INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

In practice the local granthi often assumes full responsibility for all religious activities
in the gurdwara. He remains the key actor in Sikh rites of passage and is regularly
invited to private houses to conduct prayers, carry out recitations from the Guru
Granth Sahib, and distribute water-nectar (amrit) to family members. The granthis in
Varanasi called themselves “all-rounders” on duty twenty-four hours and emphasized
they had to master all the Sikh worship forms, even the performance of devotional
music (kirtan), in case there was no one else to lead the congregation. At the
time of my field work each of the two urban gurdwaras had in duty one “assistant
granthi” who was a junior trainee in charge of some sections of the daily liturgies
under supervision of the senior “head granthi” with final responsibility to ensure all
ceremonies.
The gurdwara has its busy and quiet times as reflected in the working schedule
of granthis. The most hectic hours of the day are the mornings and evenings. On an
ordinary day the granthis in Varanasi usually woke up between 3 am and 4 am to take
a bath and commence the morning liturgy stretched over four hours. In the day-time
they were frequently booked for home visits, discussions with employees and community
members, or other events, while they occasionally reserved time for a nap in
the hotter and drowsier afternoons when visits of devotees temporarily came to a
halt. From 5 to 6 pm the granthis were occupied with the evening liturgy until they
went to bed at about 10 at night. Then the gates to the gurdwara were closed, unless
pilgrims arrived to seek shelter in the Guru’s house.
The title ragi is widely used for those who sing the Gurus’ hymns to music and
elaborate the spiritual meanings of gurbani. Sikh musicians contracted for posts in the
gurdwara usually appear in ragi jatha, or an ensemble of three male musicians. They
will sing gurbani hymns accompanied to music in the daily morning and evening
services and during festivals (See Chapter 3). Apart from the aesthetic rendition of
gurbani, the ragis provide expositions of the Sikh teaching. As the musicians themselves
assert, devotional Sikh music or kirtan was already established by Guru Nanak,
whose utterances of divine messages were revealed to celestial tunes of Mardana’s
rebeck (Rabab). Professional musicians in the tradition of Mardana, called Rababis
(rebeck-players), were employed in the Sikh court to perform the Gurus’ hymns. The
fifth Guru Arjan, however, came to encourage ordinary people to be independent of
professional musicians and perform kirtan by themselves. One popular story tells that
Rababis became covetous and refused to perform music unless they would receive a
required monetary fee. In consequence Guru Arjan began to train ragis, or Sikh musicians
to sing scriptural hymns with accompaniment of instruments. 365
The gurdwaras at Varanasi retained one ragi jatha each for conducting the daily
services. All the musicians I met were of different ages, the youngest only sixteen
years old, and originated from different parts of Northern India, such as Punjab,
Haryana, and Assam. They resided in the gurdwara with their wives and children.
Since the musicians normally were free in the day-time they would accept invitations
365
Mansukhani 1982: 60 ‒ 61.
188
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008