INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

meal after her body has left the house should come from her parental home. When
the son and the male relatives returned from the cremation ground they were not
allowed to touch anyone in the household before taking a bath. The women hanged
clean clothes in the bathroom that remained untouched until they had completed
their purification. The clothes they had worn at the cremation ground were first made
wet before they left them to be washed.
The day after cremation and on the fourth day after death, the family invited all
female relatives and women of the Sikh congregation to participate in a joint recitation
of Sukhmani Sahib at their house. As Devi had died a “good death” at an old age,
the women were offered sukha prashad, 621 or a sweet prashad made of small sugar
cakes (batasa) when the reading was completed. In the evening the family invited a
ragi jatha from the gurdwara to perform kirtan for the mourners. In the following days
the women continued to gather at their house in the afternoons for Sukhmani Sahib
readings while the family arranged an Akhand path in the gurdwara. 622 The daughterin-law
explained that Akhand path should be performed between the eleventh and
thirteenth day after death and preferably at the house of the deceased: “People are
saying that if you are having Akhand path in your home the house becomes pure”. In
her own case she felt that her family could not provide a space which was sufficiently
clean and peaceful for the reading, and accordingly her husband booked one in the
gurdwara. Since a major Sikh festival coincided with their plans they scheduled the
completion of the reading on the seventh day after death, when everyone congregated
in the gurdwara to express their condolences and presented a last prayer for
Devi.
THE LAST JOURNEY
The death procession from the house of the deceased to the cremation ground is generally
called antim yatra, the last journey. All relatives, women and men, may participate
in this procession and before proceeding to the cremation place at Manikarnika
Ghat the mourning party comes for an obligatory halt in the gurdwara where several
acts are carried out for the deceased. In general the mourning parties in Varanasi pass
by Nichibagh as the gurdwara is within walking distance from river Ganga and also
holds the well of Ganga amrit to be offered to the dead. However when the mourners
are of a great number, as in the case when a famous and respected community member
has passed away, it is just as doable in the larger Gurubagh Gurdwara a few
kilometres away from the cremation ground. Nowadays these mourning processions
usually transport the biers on cars or trailers, and carry them by hand on the last part
of the journey to the cremation ground.
621
Sukha prashad sometimes refers to the prashad containing hemp (Canabis Indica), but in this
context designates a sweet or “happy” prashad.
622
In other families the women would gather after three to four days after a death and read
Janam-sakhis, stories on the life and deeds of Guru Nanak.
380
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008