Dallas DarlingWhen Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, emerged from three days of solitude and announced: "There is no Hindu; there is no Muslim; only God,"(1) little did he realize that this new enlightened belief would be met with violence. Having taught his followers the loving transcendence of God and "brotherhood of all mankind," and while attempting to build bridges of peace and understanding and human equality between warring Hindu and Muslim factions in India, he also sought to eliminate caste distinctions, untouchability, and the seclusion of women.
But some Hindu, Muslim and Mughal rulers viewed this new peaceful religion, this unique expression of worship, as a threat, as did the British Empire. Converts in the Punjabi region were sometimes persecuted, even killed, for developing their own sacred book (Guru Granth), their own traditional dress and appearance, and for creating a central place of worship and pilgrimage in the Golden Temple of Amritsar. Other Sikh beliefs were also contested, like the trinity of labor, charity and devotion, along with dedication to one's community and family, honest toil, pure love, and public piety.
During World War One and after the British Empire militarily occupied India and had brutally subjugated the Sikhs in Punjabi, Indian, Islamic and Sikh self-determination and nationalism was a common occurrence. Another commonality was Britain's imposed inflation, high taxes, food shortages, and conscription caused by the world war. When an influenza epidemic created widespread suffering in 1919, followed by massive discontent rioting and revolts, Britain responded with the repressive Rowlatt Acts-indefinitely extending wartime "emergency measures."
Under such conditions ten thousand Sikhs gathered to celebrate a religious festival in an enclosed square in the holy city of Amritsar. Sikh worshippers did not know the local British commander, General Reginald Dyer, had banned all public meetings, including religious festivals. Learning of the Sikh religious celebration, Dyer marched his troops into the square and, without warning, ordered them to fire into the unarmed mass at point-blank range until all ammunition was expended. (Many Sikhs claimed the British records of the Amritsar Massacre-379 killed and almost 1,200 wounded-was too low.)
Wade Michael Page, a former soldier in the U.S. Army, has been named as the suspect in another shooting spree in a Wisconsin Sikh temple that left six people dead and several others wounded. Evidently, the 40-year old man, who served as a psychological operations specialist and Hawk Missile System repairman, had links to several racist and supremacist political and social groups. While Page himself was shot dead by the police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is treating this horrific shooting, this massacre, as another domestic terrorist incident. Four other gunman still remains at large.
During a journey when Guru Nanak and his constant companion, Mardana, encountered a robber along the road, he persuaded the robber to abandon his violent and wicked ways and become a follower of the Sikh "path."(2) This robber, who was once selfish, brutal, and had caused immense suffering, dedicated his life to the "brotherhood of all mankind" and service to family, community, and God, including honest work and pure love towards others. This became the new "path," a new road, not only to walk along but to also breathe and live and to become.
If only the British Empire (and other exploitive, oppressive, and war-like imperial powers) and Wade Page (and other ethnic, nationalistic, and religious militant supremacists) had realized there was but one God and the universal "brotherhood of all mankind."
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
(1) Goldwag, Arthur. -Isms and Ologies: All the Movements, Ideologies, and Doctrines That Have Shaped Our World. New York, New York: Vintage Books, 2007., p. 297.
(2) Rohmann, Chris. A World Of Ideas: A Dictionary Of Important Theories, Concepts, Beliefs, And Thinkers. New York, New York: Ballantine Books, 1999., p. 360.