Our modern world is based upon 'Globalisation' - which is the idea that peoples and ideas are travelling the world, and mixing up all cultures into one global one. But unfortunately this idea is apparently not taking the best of humanities ideas and philosphies and promoting those in to those areas, where backwardness and medievalism still prevail, but rather its corrupting the socially advanced societies, with the worst of the worlds ideas.
However, aside from this drawback, there is another victim of this seemingly unstoppable change, and that's local cultures and traditions. One such tradition under threat that was highlighted recently, was the Sikh tradition of 'Shastar Vidya' or “science of weapons” .... a warrior fighting technique very much of its time i.e. late 17th century India. In the intervening centuries it has been taught to Sikhs by masters of the technique, but these masters, like the followers of these techniques, have slowly diminished over the intervening centuries.
This has now reached the stage where as far as is known, there is only one 'master' left to pass on the knowledge, and rather funnily, he lives in in the Wolverhampton area of the English Midlands. Nidar Singh Nihang considers himself in the tenth generation of an unbroken master-student tradition, deriving from the tradition of Guru Gobind Singh. He now travels the world teaching the archaic skills but, he has no one to follow him as the master (it takes at least ten years to get the basic skills), but fears that unless he does get an apprentice before its too late, then he will be the last true master in the full tradition of the elite warrior caste called the Akali Nihang ("the immortal crocodiles").
It's always sad when a tradition dies out .... although it has to be said that some Sikh's think he's wrong, and there are forums discussing his brand of Sikhism. The beliefs of the small Nihang sect, are not mainstream to Sikhism and the Nihangs still maintain some tenets of the Hindu faith, they have three scriptures rather than one and these extra books contain influences from Hinduism. Also many Nihangs also eat meat and drink alcohol, which fundamentalist Sikhs disagree with. Traditionally they also drank bhang, an infusion of cannabis, to get closer to God (sort of Rastafarian Sikhs) .
Still, despite the opposition, and he admits to over 84 death threats from other Sikhs in his first two years as a teacher alone, (sadly many Sikhs are just as violent as the other religions that currently believe in heresy ... ), the publicity he has got from the media will no doubt turn up at least one apprentice to carry on the work. But judging from the extreme forms the Akali Nihang dress code has gone to in India he may be too late ....
However, aside from this drawback, there is another victim of this seemingly unstoppable change, and that's local cultures and traditions. One such tradition under threat that was highlighted recently, was the Sikh tradition of 'Shastar Vidya' or “science of weapons” .... a warrior fighting technique very much of its time i.e. late 17th century India. In the intervening centuries it has been taught to Sikhs by masters of the technique, but these masters, like the followers of these techniques, have slowly diminished over the intervening centuries.
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| Fighting Sikhs - Akali Nihang |
This has now reached the stage where as far as is known, there is only one 'master' left to pass on the knowledge, and rather funnily, he lives in in the Wolverhampton area of the English Midlands. Nidar Singh Nihang considers himself in the tenth generation of an unbroken master-student tradition, deriving from the tradition of Guru Gobind Singh. He now travels the world teaching the archaic skills but, he has no one to follow him as the master (it takes at least ten years to get the basic skills), but fears that unless he does get an apprentice before its too late, then he will be the last true master in the full tradition of the elite warrior caste called the Akali Nihang ("the immortal crocodiles").
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| By the turn of the last century the Akali Nihang dress tradition was getting a bit extreme. |
It's always sad when a tradition dies out .... although it has to be said that some Sikh's think he's wrong, and there are forums discussing his brand of Sikhism. The beliefs of the small Nihang sect, are not mainstream to Sikhism and the Nihangs still maintain some tenets of the Hindu faith, they have three scriptures rather than one and these extra books contain influences from Hinduism. Also many Nihangs also eat meat and drink alcohol, which fundamentalist Sikhs disagree with. Traditionally they also drank bhang, an infusion of cannabis, to get closer to God (sort of Rastafarian Sikhs) .
Still, despite the opposition, and he admits to over 84 death threats from other Sikhs in his first two years as a teacher alone, (sadly many Sikhs are just as violent as the other religions that currently believe in heresy ... ), the publicity he has got from the media will no doubt turn up at least one apprentice to carry on the work. But judging from the extreme forms the Akali Nihang dress code has gone to in India he may be too late ....
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| There's always one who doesn't really understand the dress code |
