8/3/2019 The Lost British Accounts of Sikh Texts

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-lost-british-accounts-of-sikh-texts 1/4

The Lost British Accounts of Sikh texts

A report on the lecture by Gurinder Singh Mann on the first English translations of Sikhtexts. Prepared by Panjab Cultural Association and www.sikhnugget.com .

30 th November 2011

The British made many inroads with their expansion into the Indian subcontinent. There weremany travellers, writers and army personnel who left records of their time depicting themannerisms, religion and customs of the Sikhs. Whilst one of the earliest accounts of the Sikhs isthat of an account dated 1718. It was in reference to the relationship between the earliesttanslations of the Sikhs and the British which saw the release of a project showcasing the work of Dr John Casper Leyden, translator, poet and linguist extraordinaire.

The setting was Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Holy Bones, Leicester on the 27 th November an eventoragnised by the Panjab Cultural Association (PCA), the International Panthic Dal (IPD) and theKhalsa Youth Club (KYC). The guest speaker was Gurinder Singh Mann, historian and Author with a decade of research in Sikh history, culture, and manuscripts.

Proceedings were started with an introduction by Gurjit Singh Walia from the International PanthicDal who outlined the work undertaken by the organisation. He elaborated on their recent

8/3/2019 The Lost British Accounts of Sikh Texts

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-lost-british-accounts-of-sikh-texts 2/4

succeses including: sending a copy of Jarnail Singh’s I accuse book being to MP’s across the UKand to other human rights organisations globally. This was tied in with a Human Rights exhibitionthat was completed by the group. Another initiative was that of the Sikh identity card which peoplecould carry with them written on it was the rights of the Sikhs in terms of the Turban and theKirpan. The plight of Rik was also highlighted who was suffering from Leukeamia and how ablood match donor was urgently needed

Gurjit Singh Walia described Gurinder Mann as a scholar who had worked tirelessly onresearching Sikh history and the bani of Guru Gobind Singh. Mann started off the lecture bydescribing his past projects and scholarly activities spanning a decade including his involvementwith successful heritage website www.sikhnugget.com and the www.sridasamgranth.com , variousarticles and his recent book Sri Dasam Granth Sahib: Questions and Answers. He expanded onthe various initiatives of the Panjab Cultural Association including the celebration of Dastar Dayand the presentation created for it. Mann explained about an online Panjabi learning resourcecalled Cybersikhi which would be released soon and a Gurmat Sangeet initiative and an interfaithevent the organisation was involved in.

Then Mann went through why the PCA had commissioned the Projectof the Panjabi translations of Dr Leyden, citing the goals of the projectwas to bring the translations of Dr Leyden to life, including the settingup of a website and the development of a booklet. Mann explained thatDr Leyden from Denholm, Scotland was adept in several languagesand trained to be a preacher and is more famous for his poeticalworks. However his fascination and desire to look at Indianmanuscripts and languages led him to travel to India. He however wasnot allowed to travel without appointment, so he quickly acquired thetraining to be a surgeon and henceforth his journey to India. It wasthrough his connections that he took up a post at Calcutta at thefamous Fort William College, as the Professor of Hindustani. It washere Dr Leyden undertook various translations of Indian works in

several languages.As part of these translations two important manuscripts have come to lightwhich are located in the British Library.

These manuscripts contains translations from Panjabi into english and are mainly related to thereligion of the Sikhs.The translations include the Sri Bachitra Natak (Wondrous drama) written bythe Tenth Guru Of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, in which he describes his own battles, hislineage and the reason of his coming i.e. to spread righteousness in the world. There is also arare unknown work called the Kurka Of Guru Gobind Singh and a full translation of the PremSumarag Granth (The true path to love). The translations are significant as they are appear to bethe first english translations of Panjabi texts which shows the extent to which the British wanted tounderstand the culture and religion of the Sikhs.

8/3/2019 The Lost British Accounts of Sikh Texts

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-lost-british-accounts-of-sikh-texts 3/4

Gurinder Singh Mann explaining the significance of the Ananpuri bir of Guru Gobind Singh

Mann explained the significance of the translations including how his discovery of the PremSumarag Granth translations in 2006 had changed the scholars view on dating of the importanttext. This was explained in the context of the late Dr W.H.Mcleod who refused to change his viewon the dating of Sikh texts but Mann’s discovery could not be ignored and Mcleod had to concedean 18 th century date. The Dr Leyden translation of the Sri Bachitra Natak was also significant asMann explained that the only person to take note of his translations was statesmen and Governor of Bombay, Lt. Col. John Malcolm. Writing in his Sketch of the Sikhs published in 1811, he statesthat he had acquired translations from Dr Leyden. Mann who has catalogued many manuscriptsin India and the UK, delighted the participants to the lecture by showing rare visuals from the

Anandpuri Bir (dated 1695/1696) of Guru Gobind Singh. Showing the importance of Sri BachitraNatak, he stated that even Dr Leyden’s translation acknowledged that the bani was one part of the Dasam Patshah Ka Granth. Another translation undertaken by Dr Leyden was that of the Var commonly attributed to Bhai Gurdas Singh (2 nd ), known as the Var Sri Bhagauti ji , which showsthe ideal form of the Khalsa.

If was fitting for this project to be undertaken as in August 2011, it was the 200th deathanniversary of Dr Leyden. The project has also attracted the notice of the Scottish and a distantrelative of Dr Leyden, Marjorie Gavin, has been appreciative of the PCA’ s role in noting Leyden’scontribution to translations. She stated " Dr leyden mastered over 30 Oriental languages, becomea minister, surgeon and naturalist, bring him fame as a poet and linguist and earn the respect,admiration and friendship of Sir Walter Scott and other eminent members of 19th century societybefore travelling to India and an untimely death in Java. A genius had been born - Dr JohnLeyden".

8/3/2019 The Lost British Accounts of Sikh Texts

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-lost-british-accounts-of-sikh-texts 4/4

The release of Dr Leyden’s Panjabi Translation booklet.Gurjit Singh Walia (L) and Gurinder Singh Mann( R).

Gurjit Singh Walia welcomed the contributions and original research made by Gurinder Mann inhis lecture and opened up the floor for questions where he gave answers to questions onmanuscripts, Sikhism and Women, and the Importance of Sri Dasam Granth Sahib. Mannthanked the International Panthic Dal and the Khalsa Youth Club and the Guru Nanak GurdwaraCommittee many of whom were present in holding the important event. The many volunteerswho had worked on the project were also thanked for their services. The lecture was wellattended with participants from London, Manchester, Nottingham, and Coventry includingacademics, students on Sikh courses and members of the media. Jaspal Singh from the KhalsaYouth Club summed up the event by saying, “Gurinder Singh Mann had given a illuminatinglecture on the relationship between the British and the Sikhs and it was clear the Panjab CulturalAssociation had effectively preserved the works of Dr Leyden’s and his contribution to the Panjabiand Sikh community.” A small booklet on the PCA project was also released entitled Dr Leyden’sPanjabi translations.

More information on the project visit Panjab Cultural Association: www.5culture.org .

The internantional Panthic Dal website is http://panthicdal.com/

The findings and research on the manuscripts can be found at www.drleyden.co.uk

The booklet, The Dr Leyden Panjabi translations is available from: www.archimedespress.co.uk .