INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

people”. To set up a place at which the scripture is installed on a throne is to establish
and keep a royal court (darbar), wherever this may be spatialized in the physical geography.
338 Just like the historical human Gurus held courts and received their followers
in audience, locals Sikhs today say, “the court will be in session” (divan lagega)
or “the court will be conducted” (darbar chalega) when the Guru-scripture is to be
ceremonially installed and made present at a particular time and space. In the ways
of speaking, the granthi is the “minister” who during congregational ceremonies “sits
at court” (divan) when he is placed behind the scripture to recite and wave the whisk
in acts of respect. The Persian word vazir literally means “one who bears the office”
and refers to a “minister” in the context of Islamic courts and officialdom. In the Sikh
context the granthi is the religious “minister” of Guru Granth Sahib who holds a significant
public office but still remains a servant of the ruler.
DAILY LITURGIES IN THE GURDWARAS OF VARANASI
Figure 9.
MORNING
EVENING
Prakash:
Sing Rahiras Sahib
a. Greet the book Sing Arti
b. Carry the book to the throne while Perform Kirtan
reciting “Satnam Vahiguru” Sing Anand Sahib, pauri 1-5, 40
c. Unpack the robes and arrange Read Ardas
the seat
Read the Hukam
d. Place the book on the seat Distribute karah prashad
e. Greet the book Sukhasan:
f. Open the book and cover it a. Pack the book while reading
with a robe
Kirtan Sohila
Take and read the Hukam
b. Read Choti Ardas
Recite Sukhmani Sahib
c. Carry the book to the bedroom
Sing Anand Sahib, pauri 1-5, 40
in a procession
Read Ardas
d. Place the book on the bed and
Distribute karah prashad
cover it with robes
Sing Asa di Var
e. Sikh salutation
Bearing in mind that the Guru ultimately is the bani contained in a scriptural
body, any assembly at which gurbani is mediated through readings or singing will
establish a divine court. For instance, when Sikh musicians convey gurbani through
music, they are said to hold kirtan darbar or a “court of praising”, which certainly
awakes associations to musical performances in the ancient courts of the Sikh Gurus.
Just as the monarch’s court and the judge’s court are rooms and sessions that in secu-
338
One informant said the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar is the “supreme court”, in relation to other
gurdwaras.
167
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008