INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

By writing or telling one’s own history an imagined community of an
idealized past is constructed, and even conjured up, into which the
needs and wishes of the present are projected. Like genealogies and
origin myths, the telling of history provides meaning, experience of
identity, and visibility. 203
The construction of emic historiography has different goals and objects in view than
scholarly writings on the past. As Hammer (2001) suggests, unlike scholarly or “etic”
approaches to history emic historiography is characterized by reductionism, evidentialism,
and homogenization, in other words, complex contexts and variations are
reduced to a few significant events that will be standardized and legitimized by authoritative
knowledge in the religious tradition. 204
As a collective representation of a shared past, the local Sikh history is principally
a story about events and characters during the Guru-period. Beside the main
stories about the two gurdwaras in the city centre of Varanasi ‒ Gurubagh and Nichibagh
‒ the narrative briefly renders the separate histories related to the following
institutions and traditions: Gurdwara Shri Chetan Math at Visheshwar Ganj under
control of Nirmala saints; the resident of Kabir in neighborhood of Kabir Chaura; 205
Ravidas Janam Sthan Mandir, which marks out the birthplace of Ravidas in the village
Govardhanpur; a smaller Sikh shrine named Sangat Ghat in the town of Chota Mirzapur
ten kilometers outside Varanasi; and Gurdwara Bhuili Sahib in the village Bhuili
thirty kilometers from the city. 206 The criteria of inclusion of these shrines and communities
emanate from their claimed historical relationship to the human Sikh Gurus,
venerated Sikh disciples, and the Guru Granth Sahib. The Nirmala institution of Shri
Chetan Math, for instance, is an independent organization with no administrative
bonds to the Sikh community today, but it has been included on account of its alleged
presence of disciples ‒ Bhai Gurdas and the first five Nirmala Sikhs ‒ to the human
203
Olsson 1998: 200.
204
Hammer 2001: 155 - 185.
205
It is noteworthy that the local story does not mention the legendary meeting with Kabir and
Guru Nanak at Varanasi, which has given rise to speculations that Kabir was the teacher of
Nanak. This meeting is mentioned in the Miharban Janam-sakhi and the Hindaliya Janam-Sakhi.
The latter contains an episode in which Guru Nanak is presented as a disciple of Kabir (Cole
1982a: 8 ‒ 12). According to the nineteenth century book Panth Prakash of Giani Gian Singh,
Guru Nanak met and spent time with Kabir in a village called Pula between Varanasi and Patna
(Parkash 1981: n. 28).
206
The gurdwara Sangat Ghat at Chota Mirzapur is built in memory of Guru Tegh Bahadur’s
visit in the village on his way to Varanasi in 1666. According the local lore the Guru stayed there
for 13 days and meditated (tapashya) in a small chamber beside the present gurdwara hall. When
I visited the gurdwara in 2004 the son of the local granthi told me they always keep a light burning
inside the chamber and a snake protects the space. Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom is
celebrated with unbroken readings (Akhand path) and communal kitchens (langar). The gurdwara
is not under management of VGPC but receives donations to celebrate festivals.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008