INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

thank God for their hair as a divine gift (kesh dan). When the hairs come loose from
daily combings and natural loss or the individual chooses to have the hair cut, the gift
should consequently be returned to a divine recipient. Sikh men and women will
collect and save their old and fallen hairs in special bags, sometimes for several years,
before disposing it in a cremation ceremony or by immersion into river Ganga or
some watercourse. A few said they used to bring their old hair whenever they were
going on a pilgrimage to dispose of it at some sacred spot in the Punjab or elsewhere.
Collecting lost hair from combing for immersion in the river Ganga
During my fieldwork in Varanasi Bhupinder, a key informant and a good friend
of mine, offered to demonstrate the customary practice of consigning hair to river
Ganga. One day we rented a boat that took us to the middle of the rapid-flowing
river. We removed our sandals and took a standing position in the boat, while keeping
the palms of the hands together. Bhupinder begun to recite the Ardas text and at
the end of the prayer he added two sentences which read: “I am going to immerse my
hair in river Ganga. If I have made any mistake, please forgive me.” Subsequently he
took out the dry hairballs from a plastic bag and slowly submerged them into the
river. In Bhupinder’s own words, he conducted the ceremony because Guru Gobind
Singh had commanded his Sikhs to avoid “insult” of the Sikh hair. As we were standing
in the boat, he also added that it was an offering (parvan) of his kesh to mother
Ganga. During a meeting in the gurdwara a few days later a Sikh propagandist, temporarily
visiting Varanasi from the Punjab, leveled criticism on the ceremony
Bhupinder had carried out, claiming that it was not complying with the normative
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008