JS Grewal, an institution builder
IT is almost a year since Prof JS Grewal passed away on August 11, 2022. We tried to put together the huge corpus of his publications and found that he had published over 200 research papers and more than 50 monographs and books. He broke fresh ground in every area he touched, be it historical writing, Persian documents, urban history, Sufism, religious movements, Punjabi literature, and Sikh and Punjab history.
During his stay at Panjab University, Chandigarh, as Reader till July 1971, he had published four books with a bearing on the Sikhs and Punjab. After he joined Guru Nanak Dev University as Professor, the University of London awarded DLitt on his now classic study, ‘Guru Nanak in History’ (PU, 1969). By the time he laid down his pen at the end of July 2022, an overwhelming proportion of his work related to the Sikhs. His ‘Sikhs of the Punjab’ published by Cambridge University Press is the best available single-volume introduction to Sikh history. A rational, secular worldview informed his explanations, but without any prejudice against religion. In fact, he regarded religion as an important segment of life of the people. He respected tradition to the extent it was warranted by reason and evidence.
Prof Grewal studied the bani of Guru Nanak and that of his successors, and the writings of others, to come to the conclusion that there were some important differences between Guru Nanak and sants like Kabir. Guru Nanak founded the Sikh faith and the Sikh panth, and introduced institutionalisation. This became the basis of Prof Grewal’s understanding of the entire range of Sikh history. He felt convinced about the distinctiveness of Sikh identity. He gave a fresh interpretation of Sikh polity — especially the ideal of sovereignty, the gurmata, misl, Dal Khalsa and the rakhi. He studied the position of women and low castes with reference both to the ground realities and the ideal of equality. He maintained that in certain situations, ideas acted as a motor force in history, and gave considerable importance to ideology in his explanations. This had a refreshing bearing on his recent biographies of Master Tara Singh (2017), Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha (2018) and Guru Gobind Singh (2019).
At the same time, the study of Sikh history could make better sense only in the context of the Punjab region as part of the Indian subcontinent. ‘There is more to regional history in terms of the space, size and diversity of the population,’ said Prof Grewal. The scope and potential of regional history could be ‘vaster than that of a particular segment of its population’. In his capacity as the founder-head of the History Department and Vice-Chancellor of GNDU, he encouraged systematic study of the unexplored aspects of the history of north-western India like classes, castes and communities, gender relations, agriculture, crafts, trade and urbanisation, religious and sectarian movements, art, languages and literature, journalism and politics, and historiographical trends and sources. He produced the only monographic study of the Punjab region from prehistoric to early medieval times. He imparted a form to regional history which it hasn’t acquired anywhere else in North India.
After superannuation, Prof Grewal was offered several prestigious fellowships and positions and, among others, he worked as Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study at Shimla and Founder-Director of the World Punjabi Centre at Punjabi University, Patiala. Everywhere he worked with dedication and left his imprint. He was an institution builder par excellence. His humane approach to serious problems facilitated their solution. He quietly made a difference to the lives of many students and encouraged several others — peons, restorers, clerks and stenographers as much as researchers and teachers — to realise their potential.
He was particularly sympathetic towards the Dalits and people from rural and backward areas. The institute at Shimla experienced a welcome change brought about by his quiet energy and drive, academic tolerance, clarity of vision, and respect for individual dignity and freedom. Underneath lay his characteristic optimism, patience and poise, generosity and geniality, and wit and humour. Prof Grewal has left a rich legacy for scholars and academic administrators.
— The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of History, Punjabi University, Patiala
