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Panth Prakash

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Panth Prakash
Prācīn Panth Prakāsh
Panth Prakash manuscript, Panjab University, Chandigarh, MS 797
AuthorRattan Singh Bhangu
Original titleSri Gur Panth Prakash
LanguageBraj and Punjabi mix
GenreSikhism
Published1810 A.D. (G. Mann), 1841 (V. Singh)
Publication placeSikh Empire
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Sikh scriptures • Punjabi literature

Panth Prakash (Gurmukhi: ਪੰਥ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼), also called Prācīn Panth Prakāsh ("Old Panth Prakash", not to be confused with the "Naveen [new] Panth Prakash" by Giani Gian Singh) (Gurmukhi: ਪ੍ਰਾਚੀਨ ਪੰਥ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ lit. "The Rise of the Honorable Guru Panth/Sikh Community"),[1] is a historical text about Sikh history in the 1700s by Rattan Singh Bhangu and was completed in the early 1810s.[note 1][2] The text's opening foundation briefly covers the lives of the ten Sikh Gurus, then traces the accomplishments of the Sikh community from 1708 to the establishment of Sikh rule in Punjab.[3] The text provides the most comprehensive compilation of stories related to the feats of Sikh warriors in the 18th century, the evolving Sikh martial formations, and the internal power dynamics between Sikh Misl groups.

Description

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The work can be divided into two parts:[4]: 15 

  1. Human guruship period: the period of the Sikh gurus, from the life of Guru Nanak until Guru Gobind Singh's death in 1708.[4]: 15 
  2. Post-human guruship period: covers the period from 1708 until the establishment of Sikh authority in the Punjab through the founding of the Sikh Empire by Ranjit Singh.[4]: 15 

History

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The original title of the work is Sri Gur Panth Prakash.[4]: 20 

Purpose

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Rattan Singh Bhangu indicates that the original drive to write the text was to provide an accurate account of the Sikh Panth to the East India Company officials, as he deemed other accounts biased.[5] Bhangu met with Captain William Murray, the head of the local British army of Colonel David Ochterlony, who then listened to the stories recounted by Bhangu.[6][7] Even still, Dhavan argues the text was written for Punjabi-speaking Sikh audience, as opposed to a British one.[8] Dhavan argues Bhangu asks "the Khalsa Sikh reader to participate in both witnessing and rememorializing the Sikh past … both as a form of spiritual practice and as a curb on the self-interest of the Khalsa warrior."[9][10]

W. H. McLeod claims the text "vigorously arms the distinctive nature of the Khalsa identity and the claim that this was the identity which Guru Gobind Singh intended his followers to adopt".[11] The text holds great esteem within the Nihang Sikh community, for they believe Rattan Singh himself to be a Nihang.[12]

Dating

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Whilst the text had been dated to 1841 for a while, recent scholarship of Gurinder Singh Mann dates it to the early 1810's instead.[4]: 15 

Sources

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Rattan Singh Bhangu, being the grandson of Mehtab Singh Bhangu, was privy to rare oral histories, often the author remarks how he had heard the story from an elder.[13][14] Regarding the sources Rattan Singh Bhangu utilizes, G.S. Mann writes:

The text of Sri Gur Panth Prakash makes it clear that its author was a person of considerable learning with access to wide range of Sikh sources, which included the Guru Granth and historical documents ranging from the Puratan Janam Sakhi (1580s), Gurdas Bhalla’s Vars (pre-1630), Sainapati’s Sri Gur Sobha (pre-1710), and Sukha Singh’s Sri Gur Bilas (1797). He also refers to his access to non-Sikh documents, some of which were written in Sanskrit, Bhakha, and Persian.[15]

Availability

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Vir Singh published the text in 1914, but this version has been criticized by scholars, such as Louis E. Fenech and Harinder Singh, for editing and chopping out sections.[16][17] Baba Santa Singh also published a Punjabi commentary in 2000.[18] A revised edition, based on manuscripts, was published by Balwant Singh Dhillon in 2004.[19]

The text is available in English in two volumes, published by the Institute of Sikh Studies (Chandigarh).

Legacy

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According to Gurinder Singh Mann, the Sri Gur Panth Prakash initiated a genre of literature that specialized on the wider Khalsa community's mission and history in the post-guruship period.[4]: 15–16  Communal exegesis of the text continues at gurdwaras and traditional Sikh educational institutions til the present-day.[4]: 15–16  Many other works written after it adopted the same title.[4]: 16 

Editions

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  • 1914: Prachin Panth Prakash, ed. Bhai Vir Singh. Amritsar: Wazir Hind Press, 8th reprint 2008.[4]: 56 
  • 1974: Sri Gur Panth Prakash, edited by Jit Singh Sital. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 3rd reprint 2004.[4]
  • 2000: Prachin Panth Prakash, 2 vols., text and commentary by Baba Santa Singh. Damdama: Chalda Vahir.[4]
  • 2004: Sri Gur Panth Prakash, edited by Balwant Singh Dhillon. Amritsar: Singh Brothers.[4]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The original title of the work was 'Panth Prakash', it is not to be confused with a later work with a similar name by Giani Gian Singh, in-which it is differentiated from it by the addition of the word 'Prachin' meaning "old" before the title.
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References

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  1. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 15
  2. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 15
  3. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 15
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mann, Gurinder Singh (2016). Sri Gur Panth Prakash: Its Text, Context, and Significance (PDF). New York: Global Institute for Sikh Studies.
  5. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 17.
  6. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 17.
  7. ^ Sri Gur Panth Prakash, English Translation by Kulwant Singh. 2006. Institute of Sikh Studies. Chandigarh. Page xIv
  8. ^ Dhavan, “Reading the Texture,” 521.
  9. ^ Murphy, Anne. 2012. The Materiality of the Past: History and Representation in the Sikh Tradition. Oxford University Press. Page 123
  10. ^ McLeod, Textual Sources, Page 67.
  11. ^ Murphy, Anne. 2012. The Materiality of the Past: History and Representation in the Sikh Tradition. Oxford University Press. Page 121
  12. ^ Fenech, Louis E. 2021. The Cherished Five in Sikh History. Book, Whole. New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. ^ Sri Gur Panth Prakash, English Translation by Kulwant Singh. 2006. Institute of Sikh Studies. Chandigarh. Page xxi
  14. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 28.
  15. ^ Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2016. 'Sri Guru Panth Prakash: Its text, Context and Significance'. In Journal of Sikh & Punjabi Studies. Volume 23, page 28.
  16. ^ Harinder Singh. 1990. “Bhai Vir Singh’s Editing of Panth Prakāsh by Rattan Singh Bhangu.” Ph.D. Thesis. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University. Page 188.
  17. ^ Lou Fenech, Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition: Playing the “Game of Love.” (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000).
  18. ^ Prachin Panth Prakash, 2 vols., 2000. Text and commentary by Baba Santa Singh. Damdama, Chalda Vahir.
  19. ^ Sri Gur Panth Prakash, edited by Balwant Singh Dhillon. Amritsar: Singh Brothers. 2004.
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