ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>DABIST&#256N-I-MAZ&#256HIB</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279<i>DABIST&#256N-I-MAZ&#256HIB</i>, a seventeenth-century work in Persian, is a unique study of different religious creeds and systems, including early Sikhism. It first attracted wide notice when it was translated into English by David Shea and Anthony Troyer and was published by Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, London, in 1843. The section on N&#257nakpanth&#299s, i. e. Sikhs, was first translated into English by Sard&#257r Umr&#257o Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257, and into English and Punjabi by Dr Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh. The latter's English translation was published in the <i>Journal of lndian History</i>, vol. XIX, part 2, August 1940. It reappeared in <i>Panjab Past and Present</i>, vol. I, part 1, April 1967. There has been a good deal of controversy about the authorship of <i>Dabist&#257n-i-Maz&#257hib</i>. The writer himself has nowhere in the book mentioned his name, parentage or date of birth. Earlier, Mohsin-i-F&#257n&#299 Kashm&#299r&#299 was commonly known to be the author of the book, but the work is now attributed by scholars to an Iranian named Maubad Zulfiq&#257r Ardast&#257n&#299 (1615 c. -70). Maubad was a general term for a member or leader of the priestly order of the Zoroastrians. Zulfiq&#257r grew up under the care of Maubad Hushiyar, himself a disciple of Azhar Kaiwan (d. 1627), the high priest of the Zoroastrians, who had come from Iran to India in the time of Emperor Akbar (1542-1605) and made Pa&#7789n&#257 his second home. Zulfiq&#257r was a religious-minded youth with a liberal outlook. He devoted himself to the comparative study of religions and travelled extensively to this end, visiting far-flung places such as Gujar&#257t, Hyder&#257b&#257d (1053-59 AH / AD 1643-49), O&#7771&#299ss&#257 and Coroma&#7751&#7693al Coast (1061-63 AH / AD 1651-53). He also spent many years in Kashm&#299r and Lahore (1040-52 AH / AD 1631-42). Returning to Pa&#7789n&#257, he settled down in the sector now known as Gulz&#257rb&#257<u>gh</u>. There he started compiling from his notes the book which has become famous as <i>Dabist&#257n-i-Maz&#257hib</i>. A manuscript of the work was discovered by Professor Syed Hasan 'Askar&#299 in the city in the 1930's in the family of an Iranian Muslim who in his scribbles on the flyleaf (now lost) and in critical marginal notes on certain pages (still preserved) furnished valuable information about the author which was not available to Shea and Troyer.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>Dabist&#257n</i> (lit. school) is divided into 12 main sections dealing with Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, S&#363fis, Kab&#299rpanth&#299s, N&#257nakpanth&#299s and different sects of Zoroastrianism. The account of Sikhism in this work, given under the title "N&#257nak Panthi&#257&#7749, " is the earliest from the pen of a non-Sikh contemporary writer. Despite certain errors of fact that have crept into it, it is impartial and sympathetic in tone. As the author tells us, he knew two of the Gur&#363s - Gur&#363 Hargobind (1595-1644) and Gur&#363 Har R&#257i (1630-61) -personally and had met them at K&#299ratpur.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; N&#257nakpanth&#299s, says the author, are known as Gur&#363 Sikhs. They have no faith in idols or temples containing idols. (Gur&#363) N&#257nak, a Bedi Khatr&#299, became famous during the reign of Emperor B&#257bar. He, like the Muhammadans, believed in the oneness of God, (but) he also believed in metempsychosis or transmigration of soul. He held the consumption of meat, pork and intoxicating drinks as forbidden. (However) after him meat eating became common among his followers. Just as N&#257nak praised the Muhammadans so also he praised the incarnations and gods and goddesses of the Hindus, but he knew them all as the creation of the Almighty Lord. Many legends and miracle stories about him had, continues the author, become current among his disciples. After Gur&#363 N&#257nak, A&#7749gad, a Treha&#7751 Khatr&#299, Amar D&#257s, a Bhall&#257 Khatr&#299, R&#257m D&#257s, a So&#7693h&#299 Khatr&#299, became Gur&#363s in that order. During the time of each Gur&#363, the Sikhs grew in number. In the reign of Gur&#363 Arjan, successor of Gur&#363 R&#257m D&#257s, "they had become so numerous that there were not many cities in the inhabited countries where some Sikhs were not to be found. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Again, in the words of <i>Dabist&#257n-i-Maz&#257hib</i>, "The disciples of Gur&#363 N&#257nak condemn idol worship. Their belief is that all their Gur&#363s are N&#257naks. They did not read the <i>mantras</i> of the Hindus. They do not venerate their temples or idols, nor do they esteem their <i>avat&#257ras</i>. They have no regard for the Sanskrit language which, according to the Hindus, is the speech of the angels. " That the Sikhs believed all Gur&#363s to be of one light one in spirit though different in body is vividly perceived by the author. "The Sikhs say that when Gur&#363 N&#257nak left the body, he descended (<i>hal&#363l kard</i>) into Gur&#363 A&#7749gad. . . who in turn similarly entered into the body of Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s, . . . and so on to Gur&#363 Arjan Mall. They refer to each of them as <i>mahal</i> such as Gur&#363 N&#257nak is Mahal I, A&#7749gad Mahal II, and so on to Mahal V, Arjan Mall. They [the Sikhs] say that he who does not know Gur&#363 Arjan Mall as B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak is a <i>manmukh</i>, i. e. non-believer. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Zulfiq&#257r Ardast&#257n&#299 then narrates certain anecdotes about the Gur&#363s and about some of the Sikhs. He alludes to the institutions of <i>masands</i> and tithes. He records that Gur&#363 Hargobind "adopted the form of a soldier, girded sword against the practice of his father, kept servants and took to hunting. . . . He had to fight with the armies of Imperial agents and the servants of Sh&#257h Jah&#257&#7749. . . . In short, after the battle of Kart&#257rpur he went to Phagw&#257&#7771&#257. As residence in places near Lahore was full of risk, he hastened from there to K&#299ratpur, which is in the hills of the Punjab. . . . Gur&#363 Har R&#257i is the grandson of Gur&#363 Hargobind. . . . The Sikhs call Har R&#257i the seventh <i>mahal</i>. He is very well known to the chronicler. . . . The Gur&#363 kept 700 horses in his stable and had 300 horsemen and 60 gunners in his service. "</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Shea, David, and Anthony Troyer, tr. , <i>Dabist&#257n-i-Maz&#257hib</i>. London, 1843<BR> <li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, "Nanakpanthis" in <i>the Panjab Past and Present</i>, vol. I, part I. April 1967<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Syad Hasan Askar&#299<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>