A Sikh philosophy of history: an exploration of the Bachitra Natak

Takeaways

- The Bachitra Natak is part of a Granth that calls itself the Bachitra Natak Granth and which is now a part of the Dasam Granth.

- Philosophy of history can discuss the method of doing history as well as the direction of history

- The Bachitra Natak has implications for historical writing as well as a story about the nature of history

Philosophy of history may include a vision of the direction of history. Two theories stand out here. A Whig theory of history which sees it as the progress of reason and a Marxist theory of history that sees it as class struggle leading to a society grounded in equality in the future. Bachitra Natak provides a universalist vision where One exists in a dynamic tension with another, be they tribalism or our lower selves, providing infinite play of 1 and 0 with direction but without resolution. The direction is God’s omnipotence, the lack of resolution God’s omnibenevolence in giving us life, will and choice.

Philosophy of history may include also a method which is based on fact. Ranke, the founder of modern history noted that the past is “immanent to God.” I take this to mean that the past happened but only God knows what actually happened. The historian must accept that they are coming to the past through their personal lens of motive and can only base their accounts on the limited evidence they can find. They then fashion this mixture of agenda and partial…