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Abstract
Objects and sites related to the Sikh Gurus, heroes and martyrs are ubiquitous in Punjab and beyond. As objects of memory, they function to represent the past and participate in a larger narration of that past as history. This paper examines exemplary cases of Sikh historical objects and sites and considers their role as lieux de memoire, as theorized by Pierre Nora, to commemorate the Guru and the relationships that constitute the community around him. Narration constitutes the animating principle for these objects, making them both like and unlike other kinds of material religious traditions generally known as ‘relics’. The early Buddhist tradition is provided for productive contrast, to suggest a parallel case of a narrative frame that determines the historical meanings of the material aspect of religious practices and ideologies.
Notes
1 Research that contributed to this article was conducted while the author was on a Fulbright-Hays DDRA dissertation research grant in 2002. Thanks also to the Pluralism Project of Harvard University for providing research funding for research in California in 2003 and to the British Academy and American Philosophical Society for a grant for supplemental research in London in the summer of 2005. Thanks to those who commented on prior versions of this article: J. S. Hawley, Atticus Kelbley, Noel King, Mark Larrimore, Arvind-pal Singh Mandair, Rishi Singh, Rupa Viswanath, Frances Wood and an anonymous reviewer from the journal. Thank you in addition and in particular to Richard Davis, who provided particularly probing and comprehensive comments. Thanks also to members of my Ph.D. dissertation committee (Elizabeth Castelli, Partha Chatterjee, Nicholas Dirks, J. S. Hawley and Rachel McDermott) for their comments on the larger work this is drawn from. All errors and omissions, of course, are my responsibility.
2 Gurmukh Singh's book provides an introduction to the historical shrines of Sikh tradition, and is exemplary of a larger literature about historical Gurdwaras.
3 See, for example, the discussion in McLeod Citation1968, 167–8.
4 There is no inherent theological contradiction here, as this article will show. On visual representations associated with the tradition, see McLeod Citation1991, Stronge Citation1999 and K. Brown Citation1999.
5 Recent exhibitions include The Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a similar exhibition at the National Museum in New Delhi in 2000; a collection of Sikh court art objects at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum; and an ethnographic and art exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution which opened in July 2004. On the former, see Stronge Citation1999; on the Delhi exhibition, see Goswamy Citation2000 (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000709/spectrum/art.htm, 16 August 2004). On the D.C. exhibition, see Allen-Agostini Citation2001. Sikh history and culture is commonly displayed within museums associated with Gurdwaras as well, and a major Sikh Heritage Site is being built at Anandpur (see http://www.khalsaheritagecomplex.org). These exhibitions and museological engagements are discussed in Murphy Citation2005.
6 Relics have garnered particular interest in the last ten years, as have other types of Sikh material culture. The National Institute for Panjab Studies, a non-governmental organization, has been gathering information about such objects for several years, and published photographs in two separate volumes. See M. Singh Citation2002a, Citation2002b; Singh and Singh Citation2002. These publications utilize the term ‘relics’ for these objects. Tours and exhibitions of such objects take place periodically in Punjab, such as at the 1999 celebrations at Anandpur Sahib for the 3001 anniversary of the founding of the Khalsa; see the Tribune online edition 1999. For a Diaspora example, relic objects from the village of Bhai Rupa visited Fresno, California in 2002, and were received by crowds of devotees at a local Gurdwara exhibition/viewing. See brief discussion below.
7 This orientation has been highlighted in recent years by a number of scholars of South Asian religious traditions. See, for example, Cort Citation1996, 613–32 and Schopen Citation1997, 1–22.
8 See, for example, Das, Citation1995, Ch. 5. There are, of course, multiple views about material and visual representation within Hinduism, in both the present and the past. Members of the Arya Samaj and Hindus who consider themselves followers of ‘Sanatan Dharm’, for example, hold radically different views on the validity of images within worship. For a discussion of historical debates, see Davis Citation2001, Granoff Citation2004, Colas Citation2004.
9 I have been told this many times by Sikhs, particularly in Diaspora. As will be clear from this article, I am not arguing for identity between murti and Sikh religious memorial objects.
10 Examples are Germano and Trainor Citation2004 and Strong Citation2004.
11 In this, Sikh forms of materiality share much with a range of other forms of material religion, notably Jain traditions. See Babb Citation1996; Cort Citation1996; Citation2001, 87 ff.; 2002.
12 I use the notion of the ‘relic’ intentionally, as a means to take seriously the religious nature of the objects under discussion, and to push for consideration of the objects within a comparative frame. To account for the Sikh material, I thus am advocating an understanding of ‘relic’ that does not rely upon the object's religious ‘presence’. Accounting for non-presence is important, for as John Cort has noted, our understanding of bhakti (devotionalism) overall is tied to the problem of interaction and presence: ‘Clearly, certain forms of bhakti do involve…an ontological interaction and even interpenetration with the divine. But just as clearly, many forms of bhakti deny or redefine the possibility of such interaction’ (Cort Citation2002, 62).
13 Of course, exactly what it means to locate something ‘within’ Sikh tradition is not self-evident; everything depends on where the boundaries are drawn. There has been a tendency in scholarship on the Sikhs to either assume a contradiction between Sikh doctrine and Sikh practices, or deny looking at anything that might suggest such a contradiction. This article is situated between these two poles.
14 I am discussing Sikh forms of material representation in the present and resorting to early Buddhism for a productive contrast. My goal is to examine the notion of the relic, not to propose an ahistorical homology between Sikh and Buddhist forms of practice and ideology. The wealth of scholarship on the relic in early Buddhism provides rich ground for consideration of the category.
15 This article is drawn from a larger project, which examines the history of such representations and thus provides a history of present practices (see Murphy Citation2005). Even though these practices are persistent, in that they have existed over time, they should not be taken as unchanging continuities. The practices and institutions described here are embedded, as I suggest, within colonial and post-colonial forms of knowledge and administration.
16 I use this term to signify male as well as female heroes.
17 The weapons at Anandpur include numerous weapons associated with Guru Gobind Singh (see Guru Gobind Singh Marg, 36; a list of important weapons is also available at http://www.indianhospitality.com/heritage/music.htm#Holy%20Weapons%20At%20Anandpur). Weapons formerly in the collection of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and taken to England by Lord Dalhousie are also kept in this Gurdwara.
18 On the liturgical role of the Adi Granth, see P. Singh Citation2000 and Mann Citation2001.
19 On the Birmingham centre, see Murphy Citation2004.
20 S. Singh (no date) includes a list of swords and other weapons from the Central Sikh Museum (a total of eleven) and thirty weapons at the Akal Takhat.
21 As I will explore in my forthcoming work (based on Murphy Citation2005), the display of relic objects and particularly weapons has been important at various public events as well, including the recent celebration of the 3001 anniversary of the foundation of the Khalsa in 1999 and the commemoration of the martyrdom of the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh in 2005. See n. 4.
22 It is not my intention to give a comprehensive view of all object-related traditions in Sikh contexts in this article; historical objects are found at many Gurdwaras that are not associated with Takhats (as well as in other settings). It is the prominence of these objects in Takhat contexts that I wish to highlight.
23 These five sites are: the Akal Takhat in Amritsar, mentioned earlier, which was a major centre of several of the Sikh Gurus and associated with what is arguably the holiest of Sikh Gurdwaras, the Golden Temple; Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur (where the Khalsa was inaugurated); Sri Hazur Sahib in Nander, Maharastra (the place of Guru Gobind Singh's death); Harimandir Sahib in Patna (where Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Guru, was born); and Sri Damdama Sahib in the village of Talvandi Sabo (which Guru Gobind Singh visited in 1706). The leaders or jathedars of these shrines hold a special, but not absolute, authority within the community.
24 Hence the name of the site: manji, or ‘cot’, sahib, the honorific suffix given to all Sikh sacred sites. Please note that I do not attest to, nor concern myself with, the relative authenticity of individual objects. The cot in question is, in truth, allegedly, the cot of the Sixth Guru. I have neither substantiated nor refuted this claim, and do not intend to do so. All objects discussed, therefore, are neither confirmed nor rejected as ‘authentic’.
25 According to the published version of this text, it consists of a collection of the Gurus' compositions (bani) and an early prose text. See Padam Citation1978.
26 I am not, as should be clear at this juncture, exploring the symbolic meaning of these objects, but rather how they operate – in my view, as memorials in relation to the narration of history. This effort to get beyond symbolic interpretation is shared by other theorists of material religious culture; see Faure Citation1998.
27 Three families now hold the cloak jointly and all are the direct descendents of Guru Nanak. See literature published by Bedi at Dera Baba Nanak, such as Sakhi Sri Chola Sahib Ji. For more information on this family and site, see Murphy Citation2005.
28 On the Sodhi family, see Dera Guru (no date). Photographs of the objects in the family's collection and a history of the family are provided in this publication. The Sodhis possess the Kartarpur Pothi, an early version of the Adi Granth, the importance of which cannot be overstated. See also P. Singh Citation2000 and Mann Citation2001. On the Goindwal Pothi, see Mann Citation1996.
29 I am not, therefore, arguing that the object-nature of the text is superior or prior to its function as meaningful and content-laden sacred word. Texts of Buddhist dharma also function in a parallel material form, alongside their primary meaning-laden importance; see Strong Citation2005 and Schopen Citation1997.
30 The text was handwritten and the word breaks were not provided, as is standard in medieval texts. The Granthi or textual specialist at the site in 2002, however, was trained in reading medieval script.
31 I am interested primarily in the social history of these relics, rather than in the cultural biography of particular objects (Appadurai, Citation1986b, 34; see also Kopytoff article in same volume). I am also self-consciously not pursuing issues related to authenticity in relation to these objects; see Appadurai 1986, 45 ff.
32 On the political nature of relics in Christian tradition, see, for example, Geary Citation1994a, Citation1994b.
33 On the formation of the SGPC (particularly the Gurdwara Reform Movement) and the genealogy of the idea of the itihasik in relation to it, see Murphy Citation2005, Citation2007. Historical shrines in Punjab are controlled by the SGPC; historical shrines in other states have other managing bodies. There is as of now no All-India Gurdwara Management body, although some support the formation of such an organization.
34 Coffee-table books, portraying the historical Gurdwaras of the world, are a particularly popular item at present. On early ‘Gurdwara Guides,’ see Murphy Citation2005, Chs 4 and 5.
35 Fatehgarh Sahib, in Punjab. Cunningham's work is an early British account of Sikh history (Cunningham Citation1849).
36 See G. Singh Citation1995, 165; published introduction to the site: Gurdwara Sri Bhata Sahib (no date), 6; and Saarang Citation1990.
37 The shield is held at the Gurdwara associated with Bachitar Singh's martyrdom. Gurdwara Sri Bhata Sahib, 6.
38 This is corroborated by multiple other sources, such as G. Singh Citation1995.
39 The order in which these events took place is represented differently in the oral accounts received on 8 March 2002 and in the published description of the Gurdwara, Gurdwara Sri Bhata Sahib.
40 According to Gurmukh Singh, ‘no trace of the original brick kiln remains’ (G. Singh Citation1995, 165).
41 This is corroborated in G. Singh Citation1995.
42 Gurdwara Sri Bhata Sahib, 6–7. For more on the Kar Seva organization, see Murphy Citation2004.
43 As I have noted, I am interested in separating practices in the present day somewhat artificially from their historical genealogy – that is, how they became historical in this particular sense – in the interest of exploring how the past is made present in the earth at this site today. Sikh notions of historicality in the 1920s cannot, of course, be separated from colonial discourses about the historical; again, see Murphy Citation2005 and 2007 on this issue. I thus do not in any way argue that the notion of the itihasik is singular and unchanging. It is derived in complex ways from pre-colonial notions of the historical, as well as colonial definitions and technologies of power. On the Gurdwara Reform movement, see M. Singh Citation1997 [1978] and Tan 1995.
44 Jeffrey Citation1987; Oberoi Citation1993, 278; Juergensmeyer Citation1987, 176 ff; Das Citation1995, 121.
45 Interviews conducted with G. S. Mohar, President of the Nanaksar Gurdwara in Fresno, and Dr. S. S. Chahal, who initiated the visits of these objects, in May–June 2003, with support from the Pluralism Project of Harvard University.
46 See McCarthy Citation1996; see also Sundaram Citation1996; ‘Sacred Trust’ 2000.
47 See ‘Indian Sikhs furious’ 2003.
48 For a very useful overview of scholarship on ‘collective memory’ and particularly an overview of scholarship on the relationship between memory and history, see Olick and Robbins Citation1998, particularly 110 ff.; for a similar critique of Nora, see 121 ff. See discussion of Halbwachs in Castelli Citation2005 and Hutton Citation1993; both works provide a very useful overview of the interplay between history and memory.
49 For a general overview of recent literature addressing the relationship between history and memory, see Hutton Citation2000.
50 There is a large literature on the distinction between history and memory, and it relates to a broader polemic regarding the nature of ‘history’; see Connerton Citation1989 and Halbwachs Citation1992. For more on the idea of history as resulting from absolute rupture, advocating a more presentist approach, see Fasolt Citation2004.
51 I am not alone in my critique of an absolute distinction between memory and history; see Geary Citation1994b, 10 ff.
52 De Certeau's discussion of the separation between the past and present that makes history possible is particularly compelling. See de Certeau Citation1988, 3 ff. and 34 ff.
53 Inden, too, notes the ways in which totalizing narratives of different types can constitute a quasi-Hegelian master narrative (Inden, Walters and Ali Citation2000, 62), as does Ali, regarding the Puranas (in Inden, Walters and Ali Citation2000, 179). On narrative and history, see White Citation1987; for a critique of White's position see Moses Citation2005a; White Citation2005; Moses Citation2005b.
54 On history and memory as addressing separation or loss, see Hutton Citation1993, 166–8.
55 It could be argued that such objects operated as ‘memory’ in the pre-colonial period and ‘history’ in modernity; certainly, there is not an unchanged continuum in the ways the past is represented in these objects over the last two centuries. In Nora's terms, however, the notion of ‘sites of memory’ operates in modernity in contrast to history, and these objects seem to animate history, not stand outside of it while also containing memory.
56 For more in-depth discussion, see Sharf Citation1999.
57 On bodily remains in the Christian tradition, see, for example, Geary Citation1978, Citation1994a, Citation1994b. On Buddhism, see Schopen Citation1997; Strong Citation2005; Germano and Trainor Citation2004; and Trainor Citation1997. To my knowledge, no study exists which focuses on the contrasts and connections between object-relics and bodily ones, in either tradition; Trainor points out the distinctions, but does not explore the intersections among them (Trainor Citation1997, 30). See discussion below. For the relic of Amardas, see http://www.sikhs.org/gurdwaras/guru3-1b.htm.
58 For example, see Carr Citation2001. The Eucharist, indeed, acts as a kind of relic for Jesus; see Geary Citation1994a, 185.
59 Such methodological concerns are at the centre of Schopen's work, discussed below, but this is especially apparent in his ‘Archaeology and Protestant presuppositions in the study of Indian Buddhism’ in Schopen Citation1997, 1–22. To compare methodological concerns with regard to medieval Christian traditions, see P. Brown Citation1981, Ch. 1; and Geary Citation1994b, 9–48. On ‘visual culture’ and the study of Buddhism, see Trainor Citation2004, 11.
60 See below and Trainor Citation1997, 30, 89 and passim. The first type is exemplified by the typical stupa or dagaba, which enshrines the Buddha's remains, the second by the Bodhi tree – sacred in its use by the Buddha – and the last by memorials of the Buddha, not all of which are relics; according to some, this category includes images. (Strong, for example, does not believe so; see Strong Citation2005, 18–19).
61 Different schools of Buddhism defined the relative value of relics, images, and the physical text in different ways; relics did not always occupy the highest rung in the hierarchy of value (see McMahan Citation1998, 249–274, 257).
62 The relic, he emphasizes, is seen to be an appropriate representation of the Buddha because of its historical connection to him, whether as a part of his body or as having come into contact with it (Trainor, Citation1997, 30; see also 78). In contrast, images are said to gain authenticity or authority, Trainor argues, ‘by their capacity to re-present the Buddha visually’ (Trainor Citation1997, 30).
63 Like Schopen, Trainor has found that the physical presence of the living Buddha is seen to be equal with the presence provided by his relics (Trainor Citation1997, 92), and that ‘…the Buddha's teaching is indissolubly linked with the Buddha's physical presence in the form of relics’ (Trainor Citation1997, 77).
64 The status of a ‘juristic personality,’ on its own however, does not necessitate presence. Institutions, for example, act as juristic personalities within British-contructed Hindu law in India in the colonial period, and there does not seem to be a concomitant assertion that such sites were ‘alive’.
65 Susan Huntington argues that early non-anthropomorphic representations were not portraying the Buddha (as was the conventional theory) but instead associative relics being worshipped; as such, these objects are not standing in for the person of the Buddha as representation, but were commemorating him. See Huntington Citation1990, 401–8; Citation1991, 111–56. For an assessment of the argument, see Dehejia Citation1991, 45–66.
66 Robert Sharf too notes that doctrines related to the multiple existences and forms of the body (kaya) of the Buddha fundamentally address the ontological conundra created by the presence/representation problem (Sharf Citation1999, 85 ff.).
67 Indeed, Jacob Kinnard argues that a focus on ‘presence’ is misleading; see Kinnard, Citation2004, 117–8, 133–4. This idea of absence is, according to some theorists, multiple – not just about temporal absence, as in all representations of that which is past, but also in the sense of the absence of self (Trainor Citation1997, 188). John Strong asserts such a position in Strong Citation2004, 32. Sharf argues that while the idea of denotation of absence is compellingly in keeping with Buddhist scriptural injunctions, it is unsupported by the available evidence (Sharf Citation1999, 78; see also Sharf Citation2001).
68 For an overview of the different ways scholars have recently interpreted the Buddhist relic, see Strong Citation2005, 4–5.
69 The focus on the function and mode of relic veneration is akin to Cort's productive suggestion that bhakti is not a practice, but ‘a style in which one performs many practices’ (Cort Citation2002, 66). Strong's approach is in keeping with a wealth of scholarship on the Buddhist tradition; see, for example Walters Citation1997. Looking at what Buddhist objects do, rather than what they mean, provides the possibility for seeing how they provide for the very relocations that have been suggested for Sikh objects in Diaspora. See Shinohara Citation2004 and McMahan Citation1998, 272.
70 Such an understanding of the materialization of narrative in relation to relics is fundamental to Jonathan Walters's exploration, for example, of stupa traditions. As he puts it, drawing on Paul Mus, ‘the stupa is more than a representation of the cosmic Buddha biography: it is the cosmic Buddha biography’ (Walters Citation1997, 174).
71 Many thanks to Richard Davis, in particular, for his insights here.
72 And the murti in most Hindu devotional contexts; see n. 7.
73 ‘MP faces trial’ Citation2002; Khan Citation2005; ‘Protests over BJP MP's remarks’ 2005.
74 See n. 65 and Sharf Citation1999, 84.
75 Das explores this idea in relation to Khalistani rhetoric, but the history made present through the relic today is not determined solely in relation to the separatist movement; multiple Sikh histories, therefore, can be made present through different technologies.
76 This is central to the argument in Brown. Strong Citation(2005) also notes that this is relevant to the Buddhist case, as does Sharf (Citation1999, 78).
77 In the words of Michel de Certeau, history ‘is born in effect from the rupture that constitutes a past distinct from its current enterprise’ (Certeau Citation1988).