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G.S. Mann: Guru Nanak’s Life and Legacy 21
the reasons and precise point of their entry into the Sikh discourse. In the
same vein, the treatment of women in the nomadic society and customs
such as widow marriage and the absence of sati (burning alive on the
pyre of the dead husband), and so on, need to be brought into focus to
help understand the happenings within the early Sikh community. 70
In my view, a narrative of the origin of the Sikh community needs to
incorporate an understanding of the life of the master (khasam) of
Kartarpur (Nanak), the nature of the seed he sowed there (his beliefs),
and the sociocultural background of the early caretakers (Sikhs). Having
accomplished this task, scholars can attempt to assess how the original
seedlings thrived in their subsequent transplantations in different
locations, changed circumstances, and the variations among different
caretakers. Building on the evidence whose bulk, range, and depth
expand with the passage of time, scholars can think through these issues
and create a narrative that can provide a higher degree of historical
accuracy than the one in current circulation. After all, the Sikhs may be
the only major tradition where the origin of the community can be
constructed strictly from contemporaneous sources.
Conclusion
Where do scholars in Sikh studies go from here? Three options seem to
be available. First, there is a large constituency of scholars in the field
who believe that Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion marked a “paradigmshift”
in “a historiographical revolution” in Sikh studies, and they would
expect future research to build and expand on its conclusions. 71 The
second option has appeared in J. S. Grewal’s recent writings, where he
points out the limitations of McLeod’s research findings pertaining to
different periods and themes of Sikh history. 72 For his detailed critique of
McLeod’s work, see his paper in this issue.
On the basis of my reading of Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion
presented here and my past years’ immersion in the early documents, I
believe that effort to build on the received wisdom or even maintain the
status quo would be counterproductive for the field. 73 While fully
agreeing with Grewal about the limitations of McLeod’s work, my
primary interest lies in how to move forward and develop a fresh
narrative of Guru Nanak’s life, beliefs, and legacy. Given the critical
mass of scholars presently working in the field and the availability of the
large corpus of published materials, this goal does not seem beyond
reach. 74
I suggest a three-stage process to execute this agenda. First, scholars
need to return to the early textual sources, date them with some degree of
precision, situate them in their socioliterary contexts, and flesh out
historical details from them. Second, they need to expand the pool of
information by including art, artifacts, iconography, numismatics, sites,