INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

ize transportations, prepare the crematoria, collect donations, and the like. As the
ceremonies are open for the public they generally attract hundreds of devotees and
curious visitors. To many local Sikhs Narinder Singh has become an icon of true devotion
and service for the Guru and the Sikh community. His organization confirms
to kernel religious idioms and values that are approved by the authoritative tradition
and has succeeded in strengthening the community by re-creating a collectively
shared ceremony that will honor the Guru Granth Sahib in a proper way. In retrospect,
the argument about what was before – a disrespectful handling of old scriptures
‒ will appeal to most religious Sikhs who have seen the new ceremony.
Narinder Singh, as a cultural entrepreneur, is well-aware of the importance of publicity
to mobilize public support and awareness. He and his collaborates have invited
religious key persons in the Punjab to observe the ritual events. In more recent years
they have begun to utilize modern media in order to make the organization known to
a global community. When I revisited Sri Guru Granth Sahib Bhawan at Goindwal
Sahib in 2004, visitors ‒ pilgrims and others – were offered to purchase a DVDdocumentary
about the new seva for Guru Granth Sahib. Sikhs in different parts of
the world should not merely be guaranteed that their old scriptures are properly
taken care of, but be able to watch the cremation from a distance. The use of modern
media strives to establish confidence and global support for the local practices.
THE FIRE SACRIFICE
The choreography of spaces and acts of the fire ceremony or Agan Bhet samskar are
carefully arranged to create a religious atmosphere and give due reverence to the
Guru Granth Sahib. Printed texts which are worn out and missing pages will be
dressed in robes of honor (saropa) and placed on royal beds to await the last ceremony.
The cremation chamber (Angitha Sahib), considered pure and sacred, is the
center of the ceremony. To create and maintain these qualities of the space only a
selected number of initiated Amritdhari Sikhs are allowed to enter the chamber after
customary ablutions. For as long as they dwell within that space they will wear
wooden sandals so their feet do not touch the ground. Other participants and visitors
are expected to do matha tekna at the threshold of the room and remain on the outside.
During the whole ceremony a group of female devotees dressed in white ‒ the traditional
mourning color of Punjab ‒ will perform devotional Sikh music (shabad kirtan)
and sing accolades to the Guru Granth Sahib in folk tunes. An analysis of the morphology
of the Agan Bhet samskar indicates that there are several constituent parts that
are ever-recurrent and important in the ceremony. The internal structure of the cremation
is organized around a set of nodal acts, many of which bear resemblance to
rituals performed in cremation ceremonies for humans.
The Agan Bhet samskar is normally a four to five-hours-long program that begins
shortly after sunrise. At first the congregation will gather in the local gurdwara to
take a Hukam, recite the hymn Anand Sahib, and read the Ardas. In combination these
acts frames the beginning of the ceremony and modifies the usual meaning of time
and space by having the event sanctified by the Guru. Subsequently, participants will
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008