INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

about six hours later. As one granthi said, these stretches of the route were favoured
when the community began to perform Nagar kirtan as a large number of the Sikhs
and Sindhis live and work in these areas. The reversible character of the routes emphasizes
the importance of the gurdwaras by starting and ending at the same place.
Temporarily the procession will manipulate public places already existing in
the local geography to engender a meaningful space. Before the festival day, local
Sikhs will decorate and mark out the road with bamboo gates wrapped in saffroncolored
clothes and banderols carrying religious messages, such as “The greatness of
Guru Nanak is manifested through all ages”, or “Congratulations on the anniversary
of Guru Nanak”. Individual Sikh families and businessmen with houses and shops
located along the stretch illuminate their buildings with electric lights to celebrate the
arrival of the Guru-scripture and the congregation of Sikhs to their neighborhood. At
selected points along the route they prepare “seva-stations” where devotees generously
distribute sweets, snacks and tea to participants and spectators. Before the
carriage arrives on the day of procession, Sikhs beating kettle drums and rows of
marchers bearing banners announce the occasion. They are followed by groups of
devotees who sweep and wash the streets with water and strew petals on the road.
For observing spectators these acts clearly signal that a person of exalted status is
approaching.
An analysis of the morphology of Nagar kirtan would indicate that there are
several constituent parts that are ever-recurrent and important in the procession. Like
other events when Guru Granth Sahib is taken out on tour, the performance of Ardas
frames the beginning and the end of Nagar kirtan and thereby modifies the usual
meaning of time and space by having the event sanctified by the Guru. Similar to the
daily liturgies the scripture is installed on a float in an outdoor installation ceremony,
and restored to the bedroom at the closing stage at night when the scripture leaves
the parade and is put to rest. The arrival and departure of Guru Granth Sahib are two
key events that mark out points of gathering and dispersion of participants and provide
the external structure of Nagar kirtan. The procession is generally a wellstructured
arrangement at the beginning of the march, in consideration of school
children and younger participants, but will loosen up and change form along the way
with new elements added or others removed. Devotees and spectators may join in
and depart from the procession more or less as they like. Only a senior group of panj
pyare and adult men and women performing devotional songs in folk tunes may
escort the scripture from the beginning to the very end.
Several scholars have observed that the order of people parading and other
spatial dynamics within processions may suggest social and ideological hierarchies. 660
Typical of a standard performance in Varanasi is to deliberately position all participants
in relation to the carriage of Guru Granth Sahib. The main float with the text
will stand in the centre of attention, usually in the back section of the procession, and
is spatially framed by the panj pyare and the groups of adult devotees. Young partici-
660
Marin 1987, Trainor 1997.
406
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008