Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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of Islam, which had no caste background, few societies have raised
common people from the lowest social level to the level of equality
and fraternity achieved by the Sikh movement. Lepel Griffen expresses
the opion that; ‘The Sikh theocracy had equality and fraternity for its
foundations far more literally than has been the case with the modern
republics of Europe and America.’ 17a
2. A Plebian Revolution
The Sikh movement was not only social revolution, it was also a
plebian political revolution. We cannot have a proper appreciation of
the revolutionary and plebian character of the Sikh revolution unless
we compare it with the classic example of the French Revolution (of
1783-1815, i.e. of the feudal era in France). Its comparison with an
Indian movement would have been more appropriate because the
environmental context would have been more or less common. But,
in the medieval period, there has been no revolutionary movement of
India origin.
(a) Plebian Goals
On the eve of the French Revolution, there was no clear view
of its aims in France. 18 Much less was it conceived, 18a planned or
pursued as a plebian revolution in the manner of the Bolshevik Russian
Revolution, which had well-defined revolutionary objectives and a
disciplined party committed to achieve them. It is true that Rousseau
had advocated the idea of ‘the sovereignty of the people’ and the
slogan of ‘Liberty and Equality’ was very much in the air. These ideas
and concepts, no doubt, formed an ideological emotive
component of the French Revolution. But, these ideas and
concepts, in their practical implications, meant different things
to different people. ‘‘The patricians began the Revolution’,
wrote Chateaubriand, ‘the plebians finished it.’ But, they did not
finish it in plebian interests, because there was no organized part
or leadership to put a plebian content into those slogans, ideas and
concepts, in fact, none of the French political thinkers had shown
any marked concern for the ‘lower orders’ or the ‘Fourth Estate’. 19
Rousseau would have nothing to do with the underprivileged