1842: *REMEMBERING MAX ARTHUR MACAULIFFE
Max Arthur Macauliffe (1842-1913) joined the Indian Civil Service in 1863 at
the young age of 21, after completing his education in 1862. His duties brought
him to the land of the five rivers, Punjab Curious to know what was contained
in the Adi Granth, Sir Donald MacLeod requested the India Office in 1869 to
have a translation made for those interested in religion, ethics, usage, and
the language of the East. Accordingly, Dr Ernest Trumpp, a Bavarian missionary
in Punjab and Sind, was commissioned to do the job. The translation that Dr
Trumpp produced in 1877 cost the exchequer Rs 2620. Dr Trumpp was the most ill-equipped
person for this stupendous task. His knowledge of English was as imperfect as
his knowledge of the various dialects which he set
himself to translate. Worst of all, he was resident in India as a Christian
missionary, having no further concern than to undermine and supplant Sikhism.1
Throughout his translation and comments, he showed himself to be careless, incompetent
and manifestly biased. The Sikh people were deeply hurt by the incorrect presentation
of the Adi Granth and they were unanimous in denouncing it.
In 1893, at the age of 51, Macauliffe sacrificed his prestigious post, and
for the next sixteen a landmark in the unexplored field of Indological Studies.
Many of the dialects which Macauliffe had to translate, had already become exceedingly
difficult to render into English. Even English- speaking Sikhs confessed that
they refrained from attempting its translation. But Macauliffe, falling back
upon his linguistic ability, not afraid of the hard work, and aided by the best
of advisers like Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Giani Hazara Singh, Giani Ditt Singh,
Bhai Bhagwan Singh2, started his work with unflagging zeal. For the first and
the only time, Macauliffe submitted every line of his work to the most searching
criticism of learned Sikhs.3 Accordingly, Macauliffe rightly claimed that
his rendering of the Sikh scriptures carried with it the endorsement of the
foremost authorities, who then represented the Panth. Ultimately, Macauliffe
emerged as the first scholar who succeeded in making an excellent translation
of the Adi Guru Granth into idiomatic and sonorous English. This indefatigable
scholar was still not willing to reckon his labours complete. Finding that there
was no book which gave a full authorized account of the Sikh Gurus, Bhagtas,
and mystics, he undertook to fill this vacuum also. With conscientious diligence
he proceeded to separate and discard the vast accretion of debased superstitions
and heterodox social customs, which had gradually come to be associated with
the recognized teachings of the Sikh religion. The discoveries
he made constitute the bulk of the book, which is an everlasting gift to humanity
in general and English literature in particular. Macauliffe had accomplished
this stupendous task with such tireless exertions and diligence that he set
in motion a new line of scholarship which shall remain an inspiration for the
dedicated study of Sikh religion, history, and culture amongst all future students
of Sikhism. Three years after completion of this enduring and magnificent work,
Max Arthur Macauliffe died at the age of 71 in 1913. The unexpected death shocked
the whole world of oriental learning. The Times of London, framing an obituary
notice of the late author, stated that
Macauliffe had the satisfaction, denied to most men, of knowing before his death
that he was leaving behind a monument more enduring than brass. His labour,
it must be confessed, received scanty recognition during his lifetime. While
his manuscript was complete, the British government offered him an honorarium
of 300 pounds towards meeting numerous expenses incurred by him in his labour
of love, which he curtly refused to accept. Thousands of pounds of the author's
modest fortune had been spent without hesitation on this project to which he
dedicated the last nineteen years of his life, as also sacrificing the prestigious
post of a Divisional Judge. The acceptance of a trifling reward, which was offered
to him, would have undermined the worth of his great literary work.4 As a matter
of fact, he even transferred his copyright in the name of his friend and mentor,
Bhai
Kahn Singh Nabha, the noted Sikh scholar and author of another monumental work,
Mahan Kosh :
Encyclopaedia of Sikh Literature.
Besides this, Macauliffe is known for his following contributions to Sikh literature
in the shape of books, lectures and encyclopaedia entries :
i) How the Sikhs Became a Militant People, Paris 1905.
ii) Holy Writings of the Sikhs, Allahabad, 1900.
iii) Sikhs, Sikhism and Sikh Wars, entries in the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA,
1911.
iv) The Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs, ASIATIC QUARTERLY REVIEW, October 1910.
v) Translation of the Sikh Scriptures, a lecture at the Akal Takht, Amritsar,
THE KHALSA,
Lahore, February 22, 1899.
vi) Life and Teachings of Guru Gobind Singh, a paper read at the Orientalists'
Congress at Rome.
JOURNAL OF THE ORIENTALISTS' CONGRESS, 1899.
vii) The Fair at Sakhi Sarwar, CALCUTTA REVIEW.
viii) Diwali at Amritsar
The Religion of the Sikhs
The Rise of Amritsar and the Alterations of Sikh Religion
The Sikh Religion Under Banda and its Present Condition
CALCUTTA REVIEW, volumes lxxi, lxxii, lxiii, (years 1880, 1881)
ix) The Sikh Religion and Its Advantages to the State, a lecture before the
United Services
Institution of India, Simla, July 6, 1903.
~~~
REFERENCES
1. Louis Henry Jordan, Comparative Religion, p. 260.
2. Macauliffe has given the photographs of his friends, who assisted him in
his monumental work.
3. It is evident from some of the copies of the rough proofs, and some hand
written papers,
obtained from Arthur Probsthian Booksellers, London, in the library of late
Dr Trilochan Singh.
On the top of the cover page is written : This rough proof of translation is
forwarded for favour of
return with corrections and suggestions to M. Macauliffe, Nabha.
4. The Times, London, March 1, 1913.
5. A copy of this manuscript was obtained from Arthur Probsthian Booksellers,
London, in 1964.
[ * BY ANURAG SINGH ]