Inquiry 2.

[singh1986]

From what I have read and understood I know that Sikh principles are agaisnt the Caste system; however how come all the Gurus were from one particular caste and how come they only married people from thier own Caste. This was one criticism used by Mcleod (I am sure you gives have heard of him) that I couldnt really explain.

[randip singh]

From what I have read and understood I know that Sikh principles are agaisnt the Caste system; however how come all the Gurus were from one particular caste and how come they only married people from thier own Caste. This was one criticism used by Mcleod (I am sure you gives have heard of him) that I couldnt really explain.

Several reasons:

1) At the time of the Guru's people of lower castes say Jatts, Tarkhans, Julahai, Lubabana's could not even sit and eat with jigher castes like Khatri/Kshatriya let alone marry.

2) There was no social interaction between women and men of different castes.

3) Marriages were arranged at birth (even the Guru's)

4) Brahmins only carried out wedding ceremonies....they would never condone or carry out an intercaste marriage. One of the reasons why Anand Karaj ceremony was developed.

5) No one offered their daughter from a different caste to the Guru's

6) People would have focused on outrage of intercaste marriage rather than the Guru's message if one of them had, had an intercaste marriage

etc etc

many other reasons too.....as they say....Rome wasn't built in a day.

[buddasingh]

From what I have read and understood I know that Sikh principles are agaisnt the Caste system; however how come all the Gurus were from one particular caste and how come they only married people from thier own Caste. This was one criticism used by Mcleod (I am sure you gives have heard of him) that I couldnt really explain.

If McLeod had to stand up and put forth his "intellect" before an objective court while being cross examined he would start to shake and cry on the stand.

According to McLeod, the Gurus would be for sati, because despite the message, and given the martyrdom tradition, not one jumped into a fire to show support for women.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for intellectual critical analyis and I'm not saying McLeod and his champchay mean harm. To their credit, it may be the case that they are just socially dim-witted when it comes to understanding the concept of academic contribution.