LEADER ARTICLE: Sauda with Religion 

The raging fire in Punjab and elsewhere after the preceptor of a little known sect, Dera Sacha Sauda, appeared in the garb of the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, has left most people in a state of bewilderment. It is a highly unusual conflict, the sort that might have precedents in the armed confrontations between the akharas at Kumbh melas, where sadhus, normatively peace-loving but fiercely proud of the reputation or tradition or the inherent superiority of their sects, have been known to engage in hand-to-hand combat to settle such questions as who must have the first right to shahi snaan.

Before the violence in Punjab is sought to be explained further, herewith the briefest possible history of Dera Sacha Sauda: The sect was founded in Baluchistan by a Sikh baba, Beparvah Mastana, which, as the name suggests, makes him one of the many offspring of Sufi thought that thrived in India till as late as the early part of the 20th century.

Its Sirsa centre was established in 1948. Those were times of even greater fratricidal conflicts than today, more so at the frontiers. Sikhism itself birthed from Hindu-Muslim conflict with Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, saying these words after realisation: "Na koi Hindu, na koi Mussalman". The lineage of the great Sikh
Gurus, which is an extraordinary narrative of personal sacrifices in the face of intolerant Mughal monarchs, ended with Guru Gobind Singh who established the Khalsa and declared there was to be no person after him to lead the panth as its spiritual and temporal head.

But panths have a way of forming - this is one of the immensely deep and fascinating aspects of life in India. Salvation is available for all; each individual is a potential Brahman (as in a realised soul, not the caste). Dera Sacha Sauda is just another one of the panths started by a man who saw light, and who might or might not have had the powers to show the way to the people; but some people decided that he was their master. Almost all religions come to acquire life in this manner - what distinguishes one from the other is the level and degree of organisation that the followers of a particular faith can create. This is apart, of course, from the degree of erudition and sophistication
developed within the faith. There are real teachers, who may be fewer in numbers, and there are many who are more industrious than spiritual. But they exist, and for reasons peculiar to Hinduism have flourished in large numbers throughout the subcontinent.

An example that somewhat proves the point is the even lesser known sect of the Udaseen. For instance, it isn't commonly known that Srichand, the elder son of Guru Nanak, founded this sect. According to its quaint history, Srichand, always in service of his illustrious father, expected to be anointed the spiritual heir to Guru Nanak. The founder of Sikhism, however, could see through the eagerness in his son to succeed him and thus, when the time came to declare his spiritual heir, he wilfully excluded Srichand, instead making Guru Angad his successor. It is said that Guru Nanak observed this flaw in Srichand's psyche and knew what was best for him.

Srichand left home in great distress and turned into a mendicant, establishing the Udaseen panth that, as the name suggests, gave the plaintive message that one must be indifferent at all times: expectations ought to be avoided as these inevitably lead to disappointment and suffering. He transcended his sorrow and gave this simple teaching to all those who cared to hear him. For long he was settled in Kutch, in Lakhpat to be exact, the port from where ships sailed to Mecca, and from where Guru Nanak, too, took the boat to Mecca, stopping by at his son's reclusive abode for a short period. 

Dera Sacha Sauda is one of the innumerable cults that thrive in the country, and such panths have historically survived over long periods creating a string of theories in regard to the attainment of godhood. These have passionate followers and are, at one level, also acutely symptomatic of atavistic-tribal impulses that have calcified with the passage of time. It is these impulses that sometimes surface, in crudity more than with the refinement of their thoughts, that leads to the sort of conflict - embarrassing and yet so very Indian - that has been on display almost all of this week. 

The problem today gets more complex and dangerous because of the interference of politics with people's passions. What's happening in Punjab is a grim throwback to the conflict between the Akalis and Nirankaris that eventually led to a 15-year period of terrorism. In the latest conflict, as the ruling party, it was Shiromani Akali Dal's responsibility to shrug off the mild exhibition of irreverence by a little known (but one whose size of following is being witnessed to countrywide shock only now) leader of one of the numerous communes that have historically existed in India. Indeed, both Congress and Akalis must know better than to fight their political battles through religious means.

For, nothing can be more irreligious than that.