Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

201
CHAPTER XVI
Achievements
The achievements of a movement cannot be fully appreciated
unless one takes into account the circumstances and the limitations
under which it worked. It is in this perspective that the achievements
of the Sikh movement should be judged. Human efforts for growing a
beautiful orchard in the Sahara desert, even if partially successful,
would indeed be magnificent.
The Sikh Movement had set before itself three main social goals:
to create an egalitarian society (The Sikh Panth) outside the caste
order, to fight religious and political domination, and to capture political
power for a plebian mission. All these three goals were closely linked
and inter-dependent.
1. Egalitarian Society
The caste is a many-headed hydra. The sanction of the
Brahminical scriptures, ritualism and tradition, the sacerdotal position
of the Brahmins, and the theory of pollution, of which restrictions
connected with occupations, commensalism, etc., were offshoots, were
the main pillars which supported the caste structure. It has been seen
that the Sikh movement attacked all these pillars and achieved a very
remarkable success.
(a) Scriptural Sanction
By repudiating the authority of the Brahmanical scriptures, and
other features of the Brahmanism, the Sikh Panth cut itself away from
this perennial source of caste ideology. This was a very major step
that was taken. Its significance can be ignored only by those who
underestimate the part played by the caste ideology in rearing and
maintaining the caste system.