INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

In situations of need many local Sikhs pragmatically resort to a variety of sacred
sources and agents who operate within what anthropologists uncritically or more
reluctantly have termed “folk” or “popular” religion. Many of my interlocutors
pointed out that consulting healers, astrologers, and other religious specialists was
not a part of Sikh tradition and expressed scepticism about the various healing cults
flourishing in a Hindu centre like Varanasi. When illness, barrenness or existential
dilemmas create hopeless and oppressive situations, many will still resort to popular
traditions to seek pragmatic results and do not necessarily perceive this step to be
challenging to their religious identity as Sikhs. In attempts to manipulate the reality
to their advantage, people will combine religious practices they consider to be compliant
with a Sikh way of life with healing therapies and rituals services provided by
their Hindu or Muslim neighbors. When the father of a Sikh family was diagnosed
with a kidney stone and underwent a surgical operation in the hospital, for instance,
the family arranged an Akhand path in the gurdwara. At the same time they organized
a week-long repetition (jap) of mantras at the Mahamrityunjaja Mandir, a local temple
which is dedicated to Mahadeva (Shiva) and is famous for a linga believed to be
growing in size. 686 The temple is known for its power to increase the life-span of humans
and avert death. 687 In this case the ritual repetition of Shiv-mantras was arranged
to ward off suffering and possible fatal consequences of the surgery. When
the repetition came to end the family staged a puja with fire sacrifice (havan) at the
house.
On one occasion, when I was supposed to interview a young Sikh woman at her
house, her sister met me at the entrance to cancel the meeting and inform me that the
siblings had been struck by smallpox, or “got Sitala Ma”, as she put it. Smallpox is
popularly believed to be a kind of possession of the disease goddess Sitala or the
“cool one”. 688 As the eldest of the seven goddesses, Sitala both inflicts and cures humans
of small pox. The goddess is cool by nature and only when she becomes agitated
by heat will her wrath attack humans with a fever, spots and blisters ‒ the characteristic
symptoms of small pox. Series of rituals are undertaken in attempts to appease
the heated goddess and contain her anger by coldness and thereby cure the
victim from the possession. The temper of Sitala predestines the condition of the sick
and only if the goddess is cooled will she become benevolent again.
As I got to know in subsequent conversations, the Sikh family had temporarily
quarantined their house and kept the afflicted children in a separate room surrounded
by branches of the nim tree. Since Sitala is believed to become upset by
sound, smoke, and smell from frying pans and food perceived as “hot” in the Indian
culture (such as onion and garlic), the mother of the house prepared only “cold” and
boiled food for the whole family. To cool the angry goddess the mother collected
686
Eck 1993: 262.
687
Parry 1994: 164.
688
For studies of origin myths and ritual practices related to Sitala, consult e.g. Wadley 1980 and
Dimock 1982.
430
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008