Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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(Vishnu) and Mahesh (Shivas).” 9 “Secondly, “In His court, there are
hundreds of thousands of Muhammads, Brahmas, Bishnu (Vishnus)
and Muhesh (Sivas).” 10 As regard scriptures, Guru Nanak says; “” The
drum of Veds resoundeth for many a faction. Remember Gds’ name,
Nanak, there is none but Him.” 11 We have it on the authority of
Dabistan that the Sikhs ‘do not read the Mantras (i.e. the Vedic or
other scriptural hymns) of the Hindus, they do not venerate their
temples f idols, nor do they esteem their Avtars. They have no regard
for the Sanskrit language which, according to the Hindus, is the speech
of the angles. ’11a It has been that the demand for exclusive allegiance
to religious source-heads was one of the major causes of cleavage
between the Hindus ad the Mohammandans. The gospel of the Sikh
Gurus struck at this foundation on which the super-structure of the
then existing religious sectarianism had been raised.
The grounds for the differentiation of Guru’s message from that
of the caste ideology an the case society were far more basis. The
caste ideology was the anti-thesis of humanism, and the caste society
was extremely parochial in its outlook. To belong to it, it was necessary
to be born within it. The land where the Varna Ashrama Dharma was
not established was regarded impure; 12 and the Aryavarta, the pure
land, was at one period circumscribed within the limits of the river
Sindh in the north and the river Carmanvati in the south. 13 The Sikh
Gurus rejected almost all the cardinal beliefs of the caste society.
They repudiated the authority of the Vedas and allied scriptures,
discarded the theory of Avtarhood, disowned all its sectarian goals
goddesses and Avtaras, and condemned idol worship, formalism,
ritualism, and ceremonialism.
The ideology of the Sikh Gurus, thus, stood differentiated by
its own logic. Its universality and humanism were compatible neither
with Muslim exclusiveness, nor with the caste-ridden and sectarian
orthodox society.
2. Separate Identity
Mere ideological distinctiveness was not enough. The greatest
social hurdle in the way of humanism was the inequitous caste
system. It could not be reformed from within. For, social inequality
and hierarchism were in-built in its very constitution and
mechanism. The anti-caste movements could survive only if these