INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

term “conversion” bears a different connotation within the conceptual framework of
the Sikhs in comparison with the idea of conversion as a radical change of beliefs,
practices, and identity prevalent in Christian and Western contexts. 149 As the following
chapter will discuss further, Sikhs in Varanasi will attribute different meanings to
the initiation ceremony to Khalsa (Khande di pahul) depending upon their own motives
for undergoing it. For those born and brought up in Sikh families the decision to
adopt a Khalsa identity does not imply a change of religious identity, but is understood
as a religious refinement, to become “completed” Sikhs, by fully committing
oneself to the Gurus’ teaching and discipline. This perception, however, differs
slightly from that of Hindu converts. Outer missionary work intended to win people
from other faiths to the Sikh religion do exist in the rural areas surrounding Varanasi.
These activities are carried out by Sikh propagandists (pracharak), many of which are
themselves converts who have pursued studies and training at Sikh missionary institutes
and are self-employed or granted small fees from the gurdwaras for creating
public awareness. 150 The propagandists will carefully point out that Sikhism is not a
proselytizing religion. Instead they will cast their work as “propaganda” (prachar) of
the Sikh religion and “social projects” (seva) that aim to help especially low-caste
Hindus escape the discriminatory caste system and hoist their honour and status by
“decorating” them as Sikhs. In the course of my fieldwork I met with a few of the
local propagandists operating in rural districts as well as converts who had adopted a
Khalsa identity because of their propaganda work. Their stories illustrate that social
motivation is the driving power of religious conversion.
In 2001 the elderly Baba Shiv Ram was working as a propagandist in villages
outside Varanasi district (Jaunpur and Ghazipur) and occasionally visited the city to
collect fees from the gurdwara and visit friends. Baba Shiv Ram completed a threeyear-long
Sikh missionary course at Amritsar in the 1970s and since then worked as a
propagandist mainly in the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. He made the decision to dedicate
his life to missionary work among Hindus on the lower strata of the social hierarchy
after having witnessed caste discriminations and heard about massconversation
of untouchables to Christianity. On his own initiative he started to go
about in rural areas and assembled low caste Hindus and Christian proselytes to
149
Fenech 2003: 155. It should also be noted that they ways in which Sikhs may perceive the
Khande di pahul ceremony do not drastically differ from all Christian traditions and especially
not some of the Protestant, in which the term ”conversion” signifies the admission to Christianity
and the church marked by the ritual of adult baptism. Although missionary activities to
convert people of other religions to Christianity have been a cornerstone of the Christian
churches, the term “conversion” also implies a spiritual regeneration of those who are already
born into Christian families and thus not a radical change of religious identity.
150
As I was told by a propagandist who visited Mogul Sarai in 2001, personal information of all
who undergo the ceremony, including their name, address, age, and previous religious belonging,
will be registered and sent to the Dharam Pracharak Committee at Amritsar. The information
will be used for statistics of Khalsa members, converts, and the spread of the Sikh religion.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008