INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

take up a great deal of space. The existence of rahit-namas reflects endeavors to standardize
Sikh beliefs and practices in writing and by doing this the Guru Granth Sahib
is given a prominent position. The process of compiling these manuals is an example
of what Bell (1988) calls “textualization of ritual” whereby existing practices are selected
and fixed in written manuals. The process of textualization encourages the rise
of more standardized ritual action and has the effect of defining “orthodox” rituals
that are differentiated from local practices and codified. The manual gives certain
practices authority and is foundational for a “ritual institution.” 43
In the Sikh tradition the validity of proper conducts and acts of worship has
remained at the centre of religious reform. The Sikh reform movement Singh Sabha in
the late nineteenth century came to exercise considerable influence on contemporary
Sikh practices by codifying ritual standards for a community which, due to new
means of communication and migration, was no longer restricted to the Punjab region.
44 The Gurdwara Reform Movement in the 1920s represents a radical turningpoint
with regard to collective worship forms. The Sikh community took charge of
gurdwaras, many of which had earlier been administered by Hindu mahants. In
discourses and campaigns, Sikh reformers protested at the corrupt ways by which
religious specialists had staged worship to the Sikh scripture in a conspicuously
Hindu idiom. The agenda was to abandon ritual elements thought to be Hindu and
revise practices which granted the Guru Granth Sahib absolute authority. In 1925 the
autonomous Sikh organization Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was
formed to provide a self-reliant system for management of all Sikh shrines and gurdwaras
in the state of Punjab.
The present Sikh code of conduct, sanctioned by the SGPC in 1950, is briefly describing
Sikh articles of faith: it mentions the belief in one God, the “oneness” of ten
Gurus and their teaching, and the Guru Granth Sahib. In conformity with the rahitnama
tradition the Sikh Rahit Maryada is mainly orthopraxical by stipulating normative
ethical conducts and ritual behaviours. The guiding maxim of the Sikh community
today thus attempts to mould Sikh identities by prescribing a set of conducts
which, if followed, will produce behaviours and attitudes that more circuitously
reinforce beliefs and implement the Gurus’ teaching enshrined in the scripture. Modern
writers with a mission to demonstrate Sikh ceremonies frequently choose to fall
back on this manual rather than portraying “operative” practices in the lived reality. 45
Normative prescriptions which have been sanctioned by the authoritative tradition
come to stand as descriptions of what Sikhs are doing in their religious life.
43
Bell 1988: 390 ‒ 392.
44
Oberoi 1995.
45
Typical examples of this tendency are found in Loehlin 1974 and Joginder Singh 1999.
13
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008