Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

227
the Gurus, also in their letters to the Sikhs (Hukamname), addressed
them in the same manner. This feature of the movement is so prominent
that it has come to the notice of Toynbee, who writes : ‘Like all converts
to Islam, all converts to Sikhism became one another’s brothers and
peers in virtue of their having all alike given their allegiance to one
Lord whom they had been taught to worship as the sole true Living
Lord. 8 Except the Islamic society, whose record in this respect is
praiseworthy, the Sikh revolutionary movement compares favourably
with other similar movements. Considering the caste milieu in which
it had to work, its achievements are all the more remarkable. In the
case of Islam, too, it was lucky that it was born and level of primitive
communism. 9 The abolition of slavery by the American Revolution
was no mean achievement, but the Negroes are prohibited, or atleast
prevented, from using the same public amenities as are available to
whitemen. 10 This social gulf between Negro and white citizens of the
U.S.A. has remained despite the enlightening and liberalizing influences
of Christianity, the Western culture and the capitalist economy. In the
U.S.A., it is only the colour and racial prejudices against the Negroes
that had to be overcome. The Sikh movement had to surmount the
stigmas of the caste ideology, which, it was postulated, even god Indra
himself was helpless to erase, as in the case of the story of Matanga.
The revolutionary France had not to face, within France, the
like of the racial problem met in the U.S.A., or the like of the knotty
social problem which the caste society posed in India. Slavery in French
colonies was maintained by the Constituents and was abolished by
the Jacobins only in 1794 11 , to be restored again afterwards. The French
Revolution did not envisage female liberation. “Women who attempted
to find a place in the sans-culotte ranks which went beyond rhetorical
expressions of solidarity, or the traditional roles of women in giving a
special fervour to public demonstrations and attending to the warriors’s
repose at other times, received short shrift. They were for a time to be
seen at some club and section meetings, but did not lead them. The
sans-cullote by no means envisaged the total overturning of the social