INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

ered. In equally many homes the younger women ‒ the daughters-in-law or sistersin-law
‒ shared the duties. A couple of families had created routines of distributing
the daily services between man and wife: while the husband carried out Prakash in
the morning before going to work, the woman performed Sukhasan at night. In another
family the married couple was too busy in their professional life and had therefore
hired a private reciter (pathi) to answer for all services. Only in one domestic
gurdwara did the father of the house, an elderly retired businessman, take care of the
ceremonies alone. In all these cases it was always the women who conducted the
daily food offerings of family meals (bhog lagana) to Guru Granth Sahib. The only
occasion at which women fully entrusted all procedures to their sons or husbands
was during their menstruation. 406 The gender distribution, here briefly sketched, may
be suggestive of the important ritual role women play within the domain of a household.
In conformity with the traditional gender division in a patriarchal society men
are granted active roles in public spheres, while the women’s spaces for acquisition of
respect and power are more restricted to domestic domains. Similar to male performers
and specialists of public gurdwaras, women function as domestic granthis, who
possess liturgical and linguistic knowledge to function like “ministers” in homely
courts of the Guru-scripture. At the same time the data indicates that families and the
women themselves hand over the religious duties at the house to paid specialists
when they acquire active roles in the public domain.
In this context it is motivated to observe the reasons people might have for not
establishing a domestic gurdwara. In the semi-structured interviews this made up
one of several attendance questions posed to the majority of respondents who replied
in the negative to possession of Guru Granth Sahib. Just as modes of procedure for
acquiring scriptures can elucidate attitudes people have to the guardianship of Guru
Granth Sahib, alleged grounds for disclaims may reveal religious stances in even
more plain words. To exemplify these local views I will quote seven informants who
countered the question “What is your reason for not having Guru Granth Sahib ji at
the house?”:
1. Young female student
I am living in a rented house. People are coming and going. Guru Granth
Sahib ji should be kept with respect and not like ordinary books. But
when I will get my own house I will keep a place for Guru Granth Sahib
ji.
2. Young female student
Guru Granth Sahib ji is pure and the place must also be pure. We have
a very small house. If you have Guru Granth Sahib ji you need a special
place and you have to do Prakash daily. I do not want to give disrespect
to Guru ji.
406
See more about attitudes related to menstruation in Chapter 3.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008