INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

tives have gathered (except for the bride) the granthi is invited to perform an Ardas.
The two parties of the groom and the bride line up on opposite sides to formally meet
and embrace each other, beginning with the bride’s father and the groom’s father
who exchange gifts and flower garlands and then it is the turn of the mothers on both
sides. After refreshments they continue to the gurdwara. To show respect for the
Guru Granth Sahib the chaplet and plume fastened on the groom’s turban is removed
before he enters the gurdwara. As a granthi said, not even the groom should be
dressed as a king when approaching the Guru.
THE BLISSFUL CEREMONY
The religiously sanctioned ceremony that contracts a Sikh marriage is Anand karaj or
Anand sanskar, the “blissful ceremony”, which is always performed in the presence of
Guru Granth Sahib and the Sikh congregation. The most important element of the
wedding is the four lavan, or the clockwise circumambulations around the Guru
Granth Sahib. Meanwhile the ragi sings the four stanzas Suhi Chhant 2 (pp. 773 ‒ 774)
of Guru Ram Das which are popularly referred to as the Char lavan. Sikhs in general
trace the wedding ceremony back to the days of Guru Amar Das and his successor
Guru Ram Das, who, according to a popular story, wrote the four stanzas to assert
Sikh independence from Hindu practices and the Brahmins. 616 After the period of
human Gurus the Sikhs are said to have drifted towards Hindu customs and substituted
the four circulations around the Sikh scripture with the seven circumambulations
around the sacred fire (havan) which stipulate Hindu marriages. In the nineteenth
century the Sikh reform movements revived the Sikh wedding ceremony in
presence of Guru Granth Sahib, which also gained legal recognition in 1909 when the
government of the Punjab passed the The Anand Marriage Act.
In Varanasi, Anand karaj is the stipulated practice to tie nuptial bonds in Sikh
and Sindhi families. Particularly the recitations and singing of the Char lavan and the
four circumambulations around the Guru Granth Sahib are perceived as the contractual
acts of marriage. Religious Sikhs often emphasize the importance of the authoritative
presence of the Guru dwelling within the scripture and the congregation of
Sikhs. The organization of linguistic acts and bodily acts within the structure of the
wedding ceremony makes a marriage binding only if it has been recognized and
blessed by the Guru.
The wedding ceremony normally begins with kirtan, performed by ragis, in order
to create a religious atmosphere. The groom and his party will be the first to arrive
at the gurdwara and after the customary matha tekna takes his place facing the
Guru Granth Sahib. The bride, accompanied with her family, comes later and takes a
seat on the left side of the groom. When all have gathered the bride and groom and
616
The wedding ceremony is called Anand Karaj because the first five stanzas of Guru Amardas
composition Anand Sahib had been a part of the ritual. According to a popular tradition, Guru
Amardas recited Anand Sahib when his daughter Bibi Bhani was married to Bhai Jetha, who later
became known as the fourth Guru Ramdas.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008