From: sadhal@alhena.usc.edu (Sati Sadhal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Buddhism/Sikhism a part of Hinduism ?
Date: 31 Aug 1992 15:56:55 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: alhena.usc.edu


In article <1992Aug31.033341.10424@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> rroy@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Raja R Roy) writes:
>
>In article <1992Aug30.233729.4502@ecst.csuchico.edu> vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (V
>ivek R. Prabhu) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug30.190049.8041@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> tbutalia@magnus.a
>cs.ohio-state.edu (Tarunjit Singh Butalia) writes:
>>>
>>>Some Hindus regard the Sikh Gurus too to be Avtars of Hinduism. However,
>>>Sikh religion does not say so. 
>>


[....stuff deleted....]



>>Then why is it so that there is a tradition in many Punjabi Hindu families
>>to have their eldest sons become Sikhs.
>>
>>>
>>>Tarunjit Singh Butalia                  (tbutalia@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
>>
>>Regards,
>>Vivek.
>>
>>-- 
>>vivek@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu),

[stuff deleted]

>
>  Hey Butalia,
>    What is your problem ? Are you paranoid or what ? The discussion was
> about budhism and hinduism. Why did you bring sikhism in to that ?
>

[stuff deleted]

>
>   Was not it Aurangjeb who killed sons of tenth guru by incorporating
>  them into walls. You want us to believe that sikh gurus were fighting
>  hindus. Go and read some history first. 
>
>  Raja.

Dear Raja:

While it is true that The Sikh Gurus fought against the Moghuls, there
were these Hindu Hill Chiefs who interfered with this just cause. Guru
Gobind Singh had to fight against these Hindus to save other Hindus. 
The subject of the Hindu Hill Chiefs (called pahaRi rajas) is discussed
in even the simplest books on Sikh History (e.g., the paperback by
Dr. Gopal Singh).  The Hill Chiefs were only looking at short-term
gains and had no principles at all. Such examples, unfortunately,
appear in our history all the time.

The Sikhs Gurus did not fight against Hindus. But there were always
some traitors who made the fight against the Moghuls very difficult.
The Hindu Hill Chiefs are among these traitors. For someone who
has not read this chapter of history in detail, it may come as a
surprise. However, there are many other examples that exhibit 
such self-destructive traits. Even though Guru Teg Bahadur 
proclaimed that he would defend Hindus, and even though Guru
Gobind Singh raised armies against the Moghuls, the Sikh armies 
had to face mountains of obstruction from the very people 
they were defending. 

Therefore, Mr. Raja, don't jump the gun. Please read the history.
You should also read about Chandu, the Hindu henchman of the 
Moghuls, who had complicity in the martyrdom of Guru Arjun Dev.
History also tells us about the role of the Kashmiri pandits
in the beheading of Guru Teg Bahadur. Traitors, however, come in 
all colors, and  the existence of these historic facts 
does not mean that we cannot get along. What is required 
is timely acknowledgement of facts and 
fair credit where it is due. 

------------------------------ Satwindar Singh Sadhal

				sadhal@alhena.usc.edu



*
*
*
*
*
*




Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,alt.culture.kerala