The Sikhs - Hardcover

Singh, Patwant

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375407286 ISBN 13: 9780375407284

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2000

Synopsis

A comprehensive history of the Sikh people and religion traces the origins of the sect five centuries ago in India and discusses its current, sometimes violent, role in Indian politics.

About this title

Review:

Sikhism is one of the world's gentlest religions--a sort of eastern version of Anglicanism. It is as though someone has taken the best bits of Hinduism and Islam and merged them into a religion accessible even to the most secular of souls. There is no class or caste system, hence the men are all called Singh (Lion) and the women Kaur (Princess), and it makes no great claim to be the only way; indeed, unlike most religions it actively promotes the idea that its followers may learn from other faiths. And yet, the popular image of Sikhs as fiercesome warriors is almost diametrically opposed to the tenets of their faith. Just how this came to be is wonderfully told in Patwant Singh's history of the Sikhs, published to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa--the most important date in the Sikh calendar.

As might be expected, Singh is a highly partisan narrator. The Sikhs are always bold and noble and those who oppress them--the Moghuls, the Hindus and the British--are conniving and duplicitous. But this aside, he tells a truthful story of the early days of Sikhism up to the 20th-century partition of the Punjab and the diaspora to East Africa and Britain. But the book really takes off when we reach the modern era. He provides a moving account of the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by Hindu troops, acting on the authority of the Indian government in 1984. This led directly to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, which in turn brought swift and widespread retribution as thousands of Sikhs were rounded up and massacred.

What Patwant Singh doesn't answer, though, is why so many people have felt so threatened by Sikhism over the centuries. Sikhs do not proselytise their religion and they only make up 2 percent of the Indian population, yet they have been persecuted throughout their history. Maybe just as nature abhors a vacuum so man-made religions abhor moderation. --John Crace

About the Author:

Patwant Singh's books and articles on India, international affairs, the environment, and the arts have been published in India, Europe, and North America. He has broadcast frequently on television and radio in many countries, and has travelled and lectured all over the world, often as the guest of governments. From 1957 to 1988, he was editor and publisher of the international magazine Design. He lives in New Delhi.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0375407286
• ISBN 13: 9780375407284
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 276