INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

moral point or a religious idea in a refreshing manner. 532 Similar to what Bauman
(1992) has observed in a study of Icelandic legends, the performance allows for interplay
of several speech genres that are embedded with one and another and generate a
dialogue of genres within the oral text. The juxtaposing of speech genres drawn from
multiple sources and the dialogic relationship between them becomes the main resource
for organization of contexts and production of meanings. 533
History-oriented katha performances tend to focus more exclusively on the lives
of the Sikh Gurus and significant events, places, and persons in the Sikh history. This
type of discourse is normally staged in relation to major Sikh festivals to evoke
themes important and appropriate for the occasion of celebration. The exposition is a
significant medium for the transmission of a tradition that glorifies the Sikh Gurus,
devout disciples, and martyrs in history and highlights the relevance of their deeds
for Sikhs at the present. Although the history-oriented performances usually are
structured on selected anecdotes or short stories from a variety of sources in the oral
and textual narrative traditions, citations of lines from the Guru Granth Sahib are
often interpolated to anchor spiritual and moral messages or the culminating punch
line in gurbani.
The third category ‒ comparative katha – has usually an unorthodox approach
that aims to communicate universal messages of the Guru Granth Sahib by making
parallels to similar ideas and moral standpoints in the teachings of other religions.
Performances in this category commonly start out from general themes, such as “true
love” or “purity of mind”, to work up a discourse on universal truths in the Sikh
teaching from a comparative perspective. Within the structure of a katha the performer
may alternate interpretations of gurbani, anecdotes on the Sikh Gurus, philosophical
and moral reflections, added with shorter quotations from the Koran, Bible
or some other scripture. The method requires that the performer is well-versed in an
array of supporting non-Sikh texts.
Typical of all these expositions is the incessant oscillation back and forth in time
to support and traditionalize interpretations with historical references and quotations
from the Guru Granth Sahib and simultaneously bridge the temporal distance with
commentaries to make the Gurus’ teaching and deeds relevant in the present. The
unanimity among Sikh kathakars comes from the fact that all of them depend on gurbani,
but their individual originality is the result of personal ability to interpret and
build up commentaries which suit and display competence in the language and concerns
of the audience. Katha performances are what Tedlock & Manheim (1995) have
termed “double-voicing”, that is, the performer will adopt the linguistic mannerism
of the audience, rather than quoting them directly, to communicate points in dis-
532
Popular historical sources for these illustrations are, for example, the Vars and Kabit Sawayee
of Bhai Gurdas, the writings of Bhai Nand Lal, Dasam Granth ascribed to Guru Gobind Singh,
Suraj Prakash and Nanak Prakash by Kavi Santokh Singh, and the Gurbilas literature about the
sixth and the tenth Guru.
533
Baumann 1992.
305
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008