INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

It is noteworthy that the amrit given to the mother after the forty day period is
normally described as purification from birth pollution, while the nectar-water given
to her baby on the same occasion evokes the distinct framework of incorporation into
a socio-religious identity and community. 599 An elderly Sikh woman commented: “It
is like a blessing. The baby will have a long life, go on the right path and read gurbani.
It [the water-nectar] gives the form of a Sikh.” By imbibing verses of the hymn JapJi
Sahib materialized in water the child will develop a religious disposition to eventually
become a true Sikh of the Guru. The substance is believed to carry divine protection,
blessings, and powers to transform the bio-moral character of the baby. By drinking
the amrit the newborn son or daughter is admitted to the community and will be
publicly displayed. This ritualized technique to prepare the child for a life as a Sikh
will, as we shall see, be repeated one year after birth.
The end of a chilla, normally on the fortieth or the forty-first day after birth,
usually marks a day of festivities when the family brings the mother and child to the
gurdwara to do matha tekna before the Guru Granth Sahib, present food offerings and
let the granthi perform a prayer in which he gives thanks for the baby. In return the
family may receive a guiding Hukam. In case the newborn baby is a longed-for son,
wealthier family may arrange a procession with brass bands and organize an Akhand
path of the Sikh scripture. Later on the family may throw a party with recitations of
Sukhmani Sahib and musical programs at the house and invite relatives and friends to
see the child. Food and sweets in particular are generously distributed, even to the
baby, as it is popularly held that a child who gets to taste sweets in early infancy will
develop a sweet and good character. Some families may invite male or female relatives
or friends regarded to have an especially good nature to feed the new born with
honey, believing that the good and moral qualities of the giver will be transferred to
the child.
CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
During the first years of a child’s life the individual family will adopt several social
and religious customs intended to secure the good health of the child and avert evil
effects. If the child displays symptoms of diseases or any other disorder Sikh parents
will commit themselves to recitations of particular gurbani hymns which are believed
to protect the child from bodily and spiritual afflictions. A middle-aged Amritdhari
woman told how she had been reciting a particular hymn of Guru Granth Sahib until
she almost lost consciousness when her four-months-old daughter fell seriously ill: “I
was very sad and cried. I recited the shabad (gurbani hymn) continually until I lost my
senses.” 600 The birth of a child is also an event which concerns the whole kinship
599
According to the eighteenth century Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama nectar should be given to a
newborn son (McLeod 1987: 38).
600
The hymn she used is Guru Arjan’s popular composition in Rag Bilawal on page 819 in Guru
Granth Sahib.
357
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008