The Ādi Granth, or the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs (1877) · 1

PBOFESSOR EEOII'S OF ORIENTAL LANOUAOES AT THE VNIVERSITY OP MIMCII, MEMBER OF THE ROTAL BAVARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL.

LONDON: Wil. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, S.W.

N. TRtJBNER & CO., 57 a.vd 59, LUDGATE HILL, E.C.

In offering this volume to the learned public, I think it right to premise a few words on the way and the peculiar circumstances under which the translation of the Sikh Granth has been made.

The work was entrusted to me by the India Office authorities towards the end of the year 1869, in the expectation that the translation could be made at home. But after I had fairly taken up the task, I soon per- ceived, that in spite of my knowledge of the modern North-Indian vernaculars, which I had formerly acquired in the country itself, and of Sanskrit and Prakrit, it was next to impossible to make a trustworthy translation of such a difficult book, as the Sikh Granth proved to be, without native assistance. There existed neither a grammar of the old Iliudui dialects nor a dictionary, and though I was able to make out many obscure words by dint of careful comparison with the modern idioms and the Prakrit, yet there remained a considerable residuum of words and grammatical forms to which I could get no clue, being destitute of all literary means.

When I reported this circumstance to the India Office, considerable difficulties arose, as the original plan had to be changed; but it was finally arranged that I should go myself to the Paujab, in order to work first the Granth through with the aid of some Sikh Granthls. I started there- fore for India towards the close of the year 1870, in the expectation, that all difficulties would be easily siu'mounted there. But after I had succeeded in engaging two Sikh Granthls at Lahore, I was not a little surprised, when they declared to me, that the Granth could not be translated in the literal grammatical way I desired. I soon convinced myself, that

thongli they professed to understand the Granth, they had no knowledge either of the old grammatical forms or of the obsolete words; they could only give me some traditional explanations, which frequently proved wrong, as I found them contradicted by other passages, and now and then they could give me no explanation whatever; tliey had not even a clear insight into the real doctrines of the Granth. Other persons, who were recommended to me for their learning, I foimd equally ignorant. I went even to lay a number of difficult passages before some Granthis at Amritsar, but was like- wise sorely disappointed. Finally I gave up all hope of finding what I w^anted, as I clearly saw, that the Sikhs, in consequence of their former warlike manner of life and the troublous times, had lost' all learning; whereas the Brahmans, who alone would have had the necessary erudition to lend me a helping hand, never had deigned to pay any attention to the Granth, owing to the animosity which formerly existed between the Sikhs and the Hindu community.

Thus I was again thrown upon my own resources, and had to find out the way through this labyrinth for myself. But though the explanations of the Sikh Granthis were in so many cases insufficient or futile, they were still of great use to me, as they indirectly helped me to find out the right track.

I was sure in my own mind that, as the language of the Granth had become already obsolete to a great extent, some attempts at some sort of lexicography must have been made in the preceding times, and I inquired therefore carefully after commentaries on the Granth. At first I was positively told that there was no such thing in existence; but in progress of time I succeeded in detecting three commentaries, two of which explained in a rough way a number of obsolete Hindul and deshi (provincial) words, and the other a number of Arabic and Persian words, which were received into the Granth in a very mutilated form. These commentaries, though very deficient, proved very useful to me, and I therefore got them copied, as their owners would not part with them.

I first attempted to write down the translation as I read on with the Granthis; but I soon found that this would not do, as I frequently per-

ceived that I had been misled by them. Nothing therefore remained to me, but to read first the whole Granth through, in order to make myself conversant with its contents and its style. As I went on, I noted down all grammatical forms and obsolete words I met with, and thus I gradually drew up a grammar and a dictionary, so that I could refer to every passage again, whenever I found it necessary for the sake of comparison.

After I had gone through the Granth in this wearisome way and pre- pared my tools, I returned to Europe in the spring of the year 1872, aud began to write down the translation for the press. I had thus to do the work twice, but I saw, under the disadvantages under which I had been labouring, no other way open, if I wished to lay down a solid foundation and to give a translation which should be of any scientific value.

That in many passages, even after all the trouble I have taken, my translation may partly prove deficient, I fully allow, and in a first attempt on such a vast field, which has hitherto hardly been touched, this will appear natural enough to any man, who is conversant with the peculiar difficulties of such an undertaking.

The Sikh Granth is a very big volume, but as I have noted on p. cxxi, 1. 3, and on p. cxxii, 1. 4, incoherent and shallow in the extreme, and couched at the same time in dark and perplexing language, in order to cover these defects. It is for us Occidentals a most painful and almost stupefying task, to read only a single Eag, and I doubt if any ordinary reader will have the patience to proceed to the second Eag, after he shall have perused the first. It would therefore be a mere waste of paper to add also the minor Eags, which only repeat, in endless variations, what has been already said in the great Eags over and over again, without adding the least to our knowledge.

A number of introductory essays has been added to this translation, which, I trust, will not be imwelcome to the learned public, as they will serve to clear up all those points which may be of interest to science regarding the Sikh reformatory movement.

I have spent seven years on the elaboration of this volume, the task proving infinitely more arduous than I had ever imagined, and though I can

hardly expect that the Granth will attract many readers, the less so, as Sikhism is a -waning religion, that will soon belong to histoiy, yet I venture to hope, that my labours will not be in vain. The Sikh Granth, which will always keep its place in the history of religion, lies now open before us, and we know authentically what their Gurus taught.

But the chief importance of the Sikh Granth lies in the linguistic line, as being the treasury of the old Hindu! dialects, and I hope that the day will not be far distant when these hitherto hidden treasures will be made available for the furtherance of modern Indian philology by being embodied in a grammar of the mediaeval Hindul dialects.

As hitherto nothing of the Sikh Granth has been published, I have added in the Appendix the original text of the Japji, which may serve as a specimen of the language, and at the same time as a criterion for the translation.

For this translation of the Granth, as well as for its publication, the public is indebted to Her Majesty's Government for India, which, in due consideration of the importance of the work, planned its execution and de- frayed its expenses.

The English reader will no doubt detect in this volume many an ex- pression that will appear to him more or less unidiomatic. For all such shortcomings I must beg his pardon, which he will surely grant, when he hears that English is not my mother- tongue, and that I was therefore often at a loss how to translate such abstruse philosophical matters clearly and correctly into an idiom which, since I no longer hear it spoken, is gradually receding from my memory.

Jasaju-SakhI or Baba NInak (B.) xlvi-lxxvi

II. SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHEE SIKH GUEUS.

III. SKETCH OF THE EELIGION OF THE SIKHS... xcvii-cxviii

IV. ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE GEANTH... cxix-cxsi V. ON THE LANGUAGE AND THE METEE8 USED IN THE

1. Kabir, I.-LXXIV.... 458-481 Bavanakliri, by Kabir, 1-45. 481-485 Tbitis, by Kabir, 1-16.. 486-487 Vars of Kabir, 1-8... 488

Arjun, LXVIII.-CCXXX... 521-576 Teg-bahadur, CCXXXI... 576

SLOKS OF KABIE. 1-243.. 671-685 SLOKS OF SHEKK FAEID, 1 -1 30 685-694

Savaie on Angad, by the Bhatt Kalasahar, I.-V., by the Bhatt Kalu, YI.-X.... 697-699