INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

it throughout the day. Guru Granth Sahib is now installed on the royal throne and
Bhai Santa fully covers the scripture with a large robe before he starts the daily reading
of the divine order (Hukam).
If the previous chapter familiarized the reader with the historical and social
perspectives of the Sikh community in Varanasi, this chapter will provide descriptions
of local positions and dispositions to the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib.
Particularly it focuses on how an emic epistemology (i.e., knowledge that Sikhs regard
as legitimate) and attitudes towards the Sikh scripture are constructed and sustained
by means of discursive and ritual strategies. By discursive strategies I mean
the ways in which people explain and speak of the scripture in conversations, which
in turn are based on personal experiences along with material reproduced from local
legends and narratives of the broader Sikh tradition. Ritual strategies, on the other
hand, signify external methods of formalized action by which people create and confirm
perceptions of the Guru Granth Sahib.
The chapter consists of four major sections: the first pertains to local conceptions
of the Guru Granth Sahib and the scripture’s perceived relationship to the divine,
the human Gurus, and Sikh devotees. The second part describes how the Sikhs
create sacred time and space for the Guru by religious behaviors and organization of
spaces in the gurdwara. The third section directs attention towards the people surrounding
the sacred scripture, and investigates what significations lay people ascribe
to the normative Khalsa identity and how different categories of professional performers
in the gurdwara are motivated, trained, and expected to act and behave in
service of the Guru and the congregation. The final part of the chapter focuses particularly
on the careful handling of the manifested scriptural form of the Guru – the
printing process, transportations, installations, and the ritual disposal of old texts –
which can be viewed as the religious measures by which Sikhs establish and confirm
the agency of a living and personal Guru.
2.1. CONCEPTUALIZING A GURU
The notion of “guru” is both an ancient and widespread concept in India. In common
parlance the word usually signifies a superior teacher who possesses certain knowledge
and imparts guidance to his or her student(s) (chela [Sanskrit], sikh [Punjabi]). To
study and learn anything in life, whether it concerns material or spiritual learning
processes, individuals are considered to need the guidance of a knowledgeable preceptor.
“’Gu’ means darkness, ‘Gu-ru’ means the one who takes you out of darkness.
There are many suns and moons, but they cannot illuminate you from inside. If you
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008