INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

ing with him. Seated beside the mother the granthi fills his cupped right hand with
nectar-water and let it drop five times into the mouth of the child. Then he applies the
amrit to the baby’s head and eyes, five times each. He pours another palmful of water
in the hands of the mother, who will drink it five times, and then purifies her eyes
and head in a similar way. At the end of the ceremony the granthi will take off his
shoes and together with the woman, child, and female relatives present the Sikh supplication.
If any nectar-water remains he may distribute it as consecrated food
(prashad) to all participants. A local granthi, frequently invited for this ceremony, said
that most families want to receive the nectar-water on the fortieth day after delivery,
but it may just as well be distributed earlier if the mother is alone in the household
and desires to go back to ordinary life earlier. As women in the urban setting deliver
at the hospital rather than at the house, some want to receive the purifying nectar
before they are discharged and return home after a week. The granthi is therefore
distributing the amrit both in hospitals and homes.
The purification of the mother is commonly referred to as chaunke charna, meaning
“entering the kitchen” and thus ritually marks the end of the period of impurity
and the woman’s return to social life. Only after she has drank and been sprinkled
with the nectar-water of JapJi Sahib may she take up household duties and freely interact
with people inside and outside the house. But the practice was also harshly
criticized by a few reformist voices in Varanasi. That a mother needs rest and time for
physical recovery justifies the customary postnatal seclusion for forty days, but to
believe that the female body contracts pollution after delivery and has to undergo
purification they considered contradictory to the Guru’s teaching. 598 In the case of a
younger Amritdhari couple, for instance, the husband was of the strong opinion that
birth pollution was a foolish and superstitious belief. When his wife gave birth to
their first son he consequently forbade her to take the purifying amrit. The young
woman became very indignant with his decision and together with the mother in-law
ganged up against him: for five hours on end they cried until the husband finally
gave in and let her take the nectar on the 13 th day after delivery. Very few women
would in fact consider entering the kitchen area unless they have undergone the
purification rite, whether this position is motivated by personal beliefs about impurity,
pressure from family members, or is a means to have their new social status
recognized in the society. Despite the male dominance and preference of sons over
daughters the ceremony of chaunke charna brings about a new status of the woman as
a mother who has given birth to a child and thereby contributed to the prosperity of
the family. Both the period of seclusion during chilla (even if shortened to a couple of
weeks) and the ceremony of chaunke charna is commonly considered a prerequisite for
celebrations of future auspicious events in the family.
598
A Sikh man in his thirties said:“They say that a woman who gives birth to a baby becomes
impure (apvitar). How can she become impure? The Brahmins, the pandits, created these beliefs.
Men never get impure. Women who give birth get impure. I do not believe in this. Only foolish
people think like this.”
356
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008