INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

pregnancy. 590 When a newly wed couple is expecting their first child, and the woman
has reached the seventh month of pregnancy, the family ‒ mostly female relatives ‒
brings the couple to the gurdwara on the Sunday following new moon (masia) to
supplicate for good health of the child. The ceremony contains some ritual acts that
are typical for a Sikh setting, such as the reading of Ardas and the taking of Hukam.
But within the sequence of the ceremony these worship acts are combined with elements
drawn from Sindhi weddings in the gurdwara. When all participants have
performed the standard matha tekna and the couple is seated in front of Guru Granth
Sahib, the granthi offers a woolen shawl to the husband, who places one ending of the
shawl over his shoulder and gives the other end to his wife. The woman’s mother-inlaw
takes out one coconut and oil that are placed in the lap of the expectant woman.
While all people gathered get up to a standing position, the granthi reads the Sikh
Ardas and adds a few lines in which he wishes for the good health of the child. Afterward
he takes a Hukam from Guru Granth Sahib. Being seated in front of the scripture,
the mother-in-law and all female relatives will then smear the woman’s head
with oil. As in the wedding ceremony the husband will then lead the woman around
Guru Granth Sahib in seven circumambulations without any break, whilst the
woman holds the end of the shawl which is resting on her husband’s shoulder and
thus connects them. Again, when the circumambulation is completed, they bow to the
scripture and sit down to receive flower-garlands from the granthi. At the same time
sevadars are distributing prashad, the family brings forward offerings ‒ such as food,
money and a coconut ‒ and present a new rumala to Guru Granth Sahib by placing it
on the scriptural volume. As I was told, the ceremony is related to worship of the
moon (chand) during the first year of marriage and aims to procure blessing from the
Sikh Guru to protect the fetus from malevolent forces.
Ceremonies singled out as typical Sikh practices, on the other hand, exclusively
involve recitations of particular verses from the Guru Granth Sahib. In Sankat
Mochan Shabad, the popular collections of gurbani hymns to recite in different situations
of need, childbearing, and especially the reception of a son, is a recurrent theme.
One version of the Sankat Mochan Shabad prescribes that a woman should recite a
scriptural verse 108 times for 41 days before pregnancy to conceive a son with good
fortune. Another gurbani hymn in the same anthology is to be recited during the first
month of pregnancy to protect the fetus until delivery and the recitation will bless the
child with intelligence and a long life. To protect from miscarriage after the second
month and develop a male fetus the expectant mother should recite yet another verse
for 41 days. 591 The various editions of Sankat Mochan Shabad also provide ritual instructions
on how to recite separate verses to give birth to a child with good luck and
590
For descriptions of earlier practices of satvahin and satvansa in various districts of the Punjab,
consult Rose 1999 (1919).
591
Sankat Mochan compiled by Giani Narain Singh.
351
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008