Hopkinton, MA
April 27, 2014
#sarbpreetsingh
A macabre wedding in which the bridegroom rides at the head of a procession of sin. A bridegroom who wishes to take a land and its people as his bride, by force ! The gentle Brahmins and Qazis, who usually preside on such occasions, are pushed to the side and Satan himself conducts the wedding rites. Righteousness and shame beat a hasty retreat and evil is ascendant. Muslim women cry out piteously in pain invoking the name of Allah. Hindu women, both high born and low, meet with the same fate. Oh what a wedding! A wedding, in which songs of blood replace songs of joy and the auspicious saffron that cloaks a wedding party in happier times, yields to a spray of blood.
The year is 1520. With these powerful words Guru Nanak Sahib, the first Sikh Guru, describes the sack of Sayyidpur, a small dusty town in modern day Pakistan, which is known as Eminabad today. The ‘groom’ is none other than Babar, the patriarch of the Mughal dynasty. The Satanic wedding refers to the merciless treatment meted out to the poor residents of Sayyidpur, Hindu and Muslim alike by the invading hordes, the women in particular, subjected to mass rapes as this gruesome wedding is consummated. Guru Nanak’s anguish and compassion pours out of him in the form of these powerful words that lament the atrocities and chide a tyrant.
Guru Nanak Sahib, with his powerful words takes the tyrannical Babar to task, heaping scorn upon him and excoriating the merciless depravation unleashed by his hordes. With these words and others that collectively make up the Shabads known as ‘Babar Bani’ Guru Nanak Sahib lays the foundation of the Sikh tradition of fighting oppression and standing up to tyranny, a tradition which, almost two hundred years later, manifests itself in the Kirpan, the Sword of Mercy and Justice that the tenth Nanak bequeaths upon his followers.
These words are not just for Babar. They apply equally to every merciless tyrant who targets the innocent. This never ending dance of death and misery unfortunately transcends geography, chronology and culture. From time immemorial, the powerful, in a quest for wealth, territory or glory have targeted those that are the least equipped to resist. The sack of Sayyidpur is enacted over and over again, to the eternal shame of the human race, which seems ever willing to suspend compassion in the name of conquest.
In a few days, some of the young Sikhs, who I mentor will go to a Boston Church and sing this shabad in an Interfaith Service, which is dedicated to raising a voice against oppression and injustice. They will join their voices with Muslims, Christians and Jews to condemn such acts of violence that continue unabated even today. They will pray for the victims of the genocide in Rwanda on the twentieth anniversary of that horror and they will honor the victims of Operation Blue Star, thirty years after the bloodbath at the Sri Harmandir Sahib.
Most importantly, they will make a solemn commitment to speak up against such horrible violence, regardless of who the perpetrators and the victims are.
May these words of Guru Nanak Sahib inspire them all!
thila(n)g mehalaa 1 ||
jaisee mai aavai khasam kee baanee thaisarraa karee giaan vae laalo ||
paap kee ja(n)n(j) lai kaabalahu dhhaaeiaa joree ma(n)gai dhaan vae laalo ||
saram dhharam dhue shhap khaloeae koorr firai paradhhaan vae laalo ||
kaajeeaa baamanaa kee gal thhakee agadh parrai saithaan vae laalo ||
musalamaaneeaa parrehi kathaebaa kasatt mehi karehi khudhaae vae laalo ||
jaath sanaathee hor hidhavaaneeaa eaehi bhee laekhai laae vae laalo ||
khoon kae sohilae gaaveeahi naanak rath kaa ku(n)goo paae vae laalo ||1||
Word-by-word Translation :
jaisee in the manner
mai to me
aavai comes
khasam the master (Waheguru)
kee of
baanee utterance
thaisarraa thus
karee do
giaan (i) enunciate
vae o
laalo Lalo (the name of a humble Sikh of Sayyidpur)
paap sin
kee of
ja(n)n(j) wedding party
lai bringing
kaabalahu from Kabul
dhhaaeiaa (he) came
joree with brutal force
ma(n)gai demands
dhaan gift (in Hindu weddings the bride is ‘given’ away accompanied by much joy)
saram shame
dhharam righteousness
dhue both
shhap hide
khaloeae stand
koorr garbage (someone without shame or righteousness)
firai struts
paradhhaan paramount
kaajeeaa Qazis (Muslim holy men)
baamanaa Brahmins
kee what
gal (to) say
thhakee (have) surrendered
agadh wedding vows
parrai recites
saithaan Satan
musalamaaneeaa Muslim women
parrehi read
kathaebaa Qur’an
kasatt difficulty
mehi in
karehi say
khudhaae Khudah (or Allah, as Muslims invoke the name of God)
jaath caste
sanaathee high
hor other
hidhavaaneeaa Hindu women
eaehi they
bhee too
laekhai account
laae have been put
khoon blood
kae of
sohilae songs of joy usually sung at weddings
gaaveeahi sings
naanak Nanak
rath blood
kaa of
ku(n)goo saffron
paae finds
Translation of the shabad :
At head of a wedding party of sin
Did the groom ride in from Kabul
As his bride he demands a Land and its people
What kind of wedding is this?
Where Shame and Righteousness are absent
Where Satan himself reads the vows,
Usually the domain of Brahmins or Qazis
Muslim women turn to the Qur’an for solace
And in their despair cry out to Allah
The fate of Hindu women, highborn or low is the same
Nanak sings songs of blood
Rather than the joyous songs of union
And instead of an auspicious shower of saffron
Blood pours down upon this macabre wedding
A recording of the shabad :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAzD_PKdUPE