Nikky-Guninder Kaur on the Controversy of WH McLeod

JOURNAL ARTICLE

The Myth of the Founder: The Janamsākhīs and Sikh Tradition

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062798?read-now=1&seq=15#page_scan_tab_contents

Page 342

Dr. Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh writes:

“There are important methodological issues here which deserve to be aired.  To what extend should the existence of “historical influence” be used to call into question the “uniqueness” of any religious thinker or religious tradition? Or, put in more general terms, should “history” (or a historical reconstruction of “influence”) be used to invalidate or credit “myth”?  McLeod’s dismissive attitude toward the Janamsakhi myths is apparent when he writes that “Sikh children who receive a Western-style education…are most unlikely to view traditional janam-sakhi perceptions with approval.”  There is an assumption of Western superiority operative here that is troubling, as well as a belief that myth is incompatible with modernity and historical consciousness.”