FOOTNOTES:

Trifling disputes about property are settled by the heads of the village, by arbitration[83], or by the chiefs. Either of thesemodes, supposing the parties consent to refer to it, is final; and they must agree to one or other. If a theft occurs, the property is recovered, and the party punished by the person from whom it was stolen, who is aided on such occasions by the inhabitants of his village, or his chief. The punishment, however, is never capital[84]. Murder is generally revenged by the relations of the deceased, who, in such cases, rigorously retaliate on the murderer, and often on all who endeavour to protect him.

The character of the Sikhs, or rather Singhs, which is the name by which the followers of Gúrú Góvind, who are all devoted to arms, are distinguished, is very marked. They have, in general, the Hindú cast of countenance, somewhat altered by their long beards, and are to the full as active as the Mahrátas; and much more robust, from their living fuller, and enjoying a better and colder climate. Their courage is equal, at all times, to that of any natives of India; and when wrought upon by prejudice or religion, is quite desperate. They are all horsemen, and have no infantry in their own country, except for the defence of their forts and villages, though they generally serve as infantry in foreign armies. They are bold, and rather rough, in their address; which appears more to a stranger from their invariably speaking in a loud tone[85]of voice: but this is quite a habit, and is alike used by them to express the sentiments of regard and hatred. The Sikhs have been reputed deceitful and cruel; but I know no grounds upon which they can be considered more so than the other tribes of India. They seemed to me, from all the intercourse I had with them, to be more open and sincere than the Mahrátas, and less rude and savage than the Afgháns. They have, indeed, become, from national success, too proud of their own strength, and too irritable in their tempers, to have patience for the wiles of the former; and they retain, in spite of their change of manners and religion, too much of the originalcharacter of their Hindú ancestors, (for the great majority are of the Hindú race,) to have the constitutional ferocity of the latter. The Sikh soldier is, generally speaking, brave, active, and cheerful, without polish, but neither destitute of sincerity nor attachment; and if he often appears wanting in humanity, it is not so much to be attributed to his national character, as to the habits of a life, which, from the condition of the society in which he is born, is generally passed in scenes of violence and rapine.

The Sikh merchant, or cultivator of the soil, if he is a Singh, differs little in character from the soldier, except that his occupation renders him less presuming and boisterous. He also wears arms, and is, from education, prompt to use them whenever his individual interest, or that of the community in which he lives[86], requires him todo so. The general occupations of the Khalása Sikhs has been before mentioned. Their character differs widely from that ofthe Singhs. Full of intrigue, pliant, versatile, and insinuating, they have all the art of the lower classes of Hindús, who are usually employed in transacting business: from whom, indeed, as they have no distinction of dress, it is very difficult to distinguish them.

The religious tribes of Acálís, Shahíd, and Nirmala, have been noticed. Theirgeneral character is formed from their habits of life. The Acálís are insolent, ignorant, and daring: presuming upon those rights which their numbers and fanatic courage have established, their deportment is hardly tolerant to the other Sikhs, and insufferable to strangers, for whom they entertain a contempt, which they take little pains to conceal. The Sháhíd and the Nirmala, particularly the latter, have more knowledge, and more urbanity. They are almost all men of quiet, peaceable habits; and many of them are said to possess learning.

There is another tribe among the Sikhs, called the Nánac Pautra, or descendants of Nánac, who have the character of being a mild, inoffensive race; and, though they do not acknowledge the institutions of Gúrú Góvind, they are greatly revered by his followers, who hold it sacrilege to injure the race of their founder; and, under the advantage which this general veneration affords them, the Nánac Pautra pursue theiroccupations; which, if they are not mendicants, is generally that of travelling merchants. They do not carry arms; and profess, agreeably to the doctrine of Nánac, to be at peace[87]with all mankind.

The Sikh converts, it has been before stated, continue, after they have quitted their original religion, all those civil usages and customs of the tribes to which they belonged, that they can practise, without infringing the tenets of Nánac, or the institutions of Gúrú Góvind. They are most particular with regard to their intermarriages; and, on this point, Sikhs descended from Hindús almost invariably conform to Hindú customs, every tribe intermarrying withinitself. The Hindú usage, regarding diet, is also held equally sacred; no Sikh, descended from a Hindú family, ever violating it, except upon particular occasions, such as a Gúrú-matá, when they are obliged, by their tenets and institutions, to eat promiscuously. The strict observance of these usages has enabled many of the Sikhs, particularly of the Ját[88]and Gujar[89]tribes, which include almost all those settled to the south of the Satléj, to preserve an intimate intercourse with their original tribes; who, considering the Sikhs not as having lost cast, but as Hindús that have joined a political association, which obliges them to conform to general rules established for its preservation, neither refuse to intermarry[90]nor to eat with them.

The higher cast of Hindús, such as Bráhmens and Cshatríyas, who have become Sikhs, continue to intermarry with converts of their own tribes, but not with Hindús of the cast they have abandoned, as they are polluted by eating animal food; all kinds of which are lawful to Sikhs, except the cow, which it is held sacrilege to slay[91]. Nánac, whose object was to conciliate the Muhammedans to his creed, prohibited hog's flesh also; but it was introduced by his successors, as much, perhaps, from a spirit of revenge against the Moslems, as from considerations of indulgence to the numerous converts of the Ját and Gujar tribe, among whom wild hog is a favourite species of food.

The Muhammedans, who become Sikhs, intermarry with each other, but are allowed to preserve none of their usages, being obliged to eat hog's flesh, and abstain from circumcision.

The Sikhs are forbid the use of tobacco[92], but allowed to indulge in spirituous[93]liquors, which they almost all drink to excess; and it is rare to see a Singh soldier, after sunset, quite sober. Their drink is an ardent spirit[94], made in the Penjáb; but they have no objections to either the wine or spirits of Europe, when they can obtain them.

The use of opium, to intoxicate, is very common with the Sikhs, as with most of the military tribes of India. They also take B'hang[95], another inebriating drug.

The conduct of the Sikhs to their women differs in no material respect from that of the tribes of Hindús, or Muhammedans, from whom they are descended. Their moral character with regard to women, and indeed in most other points, may, from the freedom of their habits, generally be considered as much more lax than that of their ancestors, who lived under the restraint of severe restrictions, and whose fear of excommunication from their cast, at least obliged them to cover their sins with the veil of decency. This the emancipated Sikhs despise: and there is hardly an infamy which this debauched and dissolute race are not accused (and I believe with justice) of committing in the most open and shameful manner.

The Sikhs are almost all horsemen, and they take great delight in riding. Their horses were, a few years ago, famous; and those bred in the Lak'hi Jungle, and other parts of their territory, were justly celebrated for their strength, temper, and activity: but the internal distractions of these territories has been unfavourable to the encouragement of the breed, which has consequently declined; and the Sikhs noware in no respect better mounted than the Mahrátas. From a hundred of their cavalry it would be difficult to select ten horses that would be admitted as fit to mount native troopers in the English service.

Their horsemen use swords and spears, and most of them now carry matchlocks, though some still use the bow and arrow; a species of arms, for excellence in the use of which their forefathers were celebrated, and which their descendants appear to abandon with great reluctance.

The education of the Sikhs renders them hardy, and capable of great fatigue; and the condition of the society in which they live, affords constant exercise to that restless spirit of activity and enterprise which their religion has generated. Such a race cannot be epicures: they appear, indeed, generally to despise luxury of diet, and pride themselves in their coarse fare. Their dress is also plain, not unlike that of the Hindús,equally light and divested of ornament. Some of the chiefs wear gold bangles; but this is rare; and the general characteristic of their dress and mode of living, is simplicity.

The principal leaders among the Sikhs affect to be familiar and easy of intercourse with their inferiors, and to despise the pomp and state of the Muhammedan chiefs: but their pride often counteracts this disposition; and they appeared to me to have, in proportion to their rank and consequence, more state, and to maintain equal, if not more, reserve and dignity with their followers, than is usual with the Mahráta chiefs.

It would be difficult, if not impracticable, to ascertain the amount of the population of the Sikh territories, or even to compute the number of the armies which they could bring into action. They boast that they can raise more than a hundred thousand horse: and, if it were possible to assemble every Sikh horseman, this statement mightnot be an exaggeration: but there is, perhaps, no chief among them, except Ranjít Singh, of Lahore, that could bring an effective body of four thousand men into the field. The force of Ranjít Singh did not, in 1805, amount to eight thousand; and part of that was under chiefs who had been subdued from a state of independence, and whose turbulent minds ill brooked an usurpation which they deemed subversive of the constitution of their commonwealth. His army is now more numerous than it was, but it is composed of materials which have no natural cohesion; and the first serious check which it meets, will probably cause its dissolution.

FOOTNOTES:[67]A general estimate of the value of the country possessed by the Sikhs may be formed, when it is stated, that it contains, besides other countries, the whole of the province of Lahore; which, agreeable to Mr. Bernier, produced, in the reign of Aurungzéb, two hundred and forty-six lacks and ninety-five thousand rupees; or two millions, four hundred and sixty-nine thousand, five hundred pounds sterling.[68]This province now forms almost the whole territory of Daulet Ráo Sindíá.[69]With the chiefs of the Sikhs in the Jaléndra Dúáb we are little acquainted. Tárá Singh is the most considerable; but he and the others have been greatly weakened by their constant and increasing internal divisions.[70]Fateh Singh is, like Ranjít Singh, of a Ját family.[71]Jud'h Singh, of Ramgadiá, is of the carpenter cast.[72]The term Gujarát Singh is sometimes given to the inhabitants of this Dúáb, of which the chiefs of Gujarát and Rotás are the principal rulers.[73]The word Khálsá, which has before been explained to mean the state or commonwealth, is supposed, by the Sikhs, to have a mystical meaning, and to imply that superior government, under the protection of which "they live, and to the established rules and laws of which, as fixed by Gúrú Góvind, it is their civil and religious duty to conform."[74]Acálí, derived from Acál, a compound term ofcál,death, and the Sanscrit privativea, which meansnever-dying, orimmortal. It is one of the names of the Divinity; and has, probably, been given to this remarkable class of devotees, from their always exclaiming Acál! Acál! in their devotions.[75]All Singhs do not wear bracelets; but it is indispensable to have steel about their persons, which they generally have in the shape of a knife or dagger. In support of this ordinance they quote the following verses of Gúrú Góvind:Sáheb beá ki rach'ha hamné,Tuhi Srí Sáheb, churi, káti, katár—Acál purukh ki rach'ha hamné,Serv lóh di rach'ha hamné,Servacál di rach'ha hamné,Serv lohji di sada rach'ha hamné.which may be translated: "The protection of the infinite Lord is over us: thou art the lord, the cutlass, the knife, and the dagger. The protection of the immortal Being is over us: the protection ofALL-STEELis over us: the protection ofALL-TIMEis over us: the protection ofALL-STEELis constantly over us."[76]The Shahíd and Nirmala, two other religious tribes among the Sikhs, have Bungás, or places, upon the great reservoir of Amritsar; but both these are peaceful orders of priests, whose duty is to address the Deity, and to read and explain the Adí-Grant'h to the Sikhs. They are, in general, men of some education. A Sikh, of any tribe, may be admitted into either of these classes, as among the Acálís, who admit all into their body who choose to conform to their rules.[77]A custom of a similar nature, with regard to all tribes eating promiscuously, is observed among the Hindús, at the temple of Jagannáth, where men of all religions and casts, without distinction, eat of the Mahá Prasád,the great offering; i.e. food dressed by the cooks of the idols, and sold on the stairs of the temple.[78]The Sikh priest, who gave an account of this custom, was of a high Hindú tribe; and, retaining some of his prejudices, he at first said, that Muhammedan Sikhs, and those who were converts from the sweeper cast, were obliged, even on this occasion, to eat a little apart from the other Sikhs: but, on being closely questioned, he admitted the fact as stated in the narrative; saying, however, it was only on this solemn occasion that these tribes are admitted to eat with the others.[79]The army is called, when thus assembled, the Dal Khálsá, or the army of the state.[80]The Muhammedans who have become Sikhs, and their descendants, are, in the Penjábi jargon, termed Mezhebi Singh, or Singhs of the faith; and they are subdivided into the four classes which are vulgarly, but erroneously, supposed to distinguish the followers of Muhammed, Sayyad Singh, Sheikh Singh, Moghul Singh, and Patán Singh; by which designations the names of the particular race or country of the Muhammedans have been affixed, by Hindús, as distinctions of cast.[81]The Muhammedan inhabitants of the Penjáb used to flock to the British camp; where, they said, they enjoyed luxuries which no man could appreciate that had not suffered privation. They could pray aloud, and feast upon beef.[82]Grain pays in kind; sugar-cane, melons, &c. pay in cash.[83]This is called Penchayat, or a court of five; the general number of arbitrators chosen to adjust differences and disputes. It is usual to assemble a Panchayat, or a court of arbitration, in every part of India, under a native government; and, as they are always chosen from men of the best reputation in the place where they meet, this court has a high character for justice.[84]A Sikh priest, who has been several years in Calcutta, gave this outline of the administration of justice among his countrymen. He spoke of it with rapture; and insisted, with true patriotic prejudice, on its great superiority over the vexatious system of the English government; which was, he said, tedious, vexatious, and expensive, and advantageous only to clever rogues.[85]Talking aloud is so habitual to a Sikh, that he bawls a secret in your ear. It has often occurred to me, that they have acquired it from living in a country where internal disputes have so completely destroyed confidence, that they can only carry on conversation with each other at a distance: but it is fairer, perhaps, to impute this boisterous and rude habit to their living almost constantly in a camp, in which the voice certainly loses that nice modulated tone which distinguishes the more polished inhabitants of cities.[86]The old Sikh soldier generally returns to his native village, where his wealth, courage, or experience, always obtains him respect, and sometimes station and consequence. The second march which the British army made into the country of the Sikhs, the headquarters were near a small village, the chief of which, who was upwards of a hundred years of age, had been a soldier, and retained all the look and manner of his former occupation. He came to me, and expressed his anxiety to see Lord Lake. I showed him the general, who was sitting alone, in his tent, writing. He smiled, and said he knew better: "The hero who had overthrown Sindiá and Holkár, and had conquered Hindústan, must be surrounded with attendants, and have plenty of persons to write for him." I assured him that it was Lord Lake; and, on his lordship coming to breakfast, I introduced the old Singh, who seeing a number of officers collect round him, was at last satisfied of the truth of what I said; and, pleased with the great kindness and condescension with which he was treated by one whom he justly thought so great a man, sat down on the carpet, became quite talkative, and related all he had seen, from the invasion of Nádir Sháh to that moment. Lord Lake, pleased with the bold manliness of his address, and the independence of his sentiments, told him he would grant him any favour he wished. "I am glad of it," said the old man; "then march away with your army from my village, which will otherwise be destroyed." Lord Lake, struck with the noble spirit of the request, assured him he would march next morning, and that, in the mean-time, he should have guards, who would protect his village from injury. Satisfied with this assurance, the old Singh was retiring, apparently full of admiration and gratitude at Lord Lake's goodness, and of wonder at the scene he had witnessed, when, meeting two officers at the door of the tent, he put a hand upon the breast of each, exclaiming at the same time, "Brothers! where were you born, and where are you at this moment?" and, without waiting for an answer, proceeded to his village.[87]When Lord Lake entered the Penjáb, in 1805, a general protection was requested, by several principal chiefs, for the Nánac Pautra, on the ground of the veneration in which they were held, which enabled them, it was stated, to travel all over the country without molestation, even when the most violent wars existed. It was, of course, granted.[88]The Játs are Hindús of a low tribe, who, taking advantage of the decline of the Moghul empire, have, by their courage and enterprise, raised themselves into some consequence on the north-western parts of Hindústan, and many of the strongest forts of that part of India are still in their possession.[89]The Gujars, who are also Hindús, have raised themselves to power by means not dissimilar to those used by the Játs. Almost all the thieves in Hindústan are of this tribe.[90]A marriage took place very lately between the Sikh chief of Patiálá, and that of the Ját Rájá, of B'haratpúr.[91]Their prejudice regarding the killing of cows is stronger, if possible, than that of the Hindús.[92]The Khalása Sikhs, who follow Nánac, and reject Gúrú Góvind's institutions, make use of it.[93]Spirituous liquors, they say, are allowed by that verse in the Adí-Grant'h, which states, "Eat, and give unto others to eat. Drink, and give unto others to drink. Be glad, and make others glad." There is also an authority, quoted by the Sikhs, from the Hindú Sástras, in favour of this drinking to excess. Durgá, agreeably to the Sikh quotations, used to drink, because liquor inspires courage; and this goddess, they say, was drunk when she slew Mahíshásur.[94]When Fateh Singh, of Aluwál, who was quite a young man, was with the British army, Lord Lake gratified him by a field review. He was upon an elephant, and I attended him upon another. A little before sunset he became low and uneasy. I observed it; and B'hág Singh, an old chief, of frank, rough manners, at once said, "Fateh Singh wants his dram, but is ashamed to drink before you." I requested he would follow his custom, which he did, by drinking a large cup of spirits.[95]Cannabis sativa.

[67]A general estimate of the value of the country possessed by the Sikhs may be formed, when it is stated, that it contains, besides other countries, the whole of the province of Lahore; which, agreeable to Mr. Bernier, produced, in the reign of Aurungzéb, two hundred and forty-six lacks and ninety-five thousand rupees; or two millions, four hundred and sixty-nine thousand, five hundred pounds sterling.

[68]This province now forms almost the whole territory of Daulet Ráo Sindíá.

[69]With the chiefs of the Sikhs in the Jaléndra Dúáb we are little acquainted. Tárá Singh is the most considerable; but he and the others have been greatly weakened by their constant and increasing internal divisions.

[70]Fateh Singh is, like Ranjít Singh, of a Ját family.

[71]Jud'h Singh, of Ramgadiá, is of the carpenter cast.

[72]The term Gujarát Singh is sometimes given to the inhabitants of this Dúáb, of which the chiefs of Gujarát and Rotás are the principal rulers.

[73]The word Khálsá, which has before been explained to mean the state or commonwealth, is supposed, by the Sikhs, to have a mystical meaning, and to imply that superior government, under the protection of which "they live, and to the established rules and laws of which, as fixed by Gúrú Góvind, it is their civil and religious duty to conform."

[74]Acálí, derived from Acál, a compound term ofcál,death, and the Sanscrit privativea, which meansnever-dying, orimmortal. It is one of the names of the Divinity; and has, probably, been given to this remarkable class of devotees, from their always exclaiming Acál! Acál! in their devotions.

[75]All Singhs do not wear bracelets; but it is indispensable to have steel about their persons, which they generally have in the shape of a knife or dagger. In support of this ordinance they quote the following verses of Gúrú Góvind:Sáheb beá ki rach'ha hamné,Tuhi Srí Sáheb, churi, káti, katár—Acál purukh ki rach'ha hamné,Serv lóh di rach'ha hamné,Servacál di rach'ha hamné,Serv lohji di sada rach'ha hamné.which may be translated: "The protection of the infinite Lord is over us: thou art the lord, the cutlass, the knife, and the dagger. The protection of the immortal Being is over us: the protection ofALL-STEELis over us: the protection ofALL-TIMEis over us: the protection ofALL-STEELis constantly over us."

Sáheb beá ki rach'ha hamné,Tuhi Srí Sáheb, churi, káti, katár—Acál purukh ki rach'ha hamné,Serv lóh di rach'ha hamné,Servacál di rach'ha hamné,Serv lohji di sada rach'ha hamné.

which may be translated: "The protection of the infinite Lord is over us: thou art the lord, the cutlass, the knife, and the dagger. The protection of the immortal Being is over us: the protection ofALL-STEELis over us: the protection ofALL-TIMEis over us: the protection ofALL-STEELis constantly over us."

[76]The Shahíd and Nirmala, two other religious tribes among the Sikhs, have Bungás, or places, upon the great reservoir of Amritsar; but both these are peaceful orders of priests, whose duty is to address the Deity, and to read and explain the Adí-Grant'h to the Sikhs. They are, in general, men of some education. A Sikh, of any tribe, may be admitted into either of these classes, as among the Acálís, who admit all into their body who choose to conform to their rules.

[77]A custom of a similar nature, with regard to all tribes eating promiscuously, is observed among the Hindús, at the temple of Jagannáth, where men of all religions and casts, without distinction, eat of the Mahá Prasád,the great offering; i.e. food dressed by the cooks of the idols, and sold on the stairs of the temple.

[78]The Sikh priest, who gave an account of this custom, was of a high Hindú tribe; and, retaining some of his prejudices, he at first said, that Muhammedan Sikhs, and those who were converts from the sweeper cast, were obliged, even on this occasion, to eat a little apart from the other Sikhs: but, on being closely questioned, he admitted the fact as stated in the narrative; saying, however, it was only on this solemn occasion that these tribes are admitted to eat with the others.

[79]The army is called, when thus assembled, the Dal Khálsá, or the army of the state.

[80]The Muhammedans who have become Sikhs, and their descendants, are, in the Penjábi jargon, termed Mezhebi Singh, or Singhs of the faith; and they are subdivided into the four classes which are vulgarly, but erroneously, supposed to distinguish the followers of Muhammed, Sayyad Singh, Sheikh Singh, Moghul Singh, and Patán Singh; by which designations the names of the particular race or country of the Muhammedans have been affixed, by Hindús, as distinctions of cast.

[81]The Muhammedan inhabitants of the Penjáb used to flock to the British camp; where, they said, they enjoyed luxuries which no man could appreciate that had not suffered privation. They could pray aloud, and feast upon beef.

[82]Grain pays in kind; sugar-cane, melons, &c. pay in cash.

[83]This is called Penchayat, or a court of five; the general number of arbitrators chosen to adjust differences and disputes. It is usual to assemble a Panchayat, or a court of arbitration, in every part of India, under a native government; and, as they are always chosen from men of the best reputation in the place where they meet, this court has a high character for justice.

[84]A Sikh priest, who has been several years in Calcutta, gave this outline of the administration of justice among his countrymen. He spoke of it with rapture; and insisted, with true patriotic prejudice, on its great superiority over the vexatious system of the English government; which was, he said, tedious, vexatious, and expensive, and advantageous only to clever rogues.

[85]Talking aloud is so habitual to a Sikh, that he bawls a secret in your ear. It has often occurred to me, that they have acquired it from living in a country where internal disputes have so completely destroyed confidence, that they can only carry on conversation with each other at a distance: but it is fairer, perhaps, to impute this boisterous and rude habit to their living almost constantly in a camp, in which the voice certainly loses that nice modulated tone which distinguishes the more polished inhabitants of cities.

[86]The old Sikh soldier generally returns to his native village, where his wealth, courage, or experience, always obtains him respect, and sometimes station and consequence. The second march which the British army made into the country of the Sikhs, the headquarters were near a small village, the chief of which, who was upwards of a hundred years of age, had been a soldier, and retained all the look and manner of his former occupation. He came to me, and expressed his anxiety to see Lord Lake. I showed him the general, who was sitting alone, in his tent, writing. He smiled, and said he knew better: "The hero who had overthrown Sindiá and Holkár, and had conquered Hindústan, must be surrounded with attendants, and have plenty of persons to write for him." I assured him that it was Lord Lake; and, on his lordship coming to breakfast, I introduced the old Singh, who seeing a number of officers collect round him, was at last satisfied of the truth of what I said; and, pleased with the great kindness and condescension with which he was treated by one whom he justly thought so great a man, sat down on the carpet, became quite talkative, and related all he had seen, from the invasion of Nádir Sháh to that moment. Lord Lake, pleased with the bold manliness of his address, and the independence of his sentiments, told him he would grant him any favour he wished. "I am glad of it," said the old man; "then march away with your army from my village, which will otherwise be destroyed." Lord Lake, struck with the noble spirit of the request, assured him he would march next morning, and that, in the mean-time, he should have guards, who would protect his village from injury. Satisfied with this assurance, the old Singh was retiring, apparently full of admiration and gratitude at Lord Lake's goodness, and of wonder at the scene he had witnessed, when, meeting two officers at the door of the tent, he put a hand upon the breast of each, exclaiming at the same time, "Brothers! where were you born, and where are you at this moment?" and, without waiting for an answer, proceeded to his village.

[87]When Lord Lake entered the Penjáb, in 1805, a general protection was requested, by several principal chiefs, for the Nánac Pautra, on the ground of the veneration in which they were held, which enabled them, it was stated, to travel all over the country without molestation, even when the most violent wars existed. It was, of course, granted.

[88]The Játs are Hindús of a low tribe, who, taking advantage of the decline of the Moghul empire, have, by their courage and enterprise, raised themselves into some consequence on the north-western parts of Hindústan, and many of the strongest forts of that part of India are still in their possession.

[89]The Gujars, who are also Hindús, have raised themselves to power by means not dissimilar to those used by the Játs. Almost all the thieves in Hindústan are of this tribe.

[90]A marriage took place very lately between the Sikh chief of Patiálá, and that of the Ját Rájá, of B'haratpúr.

[91]Their prejudice regarding the killing of cows is stronger, if possible, than that of the Hindús.

[92]The Khalása Sikhs, who follow Nánac, and reject Gúrú Góvind's institutions, make use of it.

[93]Spirituous liquors, they say, are allowed by that verse in the Adí-Grant'h, which states, "Eat, and give unto others to eat. Drink, and give unto others to drink. Be glad, and make others glad." There is also an authority, quoted by the Sikhs, from the Hindú Sástras, in favour of this drinking to excess. Durgá, agreeably to the Sikh quotations, used to drink, because liquor inspires courage; and this goddess, they say, was drunk when she slew Mahíshásur.

[94]When Fateh Singh, of Aluwál, who was quite a young man, was with the British army, Lord Lake gratified him by a field review. He was upon an elephant, and I attended him upon another. A little before sunset he became low and uneasy. I observed it; and B'hág Singh, an old chief, of frank, rough manners, at once said, "Fateh Singh wants his dram, but is ashamed to drink before you." I requested he would follow his custom, which he did, by drinking a large cup of spirits.

[95]Cannabis sativa.

There is no branch of this sketch which is more curious and important, or that offers more difficulties to the inquirer, than the religion of the Sikhs. We meet with a creed of pure deism, grounded on the most sublime general truths, blended with the belief of all the absurdities of the Hindú mythology, and the fables of Muhammedanism; for Nánac professed a desire to reform, not to destroy, the religion of the tribe in which he was born; and, actuated by the great and benevolent design of reconciling the jarring faiths of Brahmá and Muhammed, he endeavoured to conciliate both Hindús and Moslems to his doctrine, by persuading them to reject those parts of their respective beliefs and usages, which, he contended, were unworthy of that Godwhom they both adored. He called upon the Hindús to abandon the worship of idols, and to return to that pure devotion of the Deity, in which their religion originated. He called upon the Muhammedans to abstain from practices, like the slaughter of cows, that were offensive to the religion of the Hindús, and to cease from the persecution of that race. He adopted, in order to conciliate them, many of the maxims which he had learnt from mendicants, who professed the principles of the Súfi sect; and he constantly referred to the admired writings of the celebrated Muhammedan Kabír[96], who was a professed Súfi, and whoinculcated the doctrine of the equality of the relation of all created beings to their Creator. Nánac endeavoured, with all the power of his own genius, aided by such authorities, to impress both Hindús and Muhammedans with a love of toleration and an abhorrence of war; and his life was as peaceable as his doctrine. He appears, indeed, to have adopted, from the hour in which he abandoned his worldly occupations to that of his death, the habits practised by that crowd of holy mendicants, Sanyásís and Fakírs, with whom India swarms. He conformed to their customs; and his extraordinary austerities[97]are a constant theme of praise with his followers. His works are all in praise of God; but hetreats the polytheism of the Hindús with respect, and even veneration. He never shows a disposition to destroy the fabric, but only wishes to divest it of its useless tinsel and false ornaments, and to establish its complete dependence upon the great Creator of the universe. He speaks every where of Muhammed, and his successors, with moderation; but animadverts boldly on what he conceives to be their errors; and, above all, on their endeavours to propagate their faith by the sword.

As Nánac made no material invasion of either the civil or religious usages of the Hindús, and as his only desire was to restore a nation who had degenerated from their original pure worship[98]into idolatry, he may be considered more in the light of a reformer than of a subverter of the Hindúreligion; and those Sikhs who adhere to his tenets, without admitting those of Gúrú Góvind, are hardly to be distinguished from the great mass of Hindú population; among whom there are many sects who differ, much more than that of Nánac, from the general and orthodox worship at present established in India.

The first successors of Nánac appear to have taught exactly the same doctrine as their leader; and though Har Góvind armed all his followers, it was on a principle of self-defence, in which he was fully justified, even by the usage of the Hindús. It was reserved for Gúrú Góvind to give a new character to the religion of his followers; not by making any material alteration in the tenets of Nánac, but by establishing institutions and usages, which not only separated them from other Hindús, but which, by the complete abolition of all distinction of casts, destroyed, at one blow, a system of civil polity, that, from beinginterwoven with the religion of a weak and bigoted race, fixed the rule of its priests upon a basis that had withstood the shock of ages. Though the code of the Hindús was calculated to preserve a vast community in tranquillity and obedience to its rulers, it had the natural effect of making the country, in which it was established, an easy conquest to every powerful foreign invader; and it appears to have been the contemplation of this effect that made Gúrú Góvind resolve on the abolition of cast, as a necessary and indispensable prelude to any attempt to arm the original native population of India against their foreign tyrants. He called upon all Hindús to break those chains in which prejudice and bigotry had bound them, and to devote themselves to arms, as the only means by which they could free themselves from the oppressive government of the Muhammedans; against whom, a sense of his own wrongs, and those of his tribe, led him topreach eternal warfare. His religious doctrine was meant to be popular, and it promised equality. The invidious appellations of Bráhmen, Cshatríya, Vaisya, and Súdra, were abolished. The pride of descent might remain, and keep up some distinctions; but, in the religious code of Góvind, every Khálsa Singh (for such he termed his followers) was equal, and had a like title to the good things of this world, and to the blessings of a future life.

Though Gúrú Góvind mixes, even more than Nánac, the mythology of the Hindús with his own tenets; though his desire to conciliate them, in opposition to the Muhammedans, against whom he always breathed war and destruction, led him to worship at Hindú sacred shrines; and though the peculiar customs and dress among his followers, are stated to have been adopted from veneration to the Hindú goddess of courage, Dúrga Bhavání; yet it is impossible to reconcile the religion andusages, which Góvind has established, with the belief of the Hindús. It does not, like that of Nánac, question some favourite dogmas of the disciples of Brahmá, and attack that worship of idols, which few of these defend, except upon the ground of these figures, before which they bend, being symbolical representations of the attributes of an all-powerful Divinity; but it proceeds at once to subvert the foundation of the whole system. Wherever the religion of Gúrú Góvind prevails, the institutions of Brahmá must fall. The admission of proselytes, the abolition of the distinctions of cast, the eating of all kinds of flesh, except that of cows, the form of religious worship, and the general devotion of all Singhs to arms, are ordinances altogether irreconcileable with Hindú mythology, and have rendered the religion of the Sikhs as obnoxious to the Bráhmens, and higher tribes of the Hindús, as it is popular with the lower orders of that numerous class of mankind.

After this rapid sketch of the general character of the religion of the Sikhs, I shall take a more detailed view of its origin, progress, tenets, and forms.

A Sikh author[99], whom I have followed in several parts of this sketch, is very particular in stating the causes of the origin of the religion of Nánac: he describes the different Yugas, or ages of the world, stated in the Hindú mythology. The Cáli Yug, which is the present, is that in which it was written that the human race would become completely depraved: "Discord," says the author, speaking of the Cáli Yug, "will rise in the world, sin prevail, and the universe become wicked; cast will contend with cast; and, like bamboos in friction, consume each other to embers. The Védas, or scriptures," he adds, "will be held in disrepute, for they shall not be understood, and the darkness of ignorancewill prevail every where." Such is this author's record of a divine prophecy regarding this degenerate age. He proceeds to state what has ensued: "Every one followed his own path, and sects were separated; some worshipped Chandra (the moon); some Surya (the sun); some prayed to the earth, to the sky, and the air, and the water, and the fire, while others worshipped D'herma Rájá (the judge of the dead); and in the fallacy of the sects nothing was to be found but error. In short, pride prevailed in the world, and the four casts[100]established a system of ascetic devotion. From these, the ten sects of Sanyásís, and the twelve sects of Yógis, originated. The Jangam, the Srívíra, and the Déva Digambar, entered into mutual contests. The Bráhmens divided into different classes; andthe Sástras, Védas, and Puránas[101], contradicted each other. The six Dersans (philosophical sects) exhibited enmity, and the thirty-six Páshands (heterodox sects) arose, with hundreds of thousands of chimerical and magical (tantra mantra) sects: and thus, from one form, many good and many evil forms originated, and error prevailed in the Cáli Yug, or age of general depravity."

The Sikh author pursues this account of the errors into which the Hindús fell, with a curious passage regarding the origin and progress of the Muhammedan religion.

"The world," he writes, "went on with these numerous divisions, when Muhammed Yara[102]appeared, who gave origin to the seventy-two sects[103], and widely disseminated discord and war. He established the Rózeh o Aíd (fast and festivals), and the Namáz (prayer), and made his practice of devotional acts prevalent in the world, with a multitude of distinctions, of Pír (saint), Paighamber (prophet), Ulemá (the order of priesthood), and Kitàb (the Korán). He demolished the temples, and on their ruins built the mosques, slaughtering cows and helpless persons, and spreading transgression far and wide, holding in hostility Cáfirs (infidels), Mulhids (idolaters), Irmenis (Armenians), Rumis (the Turks), and Zingis (Ethiopians). Thus vice greatly diffused itself in the universe."

"Then," this author adds, "there were two races in the world; the one Hindú, the other Muhammedan; and both were alike excited by pride, enmity, and avarice, to violence. The Hindús set their heart on Gangá and Benares; the Muhammedans on Mecca and the Cáaba: the Hindús clung to their mark on the forehead and brahminical string; the Moslemans to their circumcision: the one cried Rám (the name of an Avatár), the other Rahím (the merciful); one name, but two ways of pronouncing it; forgetting equally the Védas and the Korán: and through the deceptions of lust, avarice, the world, and Satan, they swerved equally from the true path: while Bráhmens and Moulavis destroyed each other by their quarrels, and the vicissitudes of life and death hung always suspended over their heads.

"When the world was in this distracted state, and vice prevailed," says this writer, "the complaint of virtue, whose dominion was extinct, reached the throne of the Almighty, who created Nánac, toenlighten and improve a degenerate and corrupt age: and that holy man made God the Supreme known to all, giving the nectareous water that washed his feet to his disciples to drink. He restored to Virtue her strength, blended the four casts[104]into one, established one mode of salutation, changed the childish play of bending the head at the feet of idols, taught the worship of the true God, and reformed a depraved world."

Nánac appears, by the account of this author, to have established his fame for sanctity by the usual modes of religious mendicants. He performed severe Tapasa[105], living upon sand and swallow-wort, and sleeping on sharp pebbles; and, after attaining fame by this kind of penance, he commenced his travels, with the view of spreading his doctrine over the earth.

After Nánac had completed his terrestrial travels, he is supposed to have ascended to Suméru, where he saw the Sidd'his[106], all seated in a circle. These, from a knowledge of that eminence for which he was predestined, wished to make him assume the characteristic devotion of their sect, to which they thought he would be an ornament. While means were used to effect this purpose, a divine voice was heard to exclaim: "Nánac shall form his own sect, distinct from all the Yatís[107]and Sidd'his; and his name shall be joyful to the Cáli Yug." After this,Nánac preached the adoration of the true God to the Hindús; and then went to instruct the Muhammedans, in their sacred temples at Mecca. When at that place, the holy men are said to have gathered round him, and demanded, Whether their faith, or that of the Hindús, was the best? "Without the practice of true piety, both," said Nánac, "are erroneous, and neither Hindús nor Moslems will be acceptable before the throne of God; for the faded tinge of scarlet, that has been soiled by water, will never return. You both deceive yourselves, pronouncing aloud Rám and Rahím, and the way of Satan prevails in the universe."

The courageous independence with which Nánac announced his religion to the Muhammedans, is a favourite topic with his biographers. He was one day abused, and even struck, as one of these relates, by a Moullah, for lying on the ground with his feet in the direction of the sacred temple ofMecca. "How darest thou, infidel!" said the offended Muhammedan priest, "turn thy feet towards the house of God!"—"Turn them, if you can," said the pious but indignant Nánac, "in a direction where the house of God is not."

Nánac did not deny the mission of Muhammed. "That prophet was sent," he said, "by God, to this world, to do good, and to disseminate the knowledge of one God through means of the Korán; but he, acting on the principle of free-will, which all human beings exercise, introduced oppression, and cruelty, and the slaughter of cows[108], for which he died.—I am now sent," he added, "from heaven, to publish unto mankind a book, which shall reduce all the names given unto God to one name, which is God; and he who calls him by any other, shall fall intothe path of the devil, and have his feet bound in the chains of wretchedness. You have," said he to the Muhammedans, "despoiled the temples, and burnt the sacred Védas, of the Hindús; and you have dressed yourselves in dresses of blue, and you delight to have your praises sung from house to house: but I, who have seen all the world, tell you, that the Hindús equally hate you and your mosques. I am sent to reconcile your jarring faiths, and I implore you to read their scriptures, as well as your own: but reading is useless without obedience to the doctrine taught; for God has said, no man shall be saved except he has performed good works. The Almighty will not ask to what tribe or persuasion he belongs. He will only ask, What has he done? Therefore those violent and continued disputes, which subsist between the Hindús and Moslemans, are as impious as they are unjust."

Such were the doctrines, according to his disciples, which Nánac taught to both Hindús and Muhammedans. He professed veneration and respect, but refused adoration to the founders of both their religions; for which, as for those of all other tribes, he had great tolerance. "A hundred thousand of Muhammeds," said Nánac, "a million of Brahmás, Vishnus, and a hundred thousand Rámas, stand at the gate of the Most High. These all perish; God alone is immortal. Yet men, who unite in the praise of God, are not ashamed of living in contention with each other; which proves that the evil spirit has subdued all. He alone is a true Hindú whose heart is just; and he only is a good Muhammedan whose life is pure."

Nánac is stated, by the Sikh author from whom the above account of his religion is taken, to have had an interview with the supreme God, which he thus describes:"One day Nánac heard a voice from above exclaim, Nánac, approach!" He replied, "Oh God! what power have I to stand in thy presence?" The voice said, "Close thine eyes." Nánac shut his eyes, and advanced: he was told to look up: he did so, and heard the wordWá!orwell done, pronounced five times; and thenWá! Gúrújí, orwell done teacher. After this God said, "Nánac! I have sent thee into the world, in the Cáli Yug (or depraved age); go and bear my name." Nánac said, "Oh God! how can I bear the mighty burthen? If my age was extended to tens of millions of years, if I drank of immortality, and my eyes were formed of the sun and moon, and were never closed, still, oh God! I could not presume to take charge of thy wondrous name."—"I will be thy Gúrú (teacher)," said God, "and thou shalt be a Gúrú to all mankind, and thy sect shall be great in the world; their word is Púrí Púrí. The wordof the Bairágí is Rám! Rám! that of the Sanyásí, Om! Namá! Náráyen! and the word of the Yógís, Adés! Adés! and the salutation of the Muhammedans is Salám Alíkam; and that of the Hindús, Rám! Rám! but the word of thy sect shall be Gúrú, and I will forgive the crimes of thy disciples. The place of worship of the Bairágís is called Rámsála; that of the Yógís, Asan; that of the Sanyásís, Mát; that of thy tribe shall be Dherma Sála. Thou must teach unto thy followers three lessons: the first, to worship my name; the second, charity; the third, ablution. They must not abandon the world, and they must do ill to no being; for into every being have I infused breath; and whatever I am, thou art, for betwixt us there is no difference. It is a blessing that thou art sent into the Cáli Yug." After this, "Wá Gúrú!orwell done, teacher!was pronounced from the mouth of the most high Gúrú or teacher (God),and Nánac came to give light and freedom to the universe."

The above will give a sufficient view of the ideas which the Sikhs entertain regarding the divine origin of their faith; which, as first taught by Nánac, might justly be deemed the religion of peace.

"Put on armour," says Nánac, "that will harm no one; let thy coat of mail be that of understanding, and convert thy enemies to friends. Fight with valour, but with no weapon except the word of God." All the principles which Nánac inculcated, were those of pure deism; but moderated, in order to meet the deep-rooted usages of that portion of mankind which he wished to reclaim from error. Though he condemned the lives and habits of the Muhammedans, he approved of the Korán[109]. He admitted the truth of theancient Védas, but contended that the Hindú religion had been corrupted, by the introduction of a plurality of gods, with the worship of images; which led their minds astray from that great and eternal Being, to whom adoration should alone be paid. He, however, followed the forms of the Hindús, and adopted most of their doctrines which did not interfere with his great and leading tenet. He admitted the claim to veneration, of the numerous catalogue of Hindú Dévas, and Dévatás, or inferior deities; but he refused them adoration. He held it impious to slaughter the cow; and he directed his votaries, as has been seen, to consider ablution as one of their primary religious duties.

Nánac, according to Penjábi authors, admitted the Hindú doctrine of metempsychosis. He believed, that really good men would enjoy Paradise; that those, who had no claim to the name of good, but yet were not bad, would undergo another probation,by revisiting the world in the human form: and that the bad would animate the bodies of animals, particularly dogs and cats: but it appears, from the same authorities, that Nánac was acquainted with the Muhammedan doctrine regarding the fall of man, and a future state; and that he represented it to his followers as a system, in which God, by showing a heaven and a hell, had, in his great goodness, held out future rewards and punishments to man, whose will he had left free, to incite him to good actions, and deter him from bad. The principle of reward and punishment is so nearly the same in the Hindú and in the Muhammedan religion, that it was not difficult for Nánac to reconcile his followers upon this point: but in this, as in all others, he seems to have bent to the doctrine of Brahmá. In all his writings, however, he borrowed indifferently from the Korán and the Hindú Sástras; and his example was followed by his successors; and quotations from the scripturesof the Hindús, and from the book of Muhammed, are indiscriminately introduced into all their sacred writings, to elucidate those points on which it was their object to reconcile these jarring religions.

With the exact mode in which Nánac instructed his followers to address their prayers to that supreme Being whom he taught them to adore, I am not acquainted. Their D'herma Sála, or temples of worship, are, in general, plain buildings. Images are, of course, banished. Their prescribed forms of prayer are, I believe, few and simple. Part of the writings of Nánac, which have since been incorporated with those of his successors, in the Adí-Grant'h, are read, or rather recited, upon every solemn occasion. These are all in praise of the Deity, of religion, and of virtue; and against impiety and immorality. The Adí-Grant'h, the whole of the first part of which is ascribed to Nánac, is written, like the rest of the books of the Sikhs, in theGúrúmuk'h[110]character. I can only judge very imperfectly of the value of this work: but some extracts, translated from it, appear worthy of that admiration which is bestowed upon it by the Sikhs.

The Adí-Grant'h is in verse; and many of the chapters, written by Nánac, are termed Pídi, which means, literally, a ladder or flight of steps; and, metaphorically, that by which a man ascends.

In the following fragment, literally translated from the Sódar rág ásá mahilla pehla of Nánac, he displays the supremacy of the true God, and the inferiority of the Dévatás, and other created beings, to the universal Creator; however they may have been elevated into deities by ignorance or superstition.

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