Thehistoricity of the ‘Sidhpeeth' is established from the ‘Siddha
Traditions', the Sidhpeeth itself and Srutis and Samritis .
Sidha Tradition in Sanskrit Literature : Baba Balak Nath Sidhpeeth is a
strong link in the long chain of ‘Siddha Tradition' in Hindu Mythology.
Toquotea few references :
Siddhashave been mentioned in 6th Chapter of ‘Bhagwata Purana' and 7th
Chapterof ‘Skanda Purana' as paying obeisance to the Lord Indra in long
line of deities i.e. ‘Vishwa Deva', ‘Sandhya Gana', ‘Ashwani Kumar', ‘Charna',
‘Brahmavadi',‘Muni Gana', ‘Vidya Dhara', ‘Upsara', ‘Kinnara',
‘Pakshi'and ‘Naga'.
5th
Cantos of the ‘Valmiki Ramayana' i.e. ‘Sundra Kanda 'relates to a
conversation among ‘Siddhas', ‘Charnas'and Maharishis.
Dances of ‘Siddhas' , ‘Yaksha' and ‘Gandharva'in the ‘Vadrika Ashrama'
of Maharishi Prashra.
‘Patanjali's Yog Sutra' (Vibhuti Pada) says much about the "vision of
‘Siddhas' by pious souls".
‘AmarKosha' has many references of ‘Siddhas' along ‘Vidyadhara', ‘Upsara',
‘Yaksha', ‘Rakshasha', ‘Pishacha', ‘Guhiaka' and ‘Bhuta'.
The
originator of the ‘Sankhya Philosophy' is believed to be a prominent
Siddha. In ‘Srimad Bhagvad Gita' Lord Krishna comments Himself as ‘Kapil
Muni' among ‘Siddhas'.
In
‘Ashvamedha Parva' of ‘Mahabharata' there is a reference of the
discussion about the ‘Siddhas'. In Hindu belief, the ‘Siddhas'are known
to live eternally and in invisible form. Legend has it that –‘Baba Balak
Nath' is a contemporary of 83 ‘Siddhas'of His times. ‘Siddha Tradition'
is based on ‘GURU SHISHYA PRAMPARA' in Hindu Philosophy and ‘Baba Balak
Nath' is believed the disciple of
‘Rishi Dattariya' whose lineage is traced to ‘Rishi Attri'.
The
Sidhpeeth in the Historical context: "Nav Nathas" and "Chaurasi Siddhas"
lived in the period 8th to 12th century A.D. In the 10th century A.D.
during their routine wandering in the hills, they visited Bharmour in
Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh during the reign of Shahil Varman.
One of those—Charpat Nath – became "The Rajguru" of Kingdom. The 8th and
9th century A.D.Hindi Literature is enriched with the preaching of
Sidhas likes Sarhapa, Sharhapa, Luipaetc. Baba's contemporary Guru
Gorakh Nath was also a prominent ascetic of those times.
In
numberable Jana Srutis sing praises to the divinity of Baba Balak Nath:
His birth references among "Chaurasi Sidhas": We narrate the Lord
Shiva's AmarKatha as the Jana Srutis in this context. Amar Katha is a
Puranic story about the origin of Baba Ji. As told, a parrot nestling
incidentally heard the Amar Katha being told by "Lord Shiva" to "Parvati".
Lord Shiva's ‘Trishul' followed parrot nestling. Parrot nestling hid in
the stomach of the wife of Rishi Vyasa and requested a promise from Lord
Shiva for coming out. The promise was that when parrot nestling would
come out in human form, it along with all the children born at that time
might become eternal. Lord Shiva agreed for that and an extra-ordinary
beautiful lad came out and vowed before Lord Shiva for blessing. This
lad famed as ‘Sukdev Muni', later on. Baba Balak Nath was one of the
nine ‘Nathas' and eighty four ‘Sidhas' born at that time
Emanationof Lord Shankra in ‘Dvapara Yuga':
According to ‘Lok Srutis' Baba Ji
reincarnates Yuga and Yuga. He was known as ‘Skanda'in ‘Sat Yuga',
‘Kaul' in ‘TretaYuga' and ‘Mahakaul' and ‘Dvapra Yuga'. ‘Mahakaul' of
‘Dvapra Yuga', while going to ‘Kailasha Parvata', met an old woman on
the way. The old lady asked the mission and destination of Baba Ji.
After knowing all that the old woman advised ‘Mahakaul' to meditate on
the bank of ‘Mansarovar' and request ‘Mother Parvati' (who would come
there for bathing on special occasions), help him in reaching ‘Lord
Shiva'.‘Mahakaul' acted as told and became successful in his mission of
reaching ‘Lord Shiva' On seeing ‘Balayogi Mahakaul', ‘Lord Shiva' became
very happy and blessed Baba Ji to be the ‘Sidha symbol' of worshipping
for devotee sin ‘Kaliyuga' and his child like image to remain for ever.
Birthand Sanskritisation of Baba
ji in Kalyuga:
Baba
Ji is said to have taken birth in Gujarat, Kathiabad. The name of His
mother was Laxmi and that of his father Vishno Vaish. Here Baba Ji named
as ‘Dev' became lost in ‘Bhagvad devotion'. Seeing this, his parents
wanted to marry him; but Baba Ji didn't agree and left His home in
search of ‘Parma Sidhi' and came by ‘Swami Dattaitreya' in Junagarh on
Girnar hill - a historical place. It is here Baba ji learnt the basics
of ‘Sidhas' from Swami Dattaitreya and became ‘Sidha' and came to be
known as ‘Baba Balak Nath Ji' There is mention of interaction of Swami
Viveka Nanda with a ‘Pawan Hari Sidh Baba' in Vivekananda literature
published from ‘Advait Ashram, Calcutta'. As told that ‘Pawna Hari Baba'
learnt the science of ‘Sidhas'at Girnar hills. This has similarity with
‘Baba Balak Nath Ji'.
RonGeaves and Catherine Barnes:
The
regional cult of Baba Balak Nath arrived in Britain from the Jalandhar
Doab in the Punjab with migration from that region. Traditionally the
followers of the deity have been drawn from both Hindu and Sikh
communities in the Punjab and they demonstrate the informal and eclectic
religious life associated with the region. The increasing attempts to
place Baba Balak Nath at the heart of Sanatana Dharma provide a case
study to illustrate the processes where by a rural 'folk' tradition
seeks access to a perceived orthodoxy represented by several traditions
within contemporary Hinduism. The dominant tradition associated with
Baba Balaknath is that he is an incarnation of the son of Shiva usually
known as Skanda or Kartak. Visual depictions of Baba Balaknath are very
similar to South Indian visualizations of Murukan.
The
article explores the regional folk cult of Baba Balaknath as it moves
from its major center of worship in the Himalayan foothills of Himachal
Pradesh down to the plains of the Punjab and then to on to several
cities of the West Midlands in Britain. At each location the cult picks
up practices and beliefs which are dominant in the religion of the new
locality but retains the dominant motif of Skanda worship.
On
its arrival in Britain, the priests of the cult have adopted a variety
of strategies that legitimize the folk tradition and aid it in adapting
to the new environment. These strategies fall into the category of
universalisation or sanskritisation. Study of the transmigration of the
worship of Baba Balaknath from the Punjab to Britain provides a unique
insight into the transformation of a regional Hindu folk cult as it
attempts to legitimize itself through moving closer to the 'Great
Tradition' in Hinduism or adopting an eclectic universalism.
RonGeaves
is Head of the Study of Religion sat
University College Chichester. He has published several articles on a
variety of faith communities that have successfully transmigrated to
Britain from the subcontinent. His last book was entitled The Sufis of
Britain and was published in 2000. He has traveled extensively in
Northern India and last year completed a tirath yatra in Himachal
Pradesh accompanying a group of devotees of Baba Balaknath.
CatherineBarnes
is a secondary teacher of religious
education who completed her degree in Religious Studies at the
University of Leeds. Her interest in Baba Balaknath arose from her
studies of Hinduismin Britain. She collaborated on the article after a
visit to the guffa of Baba Balaknath in Himachal Pradesh.
The'World Religions' : A BOOK WRITTEN BY 'OBEROI'
In
the Religious Studies section at the University of Wolver hampton there
is tradition of taking students on field trips to various places of
worship. It is no longer a surprise to observe students hearing or
seeing something that directly contradicts what they have read in
'sacrosanct' academic text books. My own interest in Baba Balaknath
began when I took a group of first year students, studying a module
entitled 'Religions in the Indian Tradition', to the Baba Balaknath
Mandir, one of the two Hindu temples in Walsall. In many ways the Baba
Balaknath Mandir can be described as a Hindu place of worship. The
temple contains murtis from the Hindu pantheon which are predominantly
Shaivite, but Vaishnavite deities are also represented. The image of
Baba Balaknathre sides at the highest point in the temple but below him
are Radha and Krishna, Shiva and Parvati, Durga, Ganesh and Hanuman. A
researcher's curiosity is likely to be aroused by the pictures of the
Sikh Gurus Nanak and Gobind Singh, and the Sant master, Ravidas. The
resident priest refused to be described as a pandit but preferred to be
called a Bhagat, and he completely bewildered students when he confessed
that he was not a Brahmin but a Sikh of the Jat caste. The previous day
the students had read that Hindu temple priests are always Brahmin.
There is an old tradition in India which argues that Brahmins should be
categorized by knowledge rather than birth. The Bhagat differentiated
between the Vedas and the Laws of Manu. He argued that the Vedas support
the idea that the Brahminvarna is not hereditary and suggested that the
concept of hereditary Brahmins was recorded for the first time in the
Laws of Manu. He also cited the example of Vishwa mitra, who was born a
Kshatriya but acknowledged as a Brahmin. In this particular temple the
Hindu caste system was severely criticized and a langar functioned to
ensure commensality. The Puranas were much more commonly used as the
tradition's scriptural authority than any other sacred text of the
Indian subcontinent. The exciting question provoked by the visit
concerned how the priest was defining himself as 'Sikh'. He wore none of
the outward signs of the Khalsa except for the karra. He acknowledged
the ten Sikh Gurus but only as a continuation of the line of avatars
eternally manifesting in the world, maintaining and continuing sanatan
dharma. He claimed that his family were Sikh but had served Baba
Balaknath as priests for generations. Further visits to the Baba
Balaknath mandirs in Walsall and Wolver hampton revealed that many Sikhs
attended the temple and that many of them displayed the traditional
outer signs of Khalsa Sikhs. Although both Sikhs and Hindus used the
mandir, the only common denominator of both groups lay in their ethnic
origin. The vast majority were Punjabis originating from the Jullandhar
and Hoshiapur districts.
The
experience of researching the Baba Balaknath groups raised interesting
questions concerning the relationship between religion and ethnicity,
but it also provoked questions concerning Sikh identity and the way that
it is conveyed in many academic texts (Cole & Sambhi, 1978; McLeod,
1976;Thomas, 1978). In April1996 I continued my research on the Baba
Balaknath phenomenon in the Punjab. A Punjabi village in the Jullandhar
district was the ideal place to continue observations into the issue of
Sikh identity. Before leaving for the sub continental attempted to
ascertain how Sikh identity was presented in various texts.
This
religious eclecticism is complicated by the presence of a strong
tradition of the worship of Baba Balaknath in this region of the Punjab.
The official cult of Baba Balaknath is centered around the guffa in
Shahtalai, north of Hoshiapur and high in the foothills of Himachal
Pradesh. The temple is locate don a mountain and functions as a strong
regional center of pilgrimage. There is nothing to indicate the
eclecticism of Baba Balaknath's devotee sat the temple itself, except
for the different ethnic origins of the pilgrims. In all other aspects,
the temple demonstrates its allegiance to an old tradition of Shaivite
Hinduism. Baba Balaknath is identified with a later in carnation of
Skanda, one of the two offspring of Lord Shiva, but as one comes down
the mountains into the Punjab, the Shaivite cult of Baba Balaknath mixes
with the Sant traditions of the Punjab. Most of the villages around
Hoshiapur and Jullundhar contain a Baba Balaknath temple, frequented by
as many Sikhs as Hindus. The Sikhs do not always identify with the
official cult and they very often believe Baba Balaknath to have been a
fourteenth century predecessors of Guru Nanak, noted for his
healing powers. Most of the Baba Balaknath temples have been started by
devotees who believe that they have been given the ability to channel
this healing power. Although they acknowledge the guffa as the main
center of pilgrimage, they are completely independent of the official
cult. These charismatic healers are as likely to be Sikh as Hindu.
The
prevalence of the worship of Baba Balaknath in the Punjab demonstrates
the strength of popular religion in the region. Oberoi refers to the
existence of 'an enchanted universe'. (Oberoi, 1994, pp.140-203). The
province of Punjabis still essentially village culture. In Danda I
observed the activities of the Baba Balaknath priest every evening after
arti.
Villagers, mostly women, would queue to seek solutions to the everyday
problems of village life. The priest advised but also carried out magic
rituals designed to ensure successful resolution of the problems brought
to him. One evening watched the healing of a child, which was performed
by sweeping the earth around Baba Balaknath's shrine and then sweeping
the air above the child's head. The stories of the pilgrimage indicate
the prevalence of this enchanted universe. Although there is now a road
to the guffa, traditionally devotees began their pilgrimage through the
jungled hills by releasing a consecrated goat. They claim that the goat
always led the groups of pilgrims directly to the guffa. Many devotees
claim actually to have seen Baba Balaknath himself whilst at the guffa.
The pilgrimage itself is an indication of the eclecticism of Punjabi
religious life. It takes place during the month of March and lasts for a
period of three weeks. On the way to the guffa, thousands of Punjabi
pilgrims, including hundreds from Britain, visit Shivaand Durga temples
and the tomb of a Sufi.
Temples, Monasteries, Churches, Mosques, Darghas,
Shrines and Sidhpeeths strengthen bonds and remain the places to know
the unknowable and to adore that which exists in non-existence; and is
sacred Holy. These are the places to channelize the man
towards Nirwana or Moksha. BABA BALAKNATH SIDHPEETH is one of the most
famous pilgrim - center of North Indian Hill State, Himachal Pradesh
i.e. the God's own land. The Ancient Cave and
temple architecture graces the
Deot Sidh in Hamirpur District. Lakhs of devotees from India and
abroad visit this temple to reinforce their firm faith in the
"Siddha Tradition". Countless Smritis and Srutis are the inexhaustible
reference sources and unending tales of the times of Siddhas. 