INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

Nagar kirtan is a means for propaganda (prachar) among people in Varanasi.
We inform the congregation and others about the Gurus, their
birthdays and the programs we organize in the gurdwara. We are inviting
people to share the festivity.
In the immediate context of a festival, Nagar kirtan is often perceived as a commemorative
event that revives stories about the Sikh Gurus in the past and re-establishes
their teaching in the present. The most palpable method to accomplish this is the
exhibition of paintings and bazaar posters which depict the Sikh Gurus or anecdotes
about their lives. For spectators these visual renderings may evoke memories of wellknown
legends in the narrative tradition. A more corporeal representation is the
collective group of Sikhs moving in lines throughout the city. By demonstrating
communal devotional activities participants are metonymically representing cardinal
Sikh doctrines as taught and instituted by the Gurus. Men and women reciting the
divine name and singing hymns from the scripture do not merely exemplify worship
forms rooted in everyday practices, but epitomize key Sikh doctrines of remembrance
and recitations of the divine name. The representation of school-children and members
of the Red Cross, the public distribution of food and other activities, virtually
embody the concept of seva in the shape of education, medical treatment, and a communal
kitchen for all. In a similar fashion the display of martial arts, folk music and
traditional Punjabi costumes do not merely enhance the festive atmosphere but also
functions as metonyms for an ethnic affiliation to a Punjabi culture. For spectators
and participants the total accumulation of religious and cultural activities performed
in the various sequences of Nagar kirtan creates a narrative scenario of the Sikh religion,
history, and culture.
To other participants Nagar kirtan may be seen as way of honoring and celebrating
the particular historical Guru by taking the Guru Granth Sahib out in majestic
splendor to grant blessings and darshan to the city and devotees. A local granthi said
“Nagar kirtan is a celebration, to show happiness. Old people who cannot come to the
gurdwara can still get darshan of Guru Maharaj ji when the carriage (savari) is coming
to their neighborhood.” Sikhs residing along the route of the religious procession will
say they are inviting the Guru and the holy congregation of Sikhs to their neighborhood.
When arriving in a local area the procession will make a temporary halt to
create spaces of interaction between devotees and the Guru. Families present the
scripture with bowls of karah prashad which they have prepared in their individual
households. The attendant guarding Guru Granth Sahib on the main float will present
the food offerings to the Guru by cutting a straight line over the pudding with
his dagger and mix it with the same offerings given by others and kept in a large
cauldron. By means of this ritualized act the pudding is considered formally accepted
and sanctified by the Guru and shared with the congregation. The pudding will be
returned to the donating family as a materialized blessing for ingestion. In addition to
this, one or two people on the main float will be busy distributing large quantities of
prashad in the form of puffed rice or sugar pastilles to the public.
409
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008