MACAULIFFE, MAX ARTHUR

Max Arthur Macauliffe (10.9.1841 – 15.3.1913), was born in Ireland. He joined the British administration in India and came to the Punjab in 1864. In 1882, he became Deputy Commissioner. Professor Gurmukh Singh introduced Sikh religion to Macauliffe. Macauliffe too studied history and philosophy of Sikhism with great interest. B between 1875 and 1881, he wrote several articles about Sikhism for the Calcutta Review. In 1883, he started studying Guru Granth Sahib. In 1893, he resigned his job and began writing his book The Sikh Religion. It was published in six volumes, in 1909. It is a commendable work, though not free from historical and conceptual mistakes. He was, however, able to undo the injustice done by the German Christian missionary Mr. Trumpp, who had misinterpreted and even distorted Sikh philosophy and Sikh history. Macauliffe also wrote the entries about Sikhism for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the other reference works. His contribution to the Sikh literature is immense but the Sikh leadership did not prove grateful to this person. (In fact, this is a general treatment of the Sikh leadership for all the genuine Sikh intellectuals).

(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)