INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

following descriptive account on Sikh ceremonies at Varanasi will illustrate that local
Sikhs observe normative and sanctioned life-cycle rites, but accompany these rituals
with a cluster of other practices derived from the surrounding culture, Punjabi folk
traditions, and family customs. To local Sikhs ceremonies and ritual acts surrounding
childbirth, puberty, marriage, and death have individual names but are gathered
under the collective Sanskrit term samskara, literally “purification”. The samskaras
highlight important social transfers in life and often aim to refine the person from the
inside and the outside to become a pure and truthful Sikh to the Guru. Characteristic
of the samskaras is the use of gurbani texts, as recitations and singing, which together
with community services and readings of the Sikh prayer constitute the essential
religious elements that linger through the Sikh rites of passage.
PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH
“Vahiguru, Vahiguru, Vahiguru”… Surender, a woman in her sixties, is resting on a
bed while she is tenderly rocking her three-months-old grandson to sleep after food.
To give the tiny infant temporary peace for an afternoon nap, she lets her voice repeatedly
wash his face and body with the name of God ‒ Vahiguru. She is breathing
and blowing the words on him over and over again. The baby is virtually wrapped in
her reciting until the yelling slowly fades out into a calm sleep.
Since ancient times the conception of a child, the different stages of a pregnancy,
delivery, and the postnatal period have been marked with manifold religious
and cultural customs among the castes and tribes in the Punjabi society. The present
Sikh code of conduct briefly prescribes two ceremonies surrounding childbirth – a
visit to the gurdwara after childbirth and the naming ceremony ‒ and strongly condemns
practices related to beliefs in birth pollution. Local Sikhs in Varanasi do observe
the ceremonies stipulated in the normative manual, however, without excluding
family and gotra customs which are continually modified to a modern way of
living. As the descriptions below will illustrate, many of these practices related to
childbirth serve to protect the vulnerable child from evil influences of humans and
supernatural forces, shape the developing character and identity of the newborn in a
positive manner, and incorporate the child into the community of a family and the
collective of Sikhs by hearing and drinking hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib.
CONCEPTION AND DELIVERY
A newly wedded couple is likely, and to a great extent expected, to receive a child
within the first years of their marriage. For some parents the conception of a child
will occur naturally and easily, for others a pregnancy will be long-awaited and the
offspring vouchsafed only after persistent prenatal prayers and vows that address
fertility. Barren couples may undertake pilgrimages to any of the numerous gurdwaras
in the Punjab or temples dedicated to goddesses or folk deities which are renowned
for bestowing children. Even if medical science has modified traditional
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008