INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

The Khalsa ceremony itself is pregnant with symbolism to mark this transformation.
Verbally the neophyte confirms the abandonment of his or her previous social
belonging and the passage into a new identity within a community that ideologically
promotes social equality. The primal act of the ceremony – when neophytes
from different social strata drink and are sprinkled with sanctified nectar-water from
the same pot – embodies this idea and stands as a symbolic opposite to the rules
against caste interdining associated with traditional Hinduism. To sit together and
share sanctified substances with people of different castes is probably the most explicit
symbolic expression of a break with caste taboos and, from the viewpoint of
many untouchables, the symbolic end to discrimination. The act of taking nectarwater
is considered to cleanse individuals from their social past and the new Khalsa
discipline they are to observe will make them pure: they are expected to do daily
readings of gurbani hymns, abstain from alcohol and tobacco, and follow new dining
rules. In practice this means that Khalsa Sikhs may offer food to the whole community
even if they themselves are not likely to accept eatables or drinkables from other
Sikhs who have not undergone the Khalsa ceremony. The converts, who were carriers
of pollution in the Hindu society, will thus enter a new community in which they
share spaces, interdine, attend marriages and celebrate festivals with people of different
backgrounds. The external Sikh symbols become significant identity markers in
interaction with the surrounding majority society. Since the Sikhs in Varanasi are
associated with the Khatri or Kshattriya caste, people who only recognize the recruits
by their religious affiliation may even attribute them an ethnic identity as Punjabi
Sikhs and social status of Khatris. They will be addressed as “Sardar ji”, or “respected
chieftain”, which is an honorific appellative widely used for a Sikh.
Although a new religious identity opens up for social opportunities, hierarchies
and differentiations based on caste belonging are still prevalent within the local
community. Inside the gurdwara the Hindu converts will be treated with respect as
equals, according to the dominant norm within that space, but they often come to
occupy posts as laborers to Punjabi Sikhs of higher castes with whom they do not
intermarry. Most of the unskilled employees in the gurdwaras of Varanasi are Hindu
villagers of low caste background. The gurdwara provide shelter and a small salary
in exchange of responsibilities for daily duties, such as cleaning and preparing food,
while the gurdwara committee with Punjabi Sikhs of a higher social strata remain
their patrons and employers.
SINDHI MERCHANTS
An important segment of the Sikh community in Varanasi is made up Sindhi families,
who trace their ethnic and cultural belonging to the province Sindh in the present
Pakistan. The majority of Hindu Sindhis migrated from Sindh in connection with the
partition in 1947 and came to establish themselves as a prosperous merchant community
in different parts of India and abroad. Before the partition the social identity of
Sindhis were bound up with caste belonging and the regions from which the families
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008