial rule and the noteworthy sway of the associated Christian mission and educational apparatus. Oberoi adds in to the mix the effect of the Arja Samaj within the Punjab in general and upon Sikhism in particular. He then delves into the impact that the Anjumn-i-Punjab had on Sikh society. Oberoi is detailed in his description of how the influences of colonial rule and the defence of traditional Sikh cultural values led to the establishment of the Singh Sabha. He illustrates the early organisational structure and activities of the fledgling Singh Sabha which had  the aim of affirming that the diversity and pluralism of the Sanatan Sikh tradition was foundational in its raison d’etre. Indeed, the author sums up the chapter expressing how the Sanatanists were able to maintain a robust Sikh panth episteme, notwithstanding what the colonial rulers perceived as a decline in Sikhism, by ensuring the vibrancy and diversity of a pluralistic Sikh tradition. The author describes how the Sanatan tradition created and kept intact a unique Sikh cultural reference hallmark “[b]y combining cosmic time with secular time, oral narration with textual exegesis, order with disorder, rules with license, closed cultural spaces with open cultural spaces, and seriousness with ludic forms…” (256).

Chapter Five                The interpretive Process: The Expansion of the Singh Sabhas

            The author explores important influencers on and by the propagation of Singh Sabhas through an urbanised lens in this chapter and focuses on the role of the new ‘elites’ in Sikhism. He examines how they emerged from other than traditional class structures, immersed themselves in, and then used to their individual and collective advantage, the growing number and types of educational institutions, new language skills and other colonial accretions, such as print culture and governmental employment, to solidify their presence in the growth of Sikhism.

         Oberoi specifically details the growth and dialogic influence within the realm of the new elites and the Singh Sabha on Sikhism.  The author writes about the efforts and influence of Ditt Singh, Sir Attar Singh, and Jawahir Singh, who were key to the growth and continued success of the Singh Sabha movement in the 1880s. Oberoi captures a unique statement by Jawahir Singh related to the Singh Sabha efforts wherein he reports on the state of Sikhism in rural areas. “There you will find how Sikh traditions are going amiss. Our first responsibility ought to be the reform and correction of folk Sikhism” (294). Oberoi notes that the success of the Singh Sabha movement was not necessarily due to the leadership efforts of the ‘old guard’ but rather because the new Sikh elites were enamoured with the ideology of the movement and their significant privilege, given their education, and, having become a defacto ‘middle class’, as a result of their move up the hierarchical social ladder, which they incorporated into their daily activities (303).

Chapter Six                  A New Social Imagination: The Making of the Tat Khalsa

This chapter begins with a description of the new Sikh elites growing awareness of the gap between their perception of the constitution of the Tat Khalsa episteme and popular or village Sikh religion. The author outlines this divide between the Singh Sabha (elites) membership and folk religion, and details the efforts of the elites to Sikhize the Sikhs through an authoritative discourse, by means of the printed word, and a tireless  popular religion “eradication campaign” (309).

The author states that the Singh Sabha was active in a complex reconstituting or reordering of the Sikh tradition toward three doctrinal cores of an authentic Tat Khalsa, namely “Guru, Granth and Gurdwara” (the 3-Gs) (316). Oberoi writes about the efforts by the Tat Khalsa to affirm that (i) the Adi Granth was the rightful repository of Sikh guruship, (ii) that the Adi Granth took precedence over all other texts (including the Sanatan Sikh Dasam Granth), and (iii) the significant efforts to stake out and reclaim Sikh sacred space into Sikh shrines and gurdwaras.

In addition to the 3-Gs, Oberoi writes extensively about the Singh Sabha/Tat Khalsa efforts, through Rahit-namas and to a lesser degree the use of novels, to rigidly enforce external body symbolism (5 Ks) and codification of life-cycle rituals, thereby enshrining what it meant to be a Sikh. The author states that by the early decades of the twentieth century, the foregoing efforts of the Singh Sabha elites and Tat Khalsa had established a mass Sikh stream of consciousness as to what it meant to be a Sikh. They had become, he describes, an independent, homogeneous and separate faith tradition. The author contends that this achievement was further cemented through the success in securing a Punjabi Gurmukhi script within official Sikhism; the marked reciprocal and mutually beneficial impact between the British army and Tat Khalsa Sikhism; and the internal Tat Khalsa leadership growth within the Singh Sabha movement.

Chapter Seven             Resistance and Counter-resistance: The Triumph of Praxis

The author provides an overview of the extreme tension growing between the Tat Khalsa and Sanatan Sikhism. He states that in the end only one of the Sikh worldviews would remain viable. Oberoi outlines several detailed examples of skirmishes and confrontations between the two main faces of Sikhism of the day over such issues as the essence of Sikh doctrines, the role of guru lineages, textuality, life cycle rituals, initiation rites, and control of Sikh shrines and holy spaces. The author expounds upon the resistance efforts of Sanatan Sikhism against the steadfast religious fervor of the Tat Khalsa. Overtime, the author writes, the enmity between the Sanatanists and the Tat Khalsa came to the boiling point and the two sides became worst enemies. Oberoi highlights that it was at this point in the feud within Sikhism that the Tat Khalsa became emboldened to fight back against the initial resistance of the Sanatanists. Oberoi also writes about the resistance of the non-elites or rural folk religion Sikhs. He outlines that they maintained participation in festivals such as Holi and Diwali and beliefs in the various aspects of their folk religion and rejected participation in Tat Khalsa rituals and ascribing to their doctrines.

            The author closes this chapter with a comprehensive review of how the Tat Khalsa, in concert with fundamental Punjabi societal changes, established an overwhelmingly competitive educational, organisational and cultural system to effectively bring the Tat Khalsa praxis and ideology to practitioners of folk Sikhism and ultimately nullify all things Sanatan.

Conclusions                

            In the conclusions section, Oberoi provides an overview of Indian societal relationship to religion and briefly reviews the inherent diversity, fluidity and ambiguity of religious identities. He tracks the construction of Sikhism, from its earliest pluralistic structure, through the various Foucaultian epistemes to what remained as the Tat Khalsa’s “orderly, pure, [and] singular form of Sikhism” (421).