Why did the murder of a preacher in a Sikh temple in Vienna spark riots in the faraway Indian state of Punjab, in which thousands took to the streets to torch cars, trains and battle security forces?
The root cause may lie in India’s caste system that Sikhism officially rejects, but that still grips swathes of India’s billion-plus people, including in Sikh-dominated Punjab state in northwestern India.
“Via Vienna, Sikh caste war returns, sets Punjab aflame” ran the headline of the Hindustan Times.
The preacher, Guru Sant Rama Nand, 57, was killed in a gurdwara in the Austrian capital in an attack by six men armed with knives and a gun.
He was from the Dera Sach Khand, a religious sect separate from mainstream Sikhism that has a large support base of Indian Dalits, or “untouchables”, and other lower castes.
The leader of Dera Sach Khand, Guru Sant Niranjan Das, 68, was wounded in the attack. 
The thousands who went on the rampage in Punjab on Monday were mainly Dalits. Authorities have imposed a curfew in parts of the state, in which three protesters died on Monday in clashes with security forces.
The Dera Sach Khand sect was inspired by the 15th century spiritual leader Ravidas, himself from a lower caste. It differs from mainstream Sikhism, for example, in that it reveres living gurus such as Sant Niranjan Das. Some pious Sikhs find this concept offensive.
Traditional Sikhism recognises 10 gurus who led the community from the founding of the faith by Guru Nanak in the late 15th century. The 10th guru named the religion’s holy book, known as the Guru Granth Sahib, as his successor.
Sikhism does not recognise caste, but “the clash in a Vienna gurdwara and the mob fury are yet another manifestation of simmering discontent that Dalits in Punjab feel due to increasing social inequality and oppression in a society that was supposed to be free of it,” writes the Times of India.
In the relatively prosperous state, “caste prejudices and biases remain steeped among followers of Sikhism…facing-off in a festering, endless dispute over rights, rituals and religion.”
In such a context, the appeal of sects such as the Dera Sach Khand is easy to understand.
“The legitimacy given to these deras and the steady weaning away of the faithful from the gurdwaras has often rattled the Sikh clergy and its more hardline followers pitting them against the deras,” writes the Indian Express.
The caste conflict may have been the cause of the Vienna attack as well.
“Caste has moved beyond India with Indian diaspora as the latter does not move as individuals but takes its cultural baggage along,” Vivek Kumar, who teaches sociology in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told the Times of India.
According to some reports, the attackers objected to the temple allowing a living guru to speak in the presence of the holy book.
But Vienna police say they are still unclear on what motivated the kiling.
The temple which was attacked is newer than Vienna’s two other Sikh temples and had been gaining popularity, but so far there had been no hostilities between the different groups in Vienna, said Bernhard Fuchs, an ethnologist at Vienna university.
And the city’s two other Sikh temples have distanced themselves from the attack and condemned it as against the basic tenets of the Sikh faith.
“The foundation of Sikhism besides brotherly love and care for others, is also the principle of non-violence,” they said in an open message.
“Based on these principles, the Sikh religious community in Austria therefore reject all act of fanaticism and condemned this outrageous attack in the strongest term.”
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No it is not caste but it is organised terror . Certain individuals do not want peace to prevail . A handful of them are taking law into their hands and trying to blemish Sikhism , the mots tolerant of Religions .
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- Posted by SatnamIn my opinion hail to those brave lions that took care of these fake saints in Austria. Who are there to have people bow down to them in the presence of the holy Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Haven’t’ the people of India learnt that Sikhs don’t fear anyone including the army of the state that was taught such a punishing lesson in June 1984.
- Posted by Jag@i a person who apparantly is of a lower caste have always been discriminated against by “sikhs”
- Posted by navie
Navie: You did not make it clear if you are a Sikh or not. Not calling yourself a Sikh and then blaming on the “Sikhs” that they are discriminating against you is not consistent. I do not want to hurt you or defend Sikhs, but you are not clear about your identity.
I see this way:
1. You belong to a “lower caste” (hardly matter which one but helps the discussion if we are at it)
2. if you are not a Sikh (but just follow Guru Granth Sahib) then why you feel discriminated (by Sikhs) against (and over what?)? What you call discrimination here is probably your and a Sikh’s interpretation of Granth Sahib. If you feel this discrimination, so you are best judge and it is fair that I agree with you.
3. if you are a Sikh, then why are you asking for a human Guru. Tenth Guru Gobind Singh ji clearly stopped this practice of a human Guru and called Granth Sahib the “Guru”
If you look at the history of Sikhism, there is a slow (so painful) conversion of the “willing” to Sikhism and this evolution is going on. Understanding the original idea of Sikhism is important if you want to be clear where you stand–forget about Akal Takhat or Dera Sachkhand Balan, but look at the idea of 1-10 Gurus. In next 100-200yrs, your future generations will become either a “typical” Sikh as mostly recognize them, or you will fall out of this line and be a Hindu (or …) than having this confusion, or something totally new will emerge. But not having a clear understanding of the Sikhism will hurt everyone around you. You will be lying if you say Sikhism (in principal) allows inequality and discrimination.
@sant Ramanand ji was a guru and a true man who preached humanity and peace to all communitys .i think some people tend to forget what a guru actually means and that is a holy teacher so whats the problem if hes leading people into the right path
–I have not met him (although I stay around that area). I am sure he was a great Guru if you feel so. problem is calling Granth Sahib as “Guru” and “sant Ramanand ji” as Guru –this hurts other Sikhs feeling.
History shows that Hindus from the “Lower Castes” who converted to Sikhs attained higher level versus their original place.
Well in the end, everyone from any religion in India is influenced by the casteism.
- Posted by rajeevim sorry to say to all you true sikhs that no matter what day an age we will always have the cast system no matter what and i a person who apparantly is of a lower caste have always been discriminated against by “sikhs” and sant Ramanand ji was a guru and a true man who preached humanity and peace to all communitys .i think some people tend to forget what a guru actually means and that is a holy teacher so whats the problem if hes leading people into the right path
- Posted by navieAzad:
@I see the young rioting men clean shaven, is nt it somewhat unusual? My understanding is that, barring a few, nearly all sikh men wear a turban.
-Yes, actually they are mostly SCs following Guru Granth Sahib. Many who converted to Sikhism changed names to Singhs and Kaurs suffixes–shedding their original identity–and Sikh men wera turbans and grow beard. But this “name” and appearance change happened starting with the time of last Guru Gobind Singh. All nine Gurus had Hindu names, if you think about it. Sikhism was more of an idea/spiritual level-at that time. Last Guru gave physical identity arising out of the military need of the time (against Aurangzeb) to distinguish warrior versus non-warriors etc. It is interesting that British helped a lot in promoting and establishing the physical identity of Sikhs by letting them grow beard and wear turban and that became a practice, removing any fears that Sikhism would dissolve into Hinduism.
That said, the followers of Ravidas of today follow Sikh holy book, have Hindu names, are mostly (not all) clean shaven. It is like following some but not all features of Sikhism. In Doaba region (between rivers Beas and Sutlej), there is a huge # of Ravidas followers and are called Ravidasias or similar terminology. On a separate note, I have few non-Dalit Hindu friends who also follow Sikh holy book but do not wear turbans. So evolution to typical Sikhism did not fully take place, retaining older features (dalits). If 9 Gurus had Hindu names,Ravidas followers can also be Sikhs in that sense. Ravidas temples have Guru Granth Sahib.
It usually has not been a problem. All the name and appearnce could be tolerable but nothing supercedes GGS, that is considered the last Guru. But since ravidas followers follow GGS due to Ravidas teachings in it (perhaps), some of them might be taking the liberty of promoting the idea of giving the status of sant or Guru, despite following the GGS. This is the problem.
Then there there are Christian Dalits too!
This is a good article on Ravidas followers and Sikhs:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India /Most-members-of-Dalit-sect-dont-follow -Sikh-tenets/articleshow/4581887.cms
- Posted by rajeev[...] Read more here: India: A billion aspirations » Blog Archive » Is caste behind the … [...]
- Posted by India: A billion aspirations » Blog Archive » Is caste behind the … | India todayThe so called sikhs do not know the greatness of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Only those few who day and night stay absorbed and follow one hundred percent teachings of Guru Granth Sahib Ji and when they achieve that highest level of spiritualism which is called in Gurmat Sahej Awastha, then they say Wah Guru (Guru you are wonderful). Those few really know how sacred and great is Guru Granth Sahib. That is why I say there is nothing in this universe that can disrespect Guru Granth SahibJi unless they consider it just an object. To live a life according to the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib Ji is not an easy task. The so called heads of followers of Guru Granth Sahib Ji are not even one hundredth of a per cent close to following. They have made it very easy that just keep reading or pay the people to read for you. Can a follower say if any of the Kam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Hankar have been conquered? If none do not call yourself follower of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. I do not want to go more in detail just want to mention one more teaching of Guru Granth Sahib Ji and that is Hukam - whatever is happening is the Hukam of Wahegur or His Rajha and we should live happy in His Rajha.
- Posted by HarrySikhism-born out of hinduism-culturally,politically,phsycolo gically is the same religion.
- Posted by rammenReligious misinterpretations have always played a big part in causing conflicts at gloable,national,regional and street level.
ONE HAS TO RESPECT THE OTHER IN IT’S OWN ENTITY,TO BE ABE TO EXIST TOGATHER IN THE SAME ENVIROMENT.
VERDICT—WILL NEVER BE POSSIBLE IN INDIA.
Being a sikh i would like to add something because i have close understanding of this matter.Vienna-Punjab conflict is not a result of race discrimination but it is a matter of disrespecting Sikh Holy Book- Guru Granth Sahib.
- Posted by Manpreet kaurFor sikh Guru Granth Sahib is not only a holy book but it is living guru himself. In other words it is everything for a true sikh and thier is a code of conduct to deal with it. Disrespecting Guru Granth Sahib means hurting sikh feelings and thier belief. Rama nand and his follower did not stop those objectionable act despite many reqests.I don’t support attacking or killing someone but these people like Rama Nand should not offend other peoples belief as well. For instance, Many sikh people in punjab may have converted to christianity but no sikh interfere with somebodies personal belief. So Sikhism does not stop anybody following any guru or sant but nobody can claim being a sikh guru. Although a person can start his own philosophy/sect/religion but niether can make any change within the Guru Granth Sahib nor can claim as a sikh guru because sikhism has already paid a big price to restore the honour.For reader view I would like to clear that most of the DERA GURU CLAIM THEMSELVE GUR AND THEY OFFEND SIKH FEELING BY SAYING THAT THIS HOLY BOOK CANOT BE GURU. Now people can decide wheter it is wrong or not. Imagine if somebody using Gita and telling
Hindus that Krishna is not great , somebody using bible but claiming jesus cannot do anything and follow me , somebody using Quaran to get fame but telling muslim that they should not follow quran . In the same way if if somebody having a book in his hand and telling books auther that i wrote it. this is called piracy man.
Mnapreet
Sat shri akal to all, I am a true sikh… and I trust in Shri guru Granth Sahibji, before making any comments on caste system or whatever heppened there we must keep in mind what our Guru told us ,Live together with harmony,without being superstitious, the Guru’s never had any discrimination with any race, caste or religion, that is why Sheikh Farid,Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, Surdas and others are having their Bani in Guru Granth Sahibji, regardless of their colour, race or origin. They devote their life to teach us that how to live,they teach us at that time. and now if you declare Guru to yourself forgetting what Ravidasji said, then it certainly means you are not following the religion, or Ravidas ji, if you are a sikh and follow Guru Granth Sahib ji, then you must not forget that neither Ravidasji nor Guru Granth sahib ji told you to be racist or harming other’s property,So as per me I think whatever happened was wrong because if anyone wants to do such things they must choose other place not in presence of Guru Granth Sahibji, as Guru never teach us that way, the role of all the saint should be as a connector who teach us the lesson of the God, of Guru Granth Sahibji, and others should remember Guru Granth Sahib ji is for everyone on thins planet, stop going to vote collector, or those who are sitting as your Father, and remember God. He is in everyone, so Love to all, hate none.any comments most welcome.
- Posted by ManjeetThe caste system was for the ancient indians, y are we still using the name of caste to make frnds, etc.
Segregation in the name of race is not humanitarian.
Until we accept this truth and forgo our caste barriers, we cannot move ahead, — just look some random election .. even for cricket clubs. caste name, reservations are bad as we go ahead.
- Posted by vijayEven before the identity of attackers at Vienna had been established, people starting blaming them to Sikh extremists. The Hindustan Times, in its Chandigarh edition blamed the entire attack on Sikh extremists without even sourcing it.
- Posted by arun behlSuch irresponsible reports triggered violence in India. Though the violence was not one community against the other - it was basically lumpen elements destroying state property - the headline of news in India called it caste war.
Today when the extremists have denied the incident, the responsibility of violence must rest with irresponsible media as well.
Rajeev
I see the young rioting men clean shaven, is nt it somewhat unusual? My understanding is that, barring a few, nearly all sikh men wear a turban. Does it in anyway reflect the so called caste cleavage in sikhism, say some do and others dont look classic sikhs. No pun intended.
- Posted by Azad@Someone truly at peace and in touch with God does not need a spiritual guru, leader, preacher, priest, imam or whatever……Until everyone shuns group/religious identity, religious violence will persist as it always has.”
- Posted by Bevis
Bevis, how as an atheist (my assumption) do you know that a spiritual guru is not helpful in getting in in touch with God? Just arguing.
Disclaimer: This is independent comment and nothing to do with Sikhism.
- Posted by rajeevI am not not a Sikh or a follower of Ravidas but being a Punjabi from Doaba know it well enoough to comment.
@The root cause lie in India’s caste system.
-posted by Sonia
–Here we go again–”The caste system”. The root cause of what? The killing cannot be attributed to the caste system. At best to the politics of Dera/Gurudwara. Those who follow Sri Guru Granth Sahib must know that sikhism allow this caste system and everyone can enter the Gurudwara.
@Now over the years, these deras have gained strength in terms of number of followers and vote bank. The positive side is, these deras can prevent exploitation of lower caste people but on the negative side, there are chances of their being exploited by political parties.
-posted by Sonia
Sonia: Negative side is vote bank and frankly speaking I see no postive side here such as thinking that Deras will fight exploitation by the upper castes and landlords”. These deras will rather make sure that the problem never disappear and polictics of the vote bank will make the matters worse.
Talking specifically about the incident, no one knows so far the real reason of the killing. I have mentioned earlier also that the situation is somewhat like Muslims-Mohammadans versus Ahmediya animosity. Mohamamaddans believe that the prophet Mohamammad was the last prophet while Ahmediya do not think so. Same here, Sikhism clearly says that no one can act (not even in movies, orget about in real life) like a Guru if following Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Granth Sahib is the “Guru”, so denying this is asking for trouble. Sikh Gurus inducted Ravidas teachings into Sri Guru Granth Sahib–so teachings are important than the Guru of the Dera. Calling Guru to the holy book and to the person (Guru in Dera) does not make sense to me. Yes if it satisfies somone’s ego that’s another issue.
I know that no one is stopped from entering a Gurudwara. So all this new politics of Dera/Gurudwara and the people following it blindly is sickening.
- Posted by rajeevIt is very sad what took place in Vienna. Gurdwaras and Temples are sprouting everywhere in Europe, Canada and North America. They are attracting self proclaimed Sants, Maharajs and spritual leaders frpm India. The only reason these people are coming to these establishments is the money. In Chicago, sikh Gurdwara in Palatine has been taken over by redicals so they can control the money and use it for their illminded causes, Khalistan movement which most sikhs condemn.Some of these individuals dressed up like a guru on the day of election to get elected. Onece elected they became clean shaven sikh. The entire communit Sikh community is outraged. Things are so bad now a days, anything is possible. I just hope and prey that these radicals get out of the Palatine, Chicago Gurdwara soon before any act of violance takes place.
- Posted by DavidThe root cause lie in India’s caste system.
We feel angry when they attack our leader. They never did anything to anybody. We are all peace-loving, but feel annoyed when something happens.
The Sachkhand, like other Deras, was started to fight exploitation by the upper castes and landlords.
Today they worship the Granth Sahib, because Guru Ravidass’ teachings were added into the Granth Sahib by the fifth Sikh Guru.
Guru Ravidass’ teachings came to Punjab through the Guru Granth Sahib and we follow the Guru Granth Sahib. We don’t have any rift with the Sikhs.
But now the increasing number of devotees and followers is at the heart of their rivalry with traditional gurudwaras.
The upper caste gurduwaras have well established hierarchies dominated by upper castes. The growing strength of the deras has not been liked by the clergymen of the traditional gurudwaras.
- Posted by SoniaNow over the years, these deras have gained strength in terms of number of followers and vote bank. The positive side is, these deras can prevent exploitation of lower caste people but on the negative side, there are chances of their being exploited by political parties.
Most of the migrants in Austria are illegal entrants , a product of 1984 troubles. They are unsocial, culturally intolrent. They can not follow the tenets of the great religion. They are taught troubles. Here in Punjab, we have plenty of them. The teachings of great Gurus need a cool and different mind to follow them, and only then you can enjoy the truth in your life. May Guru grant tolerant mind to all of us.
- Posted by hoshiarpur indian