INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

MEDIATORS OF GURBANI
In Varanasi the local gurdwara committee (VGPC) functions as the representative
body of the Sikh congregation with authority to employ different types of performers
for posts and assignments. In addition to the staff working at the hospital and the two
schools run by the community, the committee is mainly responsible for three categories
of appointments: firstly, there are employees who live and work in the gurdwaras,
often with their families, in exchange for regular salaries. In this category are
the granthis with main responsibility for the daily ceremonies, the ragi jatha or group
of Sikh musicians and sevadars who take care of practical duties. Secondly, there are
performers who work on performance-based assignments inside the gurdwaras or at
private houses, as in the case of pathi, or professional reciters who are engaged only
for ceremonial recitations of the Guru Granth Sahib. The third category of specialists
would include a range of performers who are more or less self-employed and invited
by Sikh congregations on special occasions, like touring kathakar, or exegetes, and
pracharak, or propagandists of the Sikh religion. The different categories of performers
are relevant to the present study and are briefly discussed below, with particular
focus on the granthi.
The term granthi, derived from the Sanskrit word granthika, signifies a narrator
who reads the “book” (grantha [Sanskrit]) or a “book-specialist”, in this case of the
Guru Granth Sahib. In colloquial speech the granthi is often addressed as Bhai Sahib
or “respected brother” by other community members. Traditional accounts purport
that the first granthi in Sikh tradition was the venerable Baba Buddha who was designated
by Guru Arjan to attend the Sikh scripture when it was installed in Harimandir
Sahib at Amritsar in 1604. Presumably the service of the granthi grew into importance
after the Sikh scripture ascended to the office of the Guru and recitation, singing and
expositions of the Guru’s teaching were completely incumbent on Sikh disciples in
absence of a human preceptor. As manuscripts of the Sikh scripture were not broken
into separate words (padchhed) until printed versions in the twentieth century, the
granthi was the specialist with the skill to divide the lines of words and artfully recite,
sing, and bring out meanings. The Sikh reform movements in the beginning of the
twentieth century entailed more responsibilities and status of the granthi post when
the Sikhs took charge of the administration of gurdwaras that had previously been in
control of Hindu priests. Ritual duties managed by Brahmins – such as marriage and
death ceremonies ‒ were transferred to the domain of Sikh performers. The word
granthi is frequently translated to mean the “custodian” of Guru Granth Sahib as his
main duty is to conduct the daily liturgies and ministration to the Sikh scripture. This
category of performers should be distinguished from pathi, or “reciter” (the one who
does path), who similar to the granthi is trained in reading the Gurmukhi script and
enunciating the words of Guru Granth Sahib without errors or interruptions. Unlike
the granthi, a pathi is only employed for special recitations of the Sikh scripture (such
as Akhand path) and does not need any formal education. The pathi will make no additional
commentaries or interpretations of the recited texts.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008