On Sikh Ethics: Cosmopolitanism, the Locus of Morality and 'Just War'
Reflections on Sikh Political Philosophy
I have written before on how one can understand the formation of the Sikh faith as a response to a moment of crisis in history, and as an intervention, by the Sikh Gurus, to affect and even change that course.
The Sikh faith has a high degree of historical consciousness. This is perhaps related to the Sikhi, as an organized faith, being highly literate from its inception (and one that demands a high degree of literacy and literary acumen, from its followers). A deep philosophy of history is woven into the strands of Sikh scripture, again from its inception; the office of the Sikh Gurus was, during its regency, very political (even geopolitical), constantly engaging with (and within) the international system of the Mughal Empire, openly aligning with the more liberalising and humane tendencies in the system, while opposing its injustices; and, while doing so, Sikhs as agents of historical change were also very keen on leaving their own version of the historical record, which again begins with the example and injunction of Guru Gobind Singh ("now I shall tell my tale"), but is in itself a deeply conscious act, a challenge to top down impositions of ‘sanctioned’, and sanctified, official histories.
What is equally important in this Sikh historical consciousness is the primacy of a deep sense of morality. In Guru Nanak's scriptures, the rise and fall of empires, the fates of dynasties and realms, is in fact, deeply synchronous with their adherence to the 'rule' (hukam) of morality. Eras of 'darkness' recur in history, for instance, when kings or rulers shun the 'light' of morality. As Sikh philosophy also explains, in such times, in response to the 'cries of despair' of people crushed under the weight of darkness, by some deeper logic of eternal cosmic morality, or influenced by the perception of pain and suffering, the great order of being, the forces of history often generate heroes (mahabalis), philosophers, sages, in society, or even raise new dynasties, to defeat the fallen and corrupted, to bring in new orders, new ages; how these laws operate, or how these emergences occur, we study in history, but one understands all political orders last only as long as they adhere to the great-law of justice, and when a certain threshold of injustice is crossed, the laws of historic change kick in, and swords are raised, and fires burn.
Guru Nanak's explication of the theory of the unfolding of history (and his praxis of the initiation of a new age in response to that certain turn of the wheel in the age in which he, as a prophet of that greater law, ‘emerged’) I have explored in earlier notes, especially my note on the Baburbani and in another essay on the Sangat in Society.
In this note, I will briefly engage with two other concepts from Sikh Political Philosophy, particularly the ideas of 'Sarbat da Bhala' (wellness of all people) and Dharamyudh (just war). There is often a misconception of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh's regencies in the House of Nanak as being, as some say, at variance with one another. Nothing could be further from the truth. Guru Nanak's baani is replete with martial metaphors (consider, je tau prem khelan ka chao...) as much as it is with the ideas of rights, consensus, and communal co-existence (haqq paraya nanaka...). Everything is all there, all seeds that grew.
Guru Nanak inaugurated the formation of Sikh Civilisation, a formational process which reached its apotheosis in Guru Gobind Singh's declaration of the Khalsa - this could not have been achieved without the moulding of Sikh Civilisation over ten generations (among other acts, creation of the script, the scripture, founding of towns, cities and 'temples', nurturing of trade networks, patronage of culture and the arts, including traditional music, organisation of revenue systems, and the beginning of armed organisation, and resistance to subsumption under the Mughal Architecture of Control, whether through diplomacy or war).
In this the overarching tendencies of cosmopolitanism, engagement, and dialogue were tied into Sikh Civilisational formation, throughout this ten generational formative phase, whether this was through engagement with different schools of religious and philosophical thought (as one can see in the dialogues of Guru Nanak), the multifacetedly broad range of the Sikh scripture (the Adi Granth, which includes contributions from Saints from across the Indian subcontinent), or in the eclectic grandness of Guru Gobind Singh's own scriptures, and life on earth, drawing from literature and traditions across thousands of years of history from India, Iran and beyond, and his patronage of similarly broad ranged great works at his court.
This cosmopolitanism was also deeply framed by the notion of 'sarbat da bhala', that the Sikh project was, ultimately, one that was geared toward achieving progress for all of humankind.
I would also propose that 'sarbat da bhala' and the idea of just war in Sikh philosophy are two sides of the coin or two means to the same end. I recently listened to a conversation with a scholar of Sikh history in which he mentioned that the destruction of 'dusht-daman' (evildoers and corrupted men), was the primary motivation of the 'revolution' of Banda Singh Bahadur, which led to the formation, as I see it, of the First Sikh Republic. He was right in that respect. The destruction of 'dusht-daman' is ultimately necessary for 'sarbat da bhala', for the ultimate goal of the Khalsa into which the Sangat of Nanak was to evolve, was to act, as both the shield (in its protective aspect as I explored in Sangat and Society, and the Sikh Philosophy of History) and sword of the greater-law (hukam) on earth, which is ultimately how 'God' (used as a stand-in word for the ultimate divine principle) acts on earth, through his chosen men, ascended, by his intervention, to the ranks of 'gods' (as in devas, or divine heroes) on earth.
A hero, however, is only good till he acts according to the greater/higher principle of the hukam; reflections on the tales and legends of heroic mahabalis and avtaars from the Indic tradition in Sikh scripture attest to this. All heroic-gods are subject to life and death, and the greater principle set into motion by the One that is beyond All, the great infinite, unmoved mover, the Akal.
In acting as the sword of hukam in the realm of society, in the Arena of History, adherence to the general law of morality is therefore vital even for the Khalsa raised by the Guru - and this has remained a core aspect, an ethical principle, for the functioning and operation of the Khalsa War Machine, even in times of great crisis (the Sikh adherence to morality in the conduct of war was noted by many nominal enemies, on the 'other side' in the 18th century). A sense of morality and non-vengeful justice also formed the core bedrock of the Sarkar-i-Khalsa state that succeeded the Misl Confederacy period of Sikh history, into which the Dal Khalsa had devolved by the end of the 18th century. How did adherence to the principles of justice determine the ebb and flow of Sikh history? That is for deeper exploration.
However, some initial thoughts. The Dal Khalsa was a prime example of how the highest strictures of morality in the conduct of just war can be adhered to even while fighting a great dusht such as Ahmed Shah Abdali, even from the back foot, while facing the threat of extermination and communal death; Maharaja Ranjit Singh's empire was a demonstration of how the position of power must be used for ennobling oneself and protecting the rule of law, never degenerating into the pursuit of senseless vengeance. The fall of the Empire is again a demonstration of the inability to adhere to these principles and the outcomes of such a fall.
The locus of morality created by Nanak and his House is entrenched into the foundational core of Sikh Civilisation and Society. Any structures we build on top of it, must adhere to these fundamental principles. If they do not, they will be fundamentally weak. And will be brought down, as is written in the great law that moves the wheel of history and moulds the ebb and flow of the endless river of time.
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