INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

shared ethnic identity and create meaningful links to a Sindhi culture in a mythical
past.
A major festival celebrated by the Sindhi community in Varanasi is Jhulelal Jeyanti,
the birthday of Jhulelal which occurs on the first day of the month Chet
(March/April). On this day hundreds of Sindhis will attend Jhulelal Mandir Sindhi to
take darshan and present offerings to the patron saint. After sunset the community
will take out an icon of Jhulelal in procession and walk along the main streets of Varanasi
towards river Ganga. The statue is mounted on a decorated float accompanied
with pictures and live-performances depicting the life of the saint and other aspects
of the Sindhi culture held significant. The procession will end at the main ghat at
Dashashwamedh where Jhulelal is ceremonially consigned to the river Ganga.
1.2. ORGANIZING COMMUNAL ACTIVITIES
The arrival of Punjabi Sikhs in Varanasi during the years surrounding the partition
involved major changes in the Sikh community of Varanasi. To local Sikhs the partition
often stands as a dividing line between an old community run by Hindu saints
and a new community of Punjabi Sikhs who provided the Guru Granth Sahib with
proper respect. The two historical shrines in memory of Guru Nanak’s and Guru
Tegh Bahadur’s visits in the city – Gurubagh Gurdwara and Nichibagh Gurdwara ‒
had been under control of mahants in the Udasin and Nirmala traditions and were
now transferred to a committee of Punjabi traders and migrants who altered ritual
practices and reconstructed the shrines. The emic historiography on the Sikhs in Varanasi
briefly remarks that “many years ago” the gurdwaras were under management
of Udasin mahants and “after great struggles and tortures” were accrued to the
Sikhs. 164 The struggle for power over the two Sikh shrines in control of Hindu priests
makes a part of the collective memory. 165 Official records on the gurdwara buildings
in Varanasi and memory histories reported by elderly community members provide a
picture that confirms a take-over by Punjabi Sikhs, however, accounts that the transfer
of power occurred by more peaceful means.
The following sections will provide a brief summary of the establishment of a
local Sikh management committee for the gurdwaras. In memory histories there are
particularly two leading Sikhs ‒ a saintly devotee and a successful businessman –
who re-shaped the religious life to Sikh standards. A search for the Sikh history in
Varanasi would be incomplete without their mentioning, even if I will only sketch the
contours of their life stories in brief. The remaining part of this section introduces the
managing committee of the two main gurdwaras in Varanasi and Sikh institutions in
the city.
164
Varanasi Dian Kuch Itihasik Yadan, p. 12.
165
Just like the Gurdwara Reform Movement in the 1920s is for the broader Sikh community.
66
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008