Draft:Dominique Sila-Khan

Dominique Sila-Khan was an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Rajasthan Studies, Jaipur and a member of the Société Asiatique, Paris. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1993 from the University of Paris. She has contributed research articles on the interaction between Hinduism and Islam to specialized journals and publications in India and abroad. She died on October 15, 2016.

Guru Nanak and the Nizari Ismailis

While there is no consensus on the issue of Guru Nanak’s faith prior to the advent of Sikhism, one largely overlooked theory proposed by Dominique Sila-Khan in her works, Crossing the Threshold: Understanding Religious Identities in South Asia (2004) and Conversions and Shifting Identities (1997), argues that Guru Nanak was neither Hindu nor Sufi Muslim in the ‘mainstream’ sense, but rather, a Nizari Ismaili Muslim prior to Sikhism’s creation.

Panth and Caste

Cartesian logic and the attempt to rigidly categorize people into religions often fails within the context of South Asia, and certainly did so in the nineteenth century. In fact, while attempting to create an Indian census, British colonists struggled to classify communities. In 1881, a British commissioner stated, “the observances and beliefs which distinguish the followers of the several faiths in their purity are so strangely blended and intermingled that it is often impossible to say that one prevails rather than the other, or to decide in which category the people shall be classified."

In pre-colonial South Asia, religion was thus embraced and practiced as a more fluid phenomenon than how it may have been addressed post-colonialism and within contemporary religio-political landscapes.

Perhaps as a more rigid form of organization, caste was used to categorize and informally legislate communities across South Asia. Not so much as a religious than social form of identification, Muslims also engaged in the caste system by dividing themselves along the lines of jati. This social engagement is demonstrated by Rajput rulers considering themselves of the same jati as Mughals. As such, religion was not so much of a marker of affinity as caste was, and castes could possess multiple religious traditions within themselves.

As an alternative to “religion,” South Asian faiths can be described as panth (path) and insinuate a spiritual mentor-disciple relationship. This panth model of faith often centers a spiritual figure like Kabir or Guru Nanak and proposes “a different path to salvation, through a distinct system of beliefs and practices.” The combination of social and religious categorization is referred to as jat-panth, forming labels around the loose affiliations found along the religious continuum of South Asia.

In an environment with ample religious fluidity and an impulse to delineate caste identity, Dominique Sila-Khan argues that there is a possibility that Guru Nanak was a Nizari Ismaili follower of Pir Shams practicing cautionary dissimulation in his early years. His Katri caste identification and recorded reverence for Pir Shams stands as one of the historical proofs for his Ismaili connection.

Similarities

Dominique Sila-Khan, using the religious and social context described above, offers evidence for her claim by tracking the similarities of Guru Nanak and Sikhism with the Ismailis.

• Dasondh-Dasvandh
  • The fifth Guru, Arjun, mandated that Sikhs give one-tenth of their income in the name of the Guru just as the Ismailis do for their Imam. The similarity indicates a ritualistic affinity with the Ismailis and conceptualization of alms.
• Dharamsala-Jamatkhana
  • Historically, Imamshahi’s would also call their religious spaces Dharamsalas just as early Sikhs would. Additionally, the Sikh sangat has an equivalence in the Ismaili jamat, indicating a similarity in the way in which the traditions conceptualize space and gathering.
• Rituals
  • In the practice of Khande ki Pahul, it is believed by some Sikhs that the first double edged dagger used to mix the water was the zulfiqar of Imam Ali. This call to Shia Islam indicates a spiritual connection that can be contrasted with Guru Nanak’s strong indictments of Sunni ulema. This reverence for the Imamate and contempt for Sunni scholars shows a parallel with the Ismailis.
• Guruship, Pirship, and Imamate
  • While Guru Nanak clearly differentiated himself and God, he is still treated in the ambiguous stage between man and the Divine. In this regard, the status of the Guru is like that of the Pir or of the Imam in the Ismaili tradition. Additionally, the passing of the mantle of Guru being described as a transfer of light echoes the process of nass in the Ismaili tradition by which nur is transferred from the previous Imam to the next Imam. Linguistically, the language of sacha padshah is also used in both Sikh and Ismaili traditions to describe the ‘Supreme Guru’ or ‘True Emperor’ God.
• Nanakshahi’s Hagiography
  • Hagiographies describing Guru Nanak’s life have strong parallels to Ismaili literature. As an example, both Pir Shams Sabzwari and Guru Nanak were said to have gone to a village in which they were told they would be a burden by being given a bowl of milk. In both instances, the figures placed a flower on top of the milk to describe their insignificance upon the village and its resources. It is also recorded that Guru Nanak would bow to the grave of Pir Shams when he encountered it. Taken even further, both figures are attributed with saying a variant of  the lin: “there is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.” In having Guru Nanak mirror Pir Shams, there is a demonstrated connection between the Sikhs and the Ismailis. In fact, some Ismaili ginans even mention Guru Nanak’s relationship with Pir Shams, indicating Ismaili and Sikhi cognizance of each other’s relationship to each other.

Rethinking Guru Nanak

Dominique Sila-Khan presents a landscape of South Asian religious and caste identities that is full of changing associations and identities to deconstruct discrete categories of religious identity. In doing so, Guru Nanak can be contextualized as a figure who embraced some, and discarded other, forms of Ismaili practice to create his own separate, though not necessarily competing, form of religious thought. Sikhism’s practices and closeness to Ismailis should be taken as two faith traditions being in conversation with each other.

Works

1. Khan, D. (2003). Conversions and Shifting Identities: Ramdev Pir and the Ismailis in Rajasthan. India: Manohar Publishers & Distributors.
2. Khan, D. (2003). Crossing the Threshold: Understanding Religious Identities in South Asia. Iran: I. B. Tauris.
3. Khan, D. (2009). Sacred Kerala: A Spiritual Pilgrimage. India: Penguin Books India.