Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
296 1845-6.
chap, ix
and future happiness to new intercessors and to another manifestation of divine power and mercy. This labouring spirit has developed itself most strongly on the confines of the two antagonist creeds; but the feeling pervades the Indian world, and the extension of Sikh arms would speedily lead to the recognition of Nanak and Gobind as the long-looked-for Comforters.^ The Sikhs have now been struck by the petrific hand eve of the Reformation. The 'dead hand' of mediaeval England has in their judgement its counterpart in India to-day. Isolation and environment have both played their part in bringing about this state of affairs. As regards the first of these factors one may take the analogy a little farther back historically. It may be taken as an admitted fact that the Church in England anterior to the Norman Conquest suffered considerably from its isolation, and that one of the benefits of that conquest was the
removal of that barrier.
Cut off from the religious life of the rest of the Continent, except in so far as the rather uncertain link of pilgrimage maintained the connexion, the Saxon Church
And when we Muhammadan India we find a similar state of things.
became local, formalized, perhaps indifferent. turn to
The
—
pilgrimage exists made stronger by modern but in the main the isolation exists. This isolation has resulted in the gradual growth of a host of local traditions and local cults. And here the second factor environment comes into play. Liying in close association with Hinduism, drawing at an earlier period a number of converts from that religion, the followers of Islam in India have been profoundly affected. To take a single instance, caste. The Muhammadan of to-day of Rajput descent cannot, in many Despite the democratic nature cases, forget his original caste. link
of
facilities for travel
—
—
—
of the religion to which he now belongs, his whole life is largely influenced by the traditions of the creed of his ancestors. One could give many instances of this from one's own experience. They are common phenomena of India to-day in the face of modern development. The intelligent Muhammadan of to-day view the state of his religion with the feelings of an Englishman just before the Reforn^ation. He is fully conscious of imperfections, of accretions, of a departure from the pure tenets of his religion. Islam in modern India is looking for a Luther, but the desire for internal reform is not associated with any feeling of hostility towards other creeds. The idea is rather that it is because of its imperfections that Islam stands now where it does, and that reform is necessary to enable it to hold its place successfully amid other organised religions of detailed description of the various reformed sects to-day. which do exist among the Punjabi Muhammadans to-day may be found in the Census Report of 1912.—Ed.] 1 Widely spread notions, how erroneous soever they be, in one sense, always deserve attention, as based on some truth or conviction. Thus the Hindus quote an altered or spurious passage of the Bhagavat, describing the successive rulers of India as follows: (1) the Yavvans (Greeks), eight kings; (2) the Tooshkurs (Turks or Muhammadans), fourteen kings; (3) the Gurand (the fair, i.e. the English), ten kings; and (4) the Mowna (or silent, i.e. the disciples of Nanak the Seer), eleven kings.
A
296 1845-6.
chap, ix
and future happiness to new intercessors and to another manifestation of divine power and mercy. This labouring spirit has developed itself most strongly on the confines of the two antagonist creeds; but the feeling pervades the Indian world, and the extension of Sikh arms would speedily lead to the recognition of Nanak and Gobind as the long-looked-for Comforters.^ The Sikhs have now been struck by the petrific hand eve of the Reformation. The 'dead hand' of mediaeval England has in their judgement its counterpart in India to-day. Isolation and environment have both played their part in bringing about this state of affairs. As regards the first of these factors one may take the analogy a little farther back historically. It may be taken as an admitted fact that the Church in England anterior to the Norman Conquest suffered considerably from its isolation, and that one of the benefits of that conquest was the
removal of that barrier.
Cut off from the religious life of the rest of the Continent, except in so far as the rather uncertain link of pilgrimage maintained the connexion, the Saxon Church
And when we Muhammadan India we find a similar state of things.
became local, formalized, perhaps indifferent. turn to
The
—
pilgrimage exists made stronger by modern but in the main the isolation exists. This isolation has resulted in the gradual growth of a host of local traditions and local cults. And here the second factor environment comes into play. Liying in close association with Hinduism, drawing at an earlier period a number of converts from that religion, the followers of Islam in India have been profoundly affected. To take a single instance, caste. The Muhammadan of to-day of Rajput descent cannot, in many Despite the democratic nature cases, forget his original caste. link
of
facilities for travel
—
—
—
of the religion to which he now belongs, his whole life is largely influenced by the traditions of the creed of his ancestors. One could give many instances of this from one's own experience. They are common phenomena of India to-day in the face of modern development. The intelligent Muhammadan of to-day view the state of his religion with the feelings of an Englishman just before the Reforn^ation. He is fully conscious of imperfections, of accretions, of a departure from the pure tenets of his religion. Islam in modern India is looking for a Luther, but the desire for internal reform is not associated with any feeling of hostility towards other creeds. The idea is rather that it is because of its imperfections that Islam stands now where it does, and that reform is necessary to enable it to hold its place successfully amid other organised religions of detailed description of the various reformed sects to-day. which do exist among the Punjabi Muhammadans to-day may be found in the Census Report of 1912.—Ed.] 1 Widely spread notions, how erroneous soever they be, in one sense, always deserve attention, as based on some truth or conviction. Thus the Hindus quote an altered or spurious passage of the Bhagavat, describing the successive rulers of India as follows: (1) the Yavvans (Greeks), eight kings; (2) the Tooshkurs (Turks or Muhammadans), fourteen kings; (3) the Gurand (the fair, i.e. the English), ten kings; and (4) the Mowna (or silent, i.e. the disciples of Nanak the Seer), eleven kings.
A
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