Suraj Prakash (Gurmukhi: ਸੂਰਜ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼), also called Gurpartāp Sūraj Granth (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਤਾਪ ਸੂਰਜ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ lit. "The Sun-like Illumination of the Guru's Glory"),[1] is a popular and monumental hagiographic text about Sikh Gurus written by Kavi Santokh Singh (1787–1843) and published in 1843 CE.[2][3] It consists of life legends performed by Sikh Gurus and historic Sikhs such as Baba Banda Bahadur in 51,820 verses (60,000 when including Nanak Prakash).[2][4][5] Most modern writing on the Sikh Gurus finds its basis from this text.[6]
Overview
The Suraj Prakash is written in Braj Bhasha language in Gurmukhi script, with significant use of Sanskrit words.[7] Generally when spoken about it includes the author's previous work on Guru Nanak, the Nanak Prakash (1824). In total the text has 1281 chapters spread across twenty two sections.[8] Jvala Singh explains and comments on the structure of the text:
"As written by Santokh Singh, when including the sections related to Guru Nanak in the Nanak Prakāsh (1824), the entire collection is constructed in twenty two sections, Guru Nanak’s portions called the sun rise and sun set, pūrabāradh and uttarāradh, Guru Angad to Guru Tegh Bahadur are located within sections called the twelve rāśī, zodiac signs, and Guru Gobind Singh’s sections within the six seasons, che rutān, and two solstices, do ayan, with each chapter within these sections called aṇshū or sunray. Titled the Gurpratap Suraj Granth, the Sun-like-Illumination of the Guru’s Glory, the structure’s micro to macro expansion of the solar experiences represents a continuity between the Gurus themselves via changing forms and manifestations."[9]
Above all, Kavi Santokh Singh writes that he has written the history according and pursuant to Guru Granth Sahib - ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ ਕਥਾ ਮੈਂ ਰੀਤਾ (I have written these stories according to the Guru Granth).[12]
Reception
By the 1880s the text had received widespread appraisal and became the foundation, "go-to" source, to draw from.[13] The renown Patna SahibMahant and Braj poet, Sumer Singh (1847-1903), writes, “[T]here is no other text which is equivalent, understand it as the treasure trove of the guru’s praise, the exalted Santokh Singh received great admiration for creating this vessel to liberate all the Singhs”.[14] However according to W. H. McLeod the Suraj Prakash contains "somewhat higher proportion" of Sikh history, but it is mostly ahistorical mythology and untrustworthy source of Sikh history.[2][15]Max Arthur Macauliffe extensively but selectively used the Suraj Prakash, in cooperation with Kahn Singh Nabha, for his six-volume The Sikh Religion series that presented Sikh scriptures and history to the Western world in early 20th-century.[2] While Macauliffe used it extensively in his Sikh Gurus and history sections, he added that the Suraj Prakash is of doubtful trustworthiness, because the education and heritage of its author Santokh Singh was "largely tinctured with Hinduism".[2][16]Vir Singh however notes that Suraj Prakash essentially became the foundation for historical texts written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries:
"The writers, namely Baba Banesha Singh Ji Bedi specifically took from this text [Sūraj Prakāsh] to write his Gur Nanak Sūrayodai. Giani Gian Singh took so much from this text that his first portion of his historical text has the second name of Vārtik Sūraj Prakāsh. Pandit Giani Bhai Hazara Singh Ji wrote and published a brief of the text named Sūraj Prakāsh Cūrṇakā. From reading the works of Baba Prem Singh it’s clear that their text is also based on this text, and its clear countless other authors have written small texts based on this text [Sūraj Prakāsh]. Khalsa Tract Society has also taken from this source, along with other research, created Punjabi literature. Maccaulfie did look into other sources and research but his main source was this text. Khursaid Khalsa in Urdu also took from this text. Khursaid also means Sūraj [sun]. Other poets who would write in baitan or lovely chand metres have taken from this text and continue to do so."[17][18]Illustrations on both sides of a page depicting Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh from the "Gur Pratap Suraj Granth", printed copy, ca.1884
Suraj Parkash is a popular text in the Sikh community, profusely poetic, and it is sometimes recited in a katha form.[2]Vir Singh in his introduction to his printed publication of Suraj Prakash writes:
“In Gurdwaras, Deras, Dharamsalas, courts and in houses, the katha spread so widely and many copies of this text spread and became established in Gurdwaras. In the late afternoon a tradition started in villages and cities where people would go to Gurdwaras to listen to this katha. This tradition remained alive and withstood the grasp and effect from the Singh Sabha movement”.[19]
Controversy
Scholars such as W. H. McLeod and Max Arthur Macauliffe found fault in the text due to mythological components. Others viewed the material included as Vedantic doctrines of Udasis and Nirmalas.[2][20] The text also incorporates some ideas of the Hindalis considered heretical by Khalsa Sikhs. According to Pashaura Singh this may have been the result of the traditional Sikh schools in Amritsar of the 18th– and 19th–century including Vedanta with standard Sikh teachings.[2] The text since McLeod and Macauliffee's critique has been understudied; Anne Murphy writes, "this is not a text that has been used a great deal by historians, probably due to its reputation for being “Hinduized”— somewhat unfairly, perhaps, given the prevalence of “mythological” elements within other comparable texts that are referred to more often."[21]Bhai Vir Singh remarks that the mythology and Puranic references within Suraj Prakash are utilized as metaphors, in a way to explain the deeds, role, and powers of the Gurus.[22][23]Bhai Vir Singh writes that in the context of texts related to spiritual personalities, like the Gurus, stories including miracles (karāmāt) are used to "open the locks of the heart" of the listener/reader, in a way that purely scientific historical literature could not do.[24][25]
The text has been criticized as being "Hinduized", however it clearly articulates the Khalsa as the 'Third' (ਤੀਜਾ / ਤੀਸਰ ਪੰਥ), distinct from the Hindu and Turk (Islamic) duality.[26] The confusion pertains to 18th century texts like Gurbilas as well, Murphy notes the problem related to context:
"we can see in eighteenth century Punjabi Brajbhasha texts that express Sikh communitarian perspectives that Sikhs were contained within a sense of ‘Hindu’ in broad contrastive terms, at the same time that Sikh positions were portrayed as representing a clearly separate religious/cultural tradition alongside other traditions that were portrayed as similarly distinct (some of which are now included under the umbrella term ‘Hindu’) "[27]
Bhai Vir Singh's Printed Version
Suraj Parkash was first edited by Vir Singh 1926-1935 in 14 volumes, with Punjabi footnotes.[28][2][29] Jvala Singh in his work argues that Vir Singh’s publication of the text in 1935, safe guarded the text from attack by iron-cladding the text within a western critical apparatus[30] The critical apparatus included a lengthy 250 page introduction, explanatory footnotes, and additional historical resources supplementing the text, softening the attacks and shaping the audience's expectations, reactions and modes of appreciation of the text. Jvala Singh suggests Vir Singh is pushing back against Max Arthur Macauliffe and other Singh Sabha intellectuals who attack the text and author.[31]
Translations
The Suraj Prakash is currently being translated in a podcast format by Jvala Singh on the Suraj Podcast, which is a chapter by chapter translation and summary.[32][33]
^Murphy, Anne. 2012. The Materiality of the Past: History and Representation in the Sikh Tradition. Oxford University Press. Page 113-115
^Deol, Jeevan. 1998. ‘Sabinderjit Singh Sagar: Historical Analysis of Nanak Prakash by Bhai Santokh Singh. 169 Pp. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 1993.’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 61 (1):165
^Vir Singh, Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth Jilad Pahilī: Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granthāvalī Dī Prastāvanā. (Chandigarh: Bhasha Vibhaag, 1989).
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Sumer Singh, Gurpadprem Prakāś. Edited by Dr. Achhar Singh Kahlon (Patiala: Punjabi Sahit Adiain Vibhag, 2000).Page 527.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Murphy, “Sufis, Yogis, and the question of religious difference: Individualization in early modern Punjab”, page 4.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
^Kaur-Bring, Narinder. 2020. ‘Autoethnography: A Potential Method for Sikh Theory to Praxis Research’. Religions 11 (12): 681.
_by_its_author,_Kavi_Santokh_Singh.jpg)
_kept_at_the_village_of_Bhai_Rupa.jpg)
