Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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order attributed to him by the most alarmed of the reactionaries. 12 ’
The words ‘Liberty’ and ‘Equality’ became common at the same time,
but ‘fraternity’ ‘was only to join them later and never acquired their
popularity’. 13 In fact, the French Revolution was more of a political
revolution rather than a social revolution. The slogan of ‘Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity’ had great inspirational value, but the content
of ‘liberty’ and ‘equality’ was determined by class interests even at
the height of the revolutionary period. ‘The Declaration of Rights is
remarkable in that it neatly balances a statement of universal principles
and human rights with an evident concern for the interests of the
bourgeoisies… Equality is presented in largely political terms… no
mention is made of slavery and salve trade… The Declaration then,
for all its nobility of language and its proclamation of universal
principles, is essentially a manifesto of the revolution of bourgeoisie
and its clerical and liberal-aristocratic allies.’ 14 As the French
Revolution, even at its height, was dominated by class interests,
there was little of that emotional integration which the Sikh
revolutionaries acquired through their long training in the Sikh
ideology and through their rentless struggle for its fulfilment. When
the sans-cullotes, who usually led the vanguard in mass
demonstrations or insurrections, could not concede equality of
status to their own womenfolk, how could they be expected to
fraternize with the lower strata of journeymen, wage-earners, houseservants
and the unemployed?
The circumstances in which the French and Sikh revolutions
took place were materially different. Therefore, it would be a mistake
to apply the same yardstick in assessing them. The caste ideology and
the caste society were the anti-thesis of social equality and political
liberty. By giving religious sanction to caste distinctions and degradation,
the caste ideology had completely succeeded in making the subject
castes mentally accept their social inferiority and political subjugation.
They were made to believe that it was a sin even to aspire for any
status other than the one assigned to them by their birth in the caste
hierarchy. This was the reason why the legitinization of a superior
caste status by the Brahmins was so eagerly sought by the rulers:
and this was how the political power became subservient to the