INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

memorial service to celebrate departed family members and ancestors. Throughout
the year either the birth or death day of the deceased would set the temporal frame of
these broken recitations. In one middle-class family the woman of the house kept a
tradition of starting and ending an unbroken path on day 18 of each month to commemorate
her father-in-law who expired on August 18. Between 8.30 and 9.30 in the
morning on that date she invited the immediate family to enjoy the final reading
(samapati) of Guru Granth Sahib. In a sparsely furnished room on the second floor,
only reserved for these performances, she spread out white sheets on the floor so that
all guests would be seated facing the scripture. On these occasions she arranged a
small session of devotional singing (kirtan) before a new recitation began and afterwards
served visitors sweets and food. Other families would adjust Khulla path at the
house to auspicious dates in the calendar, like sangrand or the full moon day (puranmashi).
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Since Khulla path is a broken recitation segmented over longer periods and divided
up between family members, it is momentous to note down the completed
pages after each day’s reading. As a general rule bookmarks or notes in the folio are
to be avoided. Instead, the reciter will keep a small diary at the side of the scripture.
In one large joint family, hosting a spaciously gurdwara in the upper storey of their
house, the man and wife shared a Khulla path between themselves. The woman used
to read about 40 pages on spare times, while her trading husband completed 4 to 5
pages before or after his work. In order to keep count of how many pages they completed
individually, and on which page to start recitals in the morning, they entered
all reading activities in a small journal. “If I have completed a reading up to page 50,
then my Sardar ji will continue on page 51”, the woman said. Accountancies like this
are held significant for one reason: if a reciter forgets how many pages have been
completed or leave out passages the recitation is considered khandit, in other words
“destroyed” or “disqualified”, and needs to be started over again from the beginning.
AKHAND PATH ‒ THE UNBROKEN READING
The complete and unbroken recitation of the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib, Akhand
path, is probably one of the more popular worship-forms among the Sikhs
worldwide today. As the name indicates, the recitation of the scripture’s 1430 pages
should be unbroken (akhand) and performed within forty-eight hours. A general opinion
among Sikhs suggests that the practice of unbroken readings originates from the
turbulent situation in the eighteenth century when Sikhs were living scattered in
different places and fought against the Mogul rulers. As Sikhs were forced to move
repeatedly, carrying a limited number of manuscripts, they developed a custom of
reciting Guru Granth Sahib jointly without intermissions.
In Varanasi, Akhand path is indubitably the reading considered most favourable
and conformable to the busy working life of community members. During my field-
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A recitation scheduled between two full moons will consequently be called “full moon recitation”
(Puranmashi path).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008