INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

The intersection between death and religion and the various ways by which people
respond to death, expected or unexpected, continue to fascinate scholars. Death presents
a context for expressing religious values and for making meaning and community.
618 Living at Varanasi, death is always present at the two major cremation
grounds on the riverbank of the Ganga ‒ Harishchandra Ghat and Manikarnika Ghat.
In the Hindu world Varanasi is widely fabled for granting liberation to all who die in
the city. Given this, scholars have directed considerable attention to practices before
and after death in the Hindu tradition and their religious significations. 619 In the following
I will exemplify how Sikhs residing within this cultural framework may respond
to death and conduct ceremonies in relation to local customs.
AT THE DEATH BED
In general, Sikhs will reject the idea that there are auspicious times and places to die -
a view for which they find support in the Gurus’ teachings and often use in response
to the predominantly Hindu culture they dwell in. 620 Whatever a human receives in
life, even her own dying and death, is submitted to the decision of God and one’s
accumulation of karma in this and previous life. A middle-aged Sikh woman said:
A human has to suffer according to what God has written and she has
to suffer here. Dying is real suffering, when the soul goes out that is
really a hard time. …In this area a woman died. Two days before [she
died] she did the reading of Sukhmani Sahib. She was well, got some
trouble in the night and died in the morning. Everyone was saying that
she had done really good karma and got a good death.
Although my interlocutors did not attach any significance to the time and place of
dying, they shared the pan-Indian notions of a “good death” and a “bad death”, and
would take up a few practices to secure the former and mitigate the latter. In general
a natural and voluntary death in old age without too much physical suffering is recognized
as a “good death.” Especially those considered spiritually gifted, or even
liberated while remaining in life, know the time of their own death and will prepare
their body and mind and the social circle for the final departure. A Sikh woman in
her middle-age told about her maternal grandfather who was reputed in the society
for his devotion and humbleness. When he became ill at an old age the man dreamt
about a river of milk in the middle of which a sant was standing and calling him
home. The next morning he gathered the family members to inform them of his
abandonment of life and that he must depart within two days to do puja-path in
heaven (svarg). At his request the family kept his sandals and shorts (kaccha) beside
618
Garces-Foley 2006.
619
See e.g. Parry 1994 and Justice 1997.
620
Only a male interlocutor mentioned that if a person dies during the time of panchak, the five
consecutive lunar mansions, he will bring five other family members with him in death.
376
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008