Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
Arjun's compilation is called the Âdi-granth, or original book, to
distinguish it from the later additions made by Guru Govind. It
comprises hymns and prayers by Nânak and the four Gurus who followed
him (including Arjun himself), Râmânand, Kabir and others, amounting
to thirty-five writers in all. The list is interesting as testifying
to the existence of a great body of oral poetry by various authors
ranging from Râmânand, who had not separated himself from orthodox
Vishnuism, to Arjun, the chief of the Sikh national community. It was
evidently felt that all these men had one inspiration coming from one
truth and even now unwritten poems of Nânak are current in Bihar. The
Granth is written in a special alphabet known as Gurmukhi[671] and
contains both prose and poetical pieces in several languages: most are
in old western Hindi[672] but some are in Panjabi and Marathi.
But though in compiling a sacred book and in uniting the temporal and
spiritual power Arjun was influenced by the spirit of Mohammedanism,
this is not the sort of imitation which makes for peace. The
combination of Hinduism and Islam resulted in the production of a
special type of Hindu peculiarly distasteful to Moslims and not much
loved by other Hindus. Much of Arjun's activity took place in the
later years of the Emperor Akbar. This most philosophic and tolerant
of princes abandoned Mohammedanism after 1579, remitted the special
taxes payable by non-Moslims and adopted many Hindu observances.
Towards the end of his life he promulgated a new creed known as the
Din-i-ilahi or divine faith. This eclectic and composite religion
bears testimony to his vanity as well as to his large sympathies, for
it recognized him as the viceregent or even an incarnation of God. It
would appear that the singular little work called the Allopanishad or
Allah Upanishad[673] was written in connection with this movement. It
purports to be an Upanishad of the Atharva Veda and can hardly be
described as other than a forgery. It declares that "the Allah of the
prophet Muhammad Akbar[674] is the God of Gods" and identifies him
with Mitra, Varuṇa, the sun, moon, water, Indra, etc. Akbar's
religion did not long survive his death and never flourished far from
the imperial court, but somewhat later (1656) Muhammad Dara Shukoh,
the son of Shah Jehan, caused a Persian translation of about fifty
Upanishads, known as the Oupnekhat,[675] to be prepared. The general
temper of the period was propitious to the growth and immunity of
mixed forms of belief, but the warlike and semi-political character of
the Sikh community brought trouble on it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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