Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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CHAPTER XI
Egalitarian Society
The character and development of the Sikh movement reveals
that it had three main social goals: (1) to build up an egalitarian society,
(2) to use this new society as a base to wage an armed struggle against
religious and political oppression, and (3) to capture political power
by the Khalsa. All these aims were integral parts of the Sikh thesis
that injustice, inequality and hierarchism, in whatsoever form, must
be combated. In this chapter we shall deal with the first goal.
1. The Caste
The caste system was the greatest obstacle in the way of the
Sikh movement for developing an egalitarian society. Though the
Sikh Gurus had no soft corner for the lesser variations of social
inequities, they felt that, unless the fundamental menace of the caste
was eliminated, there could be no major change in the other inequities.
We shall, therefore, concentrate on the egalitarian social aspect of
the movement mainly in its relevancy to the caste. It is important
that the struggle of the Sikh movement against the caste should be
judged in the context of its observance in the medieval era, and not
under the present day conditions when it is losing its old hold and
sting.
The Radical Bhaktas denounced the pillars on which the super
structure of the caste system rested. The Sikh Gurus did this even
more unequivocally. To avoid repetition, we shall deal with only the
broad aspects of the caste and the practical steps taken by the Sikh
movement to combat this evil.