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ABSTRACT
In the villages of Nagaon district of Assam(India), Axomiya Sikhs are residing for the past two centuries. They are the believers and practitioners of their religion though not averse to local customs and festivals. They are immersed in the language and culture of Assam and many have got name and fame in their respective fields including Assamese literature. They claim to be the descendants of Sikh soldiers from Punjab sent there by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to help the Ahom ruler in 1820. The present paper explores the question of their social, religious and linguistic identity. They were contented with themselves until they interacted with the Punjabi Sikhs in Assam, relatively recent settlers, who call them ‘duplicate Sikhs’. They are now in a dilemma with regard to their Sikh identity. The data are collected from a sample of 365 respondents. This is the only empirical study after Medhi’s work in 1989.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. In the native language, Assam is written as Ahom where ‘h’ is pronounced as ‘kh’ hence linguistically it is considered appropriate to write Axomiya in place of Assamese whose English equivalents are spelled varyingly as Assamiya or Asomiya.
2. For details see Singh, Sikhs in the Deccan …, chap. III. “Axomiya and Mazhabi Sikhs …”
3. For the last more than four decades, the issue of outsiders is brewing up in Assam that included the Indian Bengalis besides others and the Nepalese. After the formation of Bangla Desh (erstwhile East Pakistan) in 1971, there has been an influx of refugees from there. The listing of such people always becomes an issue during elections from time to time. The concern is primarily about the Muslims from Bangla Desh so that they may be shown the exit from Assam (India). The present government in the state and at the national level is of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) subscribing to the rightist ideology of Hindu nationalism. It was a central issue in the recent (2019) elections to the Indian parliament. Incidentally, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been completed recently that excludes 1.9 million residents including native Hindus that are more than 1.4 millions, hence political fiasco for the BJP. Now the same party has passed the Citizen Amendment Act in the parliament and wish to implement the NRC at the all India level, hence protests against these diktats all over the country for the past many weeks.
4. Punjab has been the premier Indian state to launch the green revolution where agrarian crisis has deepened to the extent that farmers are committing suicides. For details see Birinder Pal Singh, “Farmers’ Suicides …”
5. Grewal, History of the Sikhs.
6. In Rayaprol, “Can you talk Indian?” 170.
7. Tonnies, Community and Society, 33.
8. Delanty, Community, 156.
9. Jenkins, Social Identity, 115.
10. Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries.
11. Jenkins, Social Identity, 121.
12. Singh, “Introduction,” 1–31.
13. Ray, The Sikh Gurus and …, 105.
14. Ibid., 107.
15. Not a single respondent has a divergent view on this subject.
16. Singh, “The Axomiya Sikhs of Nagaon”.
17. J.S. Grewal, an authority on Punjab history argues that given the British control over the large parts of India it was not possible to send troops from Punjab following the rules of paramountcy. There is no such record available. Personal interview at Chandigarh on 26 May 2013.
18. Jenkins, Social Identity, 17. (Emphasis in original).
19. Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, 14.
20. Jenkins, Social Identity, 18.
21. See note 16 above.
22. Medhi, “Untold Story of …,” 342.
23. Quoted in Phukan, “Searching for Roots,” 433. (Emphasis added).
24. Personal interview with Pritam Singh, president of the Assam Sikh Sanstha at Nagaon in June 2012.
25. Hunter, A Statistical Account of Assam, 46.
26. Allen, Assam District Gazetteers, 95.
27. Medhi, The Assamese Sikhs, 65.
28. Neog, Introduction to Assam.
29. Abir, a weaver; Ravidas, a cobber of chamar caste, Sain, a barber including Muslim pir Shaikh Farid. They were 15 in all.
30. Srimata Shankardeva (1449–1568) was vaishnavite saint and a devotee of Lord Krishna only. He preached belief in one God 2hose praise be sung and heard by the devotees. He defied Brahmanic ritualism and started Ekasarana. He initiated people of all castes and religions including Muslims.
31. Singh, “A Sikh Village,” 273.
32. Ibid., 279.
33. Ibid., 280.
34. Jodhka, “Sikhs in Contemporary Times …,” 11.
35. Ibid., 15.
36. Based on the field work.
37. Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh guru performed the first initiation ceremony for the creation of Khalsa, making the five beloved ones (panj piyaras) from the low castes take the sweetened water stirred with a double-edged dagger from a single bowl. It symbolised equality of people and the abolition of caste and class.
38. Medhi, The Assamese Sikhs, 110.
39. In a personal interview at Barkola on 14 June 2012.
40. The presence of Jutt Sikh transporters and dealers in auto-parts has increased in Guwahati with the opening up of the Indian economy in the 1990s following the policy of liberalisation of economy, privatisation and globalisation.
41. In a personal interview at Chaparmukh on 15 June 2012.
42. This is a study of the Ramgharia community of Sikhs who are primarily carpenters and mechanical workers. They are an enterprising people, hence mobile.
43. See note 36 above.
44. 28.76 per cent belong to Nagaon town, 27.94 per cent to Barkola village, 20.55 per cent to Chaparmukh village and 10.96 per cent to Lanka town.
45. 35.04 per cent belong to Nagaon, 20.12 per cent to Barkola, 11.71 per cent to Chaparmukh and 9.61 per cent to Lanka. 2.74 per cent belong to Guwahati and 18.08 per cent from other places but in Assam only.
46. Nagaon town 41.79 per cent, Barkola 23.88 per cent, Chaparmukh 5.97 per cent.
47. Medhi, “Untold Story of …,” 363.
48. Barth, “Pathan Identity and its Maintenance,” 132.
49. His excitement and surprise was worth noticing.
50. See note 39 above.
51. Singh, Sikhs in the Deccan ….
52. Of the remaining two one having puratan (old) status is named Sri Guru Singh Sabha Puratan Gurdwara or simply Gurdwara Badi Sangat (1825). It belongs to the descendants of Ram Singh. The third one is Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Sahib Nanaksar built in 1991.
53. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, 90.
54. Referred to as the Five Ks in English texts, these are kesh (hair), kara (steel bracelet), kirpan (small sword with a sling), kangha (comb) and kachha (long breeches).
55. McLeod, Who is a Sikh? 121.
56. Singh, “Sikhs of the Hyderabad Deccan,” 168.
57. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism.
58. Kaur, “Jat Sikhs,” 222.
59. Singh, “Five Symbols of Sikhism,” 2–3.
60. Medhi, “Untold Story of,” 372.
61. cf. McLeod, Who is a Sikh?
62. In a personal interview at Hatipara on 16 December 2012.
63. For a very brief account of the Assam Movement see Singh, Sikhs in the Deccan, chap. III and VII. For details see Gohain, “Cudgel of Chauvinism,” 418–20; Baruah, “Lessons of Assam,” 282–4; and Bhaumik, Troubled Periphery.
64. Chandan Singh, general secretary of the Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP) unit of Barkola was killed in the police firing on 14 February 1983 and a few days later Karam Singh died on 1 March. Balindra Majumdar of Barkola too was killed on the following day.
65. Banerjee, “Asamiya-Sikhs of …,” 311.
66. Medhi, “Untold Story of …,” 387. He names many such political organisations as All Assam Students Union (AASU), Assam Sahitya Sabha, Jatiyatabadi Dal, Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad, Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chhatra Samaj, All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) etc.
67. Banerjee, The Other Sikhs, 54–66. He identifies four historical novels looking for evidence of Sikh soldiers fighting in favour of the Ahom ruler. Two are by Rajanikanta Bardoloi – Manomati (1900) and Dandua Droha (1909); and Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s Padum Kunwari (1905) and Sailadhar Rajkhowa’s Pashan Pratima (1935).
68. This is common utterance of all respondents.
69. ‘Koi such-jooth da khayal nahin karde. Akhand path vichon uthh jande ne.’ They do not care for purity and pollution and often interrupt the continuous recitation of Guru Granth Sahib.
70. Others not noted by him are Jivan Singh, Izzat Singh, Gunanda Kaur, Manjit Singh and Dr. Charan Kaur.
71. Medhi, “Untold Story of …,” 383–6.
72. See note 65 above.
73. Banerjee, The Other Sikhs, 64–5.
74. Phukan, “Searching for Roots,” 448–9. (Emphasis added).
75. The Axomiya Sikh Sanstha requested the different Punjab chief ministers to support them financially and otherwise. Giani Zail Singh granted Rs. 25,000 in 1975 for the Guru Nanak Library at Barkola. Surjit Singh Barnala asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar to appoint a Punjabi teacher there. Interestingly, he too married a local woman.
76. cf. Jenkins, Social Identity.
77. For details see Singh, “Mazhabi Sikhs of Shillong …”
78. The Axomiya Scheduled Castes Sikhs do not marry Punjabi Scheduled Castes Sikhs dwelling in Guwahati and Shillong for the last more than a century. These Sikhs hailing from two districts in Punjab seek marital alliances from there only, hence strong ties with Punjab and Punjabi language. For details see note 77.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Birinder Pal Singh
Birinder Pal Singh is Professor of Eminence in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Punjabi University, Patiala (India) where he joined as lecturer in 1976. He has Masters in Sociology (1973) and Doctorate (1984) from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and M.Phil (1976) from the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1993-1995). His areas of study are tribal and peasant communities and sociology of violence. His publications include: Economy and Society in the Himalayas: Social Formation in Pangi Valley, Ajanta, Delhi (1996); Problemof Violence: Themes in Literature, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and Manohar (Delhi) (1999); Violence as Political Discourse: Sikh Militancy Confronts the Indian State, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (2002); Punjab Peasantry in Turmoil (ed.), Manohar, Delhi (2010); ‘Criminal’ Tribes of Punjab: A Social- Anthropological Inquiry (ed.), Routledge, Delhi (2010); Sikhs in the Deccan and North-East India, Routledge, London and New York (2018) and Indigineity and Occupational Change: The Tribes of Punjab, Routledge, London and New York (2020). He has more than 70 research papers and articles and worked on seven research projects.