INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

osanct spaces in close presence of the Guru where only gurbani – the voice of the
Guru ‒ resounds. From the perspective of spatial uses in ritual performances,
sachkhand is a “fixed-featured space” intentionally set aside for a particular function
and by spatial norms affect the behavior of people. 336 Consistent with local conventions
people are free to enter the recitations room to pay respect, but within this area
no public speeches or acts other than those directly related to the performances of
Akhand path should occur. Regarding the scriptural bedroom only Amritdhari Sikhs
are allowed to cross the threshold of this room, since it designates a demarcated private
and pure resting place for scriptures. Devotees will enter the room only for the
purpose of bringing and putting scriptures to rest and cleaning in service of the Guru.
On daily visits in the gurdwara, people will bow and touch the floor before the closed
door to the room in which scriptures are reposing.
An equally significant space to be found inside a gurdwara is the kitchen and
dining hall for the social and religious activity of distributing vegetarian food in the
communal kitchen of the Guru (Guru ka langar). In Varanasi both of the gurdwaras
keep separate kitchens equipped with large iron kettles (degh) for preparing rice and
vegetable dishes, and boards for rolling and frying the customary thin flat bread
(roti). The adjoining dining halls are large and unfurnished to provide enough space
for the custom of sitting together in rows (pangat) on straw-mattresses when sharing
meals. During an ordinary day the gurdwara normally serves three meals for employees,
pilgrims, and other guests, and on festival days magnify the event of langar
to a large feeding arrangement for the whole community.
CREATING A DAILY COURT
The conceptualization of any gathering in the gurdwara are contained in two formal
emic terms which reflect basic assumptions rooted in the ideological and historical
background of Sikhism: the first one is darbar or “royal court”, and the other one is
divan, which denotes a court or tribunal of justice. The two Persian loan words, originally
drawn from the bureaucratic parlance of Muslim rulers, recur frequently in the
compositions of the Sikh Gurus as metaphors signifying a divine abode or the ultimate
spiritual stage of union with God. 337 In historical times the words were employed
to designate spatial and temporal gatherings of disciples in presence of the
human Gurus. The way contemporary local Sikhs have come to conceptualize the
idiom of a court shows that it firstly signifies the physical presence of the eternal
spiritual authority ‒ Guru Granth Sahib ‒ and the assembly of devotees gathered in
attendance of the Guru-scripture, that is, the satsang or “the congregation of virtuous
336
Hall 1966: 103 ‒ 112.
337
In the metaphorical language of the Gurus, the court of God is characterized by truth and
described as the place where the guru-oriented devotee is honoured and united with the divine
(see e.g. GGS: 7, 142, 144, 355, 688, 751, 1241). The divine court is also portrayed as a tribunal of
justice at which Dharmaraj administers justice on order of God and all humans have to account
for their actions after death (GGS: 15, 38, 109, 1330).
166
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008