INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

As the following sections of this chapter will discuss further, ritual conducts in
Sikh worship simultaneously construct and confirm perceptions of a book endowed
with social agency of a personal Guru. The Sikhs do not merely replicate actions that
the Gurus and disciples did in history, but are continually creating habits and routines
of the Guru Granth Sahib within the framework of a social relationship patterned
after human roles and relations. Historical accounts that seek to elucidate the
origin and ascendance of the scripture to the office of the Guru are, on the other hand,
discursive devices to traditionalize current practices and justify their anthropomorphic
character by evoking links to the agentive human Gurus in the past.
GURBANI AND BHAGAT BANI
The Sikh scripture incorporates not only compositions of six Gurus but fifteen non-
Sikh bhagats or saints, of which three come from Muslim background and twelve
belong to the Hindu fold. Every evening in the gurdwara Sikh musicians (ragi) will
perform a set of hymns ascribed to saint poets outside the Sikh tradition. 284 One legitimate
question to put forward in this context is whether local Sikhs make any distinction
between compositions of the Gurus and those attributed to non-Sikh saints,
or do they take up a more holistic view to the Guru Granth Sahib. When people are
speaking of gurbani as the “speech” of the Guru, does the term only refer to words of
the Sikh Gurus or more inclusively embrace compositions of Hindu and Muslim
bhagats? Are the saint poets included in the notion of the “spirit” which the Guru
inhabits?
The status of the bhagat bani, or the words and utterances of bhagats, in relation
to the Gurus’ compositions has been a recurring topic in textualist approaches to the
Sikh scripture. Scholars have often attempted to explain the underlying reasons for
the presence of bards and Hindu and Muslim saint poets in the Sikh scriptural tradition.
285 A popular perception among my interlocutors bestow the hymns of non-Sikh
saints an equal status as the Gurus’ composition for the reason that their poetry was
incorporated in the scripture on Guru Arjan’s decision. Conceptually they will distinguish
between the words of the Gurus (gurbani) and the words of bhagats (bhagat
bani) and yet lay claim that both categories share the ontological status as gurbani. By
the historical processes of creating and canonizing the Sikh scripture and its succession
to the office of the Guru, compositions of the Sikh Gurus and non-Sikh poets
merged into a single category of gurbani: utterances of the present Guru of Guru
Granth Sahib. Therefore, Sikhs will not distinguish between the Sikh Gurus and the
bhagats in terms of their spiritual progress and relationship to God. All communicate
284
The composition Arti is sung every evening in the gurdwara and contains writings attributed
to Kabir, Ravidas, and Dhanna, as well as hymns derived from the Dasam Granth.
285
For an overview of different positions among Sikh scholars, consult Pashaura Singh (2000)
and Gurinder Singh Mann (2001). Both pay attention to the Gurus’ method of providing textual
commentaries on bhagat bani, the position of saint poets within the internal structure of the Sikh
scripture, and historical manuscripts which present bhagats as pious disciples of Guru Nanak.
136
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008