INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

on God. Some families may choose to cover the newborn baby in old cloths that have
been used as scriptural robes in the gurdwara and thus are believed to store blessings
of the Guru.
When the family receives information about the newborn child a family member
or relative, often a male, will visit the gurdwara to perform an Ardas in thanksgiving
of the newborn child and give donations, sometimes of considerable value, to the
gurdwara. To celebrate the occasion the family organizes unbroken recitations of the
Guru Granth Sahib and distributes large quantities of sweets to friends, relatives, and
the Sikh congregation. Having a baby is a happy occasion which brings a sweet flavor
and atmosphere to the family life, and all should consequently be invited to share the
joy.
As infants are held to be susceptible to malevolent forces, such as spirits,
ghosts, sorcery, and the evil eye, families usually decorate their children with small
sized steel bracelets (kara) to ward off evil spirits. Iron is popularly believed to protect
from evil spirits. In this case one of five symbols which Sikh neophytes should wear
on the right hand after the Khalsa ceremony has been attributed similar power and is
given to children from infancy. The families I spoke with would either decorate the
child with a bracelet on the first day after delivery or invite the granthi from the
gurdwara to dress the baby with the first Sikh symbol after a week or more. The small
ceremony of giving the bracelet was by some of Khatri families referred to as chola
pana, the reception of the baby’s first ceremonial garment, which implied the recognition
of the child’s religious identity. 594 Whether individuals brought up in Sikh families
decide to adopt an Amritdhari identity or not, most will wear the bracelet to mark
out their affiliation to the Sikh religion. Many Sikhs perceive the bracelet as sign of a
human-divine relationship and an amulet which stores spiritual powers. The kara is
often placed under the mother’s pillow to give her protection and strength. Dressing
a newborn baby with a bracelet is conducted for similar reasons. Many of my informants
claimed that wearing other amulets, such as the popular Muslim capsule containing
Koranic verses (taviz) and the black thread (tarang) tied around the waist of a
child, or to apply black kajal (surma) around the eyes of the infant, are practices contravening
the Sikh code of conduct, but they would still adorn their children with
these objects to shield harmful effects evoked by humans and spirits.
POSTNATAL OBSERVANCES
Like many other Asian cultures, the postnatal period following a birth of a Sikh baby
is ritually and socially marked by seclusion of both the mother and the child, followed
by ceremonies of purification and feeding that gradually incorporate them into
the ordinary social life of the family and the larger community. After giving birth to a
child the woman is by tradition generally believed to be temporarily impure (apavittra,
ashuddh) and will be held in seclusion for a total period of forty days after deliv-
594
Among Aroras and Khatris the term chola earlier signified the ceremonial first clothing of a
child and would occur on the thirteenth day after birth (Rose 1999 (1919): 754).
354
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008