Ernest Trumpp's The Adi Granth is a pioneering work in Sikh studies, 4 offering one of the earliest translations of the Sikh scripture into English. Published in the late 19th century, Trumpp's effort laid the groundwork for future scholars to engage with the Guru Granth Sahib in a Western academic framework. Despite the limitations of his time, his meticulous approach to linguistics and philology provided valuable insights into the structure and language of the Sikh sacred text.
Trumpp's deep knowledge of Sanskrit, Persian, and Indian vernaculars allowed him to attempt a translation that, while controversial, was instrumental in bringing the teachings of Sikhism to a broader audience. His work remains an important historical reference for those interested in the colonial study of Sikh texts and early Western interpretations of Indian religious traditions.
For scholars of comparative religion, Indology, and Sikh history, The Adi Granth by Trumpp is a significant, if debated, milestone in the academic exploration of Sikh scripture.
Is offering this volume to the learned public, I think it right to premise a few words on the way and the peculiar circumstances under which the translation of the Sikh Granth has been made.
The work was entrusted to me by the India Office authorities towards the end of the year 1869, in the expectation that the translation could be made at home. But after I had fairly taken up the task, I soon perceived, that in spite of my knowledge of the modern North-Indian vernaculars, which I had formerly acquired in the country itself, and of Sanskrit and Prakrit, it was next to impossible to make a trustworthy translation of such a difficult book, as the Sikh Granth proved to be, without native assistance. There existed neither a grammar of the old Hinduī dialects nor a dictionary, and though I was able to make out many obscure words by dint of careful comparison with the modern idioms and the Prakrit, yet there remained a considerable residuum of words and grammatical forms to which I could get no clue, being destitute of all literary means.
When I reported this circumstance to the India Office, considerable difficulties arose, as the original plan had to be changed; but it was finally arranged that I should go myself to the Panjab, in order to work first the Granth through with the aid of some Sikh Granthis. I started there-fore for India towards the close of the year 1870, in the expectation, that all difficulties would be easily surmounted there. But after I had succeeded in engaging two Sikh Granthis at Lahore, I was not a little surprised, when they declared to me, that the Granth could not be translated in the literal grammatical way I desired. I soon convinced myself, that though they professed to understand the Granth, they had no knowledge either of the old grammatical forms or of the obsolete words; they could only give me some traditional explanations, which frequently proved wrong, as I found them contradicted by other passages, and now and then they could give me no explanation whatever; they had not even a clear insight into the real doctrines of the Granth. Other persons, who were recommended to me for their learning, I found equally ignorant. I went oven to lay a number of difficult passages before some Granthis at Amritsar, but was like-wise sorely disappointed. Finally I gave up all hope of finding what I wanted, as I clearly saw, that the Sikhs, in consequence of their former warlike manner of life and the troublous times, had lost all learning; whereas the Brahmans, who alone would have had the necessary erudition to lend me a helping hand, never had deigned to pay any attention to the Granth, owing to the animosity which formerly existed between the Sikhs and the Hindi community.
Thus I was again thrown upon my own resources, and had to find out the way through this labyrinth for myself. But though the explanations of the Sikh Granthis were in so many cases insufficient or futile, they were still of great use to me, as they indirectly helped me to find out the right track.
I was sure in my own mind that, as the language of the Granth had become already obsolete to a great extent, some attempts at some sort of lexicography must have been made in the preceding times, and I inquired therefore carefully after commentaries on the Granth. At first I was positively told that there was no such thing in existence; but in progress of time I succeeded in detecting three commentaries, two of which explained in a rough way a number of obsolete Hinduï and dëshī (provincial) words, and the other a number of Arabic and Persian words, which were received into the Granth in a very mutilated form. These commentaries, though very deficient, proved very useful to me, and I therefore got them copied, as their owners would not part with them.
Hindu (1765)
Philosophers (2327)
Aesthetics (317)
Comparative (66)
Dictionary (12)
Ethics (44)
Language (350)
Logic (80)
Mimamsa (58)
Nyaya (134)
Psychology (497)
Samkhya (60)
Shaivism (66)
Shankaracharya (233)
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