Does Gurmukhi belong to Sikhs Only?
Posted by Serjinder Singh
Does Gurmukhi belong to Sikhs Only?
Posted by Serjinder Singh on Thursday, 12/28/2000 9:24 AM MST
| Waheguru ji ka khalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh Gurmukhi is not a language, it is a script. Languages are Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi etc. Scripts are Gurmukhi, Devnagri, Lande,or Arabic adopted for Urdu or Farsi etc. Neither the Punjabi language is dead nor is the Gurmukhi script obsolete. If by Gurmukhi language some persons imply the language of Gurbani then we must note that Gurbani is not in one language. The major language of SGGS is certainly not Punjabi. The bani of the first three Gurujis is mainly Punjabi but the Hindi content increases with the fourth and fifth Guruji. The bani of ninth Guruji is almost entirely Hindi. The writings of tenth Guruji are either in Braj Bhasha or in the Awadhi dialect of Hindi. In addition to this there are excellent examples of compositions in Farsi or Persian language by first Guruji and Bhagat Namdev. Bhagat Jaidev wrote in Sanskrit. Guru Arjan Dev ji wrote a particular version of Sanskrit known as Sahaskrit in Gatha and Salok Sahaskriti. By raising the question of Gurmukhi as a dead language probably one is trying to compare Hebrew for Jewish scriptures and Arabic for Koran where the script and the language have the same name. As for as Gurmukhi is concerned it definitely is not linked to Sikh religion as some zealots tend to assert. Gurmukhi was there before Guru Angad Dev ji when Guru Nanak Dev ji wrote a composition known as Patti in Raag Asa. There one can see all the names of the Gurmukhi characters almost in the same sequence. The idea of Gurmukhi invented by second Guruji was propagated by Janam Saakhi Bhai Bala which was written by dissident Handalias nearly a hundred years after Guru Angad Dev ji. Even in this Janam Sakhi the second Guruji requests a Sikh to bring Guru Nanak Dev ji?s Janam Patri or horoscope from Talwandi. It is found that the horoscope is in Shastri script (modern day Devnagri). Guru ji then ask one of the Sikhs to bring another person from Sultanpur Lodhi who knows both the Shastri script as well as Gurmukhi so that the horoscope could be transliterated into Gurmukhi. This implies that even at that time there were persons in different places who knew Gurmukhi as well as Shastri or Devnagri script. Then how true could be the assertion that Guru Angad Dev invented Gurmukhi if there were people away from Khadur Sahib who already knew Gurmukhi. Leaving aside the above facts writings have been discovered which predate Sikh Gurujis by several decades. For instance, a well known Sikh scholar G B Singh discovered near the beginning of the twentieth century in an old town Hathoor near Bhadaur in Sangroor district a ruin known as Rai Feroze da Maqbra or the tomb of Rai Feroze. The visitors to this place had written the dates of their visits in Gurmukhi on the walls of the tomb. One of these dates is ?Sambat 1545? or the year 1488 AD written along with more text in Gurmukhi with all the vowel signs as well as the numerals in Gurmukhi. A coin was discovered from a place near Multan which belonged to a dyanasty of Shahi Hindus of the seventh century which has the legend in letters which very much resemble Gurmukhi. Even more important to note is the fact that the numerals (1,2,3,4 etc ) that we use throught the world today are nothing but relics of Gurmukhi letters adopted during the sixth century by Arabs in Baghdad learning from a Punjabi mathematician who visited Baghdad. In the western world these numeral are called Arabic numerals because Europeans learnt these from Arabs. However, the Arabs call these Hindsa or the those imported from Hind or Northern India. To illustrate the point the numeral 1 is modified Eeery of Gurmukhi because one in Punjabi is called Ik and to write Ik one has to begin with Eeery letter. In Gurmukhi numerals 1 is still written like handwritten Eeery. The numeral 2 is called Do or more accurate pronunciation being ?Though? and to write Though in Gurmukhi one has to begin writing with the letter Dadda which is almost like the numeral 2. Notice that no other script has the shape of the Dadda letter like 2 as Gurmukhi has. The three is like the first letter of the word Tin in Punjabi. If I were able to write Gumukhi on this post I could detail the evolution of all the nine numerals from Gurmukhi script. The point I want to emphasize is that the present Gurmukhi script is atleast 1400 years old and not just few centuries as some enthusiastic sikhs would make us believe. The origins of Gurmukhi script take us back to its source Brahmi which is available on the stone edicts of Ashoka several centuries before Christ. There is no truth either in the assertion of some Hindu scholars that Punjabi is derived from Sanskrit and Gurmukhi is derived from Devnagri. Punjabi as well as its Gurmukhi script evolved independently in Punjab. In fact, Gurmukhi is more close to ancient Brahmi than Devnagri is to Brahmi. Why did Guruji adopt Gurmukhi for writing Gurbani ? The reason is that all the Gurujis came from trading families wher Gurmukhi was used for writing text and the letters were used as in Algebra as symbols for mathematical calculations in account keeping in the form of Lande script. The Lande script is nothing but the Gurmukhi script letters without the use of vowel signs. It was but natural to use this script for wider trader audience who were familiar with this for centuries. It may be noted that a very high majority of Sikhs of the first five Gurujis were from trader families and were not allowed to learn Sanskrit and Shastri or Devnagri script because they were not Brahmins. The Sikhs should not constrict themselves into narrow compartments by linking purely cultural traits such as language and scripts with religion. If Guruji direct us to consider Manas ki Jaat as Ek or Human race as one then the cultures of other societies should not be considered enigma nor should we be too possesive about our own cultural legacy. Punjabi is the language of Punjabis who speak it irrespective of their religion and the Gurmukhi is not the sole legacy of the Sikhs, it belongs to the entire Punjabi community and indeed to the whole world that has adopted it in the form of numerals abandoning the Roman numerals which were used in Europe as I, II, III, IV, X, C M etc. before Gurmukhi letters as numerals were adopted under the name of Arabic numerals, and by Arabs as Hindsa in the sixth century. In fact, the insistence of Sikhs to be possessive about Gurmukhi among other things alienated Muslim writers and Hindus from Punjabi and led to the gulf between communities. Unmindful of this old Hindu traders still use Lande in their account books which as I said is nothing but the old Gumukhi letters without the vowels. Sadly though the newly educated Hindus use English for their accounts having abandoned Lande. Humbly, I remain the Charan Dhoor of the Sadh Sangat Serjinder Singh |
 | Does Gurmukhi belong to S... (Serjinder Singh - 28.Dec.00) |
| . . Re: Does Gurmukhi belong ... (Bik S Dhillon - 20.Jan.02) | |
| . . . . Re: Does Gurmukhi belong ... (Preet Mohan S Ahluwalia - 21.Jan.02) |
