Relocating Gender in Sikh History

I recently ran across Relocating Gender in Sikh History by Doris R. Jakobsh who is now an Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Waterloo. I’m not a scholar of either Sikh history (and Jakobsh shouldn’t be considered one until she can read and understand Gurbani), and the ideas presented below are just fodder for discussion – not being put forth as any authoritative data.

relocating gender_1.jpgThe framework she uses notes the difference between the prescribed Sikh belief of equality amongst Sikh women and men, and what is actually practiced within the Sikh community, claiming that gender has generally been dealt with in 1 of 4 ways: silence, negation, accommodation, idealization.

One of the biggest problems that I noted when reading the book is her use of English translations of Gurbani for her basis of analysis. We’ve discussed before the problems that we, as Sikh practitioners, experience in understanding Gurbani, due to language barriers. Yet, she bases her research on translations that are subject to the same barriers and misunderstandings. Because of this language barrier, her reading of Gurbani is way off. Despite this, I do believe her feminist analysis of historical writing warrants discussion.

1- Silence: Jakobsh claims that silence is the guiding principle regarding women in Sikh history. Traditional recording of history focuses on politics and economics, realms that women have not been well represented. Women have also not been the authors of their own history, and so the specific questions asked have been those of interest to male historians.

2- Negation: Jakobsh writes “…how heterogeneous elements in Sikh history, those labeled deviant, marginal, threatening or unimportant, are negated in order to ‘generate homogeneity and represent the Sikhs as a collectivity which shared the same values and movements.” (p. 10)

M. K. Gill, in The Role and Status of Women in Sikhism, says the reason that the wives of Gurus are not known either within or outside the tradition is out of respect. Jakobsh feels that Gill negates the obvious – that even the Guru’s wives are not consequential enough to merit recording. Mata Sundri, Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s first wife, led the Panth longer than any of the nine Gurus subsequent to Guru Nanak, and through one of its more difficult and divisive periods, but very little is known of her leadership. (p. 10-11)

Nikky Guninder-Singh, another prominent Sikh woman and feminist Sikh scholar, writes that Sikh literature and sacred verse celebrates feminine aspects of the Transcendent. She writes that “[n]o negative associations belittle [woman].” Jakobsh takes issue with this claim and begins quoting misleading translations of Gurbani without an understanding of their context.

Attachment to progeny, wife is poison. None of these at the end is of any avail. (SGGS, panaa 41);

Maya attachment is like a loose woman… (SGGS, panaa 796)

However, better scholarship on the part of Dr. Jakobsh would quickly refute her assertions. The poison in the first verse does not refer to the wife (or children for that matter), it refers to attachment.

Also in the next line, the referrence to ‘loose woman’ does not refer to all women, but must be read in the context of the Shabad. It is an allusion to ‘courtier dancers’ in Hindu temples and Mughal palaces. The adjective used prior is ‘deceptive’ so it isn’t even all women, it is those courtiers that practice deception (a common practice by courtiers). For Jakobsh to use this line is to dismiss a line appearing on the very same page in the preceding shabad where Guru Nanak yells in exuberance to Vaheguru calling out “Meree Maai (My Mother!)” (Thanks for the translation, Mewa Singh!)

3- Accommodation: Jakobsh claims that the Singh Sabha movement tried to accommodate the valuable aspects of British colonial culture and ground them in Sikh tradition, reinterpreting these values into Sikh history.

These new elites, having imbibed a liberal Western education, decried the undesirable aspects of the Sikh tradition; however, they were unwilling to reject that tradition outright. They tended to walk the shaky line of accommodation within the two, often opposing, world views. Ultimately, their focus was also the reformation and reinterpretation of the Sikh tradition, made possible by their ascendancy into positions of power and prestige. Oberoi maintains that it was the development of print culture in Punjab, along with their Western education, that gave the Sabha reformers the necessary tools to reinterpret the Sikh tradition. Their world view, adopted from the European enlightenment, necessitated the etching out of a ‘novel cultural map for Punjab that would define their aspirations and reflect the changed environment of the province.’ (p.13)

However, such an analysis begs the question, if the Singh Sabha was a new and radical ‘invention,’ why was it accepted as legitimate by the masses. How did the Singh Sabha’s voice come to have authority and authenticity? Jakobsh does not provide an answer.

4- Idealization: When women are mentioned in the annal of history, it is only because they deviate from the norm, and are exceptional. (But in the annals of history, isn’t this also the case for men? Most recorded history is about men with power/exceptional men, and their conflicts with other men with power.) The main examples of Sikh women in history are those who lived exceptional lives, mainly those who participated in battle.

Gill mentions a gurdwara named after Mata Sundri, Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s first wife, immortalizing Mata Sundri through its name. But Jakobsh points out that this idea of Mata Sundri is idealized, since little is known about even the most basic facts of Mata Sundri’s life.

Even if Jakobsh’s translations and interpretation of Gurbani are way off, I think her analysis might be valuable if it forces us to ask questions that make us uncomfortable. What do you think about her claims?

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Thanks for the tip ASSTLNFTFOGC -- please do email us next time since this isn't really related to the topic at hand, but thanks for bringing this story to our attention.
Thanks for the tip ASSTLNFTFOGC -- please do email us next time since this isn't really related to the topic at hand, but thanks for bringing this story to our attention.
"These new elites, having imbibed a liberal Western education, decried the undesirable aspects of the Sikh tradition; however, they were unwilling to reject that tradition outright."

EXCUSE YOU, "Dr." Jakobsh!

What are the "undesirable aspects of the Sikh tradition?"

Because it was actually the "enlightened" and "liberal" Western British who interfered with the Sikh tradition that created an unbalanced situation for women. In the court of the Guru women were given the greatest respect and I'm sure when Guru Amar Das Ji sent women missionaries out into the world they were received with utmost respect. From what I've read the British were so afraid of Sikhs that they did their level best to destroy them and all sources of their power. They shortened banis, they put mahants in charge of Gurdwaras. One of the jobs of the mahants was to enforce un-enlightened practices including discrimination and degradation of women and lower castes. The British had never seen a society where women were treated equally and they were scared and did their best to try to degrade Sikh women.

I don't need to read the rest of the book to know that this author is full of it and undeserving of any respect.

The true Sikh tradition is the most desirable tradition for humanity. The only tradition incorporating the wisdom of all paths and encouraging righteous living above all else. It is a divine tradition without any "undesirable aspects."
"These new elites, having imbibed a liberal Western education, decried the undesirable aspects of the Sikh tradition; however, they were unwilling to reject that tradition outright."

EXCUSE YOU, "Dr." Jakobsh!

What are the "undesirable aspects of the Sikh tradition?"

Because it was actually the "enlightened" and "liberal" Western British who interfered with the Sikh tradition that created an unbalanced situation for women. In the court of the Guru women were given the greatest respect and I'm sure when Guru Amar Das Ji sent women missionaries out into the world they were received with utmost respect. From what I've read the British were so afraid of Sikhs that they did their level best to destroy them and all sources of their power. They shortened banis, they put mahants in charge of Gurdwaras. One of the jobs of the mahants was to enforce un-enlightened practices including discrimination and degradation of women and lower castes. The British had never seen a society where women were treated equally and they were scared and did their best to try to degrade Sikh women.

I don't need to read the rest of the book to know that this author is full of it and undeserving of any respect.

The true Sikh tradition is the most desirable tradition for humanity. The only tradition incorporating the wisdom of all paths and encouraging righteous living above all else. It is a divine tradition without any "undesirable aspects."
One quick correction -- I believe Doris Jakobsh does read Punjabi/Gurmukhi. She has studied it starting in 1995 (where she did an immersion program in Patiala, according to her website).

That said, I don't have the book in front of me, and I haven't checked her translations to see if what you say is true about her being dependent on English, or her translations being off. You may be right about that.

Secondly, given the other post at The Langar Hall on the riots in Bristol this week, it seems strange that you're resisting Jakobsh's conclusion that women are not at all as well-treated in Sikh history as many of us like to think. There is a line we like to repeat that "men and women are equal in Sikhism," but in practice that really hasn't been true.

(Just to be clear: it's still good that we have gender equality as an ideal; some other faiths have anti-women precepts as both ideals AND as practice.)
I think the topic has to be divided to comment -- on one hand, there's the issue of the representation of women in Gurbani, where it seems there are concerns or issues with Jakobsh's translations (and consequently, her analysis).

The second issue -- her framework for unpacking gender in Sikhi, does not seem unique (as a framework), but does sound right on. I haven't read the book, and I wish I could comment more intelligibly, but your summary of her arguments under silence/negation/idealization certainly ring true. As for accommodation, I guess I wonder if she's arguing that the Singh Sabha movement retroactively "placed" women back into the narrative of Sikh history, or if they revised history itself to make it seem as though women had been there all along. I know that sounds like a semantic difference, but it's one thing to acknowledge the exclusion of a group, and another to "back in" the information after the fact. It happens all the time, but I do think it's interesting.

I'd love to read more to see where she's going. I think one of the biggest challenges around gender equity is the dissonance between our "ideal type" (i.e., equality as we see it in Gurbani, which is also contested) and the reality of how women have been treated in our history as a social/cultural/national group.
I recall coming across a review of Jakobsh's work/research some time ago, and was not overly impressed with what Jakobsh had to say. Please note, this is not to diminish the topic at hand, but only the legitimacy of Jakobsh's scholarship. She received her PhD under Harjot Oberoi's supervision - which fact alone should be enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Please consider the following article:

Sikh Spectrum

I also recall reading something by her which insinuated Guru Hargobind's father was actually Baba Buddha ji i.e. when Guru Arjan Dev ji's wife, Mata Ganga, was seeking an audience with Baba Buddha ji, it was a request for the boon of offspring by way of conjugal relations with Baba Buddha ji, and Guru Arjan Dev ji approved of this.

Jakobsh appears to have put forward this disgusting insinuation more for the sake of sensationalism (which apparently equates with academic recognition) than for any genuine scholarly purpose.

Another article dissecting Jakobsh's research:

Sikhsundesh
Amardeep,

I questioned Jakobsh's scholarship, not the FACT that gender inequality exists.

I wouldn't have taken the time to outline her first chapter and post it if I didn't think there was some truth to be explored. The only thing I dismissed completely were her translations of Gurbani, because those seemed way off. I think her points on "silence" and "idealization" ring most true, while the negation and accommodation are more problematic, though there may definitely be some truth in those as well. I don't know yet.

I completely agree that the ideal of egalitarianism has not been realized in practice, and the point of this post was to explore/highlight how women have historically been documented within the Sikh tradition, to draw out the drastic difference between the ideal and the reality.

Regarding whether and how much Punjabi she speaks, from an interview:

J.S.T.: Do you know Punjabi?

D.R.J.: When I was at Patiala in 1996 to research material for my Ph.D. thesis, I learned to read the Gurmukhi script. I could also speak tuti-phuti (broken) Punjabi. But since there was no practice here, I have almost lost it now.
Mewa Singh's avatar

Mewa Singh · 868 weeks ago

D.R.J.: When I was at Patiala in 1996 to research material for my Ph.D. thesis, I learned to read the Gurmukhi script. I could also speak tuti-phuti (broken) Punjabi. But since there was no practice here, I have almost lost it now.

Seems odd living and going to the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada but having 'no way to practice'?

Are there no Sikhs on campus or for that matter in BC? Or how about with her advisor? How long has there been a Punjabi language program at UBC?

For some reason, I guess this just asserts that she was only interested in Sikhs that have been long dead (early 20th century) and hardly engaged with those that were living and breathing in the community in which she resided.
One quick correction -- I believe Doris Jakobsh does read Punjabi/Gurmukhi. She has studied it starting in 1995 (where she did an immersion program in Patiala, according to her website).

That said, I don't have the book in front of me, and I haven't checked her translations to see if what you say is true about her being dependent on English, or her translations being off. You may be right about that.

Secondly, given the other post at The Langar Hall on the riots in Bristol this week, it seems strange that you're resisting Jakobsh's conclusion that women are not at all as well-treated in Sikh history as many of us like to think. There is a line we like to repeat that "men and women are equal in Sikhism," but in practice that really hasn't been true.

(Just to be clear: it's still good that we have gender equality as an ideal; some other faiths have anti-women precepts as both ideals AND as practice.)
There was/is an excellant Punjabi language program at UBC, offering beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes.

Even living in Waterloo, I find it hard to believe there are no avenues for her to keep up her Punjabi language skills - if she had them in the first place.

Perhaps it's difficult meeting Punjabi Sikhs who can stomach all of her b.s.?

More likely, as Mewa Singh indicated, her interest lies with Sikhs long dead, and unable to refute much of what she puts forth as scholarship; Sikhs today would ask far too many difficult questions, which may raise serious concerns about her understanding of Sikhism.
I think the topic has to be divided to comment -- on one hand, there's the issue of the representation of women in Gurbani, where it seems there are concerns or issues with Jakobsh's translations (and consequently, her analysis).

The second issue -- her framework for unpacking gender in Sikhi, does not seem unique (as a framework), but does sound right on. I haven't read the book, and I wish I could comment more intelligibly, but your summary of her arguments under silence/negation/idealization certainly ring true. As for accommodation, I guess I wonder if she's arguing that the Singh Sabha movement retroactively "placed" women back into the narrative of Sikh history, or if they revised history itself to make it seem as though women had been there all along. I know that sounds like a semantic difference, but it's one thing to acknowledge the exclusion of a group, and another to "back in" the information after the fact. It happens all the time, but I do think it's interesting.

I'd love to read more to see where she's going. I think one of the biggest challenges around gender equity is the dissonance between our "ideal type" (i.e., equality as we see it in Gurbani, which is also contested) and the reality of how women have been treated in our history as a social/cultural/national group.
I recall coming across a review of Jakobsh's work/research some time ago, and was not overly impressed with what Jakobsh had to say. Please note, this is not to diminish the topic at hand, but only the legitimacy of Jakobsh's scholarship. She received her PhD under Harjot Oberoi's supervision - which fact alone should be enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Please consider the following article:

Sikh Spectrum

I also recall reading something by her which insinuated Guru Hargobind's father was actually Baba Buddha ji i.e. when Guru Arjan Dev ji's wife, Mata Ganga, was seeking an audience with Baba Buddha ji, it was a request for the boon of offspring by way of conjugal relations with Baba Buddha ji, and Guru Arjan Dev ji approved of this.

Jakobsh appears to have put forward this disgusting insinuation more for the sake of sensationalism (which apparently equates with academic recognition) than for any genuine scholarly purpose.

Another article dissecting Jakobsh's research:

Sikhsundesh
Mewa and P. Singh,

To be fair, she conducted her research in the 90s. And it's not clear that she has been near UBC/Vancouver since then. If Waterloo has vast opportunities to practice Punjabi, I don't know about them. I live in a city with plenty of Punjabis, I speak to my family (who lives elsewhere) in Punjabi, and I still feel my Punjabi deteriorating.

My criticism of her translations was not an attempt to completely discredit her (not that I have the power to do so). I just wanted to point out the limitations of her analysis of Gurbani.

This language barrier might make scholarly research of Gurbani or Punjabi works difficult, but there is room for research and work on English works too. And I think her analysis of these English works is far more interesting than her analysis of Gurbani.
Amardeep,

I questioned Jakobsh's scholarship, not the FACT that gender inequality exists.

I wouldn't have taken the time to outline her first chapter and post it if I didn't think there was some truth to be explored. The only thing I dismissed completely were her translations of Gurbani, because those seemed way off. I think her points on "silence" and "idealization" ring most true, while the negation and accommodation are more problematic, though there may definitely be some truth in those as well. I don't know yet.

I completely agree that the ideal of egalitarianism has not been realized in practice, and the point of this post was to explore/highlight how women have historically been documented within the Sikh tradition, to draw out the drastic difference between the ideal and the reality.

Regarding whether and how much Punjabi she speaks, from an interview:

J.S.T.: Do you know Punjabi?

D.R.J.: When I was at Patiala in 1996 to research material for my Ph.D. thesis, I learned to read the Gurmukhi script. I could also speak tuti-phuti (broken) Punjabi. But since there was no practice here, I have almost lost it now.
Mewa Singh's avatar

Mewa Singh · 868 weeks ago

D.R.J.: When I was at Patiala in 1996 to research material for my Ph.D. thesis, I learned to read the Gurmukhi script. I could also speak tuti-phuti (broken) Punjabi. But since there was no practice here, I have almost lost it now.

Seems odd living and going to the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada but having 'no way to practice'?

Are there no Sikhs on campus or for that matter in BC? Or how about with her advisor? How long has there been a Punjabi language program at UBC?

For some reason, I guess this just asserts that she was only interested in Sikhs that have been long dead (early 20th century) and hardly engaged with those that were living and breathing in the community in which she resided.
There was/is an excellant Punjabi language program at UBC, offering beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes.

Even living in Waterloo, I find it hard to believe there are no avenues for her to keep up her Punjabi language skills - if she had them in the first place.

Perhaps it's difficult meeting Punjabi Sikhs who can stomach all of her b.s.?

More likely, as Mewa Singh indicated, her interest lies with Sikhs long dead, and unable to refute much of what she puts forth as scholarship; Sikhs today would ask far too many difficult questions, which may raise serious concerns about her understanding of Sikhism.
Mewa Singh's avatar

Mewa Singh · 868 weeks ago

Point taken Reema. However when reading her comment to the interview question, it does raise a new question. There are different points here which we can agree/disagree on:

1) Gender Inequality within the Sikh community exists. I would definitely agree with that statement and I have a feeling P.Singh would as well. Many Sikh women AND men have been saying this for years.

2) Jakobsh's scholarship shows there seems to be an all most systematic hegemony perpetrated against women in Sikh theology, history, and historiography. You raised a number of concerns and criticisims about her claims and her scholarly abilities to make such claims (including the reliance on translations). P.Singh and I have further echoed them.

3) Can one study Sikh history and society without engaging with Sikhs and their society? This is the new question that I believe arose out of her interview answer. P.Singh and I seem to agree that in many ways it is not possible. Maybe you disagree.

A simple reply to your deteriorating Punjabi in a city full of Punjabis is that your thesis and focus of your career is probably not writing about Sikhs. If it was, I sure hope your Punjabi does not deteriorate as I would expect you to write more in the future (especially since it was Canadian taxpayer money that helped afford Jakobsh to become a scholar in Sikh studies). Also in the interview, it seems much of the inspiration of her work comes out of contemporary social problems (including sex-selective abortion). One would hope the scholar to continue to engage with the community. Although I would hardly call myself a scholar, I have studied foreign languages and have always made an active effort to either at some point go to those countries or engage with the diasporic communities (in California it definitely makes it easier!)
Mewa and P. Singh,

To be fair, she conducted her research in the 90s. And it's not clear that she has been near UBC/Vancouver since then. If Waterloo has vast opportunities to practice Punjabi, I don't know about them. I live in a city with plenty of Punjabis, I speak to my family (who lives elsewhere) in Punjabi, and I still feel my Punjabi deteriorating.

My criticism of her translations was not an attempt to completely discredit her (not that I have the power to do so). I just wanted to point out the limitations of her analysis of Gurbani.

This language barrier might make scholarly research of Gurbani or Punjabi works difficult, but there is room for research and work on English works too. And I think her analysis of these English works is far more interesting than her analysis of Gurbani.
Mewa Singh's avatar

Mewa Singh · 868 weeks ago

Point taken Reema. However when reading her comment to the interview question, it does raise a new question. There are different points here which we can agree/disagree on:

1) Gender Inequality within the Sikh community exists. I would definitely agree with that statement and I have a feeling P.Singh would as well. Many Sikh women AND men have been saying this for years.

2) Jakobsh's scholarship shows there seems to be an all most systematic hegemony perpetrated against women in Sikh theology, history, and historiography. You raised a number of concerns and criticisims about her claims and her scholarly abilities to make such claims (including the reliance on translations). P.Singh and I have further echoed them.

3) Can one study Sikh history and society without engaging with Sikhs and their society? This is the new question that I believe arose out of her interview answer. P.Singh and I seem to agree that in many ways it is not possible. Maybe you disagree.

A simple reply to your deteriorating Punjabi in a city full of Punjabis is that your thesis and focus of your career is probably not writing about Sikhs. If it was, I sure hope your Punjabi does not deteriorate as I would expect you to write more in the future (especially since it was Canadian taxpayer money that helped afford Jakobsh to become a scholar in Sikh studies). Also in the interview, it seems much of the inspiration of her work comes out of contemporary social problems (including sex-selective abortion). One would hope the scholar to continue to engage with the community. Although I would hardly call myself a scholar, I have studied foreign languages and have always made an active effort to either at some point go to those countries or engage with the diasporic communities (in California it definitely makes it easier!)
Reema,

Thanks for your response. I think I was focusing too much on your criticisms and I missed the points in your post where you flagged that you were generally interested in discussing what you found to be an interesting book.

First, I did open up chapter 1 of Jakobsh's book, and see that Jakobsh is referring to an SGGS translation by Gurbachchan Singh Talib (1987), which is, as I understand it, considered reputable. It is not an old, colonial translation.

Second, I am not sure how her translations of Gurbani are really off. Your interpretation of the two lines in question doesn't make sense to me. Let's look at them a little more closely, with the original text.

Here is SGGS p. 41 at SriGranth.org.

The Gurbani (down near the bottom) is: "Put kalat moh bikh hai." According to my dictionary, "Kalat" is wife (also Kalatar), and "moh" is one of those words that can be translated five different ways: "fondness, attachment, attraction, love." "Bikh" is, unambiguously, poison.

Grammatically, the fact that "put" and "kalat" are in a row before "moh" suggests that it is the attachment to child and wife that are "bikh." Your saying that it is "moh" that is "bikh," not "put kalat," doesn't really make sense to me. If it is "moh," why include "put kalat"?

Then, Here is SGGS p. 796.

M?­i­? moh ??arkat? n?r.

B???d? k?ma? k?ma?i­?r.

(SriGranth.org translates as: Love of Maya is like a cursed woman, ugly, dirty and promiscuous.)

In response to this, you said:

Also in the next line, the referrence to ‘loose woman’ does not refer to all women, but must be read in the context of the Shabad. It is an allusion to ‘courtier dancers’ in Hindu temples and Mughal palaces. The adjective used prior is ‘deceptive’ so it isn’t even all women, it is those courtiers that practice deception (a common practice by courtiers).

Here, I think you're missing the point. Obviously, it's not "all" women who are being named by the lines, it is "dharkat nar" -- fallen women (like the courtesans and nach girls you mention).

The problem for today's feminists isn't that the text says that all women are bad, but that it uses fallen women as a metaphor for attachment ("moh"). By today's standards, that metaphor could be somewhat misogynist.

Of course, one could legitimately respond that applying today's standards to the time of the SGGS is unfair. I think it might be reasonable to say that relying on this line too much to prove there are elements of misogyny in the SGGS would be a mistake, because obviously in that time and place, "fallen" women were considered by "respectable people" to be obviously bad, and immoral. (Today, many people might say that sex workers are the victims of a misogynist culture, not entirely to blame themselves.)

In short, I see your point about the danger of relying on others' translations, and agree that strong knowledge of the language is important if you are going to base your career in Sikh Studies. But here I don't think Jakobsh's interpretations are off at all.
Reema,

Thanks for your response. I think I was focusing too much on your criticisms and I missed the points in your post where you flagged that you were generally interested in discussing what you found to be an interesting book.

First, I did open up chapter 1 of Jakobsh's book, and see that Jakobsh is referring to an SGGS translation by Gurbachchan Singh Talib (1987), which is, as I understand it, considered reputable. It is not an old, colonial translation.

Second, I am not sure how her translations of Gurbani are really off. Your interpretation of the two lines in question doesn't make sense to me. Let's look at them a little more closely, with the original text.

Here is SGGS p. 41 at SriGranth.org.

The Gurbani (down near the bottom) is: "Put kalat moh bikh hai." According to my dictionary, "Kalat" is wife (also Kalatar), and "moh" is one of those words that can be translated five different ways: "fondness, attachment, attraction, love." "Bikh" is, unambiguously, poison.

Grammatically, the fact that "put" and "kalat" are in a row before "moh" suggests that it is the attachment to child and wife that are "bikh." Your saying that it is "moh" that is "bikh," not "put kalat," doesn't really make sense to me. If it is "moh," why include "put kalat"?

Then, Here is SGGS p. 796.

M?­i­? moh ??arkat? n?r.

B???d? k?ma? k?ma?i­?r.

(SriGranth.org translates as: Love of Maya is like a cursed woman, ugly, dirty and promiscuous.)

In response to this, you said:

Also in the next line, the referrence to ‘loose woman’ does not refer to all women, but must be read in the context of the Shabad. It is an allusion to ‘courtier dancers’ in Hindu temples and Mughal palaces. The adjective used prior is ‘deceptive’ so it isn’t even all women, it is those courtiers that practice deception (a common practice by courtiers).

Here, I think you're missing the point. Obviously, it's not "all" women who are being named by the lines, it is "dharkat nar" -- fallen women (like the courtesans and nach girls you mention).

The problem for today's feminists isn't that the text says that all women are bad, but that it uses fallen women as a metaphor for attachment ("moh"). By today's standards, that metaphor could be somewhat misogynist.

Of course, one could legitimately respond that applying today's standards to the time of the SGGS is unfair. I think it might be reasonable to say that relying on this line too much to prove there are elements of misogyny in the SGGS would be a mistake, because obviously in that time and place, "fallen" women were considered by "respectable people" to be obviously bad, and immoral. (Today, many people might say that sex workers are the victims of a misogynist culture, not entirely to blame themselves.)

In short, I see your point about the danger of relying on others' translations, and agree that strong knowledge of the language is important if you are going to base your career in Sikh Studies. But here I don't think Jakobsh's interpretations are off at all.
I have mixed reactions to this book which I have yet to finish reading. From discussions such as in this blog above, as well as on other forums (example, critique of the book by Dr. Baldev Singh), I find Jakobsh's interpretation of Gurbani as problematic. I will restrain my comments on this aspect of the book without having read it.

However, the framework Jakobsh employs to look at how gender has been negotiated in Sikh culture and history, and the insights she generates as a result, are worth a read. For example, her thesis (in Chapter 3 that I have briefly summarized here) on British perceptions of Sikh masculinity’ and how these perceptions corresponded favorably with the British’s understanding of their own (Victorian) masculinity, leading them to favor the Sikhs during British occupation of India, and how the subsequent dynamics of the British-Sikh interaction shaped the discourse of gender in Sikh history made me pause and think and reexamine my current understanding on this issue. Isn't that a great thing that can be said about a book?

Does anyone know what Jakobsh's response is to the criticism she has received for her Gurbani interpretation in the book. Does she still stand rigidly by her interpretation or does she even acknowledge the contested nature of the texts she has relied upon? The reason I ask this is because the criticism about her Gurbani interpretation is very specific (although some critics such as Baldev Singh have interspersed their scholarship with questions about her intentions, motives, sexual orientation and stuff that stops me short of calling his work as 'scholarship'). (I may have the same hesitancy about the nature of Jakobsh's 'scholarship' too but that will have to wait till I have finished reading the book.)

Amardeep, I wonder what would a post-colonial analysis of Jakobsh's work look like.

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