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126 JPS 17:1&2
use of these sources is highly selective. The significance of the evidence
used is sometimes missed or misconstrued. There is only minimal or no
use of the compositions of the Gurus in the Adi Granth. Their
hukamnamas figure nowhere as a source. McLeod’s general approach is
largely marked by dichotomy of ‘tradition’ and ‘history’. In the absence
of factual information, there are theories, hypotheses, suppositions, and
guesswork, but hardly any satisfactory explanation. The ‘religious’ and
‘Hindu’ character of the Sikh Panth, whatever it means, continues till the
institution of the Khalsa. McLeod appears to be keen to clarify, to
elaborate, and to reinforce the hypotheses adumbrated in The Evolution
of the Sikh Community. He tends to generalize on the basis of inadequate
evidence. Quite often, it is not his evidence that inform his hypotheses
but his assumptions which mould his interpretation of evidence.
Acceptance of Oberoi’s hypothesis of ‘Sanatan’ Sikhism is a poor
substitute for empirical evidence. History is neither McLeod’s primary
concern nor his forte.
IV
On Sikh literature, McLeod has a number of publications. His Textual
Sources for the Study of Sikhism (1984) contains extracts from the Adi
Granth, the Dasam Granth, the works of Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal,
the Janamsakhis, the Rahitnamas, the Gurbilas literature of the eighteenth
century, the later historical works, and the literature produced by the
Nirankaris, the Namdharis, and the writers of the Singh Sabha
movement. In his other works, he has paid more attention to the Sikh
scriptures, the Janamsakhis, and the Rahitnamas than to any other form.
Included in Sikh scriptures are the Adi Granth, the Dasam Granth, the
works of Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal. Generally, McLeod underlines
the importance of this scriptural literature and gives descriptive accounts.
About the Adi Granth and the Dasam Granth, however, he has raised a
few issues.
In The Evolution of the Sikh Community (1975) McLeod refers to Sri
Kartarpuri Bir de Darshan by Bhai Jodh Singh who had argued in favour
of the authenticity of this manuscript. McLeod expresses his skepticism:
if not Guru Arjan who wrote the crucial Ramkali hymn which describes
the puberty rites conducted by Guru Arjan at the initiation of his son
Hargobind? In his article on Sikh literature in the Sikh Studies:
Comparative Perspective on a Changing Tradition (1979), McLeod
reiterates that Bhai Jodh Singh’s book ‘leaves the principal problem
unsolved’. Vehemently ‘attacked’ by Daljeet Singh in an essay on the
authenticity of the Kartarpuri Bir, McLeod defends his position in
Studying the Sikhs: Issues for North America (1993) by stating that he
had merely raised questions. But these questions did carry the
implication that the Kartarpur Pothi was not authentic. In his Sikhism