INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

sify their religion as a synthesis that is combining divergent beliefs and practices in a
somewhat coherent system. The Sindhi religious life is more inclusive and could
possibly be labeled a complementary syncretism, in the sense that within their
worldview the distinct features of local and regional cults, Hindu and Sikh beliefs
remain distinguishable, yet able to complement each other within one and the same
framework. 158 Perceptions of religious identities display these syncretic features.
Although the distinct ethnic identity is Sindhi, they may claim to have a double religious
identity as both Hindus and Sikhs, or say they are Hindus who follow the Sikh
teaching in the Guru Granth Sahib.
When I asked some of my Sindhi friends in Varanasi what differentiated them
from Hindus and Sikhs respectively, they referred to cultural disparities such as the
Sindhi language, regional customs, and the cult of Jhulelal. Religion, on the contrary,
was a denominator they shared with both Hindus and Sikhs, emphasizing that
Sindhis have never tried to attain any stricter religious boundaries of their own. A
young businessman explained that Sindhis and Sikhs are children of the same mother
and therefore alike, with exception of the external symbols of Amritdhari Sikhs. Recent
studies on Sindhis in the Diaspora show that the degree to which Sindhis are attached
to Sikhism varies between families and is changing due to politics in local communities
and influences of Hindu nationalism, popular Hinduism and modern movements,
such as Chinmaya Mission, Sai Baba, and Radhasoami, on the younger generation.
159 It is still typical of many Sindhi families that they share the belief in the
Guru Granth Sahib and many ritual practices with the Sikhs. In Sindhi temples a copy
of Guru Granth Sahib may be solemnly installed besides statues of Hindu deities and
Jhulelal. 160 Devotees may perform readings from the Sikh scripture, get married either
158
Based on a study of Sindhis at Lucknow, Ramey (2007) notes that they contest the dominant
definitions of religious traditions. As he argues, the label “syncretism” is not always suitable to
explain the Sindhi religious life, since it implicitly validates the dominant definitions. The word
syncretism usually signifies the processes by which an understanding of a religion undergoes
change and blends diverse religious elements. The Sindhi informants in his survey would not
identify their religion as merely a conscious blend of various elements, but perceived their
practices to represent an original and all-encompassing form of Hinduism. From my field experiences
at Varanasi, I do not find the contest of standard definitions exclusive for the Sindhis,
but typical of many Hindu and Sikh perceptions of the Hindu tradition. I believe Ramey makes
a significant distinction between the dominant community definitions of religions and the practices
by which community members live. “Many members of a community effectively participate
in a varied group of religious practices and ideas, accepting some aspects of the dominant
practices and ideas of their group and combining them with ideas and practices from other
groups or traditions”, he writes (Ramey 2007: 6). To represent the religion and to live the religion
are two analytically separate things.
159
Falzon 2004: 54 ‒ 55; Thapan 2002: 163 ff.
160
Thapan reports that the Sindhi temple in Manila held three versions of Guru Granth Sahib (in
Gurmukhi, Devanagari and Sindhi) that were installed on a platform side by side to a volume of
the four Vedas in Sanskrit. The temple is a case in point of how the Sindhis have blended Sikh,
Hindu, Western and regional practices, that are performed and managed by a Sikh granthi and a
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008