INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

their husbands, sons, or some other family member during the temporary break.
Taken into consideration that Amritdhari women are obliged to read the daily five
hymns, memorizing gurbani texts becomes a momentous activity for many. One
woman said she recited her daily prayers soundless from memory when having her
monthly period; she was “thinking of the path in her mind” as she considered it disrespectful
to pronounce gurbani with her mouth when her body was exposed to impurity.
Most of the women I spoke with asserted they avoided all kinds of physical
contacts with written gurbani, and especially the scripture enthroned, for as long as
they menstruated. There is no explicit rule related to female impurity within the public
domain of the gurdwaras, save that women are not to work as reciters while menstruating.
434 Just like the domestic setting they must take a full bath with hair wash
before reinstated in duty. When I, as a woman, consulted a local granthi on proper
conducts of women during their periods, he explained that these matters always fall
to individual decision and are obviously not controllable. In the same moment, however,
he emphasized that a “wise” woman will not even enter the gurdwara while
menstruating, but simply does matha tekna at the threshold and takes its “dust” on her
forehead. Like saliva and other bodily fluids, the menstruation blood from the female
body entails cultural notions of pollution and should not contaminate the physical
scripture or the immediate space around it.
In addition to ablutions, any Sikh preparing for a recitation should be properly
dressed, take off shoes or sandals and cover the head: women with a shawl and men
with handkerchief, turban, or the small cloth used under the turban. This rule applies
to all recitations of gurbani from memory or gutkas, the pocket-sized breviaries containing
single hymns or the daily prayers (nitnem), and irrespective of location and
other situational circumstances. On a train journey, for instance, a Sikh may first
wash his mouth and hands, curl up his legs and bare feet on the seat, and then begin
a reading of the morning prayer JapJi Sahib from memory in a low voice. Even when
Kirtan Sohila is recited nearby the funeral pyre at the outdoor cremation place, the
granthi and chief mourners will slip out of their sandals to stand barefoot on the
muddy ground before the recitation starts. Particularly when a reading is given from
a gutka do people hesitate to physically touch the book cover, unless the hands have
been washed and shoes removed: “You would not feel comfortable to lay your hands
on a gutka”, a young man said. To honor gurbani contained in the gutkas Sikhs enfold
the prayer books in cloths, sometimes home-tailored wrappers made of colorful textiles
that are neatly sized to the book cover and embroidered with the Ik omkar sign.
When gutkas are brought for recitals outside the house they carry the books in a sheltered
place, in a handbag or near the heart in the front pocket of a shirt. Only when
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The ritual impurity caused by menstruation is by some propounded as an explanatory reason
for the absence of women on granthi posts and other religious occupations in gurdwaras.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008