The Habits and Customs of the Sikhs

SEJARAH NORTH BORNEO SABAH SPECIAL EDITION

Recently, i went out for a visit and have a Kupi Kupi session with a person of which we just get acquainted in Facebook.(Didar Singh Mann)

The world indeed so small, as when we meet up, he is actually my senior at our School and to top all that we knew each other years ago and what a wonderful reunion of old friends.

We talked and shared common interest in history especially Sejarah North Borneo Sabah.

Naturally as an inquisitive person, i wish to know more about the Sikhs community, their contribution and their history. This is just the beginning.

I was also given to understand by a friend from other part of the world that, Sabah having one of the oldest Sikh association and Gudwara in the world of which established since 1920s.

He send me a number of photos of the Gudwara taken by him on his last visit to Sabah.

Over the weekend, i found this old interesting articles written by Lt. Colonel Retalick about the Habits and Customs of the Sikhs of which published in The British North Borneo Herald on the 1st April 1898.

Due respect, wish to share this article to all members of SNBS for us to have a better understanding of the history habits and customs of Sikhs community especially in Sabah.

Have a pleasant read and please do drop some comments or suggestions for improvements so as that we can provide better history informations to all our members.

The British North Borneo Herald , 1st April 1898 page 107/108

The Habits and Customs of the Sikhs

Lieut. Colonel Retalick, of the Hong Kong Regiment, recently delivered a most interesting lecture before the ' Odd Volumes, ' entitled 'The Habits and Customs of the Sikhs.'

Colonel Retalick said he was afraid the majority of people in the East had got so accustomed to referring to every Indian in uniform as a Sikh that they failed to grasp the difference (really well marked) between such of the races of India as came within their view.

He recollected how very much struck the officers of the Hong Kong Regiment were on their first arrival here with the Regiment at the invariable remark, 'Your men are all Sikhs aren't they ? or else, What a fine body of Sikhs you have collected! the fact being that there was not then a single Sikh in the Regiment (There are only five out of 900 odd men now.)

The question naturally arose 'What is a Sikh!'

A categorical answer would be, A Sikh is a member of a creed, which, starting in its infancy as a sect of reformed Hindus, has now assumed almost the aspect of a separate religion. He does not become a Sikh (or Singh), as we know them, until he has been duly baptised into the faith; and therefore the Sikhs cannot be called exactly a nation, although religion has imparted such marked characteristics to its followers as amount to almost national traits.

The lecturer then outlined the broad practical matters of everyday life that differentiate a Sikh from a Mohammedan or a Hindu, and passed on to the history of this warlike race, which had its origin in the fifteenth century, as the outcome of the personal exertion of one Nanak, a Hindu village official.

This man afterwards became an ascetic, and endeavoured to raise Hinduism from the degraded forms of superstition and polytheism into which it had fallen, to a higher doctrinal ideal and purer morality. Under his fostering care, the sect increased in numbers and in power.

Nanak died in 1538, and was succeeded by nine Gurus, the five of whom collected into one volume the writings of Nanak and other saints and religious poets. This volume was recorded in a popular tongue, Punjabi dialect, and is known as the Adi Granth.

Colonel Retalick traced the gradual growth of the aggressive sect down to its overthrow, about fifty years ago, by the British force, and reminded his hearers that this old story became modern history when they remembered that the Prince whose wedding was noticed in the fashionable intelligence of last week's mail papers was the son of the deposed Dhuleep Singh, the lineal descendant of The Lion of Punjab.

Alluding briefly to the reformation that followed British control of the Sikh territory and loyalty of the Sikhs in the terrible Sepoy Mutiny,

Colonel Retalick concluded the historical portion of his lecture by saying : ' Since then no tale of British glory in the East is complete without a glowing tribute to the share borne in it by the Sikhs, our gallant foes of yore, our trusty comrades of today.'

BAPTISM, MARRIAGE AND DEATH

Coming to the rites and customs of the creed, he said the child of a Singh was not born a Sikh or Singh, he was not a Sikh till baptised and not a Singh (the true Sikh) till initiated and admitted to the brotherhood of the Khalsa, the elect of God.

He described the ceremony of baptism and the forms of prayers for boys and girls, the naming ceremony, and explained that when the boy was old enough to understand and able to duly keep the observances laid down, he was initiated or baptised into the true Sikh faith at some selected temple.

He stood before the priest with joined hands ; the priest stirred with a double-edged dagger in an iron bowl a mixture of sugar and water, and after a short prayer poured some of the mixture into the joined hands of the neophyte, who drank it while the priest repeated the Sikh formula, which is shouted alike as greetings to brothers of the faith and as a warcry in battle 'Victory to the elect of God! Victory to the one of God!'. The candidate shouted this cry after the priest. and his face and hair were sprinkled with the mixture and he drank the rest.

Then he was duly taught the virtues he had to observe - cleanliness, prayer, charity, honesty, skill at arms, valour in the fight and filial love. Women are rarely admitted to the Khalsa ; they usually join in Hindu worship ; but if they sought the Sikh faith, the form of baptism was modified. Marriage customs among the Sikhs conform to those among the Hindus. It is a complicated process of many stages, but without what the Westerners would deem the almost indispensable preliminary of falling in love.

First, the father or chief male relative of the girl, sometimes quite an infant, has to look for a suitable boy, to be, if possible, five years older. When found one of the brotherhood acts as go between, and after the preliminaries formal legal betrothal is made, and the marriage takes place as soon as the boy's parents have scraped together enough money for their share of the expenses which are often very heavy.

The actual ceremonies consists in a solemn procession of the bridegroom and his friends to the bride's house, where after various ceremonies by the priest, the hands of the bridal couple are joined and promenade round and round a small fire. More reading from the sacred book follow, and the ceremony is complete. The bride goes for a few days to the bridegroom's house, and then return to her own parents.

An interval of 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 years now elapse before she again is taken to the bridegroom's house, where this time she remains with him as his wife. There is also a much simpler rite by which a Sikh widow is married to her deceased husband's brother. This custom was necessitated by the law for succession to property adopted by the Sikhs, by which, failing male heirs, the widow inherited, and to avert evil of the property passing out of the family into the hands of a fortune hunting lover a brother has a claim on his deceased brother's widow.

Just before expiring, a dying Sikhs is lifted out of bed and dies on the ground. The body is burnt. The funeral pyre is lit by the son or near relative, who is chief mourner, another of whose unpleasant duties it is, when the body half consumed, to smash in the skull with a bamboo. The ashes and half burned small bones are collected, and consigned to the holy Ganges or its tributaries or even ground into powder and scattered in front of the sanctuary at the golden temple at Amritsar, the Sikh's holy city.

THE SIKH AS A SOLDIER

After reference to the language, village and domestic life, food, clothing and games of the Sikhs, the Punjabi of all creeds being fond of all athletic and manly sports.

Colonel Retalick spoke of their general characteristics , with special reference to fighting ability. He said, it is in his capacity as a soldier that we know the Sikh best. With his teaching and aspirations he turn naturally to the calling of arms.

Let us take his faults first. We find that he is of comparatively dull intelligence, that at school or college he is generally outstripped by students of other races. But he is of nature a soldier, and book learning is not his 'Pidgin'.

The simpler the weapon the better he will use it. Sprung from a turbulent and democratic stock that would, in the old days, brook no ruler who had not an iron hand, it is sometimes a matter of difficulty to keep him sufficiently obedient to the rules of discipline.

But his great fault (which I hardly like to allude to as a fault in a community whose energies are mainly directed, I hope with success, to amassing wealth) is his fondness for making money, and his almost avaricious love of hoarding.

Cavalry officers tell us how watchful they have to be with their Sikh troopers, lest the efficiency of the horses be diminished by being poorly fed ; while in the infantry it is pitiable often to see a fine soldier, suddenly seized by the lust for saving his money, deny himself the necessaries of life to add to his hoard.

This is a failing that has to be guarded and legislated against in our Indian army, but, no doubt, in many cases, if we knew all the circumstances, we should be less harsh in our condemnation. They can hardly be accused, as a class, of intemperance or want of sobriety. The opium eating habit was, I think, more prevalent among the older men, and although there is a certain consumption of intoxicating and narcotic drinks, I do not think drunkenness can be alleged as a general failing.

But it is rather from the number of his good qualities than from the paucity of his bad ones that he claims our admiration. Hardy and strong, of daring courage, and with that quality on which we Englishmen pride ourselves so much. I allude to that which our enemies no doubt style crass stupidity, want of intelligence in failing to grasp a palpable fact, but which our friend call the 'bull dog' pluck which not own defeat.

Always the same, in peace or in war, in the dreary, dull, mill horse round of cantonment  life, or the exciting turmoil, privation and hardship of a campaign, cheerful, patient and uncomplaining, a fair horseman, a stubborn infantryman, as steady under fire as he is eager for a charge, with a feeling of attachment to his officers (so easily aroused by a little effort to sympathise with his wants, his way of thinking, a word or two perhaps rough chaff now and then, or of encouragement and praise  , strict justice, severity if need be, but always justice), which is honourable alike to officer and man, and above all with the devotion and loyalty which has earned them honour wherever their deeds are told.

From the days of the mutiny, when the defence of the little house at Arrah by forty of Rattray's Sikhs against six hundred times their number of rebels, proof alike against assault and intrigue, against the seduction and the taunts of their co religionists in the rebel ranks, shewed their staunch fidelity, when the loyalty of Brazier's Sikhs (now the 15th) also stood proof against attack and saved Allahabad Fort from falling down to the present day, when almost every item of news from the frontier of India conveys a fresh tale of deeds of courage, another record of faithful valour. Let me recall to you the feat of the twenty one brave fellows of the 36th Sikhs last September, in the rising of the "Afridis" on the North West Frontier of India.

They were the garrison of the little post of "Saraghari", a small enclosure badly designed and badly placed for defence; its object was to maintain signalling communication between two other larger forts on the Samana range.

A horde of 8,000 tribesmen attacked the post, and yet the little detachment held their own against these fearful odds from nine o'clock in the morning till late in the afternoon. Assault after assault was repulsed, but after the third attempts a few of the enemy remained in a corner of the walls unseen by the garrison. 

By mining and digging they breached the wall and then flood of assailants poured in and annihilated the brave little band. One hero took post in the guardroom and defied the assailants. Not till no less than twenty one of his savage foes lay dead in ring round the door was he overcome and then not by steel or bullet for their set fire to his shelter and buried him beneath the blazing ruins.

Another brave fellow, wounded and unable to move off his bed cot, caused a comrade to drag him to the breach and there he shot down four of the stormers before he cut to pieces.

The End.

A background information about the Author :

Lieutenant-Colonel J. M. A. Retallick, Indian Army Afghanistan 1878-80,

(Lt., 45th Ben. N.I.); China 1900, (Lt. Col., 45/Sikh Inf.) John Mark Anthony Retallick was born on 13 November 1857.

Commissioned a Sub-Lieutenant in the 25th Foot in September 1875, he was appointed a Lieutenant in the Bengal Staff Corps in November 1879. He served in the Afghan Campaign 1878-80, firstly with the 25th Foot in the operations in the Bazar Valley, and then with the 45th Bengal Native Infantry in the actions with the Ghilzais at and near Jagdalakand and in the action at Chihildakhteran.

For his services he was mentioned in despatches. Retallick was promoted to Captain in September 1886; Major in September 1895; Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1897 and was confirmed in that rank in September 1901.

With the 45th Bengal N.I. he served in the Zhob Valley Expedition, 1884. He was attached to the Hong Kong Regiment in 1891 and was appointed Commandant with the rank of Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1897.

As such he served in the China Campaign of 1900 and was mentioned in the despatches of Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Gaselee, K.C.B., as having done useful work on the Paotingfu Expedition (London Gazette 14 May 1901).

Lieutenant-Colonel Retallick retired from the Hong Kong Regiment and the Indian Army in 1904. With copied gazette extracts and other research.

Source : The British North Borneo Herald

Edited by : Kumis Kumis

Photos : Credit to Wikipedia and google images