The worship service
A Sikh gurdwara includes both the house of worship proper and its associated langar, or communal refectory. The Adi Granth must be present at the gurdwara, and all attending must enter with heads covered and feet bare. Sikhs show their reverence by bowing their foreheads to the floor before the sacred scripture. Worship consists largely of singing hymns from the scripture, and every service concludes with Ardas, a set prayer that is divided into three parts. The first part consists of a declaration of the virtues of all the Gurus, and the last part is a brief salutation to the divine name; neither part can be changed. The middle part of the Ardas is a list, in a generally agreed form, of the trials and the triumphs of the Khalsa, which are recited in clusters by a prayer leader. The congregation responds to each cluster with a fervent “Vahiguru,” which originally meant “Praise to the Guru” but is now accepted as the most common word for God. The conclusion of the service is followed by the distribution of karah prasad, a sacramental food that consists of equal parts of coarsely refined wheat flour, clarified butter, and raw sugar.
The rejection of caste
The Adi Granth contains a forthright condemnation of caste, and consequently there is no toleration of caste in its presence (normally in a gurdwara). The Gurus denounced caste as holding no importance whatsoever for access to liberation. In the langar, therefore, everyone must sit in a straight line, neither ahead to lay claim to higher status nor behind to denote inferiority. Indeed, the distinctive Sikh langar originated as a protest against the caste system. Another signal of the Sikhs’ rejection of caste is the distribution of the karah prasad, which is prepared or donated by people of all castes.
Traditionally, however, caste is still considered important in two areas of Sikh society. Sikhs are normally expected to marry within their caste (for example, Khatri marries Khatri.) In addition, Sikhs of some castes tend to establish gurdwaras intended for their caste only. Members of the Ramgarhia caste, for example, identify their gurdwaras in this way (particularly those established in the United Kingdom), as do members of the Dalit caste. But nowadays, many Sikhs do not adhere to these practices strictly.
More than 60 percent of Sikhs belong to the Jat caste, which is a rural caste. The Khatri and Arora castes, both mercantile castes, form a very small minority, though they are influential within the Sikh community. Other castes represented among the Sikhs, in addition to the distinctive Sikh caste of Ramgarhias (artisans), are the Ahluwalias (formerly Kalals [brewers] who have raised their status considerably) and the two Dalit castes, known in Sikh terminology as the Mazhabis (the Chuhras) and the Ramdasias (the Chamars).
Rites and festivals
Sikh Rahit Marayada, the manual that specifies the duties of Sikhs, names four rituals that qualify as rites of passage. The first is a birth and naming ceremony, held in a gurdwara when the mother is able to rise and bathe after giving birth. A hymn is selected at random from the Guru Granth Sahib, and a name beginning with the first letter of the hymn is chosen. Singh is added to the names of males and Kaur to females. A second rite is the anand karaj (“blissful union”), or marriage ceremony, which clearly distinguishes Sikhs from Hindus. The bride and groom are required to proceed four times around the Guru Granth Sahib to the singing of Guru Ram Das’s Suhi Chhant 2, which differs from the Hindu custom of circling a sacred fire. The third rite—regarded as the most important—is the amrit sanskar, the ceremony for initiation into the Khalsa. The fourth rite is the funeral ceremony. In all cases the distinction between Sikhs and Hindus is emphasized.
The initiation rite, as set down in Sikh Rahit Marayada, is conducted by six initiated Sikhs, five of whom conduct the actual rite while the sixth sits in attendance on the Guru Granth Sahib, which must be present on such occasions. The ritual involves pouring water into a large iron bowl and adding soluble sweets. This represents the amrit (“nectar”), which is stirred with a double-edged sword by one of the five Sikhs. After the recitation of certain works of the Gurus, which is followed by Ardas, the candidates for initiation drink five handfuls of amrit offered to them. Each time, the Sikh giving it to them cries, “Vahi Guruji ka Khalsa, Vahi Guruji ki fateh” (“Praise to the Guru’s Khalsa! Praise to the Guru’s victory!”). Amrit is sprinkled over the initiates’ hair and eyes five times, and they drink the remainder of the amrit from the same bowl. They repeat five times the Mul Mantra (the superscription at the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib), after which the Rahit is expounded to them by one of the five Sikhs. They are required to wear the Five Ks and to avoid four particular sins: cutting one’s hair, eating halal meat, having sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s spouse, and using tobacco. Of these prohibitions, the injunction against halal meat has been heavily debated, and some Sikh sects interpret the text more broadly as enjoining strict vegetarianism. The Sikh who commits any of these cardinal sins must publicly confess and be reinitiated. Anyone who violates the Rahit and does not confess is branded a patit (apostate). If a candidate has not received a name from the Guru Granth Sahib, one is conferred. Finally, karah prasad is distributed, all taking it from the same dish.
Sikhism observes eight major festivals, as well as several others of lesser importance. Four of the main festivals are gurpurabs, or events commemorating important incidents in the lives of the Gurus, such as the birthdays of Nanak and Gobind Singh and the martyrdoms of Arjan and Tegh Bahadur. The remaining four are the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the New Year festival of Baisakhi, Diwali, and Hola Mahalla. Festivals are marked by processions in the streets and visits to gurdwaras, particularly to those associated with one of the Gurus or with some historical event. Speeches are commonly made to crowds of worshippers. Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is observed by both Hindus and Sikhs; the Sikh celebration centers on the Golden Temple, which is illuminated for the occasion. For Sikhs, Diwali commemorates the release of Guru Hargobind from imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr in Gwalior. Hola Mahalla, which is held the day after the Hindu festival of Holi, was established by Gobind Singh as an alternative to the Hindu holiday. It was originally observed with displays of martial skills and mock battles and is now celebrated with military parades.
Sikh diet
Sikhs vary in dietary practice, with some Sikhs maintaining a strict lacto-vegetarian diet and abstaining from meat and other Sikhs readily consuming meat. Sikh dietary practices have developed in the context of Sikhs’ religious neighbors in the Punjab. Hindus, particularly in northwestern India, are predominantly lacto-vegetarian. Meanwhile, Muslims who eat meat are required to eat halal meat that has been slaughtered in a specific manner. According to the Sikh Rahit Marayada, Sikhs who are initiated into the Khalsa must abstain from eating halal meat, a practice that distinguishes them from their Muslim neighbors. The text further states that Sikhs instead eat jhatka meat, which is meat from an animal slaughtered with one decapitating strike. However, there has been ongoing debate within the Sikh community about this matter, and some interpret the text as prohibiting not only meat but also any contact with meat or eggs. In 1980 the head of the Akal Takht released a decision that Sikhs are not prohibited from eating meat as long as it is jhatka meat. Yet the decree has not been accepted favorably by all sects, and many continue to practice vegetarianism.
In the langar in a gurdwara, vegetarian food is offered. This practice ensures that the langar is hospitable to communities, Sikh and Hindu, that consume a strictly vegetarian diet. Some Sikhs also contend that the vegetarian meal is preferred out of compassion for living beings. Generally, food at a langar will consist of roti (flatbread), dal (spicy and soupy lentils), sabzi (a vegetable, potato or cauliflower, prepared in spices), yogurt, and a sweet such as kheer (rice pudding).
Sikh literature
The Adi Granth and the Dasam Granth
There are two granths, or volumes, that stand out above all others in the Sikh religion: the Adi Granth (“First Book”)—unquestionably the greater of the two—and the Dasam Granth (“Tenth Book”). The Adi Granth, as discussed above, is believed by Sikhs to be the abode of the eternal Guru, and for that reason it is known to all Sikhs as the Guru Granth Sahib—in full, the Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahibji (“The Most Revered Granth Which Is the Guru”). The Dasam Granth is controversial in the Panth because of questions concerning its authorship and composition. No such questions concern the Adi Granth. Carefully compiled by Guru Arjan in 1603–04, it numbers 1,430 pages in its contemporary printed edition. The focus of the Adi Granth is remembrance of the divine name, and there is little commentary on historical events, apart from some references to the life of Guru Arjan.
The Adi Granth is divided into three parts and organized in accordance with specific ragas, a series of five or more notes upon which a melody is based. The brief first section (pages 1–13) contains liturgical works. The lengthy second part of the Adi Granth is devoted to 31 ragas (pages 14–1353), and the third and final part is a short epilogue containing miscellaneous works (pages 1353–1430).
The Adi Granth opens with the Mul Mantra, the basic statement of belief: “There is one Supreme Being, the Eternal Reality. [This Supreme Being] is the Creator, without fear and devoid of enmity, immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace through the Guru.” The Mul Mantra is followed by the only work in the Adi Granth that is recited rather than sung—the supremely beautiful Japji of Guru Nanak, which devout Sikhs may recite following an early-morning bathe. The culmination of its 38 stanzas describes the ascent of the spirit through five stages, finally reaching the realm of truth. The nine hymns of the Sodar (“Gate”) collection are sung by devout Sikhs at sundown each day. Finally, there is the Kirtan Sohila, a group of five hymns sung immediately before retiring for the night. Hymns that are recorded in this liturgical section also appear elsewhere in the Adi Granth.
The middle section of the Adi Granth is subdivided according to raga, and each raga is further subdivided into smaller sections. First there are the chaupad, short hymns by the Gurus beginning with those by Guru Nanak. Second there are longer hymns called ashtapadi and then a variety of longer hymns termed chhant. Next come longer works by various Gurus (such as Arjan’s Sukhmani), followed by the distinctive Adi Granth form of the var. Finally, there is the Bhagat Bani, comprising works by Kabir and other Sants whose compositions Amar Das (who was responsible for the Goindval Pothis) and Arjan regarded as sound. The inclusion of Kabir testifies to the link joining the Gurus to the tradition of the sants, most of whom were Hindus—though two were Sufi Muslims (notably Farid), both of whom composed works that were regarded by Sikhs as entirely acceptable.
This intricate but generally consistent ordering of material was characteristic of other collections of scripture by religious groups in medieval and early modern India. Guru Arjan’s collection included works by the first five Gurus, but there was relatively little by Guru Angad. Works by Guru Tegh Bahadur were added later, and the Adi Granth was then complete.
The other major work of Sikh literature, the Dasam Granth, was, prior to the emergence of the Tat Khalsa, believed to be a work of Guru Gobind Singh, and accordingly Sikhs treated it as a part of the Guru Granth Sahib. Most modern Sikh scholars, however, agree that by far the largest part of it consists of the compositions of Gobind Singh’s followers and that many of these works would never have met with the Guru’s approval. This means that the great majority of works in the Dasam Granth cannot be regarded as a part of the Guru Granth Sahib.
According to tradition, the original version of the Dasam Granth was collected by the Guru’s faithful follower Mani Singh. Another version is believed to have been assembled by Dip Singh, and a third was compiled in Patna at the end of the 18th century. The three versions are substantially the same, and none of them contains the Zafar-Nama (“Epistle of Victory”), Guru Gobind Singh’s defiant message to Emperor Aurangzeb. In 1902 Sanatan Sikhs of the Amritsar Singh Sabha published an authorized version that included the Zafar-Nama and gave it the title Dasam Granth. The contemporary printed work amounts to 1,428 pages.
Compositions that are accepted as the work of Guru Gobind Singh include the Jap (“Repeat,” which should be distinguished from Guru Nanak’s Japji, “Chant”), Bachitar Natak (“Wondrous Drama”), Akal Ustati (“Praise to the Eternal One”), and Zafar-Nama. Together these works form only a small part of the Dasam Granth. The great bulk of the volume consists of a retelling of the Rama and Krishna legends and a lengthy series of diverting anecdotes, mainly tales about the scheming ways of women. Contents of this sort were altogether unacceptable to the Tat Khalsa, which consequently rejected the Dasam Granth. Periodically, however, questions concerning its authenticity are raised, mainly by Sikhs who believe that the original tradition must be correct.
