LUDHIANA: The killing of a radical Sikh activist during the police firing on Saturday has made it a daunting task for the police to maintain law and order in the city and prevent any untoward incident during the Punjab bandh.
The Sikh bodies have announced that during the bandh, their focus would be on getting financial institutions closed peacefully so that no harm is caused to public transport. However, the violence between two different communities witnessed on Saturday and Sunday amidst curfew is posing a real challenge to the police force.
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Monday, December 7, 2009
City under curfew for second day
LUDHIANA: Curfew in the city continued for the second consecutive day on Sunday and the situation remained tense but peaceful. Security forces could be seen on every nook and corner of the city in an endeavour to maintain peace and calm in the city in wake of the protest by radical Sikh groups against the government for killing a protester and injuring over a dozen in police firing.
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Please read complete news by clicking the headline above.
With thanks to the source.
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Prof Darshan Singh Khalsa In Front of Sri Guru Granth Sahib at Sri Akal Takht Sahib
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Sunday, December 6, 2009
Text from the site of Prof. Darshan singh ji khalsa
Text below is taken from the site of Prof. Darshan singh ji Khalsa :
ਸਾਬਕਾ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੇ 2ਘੰਟੇ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਸਾਹਮਣੇ ਉਡੀਕਣ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਜਦੋ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਸਕਤਰੇਤ ਵਿਚੋਂ ਬਹਾਰ ਨਾ ਆਏ ਤਾਂ ਪ੍ਰੋਫੈਸਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਾਰੇ ਸਬੂਤ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਉਪਰ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਾਹਮਣੇ ਰੱਖ ਦੇਣ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਚਲੇ ਗਏ।ਤਕਰੀਬਨ 2 ਘੰਟੇ ਬਾਅਦ ਅਖੌਤੀ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਗੁਰਬਚਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਨਾ ਸਬੂਤ ਵੇਖਿਆਂ ਤਨਖਾਈਆ ਕਰਾਰ ਦੇ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਅਤੇ ਅਪਣੇ ਮਾਲਕ ਦੀ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਲੈ ਲਈ ।
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ਸਾਬਕਾ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੇ 2ਘੰਟੇ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਸਾਹਮਣੇ ਉਡੀਕਣ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਜਦੋ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਸਕਤਰੇਤ ਵਿਚੋਂ ਬਹਾਰ ਨਾ ਆਏ ਤਾਂ ਪ੍ਰੋਫੈਸਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਾਰੇ ਸਬੂਤ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਉਪਰ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਾਹਮਣੇ ਰੱਖ ਦੇਣ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਚਲੇ ਗਏ।ਤਕਰੀਬਨ 2 ਘੰਟੇ ਬਾਅਦ ਅਖੌਤੀ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਗੁਰਬਚਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਨਾ ਸਬੂਤ ਵੇਖਿਆਂ ਤਨਖਾਈਆ ਕਰਾਰ ਦੇ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਅਤੇ ਅਪਣੇ ਮਾਲਕ ਦੀ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਲੈ ਲਈ ।
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Akal Takht declares Ragi tankhiya
AMRITSAR: Former jathedar of Akal Takht, professor Darshan Singh Ragi, was declared tankhiya (guilty of religious misconduct) on Saturday by five high priests after he failed to appear at the Akal Takht secretariat to submit a clarification for his “objectionable remarks” against the 10th Sikh master, Guru Gobind Singh.
Warning of more stringent action, including excommunication from Sikh panth, the Sikh clergy gave Ragi a month’s ultimatum to appear before it and accept tankha (religious punishment).
Ragi arrived with a handful of supporters around 10.30 am, paid obeisance at the Golden Temple, sat in front of the Akal Takht building for nearly two hours, placed a copy of his clarification in front of the Guru Granth Sahib at the Akal Takht and left from Khazana Deori gate, leaving the five high priests waiting for him at the secretariat, around 60 feet away.
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Warning of more stringent action, including excommunication from Sikh panth, the Sikh clergy gave Ragi a month’s ultimatum to appear before it and accept tankha (religious punishment).
Ragi arrived with a handful of supporters around 10.30 am, paid obeisance at the Golden Temple, sat in front of the Akal Takht building for nearly two hours, placed a copy of his clarification in front of the Guru Granth Sahib at the Akal Takht and left from Khazana Deori gate, leaving the five high priests waiting for him at the secretariat, around 60 feet away.
WITH THANKS TO THE SOURCE, PLEASE READ COMPLETE NEWS BY CLICKING THE HEADLINE ABOVE.
SikhsIndia
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Ludhiana bleeds
Ludhiana, December 5
An activist of a Panthic organisation was killed and 11 others were injured when the police opened fire at Samrala Chowk to stop supporters of Sikh groups from marching towards the venue of a religious congregation to be addressed by Ashutosh Maharaj of the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan here today. To avoid further loss of human life, property, District Magistrate Vikas Garg clamped curfew in the entire city with immediate effect.
The deceased has been identified as Darshan Singh (58). The injured include Kanwalpreet, Anup Singh, Manjinder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Parminder Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Amarjeet Singh, Bibi Surinder Kaur and Mangal Singh.
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Saturday, December 5, 2009
1 dead as Sikhs clash with police
LUDHIANA: A group of Sikhs protesting the holding of a religious congregation by sect leader Ashutosh Maharaj here clashed with police which used gas and batons to quell them, leaving one dead and twelve injured. ( Watch Video ) .
Led by former Jathedar of Akal Takht Jasbir Singh Rode and some other radical leaders including Damdami Taksal chief Mokham Singh and Harnam Singh, the protestors, some of whom brandishing swords, reached Samrala Chowk, less than a km from the congregation spot of Divya Jyoti Jagran Sansthan chief.
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Led by former Jathedar of Akal Takht Jasbir Singh Rode and some other radical leaders including Damdami Taksal chief Mokham Singh and Harnam Singh, the protestors, some of whom brandishing swords, reached Samrala Chowk, less than a km from the congregation spot of Divya Jyoti Jagran Sansthan chief.
with thanks to the source, please read complete news by clicking headline above.
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DASAM GRANTH: A Red Herring Controversy
By I. J. Singh - Just about a year ago I was at a conference celebrating 300 years of Guru Granth. In attendance were people of all religions, including a fair number of Sikhs. For the 30 minutes that I spoke, I never once referred to the Dasam Granth. But during the Q & A, the first question from a Sikh in the audience was: “What is your take on the Dasam Granth?”
Even the Akal Takht, the seat of temporal authority in Sikhism, had issued an ill-considered edict banning any discussion on the matter. But discussion has not ceased. It remains even livelier today than before the edicts.
But my topic was Guru Granth, not Dasam Granth. And with a mixed audience of Sikhs and non-Sikhs, opening this Pandora’s Box on our internal dissensions would have been inappropriate.
The controversy over the authenticity, authorship and importance of the Dasam Granth continues to rile some people in the community, and what I say today is not likely to settle the dust. I offer you a view that is largely non-scholarly, but is historically accurate and consistent, with some common sense.
Why now? Because the controversy has gone on long enough and shows no light at the end of the tunnel. And because a pillar of the community with an enviable track record, Professor Darshan Singh, has been vilified, pilloried and abused all over the world. Matters of honest disagreement that we should expect in any good and honest people are hard to isolate because they are intertwined and covered in personal innuendo and vilification.
In the past decade or so, there has been a plethora of writings on Dasam Granth by writers on both sides of the controversy. Among the most trustworthy secondary sources of our history and tradition, Punjabi University’s Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and Kahn Singh (Nabha)’s Mahaan Kosh, tell me this:
The longish almost 10 page entry in the encyclopedia is by C. H. Loehlin and Rattan Singh Jaggi. Their academic credentials, especially of the latter, are unquestionable.
When Guru Gobind Singh evacuated Anandpur, many of his own writings, and those of poets in his court, were lost. After an effort of several years, Mani Singh salvaged what he could from wherever he could and compiled the first recension of the Dasam Granth some two decades after Guru Gobind Singh passed away. Based on copies of this, several recensions appeared some years later, many with significant variations.
Kesar Singh Chibber author of the historical documents Bansavlinama and a Rehatnama asserts that the two tomes - Dasam Granth, and the Adi Granth that later became Guru Granth in 1708 - sat separately during Guru Gobind Singh’s lifetime. When asked by Sikhs to combine the two, the Guru declined, stating: “Adi Guru Granth is the root book; the other is only for my diversion. Let this be kept in mind and the two stay separate.” This remains the bedrock principle in Sikhi and the two thus can never be equated.
During the Singh Sabha days in the last century, the Khalsa Diwan explored the authenticity of the writings in the Dasam Granth. Copies of Dasam Granth that could be located - numbering 32 - were collected, and a group of eminent scholars worked them threadbare from July 5, 1895 to October 17, 1897. The recension, based on their findings, was first published in 1902. This committee identified what exactly is the writing of Guru Gobind Singh and what is likely not.
Parsing authorship is not a simple matter. It requires an in-depth understanding of language, culture and context, and remains a matter where scholars will spend a lifetime, and even then remain unsure. But why and how exactly did such a massive problem of authorship arise in the first place?
History tells us that at least 52 prominent poets made their home under the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh. They composed a lot of poetry, as did the Guru, in many of the Indic languages extant at that time. That’s what poets do. I would imagine that, like us, these poets too were occupied by many ideas, with a whimsical muse sometimes. They did not spend all day in worship and prayer, but did all the things that people do - some of them even playful. And their poetry showed it.
The Dasam Granth therefore contained much that was the Guru’s serious contribution, mixed here and there with what was neither serious nor from his pen. It never was an easy matter separating the wheat from the chaff and, despite the best efforts of scholars, still not so easy a matter.
I often wonder, for instance, Dasam Granth speaks eloquently of the past life of Guru Gobind Singh, from which has emerged the legend of Hemkund. But no Guru ever talked of a previous life. We don’t ever venerate any places where any of the Gurus might have visited or worshipped before they became Sikhs.
For instance, history tells us that Lehna, before he became a Sikh and later Guru Angad, went on yearly pilgrimages to Hindu holy places, as did Amardas. But once they came into the fold of Sikhism, they never again spoke of the need of a pilgrimage anywhere. Sikhs do not regard those sites as holy.
It is inconceivable to me that Guru Gobind Singh would deliberately go against the unbroken tradition of Sikhism in such a weighty matter. So why should we mix history and mythology to convert Hemkund into a pilgrimage? But that’s what we do when we interpret literally what is in the Dasam Granth.
Remember that the Guru, himself, called his writings “a play and diversion” and denied it the status that he himself accorded to the Adi Granth.
In a play that has diversionary writings of many authors should we be shocked to find sexual innuendos and references? I think not. They are part of life, and no Guru taught us to abandon life. Keep in mind that it was the traditional Indian culture that produced the erotic art of Khajuraho. Yet the same society, as we know it today, will outdo the Victorians in prudery. Why should we react like deer caught in headlights when such stories of old find their way into another book of stories? Except for certain parts, this book – Dasam Granth – has many stories and was not designed to become the Guru.
So why is Dasam Granth being promoted as scripture at a level with the Guru Granth? Clearly, such promotion creates division within Sikhs and is contrary to Guru Gobind Singh’s directive. Who benefits from seeding dissension among Sikhs? Is there a political agenda at work here directed by the forces of Hindutva in India?
The controversy seems to be driven by a visible and highly vocal minority with an agenda of destroying anyone who does not quite toe their line. And now there are charges floating around that some hotheads have doctored the evidence to suit their purpose and push their arguments. This hardly helps. Believe me, I am no acolyte of Darshan Singh or anyone else.
Let scholars and lexicographers continue to parse the text; many a doctoral theses will surely result. Dasam Granth is an important part of Sikh literature and should be treated as such with respect. That is the bailiwick of scholars and I leave it to them.
For most of us – lay Sikhs – suffice it to know that even though parts of it we accept as Gurbani, Dasam Granth has absolutely no place alongside the Guru Granth. It is not the Guru. So decreed Guru Gobind Singh when he sealed the Sikh Cannon in 1708.
The controversy remains what it is – a red herring.
Note: The author, Inder Jit Singh, is an anatomy professor at New York University. He is also on the editorial advisory board of the Calcutta-based periodical, The Sikh Review, and is the author of four books: Sikhs and Sikhism: A View With a Bias; The Sikh Way: A Pilgrim's Progress; Being and Becoming a Sikh; and The World According to Sikhi. He can be reached at: ijsingh99@gmail.com
with thanks from : source : http://www.sikhnn.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=698&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
SikhsIndia
www.sohnijodi.com
www.sikhsindia.blogspot.com
Even the Akal Takht, the seat of temporal authority in Sikhism, had issued an ill-considered edict banning any discussion on the matter. But discussion has not ceased. It remains even livelier today than before the edicts.
But my topic was Guru Granth, not Dasam Granth. And with a mixed audience of Sikhs and non-Sikhs, opening this Pandora’s Box on our internal dissensions would have been inappropriate.
The controversy over the authenticity, authorship and importance of the Dasam Granth continues to rile some people in the community, and what I say today is not likely to settle the dust. I offer you a view that is largely non-scholarly, but is historically accurate and consistent, with some common sense.
Why now? Because the controversy has gone on long enough and shows no light at the end of the tunnel. And because a pillar of the community with an enviable track record, Professor Darshan Singh, has been vilified, pilloried and abused all over the world. Matters of honest disagreement that we should expect in any good and honest people are hard to isolate because they are intertwined and covered in personal innuendo and vilification.
In the past decade or so, there has been a plethora of writings on Dasam Granth by writers on both sides of the controversy. Among the most trustworthy secondary sources of our history and tradition, Punjabi University’s Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and Kahn Singh (Nabha)’s Mahaan Kosh, tell me this:
The longish almost 10 page entry in the encyclopedia is by C. H. Loehlin and Rattan Singh Jaggi. Their academic credentials, especially of the latter, are unquestionable.
When Guru Gobind Singh evacuated Anandpur, many of his own writings, and those of poets in his court, were lost. After an effort of several years, Mani Singh salvaged what he could from wherever he could and compiled the first recension of the Dasam Granth some two decades after Guru Gobind Singh passed away. Based on copies of this, several recensions appeared some years later, many with significant variations.
Kesar Singh Chibber author of the historical documents Bansavlinama and a Rehatnama asserts that the two tomes - Dasam Granth, and the Adi Granth that later became Guru Granth in 1708 - sat separately during Guru Gobind Singh’s lifetime. When asked by Sikhs to combine the two, the Guru declined, stating: “Adi Guru Granth is the root book; the other is only for my diversion. Let this be kept in mind and the two stay separate.” This remains the bedrock principle in Sikhi and the two thus can never be equated.
During the Singh Sabha days in the last century, the Khalsa Diwan explored the authenticity of the writings in the Dasam Granth. Copies of Dasam Granth that could be located - numbering 32 - were collected, and a group of eminent scholars worked them threadbare from July 5, 1895 to October 17, 1897. The recension, based on their findings, was first published in 1902. This committee identified what exactly is the writing of Guru Gobind Singh and what is likely not.
Parsing authorship is not a simple matter. It requires an in-depth understanding of language, culture and context, and remains a matter where scholars will spend a lifetime, and even then remain unsure. But why and how exactly did such a massive problem of authorship arise in the first place?
History tells us that at least 52 prominent poets made their home under the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh. They composed a lot of poetry, as did the Guru, in many of the Indic languages extant at that time. That’s what poets do. I would imagine that, like us, these poets too were occupied by many ideas, with a whimsical muse sometimes. They did not spend all day in worship and prayer, but did all the things that people do - some of them even playful. And their poetry showed it.
The Dasam Granth therefore contained much that was the Guru’s serious contribution, mixed here and there with what was neither serious nor from his pen. It never was an easy matter separating the wheat from the chaff and, despite the best efforts of scholars, still not so easy a matter.
I often wonder, for instance, Dasam Granth speaks eloquently of the past life of Guru Gobind Singh, from which has emerged the legend of Hemkund. But no Guru ever talked of a previous life. We don’t ever venerate any places where any of the Gurus might have visited or worshipped before they became Sikhs.
For instance, history tells us that Lehna, before he became a Sikh and later Guru Angad, went on yearly pilgrimages to Hindu holy places, as did Amardas. But once they came into the fold of Sikhism, they never again spoke of the need of a pilgrimage anywhere. Sikhs do not regard those sites as holy.
It is inconceivable to me that Guru Gobind Singh would deliberately go against the unbroken tradition of Sikhism in such a weighty matter. So why should we mix history and mythology to convert Hemkund into a pilgrimage? But that’s what we do when we interpret literally what is in the Dasam Granth.
Remember that the Guru, himself, called his writings “a play and diversion” and denied it the status that he himself accorded to the Adi Granth.
In a play that has diversionary writings of many authors should we be shocked to find sexual innuendos and references? I think not. They are part of life, and no Guru taught us to abandon life. Keep in mind that it was the traditional Indian culture that produced the erotic art of Khajuraho. Yet the same society, as we know it today, will outdo the Victorians in prudery. Why should we react like deer caught in headlights when such stories of old find their way into another book of stories? Except for certain parts, this book – Dasam Granth – has many stories and was not designed to become the Guru.
So why is Dasam Granth being promoted as scripture at a level with the Guru Granth? Clearly, such promotion creates division within Sikhs and is contrary to Guru Gobind Singh’s directive. Who benefits from seeding dissension among Sikhs? Is there a political agenda at work here directed by the forces of Hindutva in India?
The controversy seems to be driven by a visible and highly vocal minority with an agenda of destroying anyone who does not quite toe their line. And now there are charges floating around that some hotheads have doctored the evidence to suit their purpose and push their arguments. This hardly helps. Believe me, I am no acolyte of Darshan Singh or anyone else.
Let scholars and lexicographers continue to parse the text; many a doctoral theses will surely result. Dasam Granth is an important part of Sikh literature and should be treated as such with respect. That is the bailiwick of scholars and I leave it to them.
For most of us – lay Sikhs – suffice it to know that even though parts of it we accept as Gurbani, Dasam Granth has absolutely no place alongside the Guru Granth. It is not the Guru. So decreed Guru Gobind Singh when he sealed the Sikh Cannon in 1708.
The controversy remains what it is – a red herring.
Note: The author, Inder Jit Singh, is an anatomy professor at New York University. He is also on the editorial advisory board of the Calcutta-based periodical, The Sikh Review, and is the author of four books: Sikhs and Sikhism: A View With a Bias; The Sikh Way: A Pilgrim's Progress; Being and Becoming a Sikh; and The World According to Sikhi. He can be reached at: ijsingh99@gmail.com
with thanks from : source : http://www.sikhnn.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=698&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
SikhsIndia
www.sohnijodi.com
www.sikhsindia.blogspot.com
Never again?
On December 2, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the 43-year-old Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, filled the Lok Sabha with sadness and remorse with her poignant account of the victims and survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, and how even after 25 years they have not been given justice... House Leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he agreed with Kaur that the tragedy should never happen again. “Not just tragic, it’s horrendous,” said Kaur.
Never again? Fact is, the “horrendous” has happened: again and again. Mercifully, 1984 has not again happened to Sikhs. But it happened to Muslims in 1989 (Bhagalpur), 1992 (Ayodhya, Mumbai) and 2002 (Gujarat) and to Orissa’s Christians in 2008. It happened just a year before 1984 too, to Muslims in Nellie (Assam). By the definition given in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948, that adds up to six “genocidal killings” in 25 years. Only in India, the world’s largest democracy.
With thanks to the source, read complete news by clicking the headline above.
SikhsIndia
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Never again? Fact is, the “horrendous” has happened: again and again. Mercifully, 1984 has not again happened to Sikhs. But it happened to Muslims in 1989 (Bhagalpur), 1992 (Ayodhya, Mumbai) and 2002 (Gujarat) and to Orissa’s Christians in 2008. It happened just a year before 1984 too, to Muslims in Nellie (Assam). By the definition given in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948, that adds up to six “genocidal killings” in 25 years. Only in India, the world’s largest democracy.
With thanks to the source, read complete news by clicking the headline above.
SikhsIndia
www.sohnijodi.com
www.sikhsindia.blogspot.com
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