INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

professional reciters who read in relays for five to seven days. The length of the verse
chosen for reiterations, and the technique by which the reader repeats the verse, will
determine the amount of time dedicated to the path.
Although the reciters in Varanasi had never performed Sampat path themselves,
they had observed performances at other places and instructed me briefly on the
methods by which sampats can be used. A common method is to select the mulmantra
or Hukam that comes out when the scripture is ceremonially opened for a recitation.
In the latter case, the particular hymn that constitutes the Hukam is written down on a
paper, and while one person starts to read from the scripture, another will repeat the
Hukam after each completed sequence of verses in Guru Granth Sahib. When Sampat
path is undertaken for a special purpose or desired effects reciters will instead choose
a sampat which semantically corresponds to the stated reason. 472 The metric form of
the sampat verse may decide the number of times it should be repeated at each interpolation.
If the verse is made up of one line the reciter will read it only once, and if it
contains two lines he will read the same verse twice. An even more advanced way of
reciting is to add each selected sampat with a repetition of the mulmantra after each
completed line or verse of the scripture. In this way the reciters may build up layers
of gurbani verses, which frame the hymns being read from the scripture.
A few of my interviewees in Varanasi held that Sampat path was a too timeconsuming
way to perform the Guru Granth Sahib. An elderly businessman, who
was a reciter in addition to his ordinary job, said: “If you get up [and take a break]
and come back on duty, then you have to take a shower and change clothes again.
You can not come back wearing the same clothes as before.” When I asked if he knew
if anyone organized Sampat path in the local community, he spontaneously replied:
”Who has that much time? This path requires much time.” During my fieldwork I
received information only of one Sampat path in 2000 which the then chairman of the
gurdwara committee (VGPC) arranged. Paid reciters invited from Punjab conducted
this reading.
THE PLEASURABLE ENDING
When a recitation of Guru Granth Sahib ‒ broken or unbroken ‒ is approaching the
end, families and friends will gather at the gurdwara or the place at which a path is
going, to listen to the reading of the four last pages of the scripture (pages 1426 to
1430). From a textual viewpoint, these pages comprise four separate compositions: a
set of couplets of Guru Tegh Bahadur; “the closing seal” (Mundavani) and a couplet of
the fifth Guru Arjan; and finally a twelve-versed composition called “the rosary of
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For instance, a local pathi asserted that the following hymn of Guru Arjan was used in Sampat
path for protective purposes: “He does not let His devotees see the difficult times; this is His
innate nature. Giving His hand, He protects His devotee; with each and every breath, He cherishes
him” (GGS: 682).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008