INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

the time of our conversations and conveyed plans to undergo the ceremony in the
future. Three persons in the former category were Punjabi Sikhs who said they could
not keep unshorn hair due to medical reasons. One interlocutor explained he was in
touch with Muslims in his daily work and therefore unable to follow food restrictions
of the Sikh code of conduct. Another took up a rather critical position, saying an Amritdhari
identity was not a guarantee for pursuing merits in this or the life after: “I
believe in all religions and if you perform bad actions not even the amrit will save
you”. In the same category of respondents, two persons of Sindhi families did not see
the Khalsa norm as critical to their own religious identity or spiritual progress, even
though one of them had assumed all the five symbols as a Khalsa Sikh prior to the
riots in the 1980s. Even if individuals found it too demanding to obey the Khalsa
norm, the majority did pay the greatest respect to the rules constitutive of it. Over
again my interlocutors accentuated the importance of scrupulously observing the
Khalsa rules of conducts after initiation. Three interlocutors admitted they had been
Amritdhari Sikhs in the past, but “broke the amrit” when they drank wine, chewed
tobacco (pan) and omitted daily recitations. The man who tasted tobacco decided to
be re-initiated, while the two others expressed no interest in taking up the disciplinary
lifestyle again. Contentions for not adopting an Amritdhari identity are supported
by sound knowledge of the Sikh code of conduct and awareness of one’s own
incapability or disinterest in conforming to the norm.
To summarize it should be observed that for all Sikhs the adoption of an Amritdhari
identity does not imply a formal change of religious or social identity, even if
this will be the case for Hindu converts. To become a “bearer of amrit” through the
Khande di pahul ceremony is seen primarily as a purifying rite to instigate a close relationship
to God, which together with a disciplinary way of living and regular engagement
in gurbani has capacity to refine an already existing Sikh identity to a
“complete” disciple of the Guru. Loyalty to the Khalsa norm, however, has undoubtedly
a strong impact on the social status of individuals within the community of
Sikhs and the broader society. By portraying themselves as spiritually, morally and
bodily purified Amritdharis represent ideal members of the community who stand
above other Sikhs. Although there should ideally be no distinction in terms of social
status between devotees, the organization of spaces and acts within the gurdwaras
extol collective norms that distinguish Amritdhari Sikhs from other Sikhs and non-
Sikhs. Only Amritdhari Sikhs are entitled access to all hallowed enclosures in the
gurdwara and worship acts performed in the closest proximity to the Guru Granth
Sahib. Many of the community members I interviewed were of the opinion that only
Amritdhari Sikhs may be seated on the scriptural throne in the gurdwara to conduct
the daily recitations and offerings to Guru Granth Sahib. “In the place of Guru Maharaj
ji, only Amritdhari should to do offerings (bhog) and serve offerings to people. Non-
Amritdharis are also doing that. It should not be like that,” one female interlocutor
said. The collective norms in the gurdwara accomplish diverse effects simultaneously
by forging a common identity of disciples of the Guru and reinforcing a particular
relationship between Amritdhari Sikhs and other worshippers. The Sikh congregation
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008