The Divine Light of Anarchy: A Socio-Political Analysis of Conflicting Sikh Historical Narratives

Utilizing a hermeneutical narrative analysis, this thesis is the study of two texts. The analysis, or exegesis as I label it, is focused on exploring whether there are anarchist principles inherent in the texts in question. The first text is Rattan Sigh Bhangu's Sri Gur Panth Prakash, an early 19th century poetic, epic, narrative history of the Sikhs. I explore Bhangu's conception of Sikh political legitimacy, the sovereignty of the Khalsa and the self-governance models and principles that 18th century Sikhs utilized. The second text is a series of essays by 19th century German philologist Ernest Trumpp who was commissioned by the East India Company to write a translation of the Sikh scripture. Trumpp's history of the Gurus is centred on the idea that they did not have a unique or divinely inspired message, rather their teachings were generally incoherent and that the message of the earliest Guru was corrupted by later Gurus. Studying these texts in juxtaposition offers us insights into the difference between pre-colonial and colonial conceptions of Sikhi. My main assertion is the existence of what I label Anarcha-Sikhi. I discern that this form of anarchism is inherent within Sikh principles and practices and are directly inspired by Sikh scriptures. This form of anarchism is unique in several important ways; including the Sikh conception of monarchy, the warrior tradition in Sikhi and Sikh governance models. Anarchist texts, especially works by anarchist sociologists, are utilized throughout the thesis to ground this work in the larger discussion of anarchism.