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Rewriting History Delhi University Style
- Gurtej Singh
Please refer to “DU goes beyond book, blackboard” by Sonia
Sarkar, in The Times Of India, Delhi,
dated January 10, 2008, Section Times City, (2).
Sikh-baiting
has been the favourite pass-time of the boorish anglicised Hindu youth since
1947. It is now going to be made a part of the syllabus by the Delhi University
(DU), if the above quoted news-item is true. It is distressing to note that the
Delhi University’s strong dependence on the hagiographic and hearsay, which was
hitherto the basis of its studies in Gandhi’s history and ‘philosophy,’ is now
to become also the basis of its teaching of history in general.
The
misinterpretation of Sikh history and the denigration of high spiritual
personalities are now going to be the official stance of the University which
plans to train its young wards to grow up into ignorant but efficient
calumnious adults. It has long been suspected that denigration of the Sikh role
models and the distortion of Sikh history is not only the favourite pastime of
the Hindu politicians and intellectuals, but has been accepted as the national
policy of the decolonised Hindu-India. Apart from the ample volume of credible
evidence that could be adduced to establish the hypothesis, the DU’s latest
move will be in glaring confirmation of it. The misguided policy of political
India, aimed at ‘containing the Sikhs’ by limiting the cultural impact of the
unique Sikh movement and by stealing its heroes, is henceforth to be imparted
an intellectual veneer. Who should the Sikhs thank for making everything so
plain?
Even if the
purpose of invention of new material to demolish the authentic Sikh thesis is
ignored, the activity to sow intellectual dishonesty must be considered
abominable. It is particularly when it is being done amongst Hindus, who have
been the greatest beneficiaries of the Sikh movement – greater even than the
Sikhs themselves. (In Baba Bulleshah’s estimation, ‘only Guru Gobind prevented
the conversion of the entire population of India to Islam,’ agar na hote Guru Gobind Singh, sunnat hoti sabh ki). The long
drawn out campaign to cast aspersions on the personalities of the Gurus, along
with its various and varied manifestations in the cultural and political life
of the country, that have led to distortions of far reaching consequences, can
only be considered reprehensible. It is surprising how lies of mind-boggling
dimensions are often invented to attack particularly Guru Gobind Singh, who may
justly be regarded as the greatest human being of all times. The latest is that
the emperor Bahadur Shah defeated the Sikhs and induced Guru Gobind Singh to
serve as a servant of the Mughal empire.
The
facts known to history are entirely different. The Sikh political resistance
movement was an off-shoot of the spiritual movement led by ten Nanaks. The
object of both was to free the human mind of oppression of all kinds and to
inculcate the cultural norms that would banish fear and tension from human
relations for all times to come. It passed through many phases. It adopted a
variety of methods depending upon the quality resources available to it and on
the requirement of times. At no time however, did the Sikh movement accept
defeat, not even momentarily as, for instance, Rana Pratap Singh did. (Muni
Lal, Mughal Glory, Vanguard Books
(Pvt) Ltd., Lahore, 1988, 91-92) In the closing years of the 17th
century and thereafter, the movement adopted a militant stance and did not
relax until the Mughal rulers (shashinshah-i-alam,
rulers of the world) were rendered effective only ‘az Delhi ta Palam.’ The
Sikhs also put a permanent stop to the invaders from Afghanistan and Iran who
had been used, for centuries, to having a cake walk into India at will.
Once
begun, the Sikh militant struggle to retrieve self-respect of the people,
culminated only in self-rule. It had many serious setbacks. Those were
incidental to an undertaking by a handful of unarmed people against the well
established empire – one of the greatest known to history. At one crucial time,
the Sikhs were reduced to mere eight hundred and many times to much less than
that figure.
There
are many well documented facts of history that militate against the thesis
propounded by the DU that the Guru, ever entertained a desire to serve the
Mughal emperor as a servant, like Shivaji did or like his father remained all
his life. (James W. Laine, Shivaji: Hindu
King in Islamic India, Oxford University Press, 2003, 26 & 21) The
following is not an exhaustive list:
1. When the Guru met Bahadur
Shah, a special protocol, unheard of in the history of the imperial Mughals,
was evolved for the meeting. The Guru came fully armed (Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Maula, Jaipur, dated July 24, 1707, Forster, A Journey from Bengal to England, vol.
ii, pp 302-303 and Koer Singh, Gurbilas
Patshahi 10, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1969, 258 Koer Singh also affirms
that the Guru went wearing an aigrette, the visible sign of sovereignty) and
riding to the very door of the court room. When he dismounted and started
walking towards the throne, the emperor vacated the throne and walked towards
the Guru. They met half-way. The emperor enquired after the Guru’s welfare and
thereafter they exchanged greetings. He walked to the throne along with the
Guru and provided him a seat (at least) on the throne platform itself. (See,
Rattan Singh Bhangu, Prachin Panth
Prakash, (1845) Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar,
pp.238-239, see also Koer Singh, Op. Cit., 260)
2. During the spiritual discourse with
the official Qazi of the empire, the Guru drew his sword to underline a point
under discussion. Any subordinate attempting this would have been executed even
before he had laid his hand on the hilt of his sword.
3. The Guru presented the customary
presents of one hundred gold coins. In return, besides other valuable presents,
he received a costly robe of honour and a bejewelled medallion (See, J. S.
Grewal, Sikh History from Persian
sources, Indian History Congress, Tulika, 2001, 106). The ornament was
worth at least sixty thousand rupees (Ganda Singh, Hukamnameh, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1967, 186) and the sword
of Ali the son-in-law of prophet Muhammad. Without doubt, it was “the costliest
jewel in the treasury of imperial Mughals” as Bahadur Shah put it at the time
of presentation. (See, Kapur Singh, “An Islamic sacred heirloom at Kesgarh
Takhat,” The Sikh Review) He was
exempted from the well established custom that obliged recipients to carry away
the presents personally. They were carried away by a disciple or a servant of
the Guru named Sahib Singh (Koer Singh, p. 260).
4. It is also known that the Portuguese
East India Company headquartered at Agra struck a special coin to commemorate
the Guru’s visit to Agra.
5. The Sikh tradition, recorded on the
evidence of near contemporaries, is that henceforth the emperor regarded
himself as a follower of the Guru (See, particularly Rattan Singh Bhangu)– may
be, in the fashion of the present day politicians who are acolytes to many
holy-men at the same time.
6. Down south, on the banks of the
resplendent Godawari, the emperor often met the Guru publicly as a friend. On
his death, he had sent the mourning robes (khillat-i-maatmi),
proclaimed him a holy man ‘darvesh’
and ordered that his belongings need not be attached to the state treasury
(William Irvine, Later Mughals,
Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, New Delhi, 1971, 90; Grewal and Irfan Habib,
107) as was the custom in respect of those who died without leaving a male
successor.
7. During his last days at Lahore, the
emperor was declared a heretic by the most learned Qazis of the empire. They
refused to dine with him even when threats of execution were held out to them.
(Note the conduct of Haji Yar Muhammad as quoted by William Irvine, Later Mughals, 130) It was ostensibly
because Bahadur Shah had hinted at turning a Shia. People also came to accept
him as a heretic and a lunatic. Historians attributed the killing of all dogs
in Lahore ordered by him as proof of his unstable mind. (See Later Mughals, 131-132) When the thus
exhausted, rejected and the dejected emperor died, Guru’s Banda was still
defiant and headed the ‘people’s commonwealth’ exercising sovereignty in behalf
of the people at large.
8. Addressing the Sikhs during his last
moments on earth, the Guru had clarified, ‘we did not come as a suppliant to
the king. We have nothing to do with anyone. Whatever happens has to happen on
our own strength.’ (Koer Singh, Gurbilas
Patshahi 10, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1969, 281)
It is also a historically verifiable
truth that the Guru never considered himself as less than fully sovereign, so
he was regarded by his followers and his enemies, including Aurangzeb were
aware of the position. (J. S. Grewal & Irfan Habib, 113 & 114) The only
fact deducible from the known credible evidence, is that Bahadur Shah revered
the Guru as a spiritual person and politically regarded him as an equal.
It is distressing that the Delhi
University is planning to convert the most glorious chapter in human history
into a shameful one, just to slight the Guru and to deflect the Sikhs from
their faith. There are dimensions to history that do not concern individuals
but have wider repercussions from the point of view of human progress. The
places of higher learning must not consent to becoming the willing tools of
base and destructive propaganda.
The Sikh people must effectively resist
the attempts of the DU and must protest against the senseless policies pursued
by the neo-colonial rule in this regard. The denigration of the most cherished
ideals and the most evolved spiritual personalities is an insult to humanity
and must never be allowed to go unchallenged. It is astounding that in spite of
ample historical evidence, the DU’s make belief based on deep-rooted prejudices
of Hindutava origin are being inflicted upon the unsuspecting young minds as
facts of history.
Can someone ask the DU to pay heed to
the hard facts of the past and to stop pedalling its hopes, fantasies and its
destructive sinister designs as history?
DU goes beyond
book, blackboard
New Delhi: How about reliving the Mughal era to understand the
events of history? Or watching the video clips of the famous play Ghasiram
Kotwal to study the lessons in Hindi literature? For undergraduates in Delhi
University (DU), learning will be real fun as they can soon watch animated
movies and graphics on the website of the varsity’s Institute of Life-long
Learning (ILLL). They can also refer back to their classroom lectures on the
website.
Going beyond the chalk and blackboard teaching, DU is making
an effort to help students grasp the lessons more easily. Moving images would
be the most common medium to be used while packaging the lessons for the
website. For instance, while describing the reign of Aurangzeb’s son Bahadur
Shah, animation and video clips will describe how he made settlements with the
implacable Marathas, vanquished the Rajputs, defeated the Sikhs in Punjab and
took their last Guru into his service followed by his last days in Lahore.
‘‘For history lessons, we have appointed teams to make field
visits and shoot videos to help the students relive those days. There will be
proper storyboards following the video images to ensure dramatization of the
particular era. Animation would also be an essential part of it,’’ said Sanjiv
Singh, co-ordinator of the content development project. Students will be given
user identities and passwords to access the lessons.
Video clips may also be borrowed from National School of
Drama for Vijay Tendulakar’s highly controversial play, Ghasiram Kotwal, which
deals with the story of transformation of a simple Brahmin from Kannauj into a
veritable monster, for Hindi (H) lessons. ‘‘While discussing the famous Sufi
poet Amir Khusro’s biography, we have plans to visit his ancestral house in
Etawah in Uttar Pradesh where Khusro was born and the place where the prodigy
penned poems before leaving for Delhi at the age of 32,’’ said Singh.
Besides History and Hindi, the e-learning material will also
be prepared for other subjects like Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry,
Economics, Electronics, and English. ‘‘For the course on fluency in English,
there will a use of multimedia. There will be animated characters conversing
with each other to give a demonstration of communication skills. The effort has
been made to make the lessons visually appealing as it was found that students
grasp lessons faster when they are exposed to moving images,’’ said Shormistha
Panja, dean, arts faculty, who is dealing with the content development of
English (H) courses.
Interestingly, the web content will be developed with the
help of lecturers and readers of DU colleges. ‘‘However, before putting the
content on the website, the vetting committee will have a look at it to ensure
that it is absolutely error-free,’’ said Panja.
Besides the visual lessons, students can even access the
latest web resources available on their subjects and the last lecture delivered
in their class. ‘‘Not all lectures would be put on the website but a few
important ones can be accessed here,’’ said Panja.
sonia.sarkar@timesgroup.com
Copyright©2008 Gurtej Singh.
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