Talk:Trumpp's Translation Of Portions Of The Guru Granth Sahib

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should we REALLY call him a "self righteous bigot"?


Discussion

That is a matter for discussion and the stand point of the observer. It is clear that he had set views which appear entrenched and bigotry. For example, quote from Wikipedia:

"In 1869, Trumpp was summoned by India office to work in Punjab to translate the Sikh scriptures into English; accordingly, he stayed in Punjab for fifteen months and translated one-third of Adi Granth that was published in 1877. He translated Puratan and Bala Janamsakhis, the lives of the later [Sikh] gurus, including an account of their teachings. However, he concluded that Adi Granth was not worth translating in full--"the same few ideas, he thought, being endlessly repeated." Gilchrist also felt that the Dasam Granth was not worth translating at all, prompting criticism from devout Sikhs for the insult."

It shows the attitude of the man. He did not feel that perhaps he could not properly understand the Guru Granth Sahib but instead felt that the Guru did not have much to offer and most of the text was a repetition! How crazy is that! Clearly for a scholar his mind was rather closed and consequently, although he was the first to translate many of the early Sikh documents, his attitude to other cultures and their importance was tainted. Compare that attitude with what other have said about the Guru:

see Worldwide praise for the Guru Granth Sahib

Rev. H.L. Bradshaw of the U.S.A., Sikh Review, Calcutta.

Sikhism is a Universal world Faith…a message for all men. This is amply illustrated in the writings of the Gurus.

Sikhs must cease to think of their faith as just another good religion and must begin to think of Sikhism being the religion for this New Age.


Also:

The Guru Granth Sahib of all the world religious scriptures, alone states that there are innumerable worlds and universes other than our own. The previous scriptures were all concerned only with this world and its spiritual counterpart. To imply that they spoke of other worlds as does the Guru Granth Sahib, is to stretch their obvious meanings out of context. The Sikh religion is truly the answer to the problems of the modern man.

Miss Pearl S. Buck, a Nobel laureate

(From the foreword to the English translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib by Dr Gopal Singh Dardi)


Miss Pearl S. Buck, a Nobel laureate wrote:

When I was in India in 1962, one of the notable events of my Visit was the presentation to me of the English version of Sri Guru-Granth Sahib, translated and annotated by Dr. Gopal Singh.

I was deeply grateful to receive this great work, for in the original it was inaccessible to me, and this was a matter of regret, for I have had many Sikh friends, and have always admired their qualities of character.

Now that I have had time in my quiet Pennsylvania home to read their scriptures slowly and thoughtfully, I can understand why I have found so much to admire.

The religion of a people has a profound and subtle influence upon them as a whole, and this is true whether individuals do or do not profess to be religious.

I have studied the scriptures of the great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length and are a revelation of the concept of God to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of the human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzled me until I learned that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the 16th century when explorers were beginning to discover the globe upon which we all live is a single entity divided only by arbitrary lines of our making. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes. They speak to a person of any religion or of none. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind.


So clearly there is some truth in the criticism made of this author.

Regards, 04:20, 22 February 2015 (CST)