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Adaptation and Incorporation in Ritual Practices at the Golden Temple,

Amritsar

Article · September 2016

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 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016 75

Adaptation and Incorporation in Ritual Practices at the

Golden Temple, Amritsar
Navtej K. Purewal and Virinder S. Kalra

Abstract
The Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar is popularly considered to be the central Sikh religious site.
This article demonstrates how the evolution of ritual at the Golden Temple embodies a multiplicity which is often
overlooked alongside attempts to either incorporate or erase devotional rituals by official and formal interpreta-
tions of Sikh tradition. The popular dimensions of contemporary practices which cross the boundaries of what is
determined to be 'Sikh', we argue, are represented in devotional rituals which have continued alongside and within
formal Khalsa Sikh tradition highlighting a milieu of heteropraxy of devotional ritual taking place at the site.

Introduction status after the partition, as a place for Sikh pilgrimage in

newly formed India. The city of Amritsar is considered
Harmandir Sahib (transl. temple of Hari/God), or the the epicentre of contemporary Sikh religious identity.
Golden Temple, in Amritsar occupies an iconic position in However, its identification in previous eras has been more
the representation of Sikhs. The complex lies in the centre ambiguous. For example, in the colonial era, demo-
of the walled city of Amritsar in northwest India, a city graphically Amritsar had been a Muslim majority city (Tal-
whose foundation is symbiotically linked to the establish- bot 2006). In the period after partition, the lackDf access
ment of the sacred site. As Grewal (2008: 1) notes, "the to sites such as Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib has meant
story of Amritsar is the story of its [The Golden Temple's] increasing focus on the Golden Temple, such that the com-
foundation and survival". This article's focus upon Har- plex is now recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage
mandir Sahib presents it as a site which embodies multi- site. Indeed, the partition can be considered as one of the
plicity through its history of evolution through the per- key events in which rituals, especially the performance of
formance of rituals. It is here that we examine how official hymn singing (kirtan) were greatly impacted upon.
practice (orthodoxy) became specified and sanctioned Briefly considering the historical formation of the site,
through codification while heteropraxy became maligned the shift in its naming from Darbar Sahib (the court of
as 'non-Sikh' and thus outside of the realm of acceptability. the Guru) to Harmandir (God's temple) to the Golden
It is this process of institutionalization, incorporation, and Temple (referring to its gold adornment) provides the
adaptation that this article wishes to explore. The popular context for considering the transformations that ritual
dimensions of contemporary Sikh practices which cross the practice has undergone since 1947. Sikh reformist move-
boundaries of what is determined to be 'Sikh', we will argue, ments in the British Colonial era eventually gained con-
are represented in devotional rituals which have continued trol of the site in 1925 and attempted to curb popular het-
alongside and within formal Khalsa Sikh tradition high- eropraxy by institutionalising the centrality of the Ad
lighting a milieu of heteropraxy of Sikh devotional ritual. Granth (the sacred text of the Sikhs). This period is par-
The city of Amritsar (amrit sarovar- 'sacred bathing ticularly well documented in Sikh historical studies and
pool') was founded in 1577 by'the third Sikh Guru and de- forms a key area of academic debate. Our contention, by
veloped by his next three successors. Whilst it had a tur- looking at the transformation of devotional practices, is
bulent subsequent history, the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh that rather than a dichotomy developing between re-
and the patronage of the British colonial state ensured its formists and popular practice (as is suggested by the tex-
centrality as a place of pilgrimage. In postcolonial India it tual sources), a process of incorporation and accommo-
is the focal point for Sikh religious affairs and an intensely dation took place. Even in the reconstruction of the
attractive site for worshippers and tourists alike. complex after the Indian Army assault in 1984, sites of
Whilst the birthplace of Guru Nanak at Nankana Sahib, popular worship were retained. Despite attempts by the
now in present-day Pakistan, had been another central management of the shrine to bring popular practices into
place of locatable Sikh identification prior to 194 7, the line with institutional rules of conduct, worshippers con-
Golden Temple acquired this singularly definitive iconic tinued to find methods of adaptation. However, as we
76 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016

Fig.1: Golden Temple, Amritsar (photo by V.S. Kalra)

will conclude, the persistent exclusion of women from the site became formally constructed in the shape that it
formal rituals is a poignant reminder of the obstinate na- has today. Indeed, in establishing the shrine at the centre
ture of institutional authority in maintaining bounded of what was initially known as Guru Ka Chak (the place
exclusivity which, though textually unjustifiable, relies of the Guru) or Ram Das-pur, a thriving community came
heavily upon a masculinist assertion of dominant reli- to be established (Grewal 1996; Moosvi 2005).
gious institutional authority. The spiritual centre of this new place was the figure of
the Guru himself. This was literally a Darbar Sahib (which
is how the temple is also still referred to), 'a court' where
From Darbar Sahib to Golden Temple followers could come, pay obeisance, and meet the Guru
and partake of various rituals and activities. Alongside
There are multiple narratives as to why the third Sikh making the Amrit Sarovar a brick lined pool, the build-
Guru Amar Das and his son-in-law Guru Ram Das chose ing of the structure in tlie centre of the pool, the specific
this particular site to establish a new centre for their fol- building called the Harmandir, was also constructed by
lowers. The sanctity of the site in particular was related to Guru Arjun.l As Fenech (2008) has described, by the time
the presence of a pool of water and of a large number of the sixth Guru Hargobind built the Aka/ Takht (the seat
Jujube (berh) trees. The Buddha is said to have stayed in of authority) in the complex, the town and community
the vicinity while there is mythological reference to the of Sikhs were well established. However, the tensions with
Pandava brothers of the Mahabharat having been raised the central Mughal authorities, which resulted in the ex-
from battle-ridden unconsciousness after drinking water ecution of Guru Arjun and the persecution of subsequent
from the pool (Kaur 2000). In the Sikh tradition it is a site Gurus, meant that the site was left in the hands of care-
visited by Guru Nanak (the founder) as well as successor takers by the middle of the seYenteenth century. Indeed,
Guru Angad, in which way its future centrality to Sikhs is just as previous Gurus had established other centres, sub-
guaranteed in the past (Singh 2000). Even though the pres- sequent Gurus established towns such as Kiratpur and
ent site was established through the construction of a baoli Anandpur. From the mid-sewnteenth century until the
or sarovar, a fixed construction for the holding of water, early nineteenth centur\- :\mritsar became a site of tur-
it was under Guru Arjun (1563-1606), the fifth Guru, that moil and upheaYal \,-ith the temple being desecrated and
 -
JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016 77

ransacked three times by Afghan marauders, taking ad- the mahants, who had previously benefitted from British
vantage of the disintegration of the Mughal empire.2 patronage, culminating in violent encounters such as that
With the departure of the Gurus from the site, the cen- at Nankana Sahib (the birth place of Guru Nanak) in 1921
tral focus of Sikh actiYities was the Harmandir where, ac- over rights of control and access to the shrine (Singh 1978).
cording to Singh (2006), the earliest form of the Ad Mahant Narain Dass was criticized by an emerging Sikh
Granth, compiled by Guru Arjun was housed. Indeed, the critique that problematized his personal gain as proprietor
narrative by which the central rituals of the site came to of the shrine estate and taker of all offerings made by wor-
be focused on the Harmandir and the sacred text is an es- shippers at the shrine. The case became the milestone for
sential component in understanding why this site, rather the SGPC and the gurdwara reform movement of the time
than the others established by the Gurus, became iconic. and culminated in the Nankana Sahib massacre at which
It is this site where the completed Ad Granth was first approximately fifty people were killed. The British pa-
housed after the final living Gm=u Gobind Singh passed tronage of Mahant Narain Dass became a focal point of
on the Guruship to 'the book'. Various individuals from the movement and highlighted how hereditary entitlements
Sikh history, such as Baba Budda, Bhai Gurdas and Bhai were out of sync with the movement to liberate gurdwaras
Manni Singh were all associated with the site and, per- from individual control.
haps most crucially for our purposes here, a set of ritual After years of protest and many deaths the colonial state
practices, derived from those that are locally embedded relinquished control of'historic' gurdwaras to the SGPC.
at the Harmandir, was standardised by nineteenth cen- Unlike Nankana Sahib, which had been run by mahants,
tury reformers as universally Sikh. This nineteenth-century the Golden Temple was managed by a committee until the
colonial focus on the Ad Granth was aided by the previ- British annexation of Punjab in 1849. The British colo-
ous period of Sikh rule under Maharaja Ranjit Singh nial state's patronage of the shrine continued through its
(1780-1839) who clad the dome of the Harmandir in gold appointment of a committee to manage the administra-
leaf, turning it into Swaran Mandir. It was the British, tion of the Golden Temple through the rules and regula-
who having annexed Punjab to the empire in 1849, sub- tions set out in the Dastur-ul' Amal.3 Adopted as a tool for
sequently translated this into English and gave it the name influencing and gaining tacit allegiance to colonial au-
by which it is most known today in world religions ap- thority, the Golden Temple became the site at which the
proaches to Sikhism: The Golden Temple. British attempted to exert control over the emerging urban
The cartography of Sikh spiritual spaces in South Asia Sikh community. Ultimately, the struggle over the gurd-
spans the subcontinent, and before the twentieth century waras led to the compromise of the 1925 Sikh Gurdwaras
had been largely constituted by sites associated with the Act which bestowed controlling authority of 'historic'
Sikh Gurus. Most of these sites had been managed by care- shrines onto the SGPC and local committees. This marked
takers who came to be collectively known as the mahants, both the end of hereditary administration at these speci-
who either inherited the sites through a bloodline associ- fied sites as well as a legal definition for the status of his-
ated with the Gurus, or received their office through state toric gurdwaras as formalized Sikh institutions.
appointment during Ranjit Singh's and British colonial As the independence movement against British colo-
rule. The mahants, in light of the colonial state's reifica- nial rule mounted and eventually the partition of 194 7
tion of religious boundaries, became juxtaposed against occurred, the fight for Sikh control of gurdwaras shifted
the emerging canvas of Sikh community identity. The Gur- from one in which the British colonial state was invoked
dwara Reform Movement or the Akali Movement of the in order to recognize Sikh religious distinction to a sce-
1920s was accompanied by the ,creation of the Shiromani nario in which religious identity and practices in gurd-
Gurdwara Prabandhak Commitree (SGPC) which would waras were represented, managed and mediated by the
become the Sikh political voice in Punjab thereafter. religious authority of the SGPC. One of the outcomes of
Murphy (2012) highlights how this period marked a this was that ritual practices came under the scrutiny of
transition towards a spatial and Sikh imaginary in which the SGPC and the Sikh Rahit Maryada (Code of Conduct
there was "a new sense of the logic of ownership by and and Conventions) in which official practice (orthodoxy)
for the community" ( 184). Gurdwaras and other religious was specified and sanctioned through codification while
sites which had previously been embedded in Mughal and heteropraxy was maligned as non-Sikh and thus outside
then British management of revenue-free land grants, land of the realm of acceptability. It is in this context that the
management and entitlement became coopted into a newly- changes in ritual at the Golden Temple are most usefully
created twentieth-century Sikh gurdwara management viewed. Crucially, the Ad Granth's status as the nucleus
under the authority of the SGPC. The struggle for Sikh of formal Sikh practice came to be institutionalised.
control over gurdwaras during the 1920s was resisted by
78 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016

Disciplining the Darbar purpose. It continues in the regulation of contempo-

rary practices of devotion at the Golden Temple and
There is a gap in studies of popular practices at Sikh spir- other SGPC managed gurdwaras.s The main document
itual sites due to two debates which have directed the lens which outlines the disciplining aspect of the SGPC in
of scholarship towards textual and historical evidence, eclips- terms of ritual conduct is the Rahit Maryada (The Sikh
ing any focus upon popular and contemporary expressions Code of Conduct and Conventions). We quote extensively
of devotion. Sikh studies has been primarily consumed with here to illustrate the extent to which certain practices
two deliberations, in this respect, that both took place in are considered illegitimate:"
the 1990s. One was spurred by Harjot Oberoi's ( 1992, 1994)
Not believing in [ ... ) magic, spells, incantation,
seminal but highly debated work on popular saints and his
omens, auspicious times, days and occasions, in-
deconstructive historical exercise of the Sikh tradition as we
fluence of stars, horoscopic dispositions, Shradh
know it today. The other was set off by W.H. McLeod ( 1975,
(ritual serving of food to priests for the salvation of
2004) and Pashaura Singh's (2000) attestation of the au-
ancestor on appointed days as per the lunar calen-
thenticity of authorship of the Ad Granth. Both of these de-
dar), Ancestor worship, khiah (ritual serving of
bates reflect the attention towards the sanctity and sacred-
food to priests-Brahmins-on the lunar an-
ness of the Sikh tradition in history and text. Each brought
niversaries of death of an ancestor), pind (offering
to the fore how far the limits of acceptability could be drawn
of funeral barley cakes to the deceased's relatives),
in terms of applying a historiography of religion and aca-
patal (ritual donating of food in the belief that that
demic critique to sacred texts and hence religious identity.
would satisfy the hunger of a departed soul), diva
For our purposes here, we do not intend to tread the
(the ceremony of keeping an oil lamp lit for 360
paths of either deconstructing Sikh identity or attesting
days after the death, in the belief that that lights the
the authorship of sacred Sikh texts. What we do intend
path of the deceased), ritual funeral acts, hom
to explore, however, is the popular dimensions of con-
(lighting of ritual fire and pouring intermittently
temporary Sikh practices which cross the boundaries of
clarified butter, food grains etc. into it for propiti-
what is determined to be 'Sikh' in the formal Rahit
ating gods for the fulfilment of a purpose), jag (re-
Maryada. Devotional rituals have continued alongside
ligious ceremony involving presentation of obla-
and within the Khalsa Sikh tradition which highlights how
tions), [ . . . ] veneration of any graves, of
Sikh popular rituals, rather than being in opposition to
monuments erected to honour the memory of a de-
formal, institutionalised practices, are a continuing part
ceased person or of cremation sites, idolatry and
of the milieu of Sikh rituaJ.4 However, this article is not
such like superstitious observances (SGPC 1925).
an exercise in understanding syncretism, but an exami-
nation of the interplay between institutional forms of wor- Even though a distance and tension between rules and
ship and the rituals of heteropraxy which underlie con- practice is expected to exist within religious discourse,
temporary practice. the fact that the SGPC central office is located in the
Within our focus upon heteropraxy, devotional seek- Golden Temple complex shows that the Golden Temple
ers are not bound by religious categorizations of iden- represents more than symbolic authority. Both the head
tity in their practice, and pilgrims and visitors to these Granthi (loosely translate<;! as Priest) and the fathedar of
shrines are multifarious in motivation and identifica- the political seat of authority (the Aka/ Takht) who is se-
tion. While the openness of the Sikh tradition beyond lected by the SGPC are based at the site which gives a
the limits of Khalsa identity was identified by Oberoi weight of institutional authority to the implementation
(1994 ), his deconstructive exercise was interpreted as a of the Rahit Maryada. Despite this support for orthodoxy,
critique of formal Sikh identity writ large. Our inten- our exploration of heteropraxy at the Golden Temple finds
tion here is not to tread that same deconstructive path, that alongside formal, regulated rituals of worship and
but instead to focus upon the negotiations that exist be- obeisance, there is also a continuing popular practice con-
tween heteropraxy and the institutional attempts of reg- stituted by a multifariousness of seekers of devotion. Folk-
ulation through "Sikhisation" (Juergensmeyer 1982). lore, devotional votive, and village religion, thus, are not
While the Singh Sabha movement played a significant necessarily in conflict with Sikh identity, but exist in tan-
role in the making of modern Sikh identity in which dem, though sometimes on contested terms.
Sikh identity assertion was mobilized through this ed- Analysis of the constructed nature of major religious
ucated, urban-based leadership, its institutional form boundaries, for instance, draws attention to state and
in the SGPC occupies the contemporary voice of this other modes of control and rationalisation which have
process of"Sikhisation" and indeed was created for that historically attempted to disrupt popular notions of plu-
 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016 79

Fig.2: Bathers at the Golden Temple (Photo by N.K. Purewal)

ralism rather than foster them (Gottschalk 2000). Others domain of European conceptuality" (36). It is at this junc-
have given contextualised examples in the South Asian ture between what is identified as formally Sikh and what
context of rich 'confluent' histories of coexistence and is not where institutionalizing processes present a disci-
commonality which go beyond any notion of primordial plining attempt upon heteropraxy.
religious distinctions but which have relied upon a no- How then can devotional practices at such iconic yet
tion of syncretism (Assayag 2004, Sikand 2004). Hetero- popular sites as the Golden Temple be conceptualised
praxy at sacred Sikh sites highlights the limitation of the when terminologies and categories are subject to scrutiny
concept of syncretism for our purposes, since it implies for their bounded nature? While the open-ended, un-
the existence of bounded traditions which can then be bounded nature of social formations has been recognized
'mixed' (see Mir 2006). The requirement for discrete cat- by Barth (1994) as a problematizing factor to any singu-
egories for the concept of syncretism cannot be met within larizing depiction of religion, Fitzgerald (2000) moves
Sikh sacred sites, unless the construction of those cate- this understanding further by arguing for a modification
gories are de facto accepted. The symbolic marking of sa- of the western-inspired theological project by opening up
cred spaces such as gurdwaras as being essentially Sikh, the focus to the everyday of spirituality in which "we find
or the worship of objects or deities other than the Ad a possible transition point from 'religion' and 'religions'
Granth as essentially Hindu, or of the worship of living to the ritual or cultural reproduction of transcendental
or eternalised pirs or saints as Muslim, are all part of the representations ..." (18). From this perspective the em-
process that locates that which is within and that which phasis is placed on rituals that are, for example, driven
is outside of the Sikh realm of fqrmal practice and iden- by desires to fulfill wishes associated with life-cycle and
tity. Mandair (2009) argues that these attempts to create kinship relations or that are routinized as part of every-
closure and to assert a dominant interpretation of Sikh day life. At the Golden Temple local residents incorpo-
sacred texts are a means of staking claims to a compre- rate a visit to the site into their daily routine of work and
hensive unity and identifiable self-projection in relation family. Their devotional practices could be said to repre-
to the Hindu and Muslim 'other'. Such closure was not sent the ritualization of everyday life through the spiri-
necessarily so concerned with popular practices (though tual life of its localized context, Amritsar. Positioned at
clearly these were often forefronted as problematic) but the centre of the old walled city, the sarovar and then the
was driven by an exercise in " 'fulfilling the Sikhs' desire Golden Temple provide a centripetal focus spatially, so-
for theology as a mode of totalizing signification in the cially and spiritually.
80 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016

This move towards culture is one means of under-

standing the popular devotional practices in northwest
South Asia. However, it is not adequate on its own if we
wish to understand how religious institutions engage with
popular practices in terms of an interplay and engage-
ment leading to incorporation and accommodation.
When we explore what people 'do' in their devotional
practice rather than how they are defined, we find that
there is much that goes on which is not so neatly locat-
able within the available religious categories, but which
is also not completely disassociated from frameworks es-
tablished by institutional authority. Indeed, what we iden-
tify as rituals of devotion in the iconic Sikh sacred space
of the Golden Temple contains practices and idioms which
are not exclusively Sikh within the formal sense but which
are certainly Sikh within the popular sense. It is at the
juncture of the formal, institutional and the popular that
ritual activities are therefore best explored and explained.

Water and Trees

On entering the Darbar Sahib complex from any one
of its four entrances the most immediate visual impact is
of the water and on sunny days the shimmering reflec-
tion of the gold plating of the Harmandir. It is indeed the Fig.3. Dukhbhanjani berh (Photo by N.K. Purewal)
Amrit Sarovar (from which the city derives its name) or
the Ram Das Sarovar (after the third Guru) which was her a lesson, Rajni's father arranged her marriage to a
the central focus of the settlement when it was formed in leper who she would have to struggle to look after and
the early 16th century. The importance of the water is cart around as they begged. She is said to have parked the
also to be found in the writings of the fifth Guru Arjun, cart near a tree next to the sarovar where a black crow was
who, in an extremely popular hymn (shabad) from the seen to dive into the water and emerge as a white dove.
Ad Granth states: Rajni's husband bathed in the sarovar and emerged as a
healed and handsome man, proving the healing powers
(Sorath, Fifth Mehl, Third House, Du-Padas):
of the water, while also containing the message of the
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The
power of the spiritual over material pursuits. On hearing
True Guru:
this story Guru Ram Das then went to the spot and de-
Bathing in the nectar tank of Ram Das,
cided to build a tank there and named the tree Dukhb-
all sins are erased.
hanjani berh (Kaur 1983: 173 ).
One becomes immaculately pure, taking this cleans-
A version of this story (in English and Punjabi) is ac-
ing bath.
tually given on the enclosure around the tree inscribed
The Perfect Guru has bestowed this gift.
onto a white marble plaque, but with the difference that
Indeed, the selection of the site was combined with the the agency for the whole event is with the Gurus. Rajni
presence of a Jujube tree, which is still extant and is is not brought up by her father but in her mother's ma-
revered as Dukhbhanjani Berh. In local lore, the story of ternal home in Lahore, who are followers of the Guru and
Rajni provides the most significant reference of the thus she is a devotee. The healing powers of the water are
sarovar's healing properties. As the story goes, Rajni, a a reward for her devotion rather than intrinsic to the water
young unmarried woman made a dismissive remark to itself. Another story relates to Guru Amar Das taking a
her father about his generosity. She stated that the gifts leaf from the tree to give to Guru Angad to cure a skin
he had given to her and her sisters were not a sign of his illness. In both cases the healing properties of the water
goodness but that all gifts are from God and that her fa- are material, as could be argued for Guru Arjan's own
ther was merely the go-between. As a means of teaching representation of the water. Yet this aspect is side lined in
 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1! 2016 81

Fig.4: Baba Budda Sahib (Photo by N.K. Purewal)

Pashaura Singh's (2006) analysis, for example. He argues, where the Gurus were present in Amritsar (up to Guru
following a reformist perspective that the shabad refers to Hargobind), another four pools were constructed. These
'spiritual cleansing'. are Santokhsar, Kalusar, Bibeksar and Ramsar, each with
A second tree that is of significance within the precinct its own associated narrative of spiritual power. Indeed,
of the complex is the Lee hi Berh, which is specifically asso- one of these pools, Ramsar, built by Guru Angad, also
ciated with Guru Arjun as he is said to have sat and super- features in his writings as a site for bathing and pilgrim-
vised the construction of the brick lined Amrit Sarovar and age. It is located within the walled city at Chatiwind gate,
also wrote many of the shabads in the Ad Granth in the but is at some distance from the main complex. This was
shade of the tree. A third tree, Baba Budda di Berh (the tree the site where Bhai Gurdas and Guru Angad are said to
under which Baba Budda sat), is associated with Baba Budda have compiled the first pothis (books) which would be the
(transl. old man), known as the first head Granthi (priest) precursors to the Ad Granth. The sole focus therefore,
of the Golden Temple, who is said to have lived until the even on the Amrit Sarovar, is part of the centralisation of
age of around 100 during the lifetimes of the first six Sikh the site, arguably appropriate for a single site of Sikh au-
gurus. The tree, or berh, which marks the spot at which thority and authenticity. The folklore associated with each
Baba Budda sat as he supervised the excavation of the of the trees and sarovar's votive and healing powers pres-
sarovar has thus become a site to pay obeisance by visitors ent a parallel sense of piety to that of the official Sikh his-
to the shrine. The berh lies within the shrine complex along toriographical ownership of the site. The two are how-
the parkrama (outer walkway) and symbolises Baba Budda's ever symbiotically related and not necessarily contlictual
service to the spiritual and built history of the Golden Tem- as the Sikh studies debate with its overly textual approach
ple. Just as Dukhbhanjani Berh is known for its healing prop- might indicate. The institutionalising processes of the
erties, Baba Budda di Berh attracts devotees for the bless- management of the Golden Temple since 1947 show at-
ings associated with Baba Budda's wisdom, long life and his tempts at negotiating, accommodating and incorporat-
role as protector and overseer of the Dar bar Sahib. ing this mystical power into a narrative centred on the Ad
Alongside trees, water and its curative powers also has Granth.
a wider importance outside of the iconic Amrit sarovar, The formal daily routine of tituals at the Golden Tem-
which is demonstrated by the fact that the Gurus built ple, which is carried out and managed by the granthis, se-
other water tanks in the vicinity. In fact, over the period wadars and other SGPC employees, consists of an elabo-
82 jOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1l 2016

Fig.S. Worshippers paying respects at Baba Budda Sahib (photo by N.K. Purewal)

rate schedule and calendar. Though times vary according and the general population of devotees, they are all fo-
to season, every morning at approximately three a.m. the cused on the Ad Granth.6
Ad Granth is carried by a granthi on a cushion on his head Outside of this authorised daily process, however, the
in preparation to be placed on an ornate silver and gold- Golden Temple complex is also dotted with smaller
gilded paa/ki (palanquin), laden with coverings and cush- sacralised sites and spaces of obeisance, most notably the
ions made of silk brocade. The processional carrying of Berh trees. In other sites, trees have votives tied to them
the Ad Granth starts at the Aka! Takht, passes through the or divas lit under them as way of marking a desire or wish.
darshani deorhi and then proceeds across the causeway to Placing garlands of flowers and taking leaves for medici-
the inner chamber of the Golden Temple in the centre of nal purposes are all part of the multiple rituals associated
the sarovar. Here the Ad Granth is placed onto the paa/ki with trees at sacred sites .. There is a two-way process of
sahib as hymns are sung accompanied by the rhythm of institutionalisation and regulation of rituals that take place
nagara-s (large drums). Subsequently, devotional hymns at the trees. The installation of the Ad Granth at the
are sung throughout the day by groups of singers and ac- Dukhbhanjani Berh and the development of a small Gur-
companists until the late evening where the Ad Granth is dwara at Lechi Berh are two examples of the incorpora-
returned to the Aka! Takht. tion of devotional practice into the Sikh Rahit. At Baba
The contemporary dynamics of devotional ritual at the Budda's berh there is no presence of the Ad Granth, but
Golden Temple shows the centralising, magnetic force of it continues as a site of ritual obeisance, and respects are
the Harmandir which houses one of the many installa- paid to the site of the tree which was cordoned off in the
tions of the Ad Granth in the complex. Queues of devo- 1990s by a marble encasement and a brass frame, in order
tees wait for up to three hours to matha tek, (paying re- to prevent worshippers from making physical contact with
spect by literally kneeling down and touching the forehead the tree. Prior to the brass and marble encasement, wor-
to the ground) and make an offering to the book, the em- shippers would pay respects by touching the berh with
bodiment of the living Guru. While the official daily rou- their hands and foreheads or even kissing the tree. Today,
tine of ritual at the Golden Temple involves multiple rit- not only is the tree physically inaccessible to devotees, but
uals involving SGPC officials, local Amritsar businessmen this is also regulated by an SGPC-paid sewadar who stands
at the site to ensure that restrictions on overt obeisance Sikh Conduct and Conventions was published in 1925,
are observed.- \'isitors are permitted to pay respects by Article 6 was not enforced with any rigor until after 1947
touching the marble with their hands or forehead. How- when the partition of India forced questions around re-
ever, the marigolds at the base of the tree show the adap- ligious authority and representation of Sikh commu-
tive devotional practice to subvert the institutional im- nity identity at the shrine. The rababis, the hereditary
position of distance between the berh and worshippers and official performers of kirtan at Harmandir Sahib,
who are able to find an indirect means of physical con- who had once been employees of the management com-
tact with the berh through the marigolds which are tossed mittee of the shrine, were, as non-Sikhs, no longer per-
at its base. mitted to perform. The post-1947 context forced the
Operation Blue Star, the attack on the Golden Temple religious question in more stark ways than had previ-
complex by Indian Army forces in 1984, ostensibly to rid ously been done. While some rababi musicians con-
the temple of militants using it as a base, resulted in the verted to Sikhism, became baptized as Sikhs, and con-
destruction of many sites of ritual worship on the site. tinued to perform kirtan, others migrated to Pakistan
Perhaps more significantly is the incorporation and adap- where their livelihoods became detached from their ear-
tation of many aspects of popular worship which took lier Sikh patronage.
place in the rebuilding of the site. If the intention of the The search for authenticity in the performance of kir-
Indian state was to curb fundamentalism then the impact tan became embedded within the religious question, so
of the destruction was to allow a rebuilding much more estranging and ostracising the traditional hereditary rababi
closely focused on a bounded Sikh identity aligned with performers of kirtan at Harmandir Sahib. The rababi per-
the sole veneration of the Ad Granth. Ironically, perhaps, formers were Muslim in terms of overt religious identity
it also allowed for the creation of a new object of curios- but were professionally attached to Sikh religious insti-
ity surrounding the events of 1984, if not veneration, in tutions and patrons through the musical performance of
that the SGPC have encased some of the bullet holes that Sikh scripture. This position became tenuous as a result
were left in the walls of the complex as a memorialisation of the post-1947 environment of politicized religious iden-
of the 1984 events. In April 2013 a memorial plaque was tities and the wave of migration of Muslims from East
installed at Gurdwara Yaadgar Shaheedaan (Martyrs' Me- Punjab to newly created Pakistan. The rababis of the
morial Gurdwara) near to the Akal Takht with the in- Golden Temple were forced either to convert formally to
scription "Memorial in the memory of 14th head of Sikhism and adopt a Khalsa identity, so as to maintain
Damdami Taksal Martyr Saint Giani Jarnail Singh Ji their livelihood, or to migrate to Pakistan where their
Khalsa Bhindrawale and all martyrs of 1984", highlight- Muslim identity would require them to find other means
ing the incorporation of the figure of Bhindranwale who of income. Thus, the performance of kirtan at the Golden
is otherwise viewed as a contested symbol of extremism. Temple saw a transformation when this hereditary group,
The SGPC's recognition has now created a legitimised site who were symbolic of a previous heteroreligious space,
for public obeisance to him close to the temple. were erased from the ritual performance of kirtan at the
shrine (Purewal2011; Kalra 2014a).
A more contemporary debate around conventions sur-
rounding the performance of kirtan concerns whether
Shabad Gurbani Kirtan it should be performed in a classical form, following
at Harmandir Sahib rules of raag and taal as specified in the Guru Granth
Sahib, or as popular renditions of shabads for the pub-
One of the most significant symbolic tools for en- lic sung in pleasant, accessible tunes (Kalra 2014b ). While
forcing the 'Sikhisation' of devotional practice at the representing the debates over the correct raag form and
Golden Temple has been kittan. The rules for the per- the use of stringed instruments rather than the harmo-
formance of kirtan, coverin~ its recitation, rendition, nium may be represented as a struggle against the SGPC
form, and textual specification, were made explicit in by revivalists, another group was also attempting to
Chapter 5 of the SGPC's Sikh Rahit Maryada on kirtan. change the shape of kirtan performance in the Har-
In requiring adherence to the code of conduct with re- mandir within the same time period. In the literature
gard to devotional hymn singing, Article 6 states that lamenting the decline in the quality of kirtan and the
only a Sikh may perform kirtan in a congregation and authenticity of the sacred, which has gained some promi-
that only hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib may be sung nence in academic discourse in India and in the USA,
without improvisation, musical extraneousness or in- there is no mention of the struggle by a group of women
terpretation of the texts being sung. While the Code of to gain access to the perforn'lative space of the Har-
84 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016

mandir.s This lack of mention is striking, since the de- all backgrounds being allowed to play to one that solely
bate about lineage and authenticity relies on gender as allows orthodox amritdharis to perform reaches its limit
an organising principle. As music becomes more sacred on the question of gender. Indeed, it is women's practices
and pure, so women as music makers become more rare. that were seen as heteropraxy by Singh Sabha reformers
From Dhrupad, to the rababis, to the orthodox Sikh per- in the early part of the twentieth century (Malhotra 2004)
formers, it is genealogies of male peformers that are held and thus orthodoxy in kirtan is maintained by securing
up as the trail carrying the traces of original tunes. It is the boundary between men and women in the twenty first
poignant that just as rababi Bhai Ghulam Mohammed century.
Chand is not allowed to perform kirtan in the Harmandir
during visits to Amritsar because he is not a Sikh, he is
still able to assert patriarchal lineage by saying: "Our Conclusion
women don't sing".
The prevalence of women-only kirtan groups, Istri This article has examined how the Golden Temple!Har-
Satsang, is hardly documented. It refers to performances mandir Sahib shows processes of incorporation and adap-
that are outside of the usual fixed patterns of worship tation evident in the evolution of ritual practice amidst
in a gurdwara. Taking place in exclusively women-only institutionalizing processes. In doing so, we have argued
spaces, this has been represented in some senses as the that the popular dimensions of devotional practices point
music of the sangat (congregation), and as a common to ongoing negotiations and interactions of heteropraxy
practice before the commoditisation and professional- which challenge the singularity of orthodoxy with which
ization of kirtan. Most notably in diasporic contexts, such iconic sites are most commonly associated. The cur-
such as East Africa, the lack of professionally trained rency of distinct, often polarized, religious boundaries
musicians meant that women learned and performed in has been increasingly questioned by the recognition of
the Gurdwaras in a much more prominent way than in the multiple nature of practice and identification (King
Punjab (Purewal and Lallie 2013). The continuation of 1999). Acts and practices of spirituality which cross for-
these women-only practices have been matched with the mal religious boundaries can be seen across northwest
emergence of professional women's kirtan groups, yet South Asia in common idioms and practices at gurdwaras,
these too are barred from performing at Harmandir shrines, mandirs, the tombs of saints and other spiritual
Sahib. It is not that women do not perform kirtan at sites. Matha tekna (paying respect by literally touching
other gurdwaras but rather that the rituals associated the forehead to the ground), darshan (paying a visit to
with the Harmandir have been controlled and main- the spiritual site), and mannat (making a wish or re-
tained by men. Both the morning and evening rituals questing a blessing) are a few examples of common rit-
and the performance of kirtan within the Harmandir ual practices of devotion which are not exclusive or
are central boundary-markers of a masculinist Sikh bounded by religious categorization. Water and trees in
identity. these sites play an extraordinarily important role in heal-
In 2003, two amritdhari (baptised) and turban-wearing ing and votive practice. These practices have often be-
women attempted to perform the morning ritual at the come the target for reformist groups wishing to assert
Harmandir and were restricted by the men present. Mejin- modern, singular religious identities. In the Sikh case this
derpal Kaur and Lakhbir Kaur then went on to lead a debate has found its way into academic debate and to a
campaign for equal access for women to all the rituals as- large extent led to an intellectual stalemate within Sikh
sociated with Harmandir Sahib, including the perform- studies. By looking at existing ritual practice at the iconic
ance of kirtan. Citing that the SGPC of 1940 had already centre of Sikhism, the Golden Temple, we have attempted
passed an edict that amritdhari women were allowed to to indicate a way out of this impasse.
perform kirtan at the site but that this had not been in- It is clear that the SGPC are engaged in a process of
stituted, a strange replay of that initial overture took place. incorporating rituals at various sites through the instal-
In 2005, the first woman head of the SGPC, Bibi Jagir lation of the Ad Granth or a re-narrativisation into a
Kaur, announced that women would be allowed to per- Guru-centred history. These are acts of accommodation
form at the Harmandir, but once again this was not im- and incorporation rather than of conflict. For example,
plemented in practice. Even though the changes in per- where overt obeisance is present, such as at Dukhbhan-
formance practice of kirtan in terms of classicisation have jani Berhi, flocked to by worshippers for its healing prop-
been accepted, the existing male dominated structures erties, and Baba Budda Berhi, popular amongst devotees
were unmoving when it came to this issue. The transfor- for protection and blessings, a vigilant approach by the
mation of kirtan from an open form with musicians from Golden Temple management is taken to regulate rituals
 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 (1) 2016 85

of veneration while also permitting them through insti- him by a jealous Pir with his hand. The boulder with the
tutionalised mediation. These are not examples of con- hand imprint is on one side of the gurdwara housing the
flict but rather of a slow process of institutionalisation of Ad Granth. Placing one's own hand on the boulder is con-
popular ritual. sidered especially auspicious. This practice still contin-
It is also important to note that the SGPC only man- ues but remains outside the domain of the institutional-
ages a small proportion of gurdwaras in India. In other izing practices of the SGPC due to their lack of access to
historic sites such as Hazoor Sahib in Nanded, Maha- these sites.
rashtra, specific rituals associated with the site have con- Ritual practices at Harmandir Sahib, by contrast,
tinued unabated. At Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib in have been transformed since the Singh Sabha social re-
Pakistan, the PGPC (Pakistan Gurdwara Prabandhak form movement began in the 1920s and then after the
Committee) nominally presides over some of the historic partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and highlight a
gurdwaras in Pakistan. The trees in these complexes con- long-term process of assertion, adaptation and incor-
tinue to be used by women to make mannats (offerings poration. Institutional controls of devotional practices
in order to fulfill wishes) to become pregnant, not least at the Golden Temple have not resulted in an erasure
to obtain particular blessings for male offspring. Panja of popular practices but instead show the evolving na-
Sahib also holds mystical significance for having healing ture of the management and sustenance of popular rit-
and protection for the folklore associated with Guru ual practices, even at the most iconic of all Sikh spiri-
Nanak's miraculous act of blocking a boulder thrown at tual sites.

Acknowledgements
The research for this article was funded by the ESRC- (retired) for her invaluable insights to the overall project
AHRC Religion and Society programme on a project en- and the conceptualisations of religious practice in the re-
titled Gender, Caste and the Practices of Religious Identi- gion that have come out of it.
ties. The authors wish to thank Professor Ursula Sharma

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 View publication stats

JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 30 1l _::,:·;

Biographical Sketches
Navtej K. Purewal is Deputy Director of the South Asia In- Dr. Virinder S. Kalra teaches in the department c :· >:
stitute and Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Contemporary ciology at the University of Manchester, UK. h~'- ~: ·
Indian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Stud- search interests are in Punjabi popular culture anli ~:::­
ies at the University of London. She has focused most of ligion across the borders of India, Pakistan and t~ o
her writing on the region of Punjab (across India and Pak- diaspora. He is the (co )author of the book, Hybrid~:·.
istan) exploring a range of aspects of social change, in- and Diaspora and an editor of the collection: A Post-
cluding the making and unmaking of religious identities on colonial People: South Asians in Britain. His latest book
which she has published a number of articles and chapters. 'Sacred and Secular Musics: A Postcolonial Approach·
She also has a distinct interest in feminism, gender and cul- (Bloomsbury, 2014) explores the intersections of music
ture and has published in this area including Son Preference: and religion in Punjab focusing on Qawwali, Kirtan and
Sex Selection, Gender and Cul!ure in South Asia (Berg 2010). Dharmic Geet.

Notes
1. Guru Arjun is of crucial importance in establishing the his- 5. Gurdwaras in other parts of India, Pakistan and the dias-
tory of the Darbar sahib complex and its centrality to contempo- pora do not come under the formal remit of the SGPC, though
rary Sikhism. It is his writings along with Bhai Gurdas which pro- generally follow the Sikh Rahit Maryada and the authority of the
vide an insight into the formation of the site and the city as a whole. Aka! Takht (which is under tacit control of the SGPC), but this is
(see Pashaura Singh 2006 and Hans in Singh et al. 1999) often contested.
2. Murphy (2012: 171) clearly illustrates the turmoil of the pe- 6. A detailed analysis of the rituals surrounding the Ad Granth
riod: "[the site was controlled by] various parties over the course at the Golden Temple would also reveal a range of shifting customs
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Prithi Chand and his that connect to older shrine practices, such as the blessing of flow-
son Harji controlled the site in the second half of the seventeenth ers thrown and the singing of eulogies (savaiyyan) about the Gurus.
century after the time of Guru Hargobind and it remained under 7. It is ironic that while sevadar literally means one engaged in
the control of the apostate group, the "Minas" as they are tradi- selfless service, in the context of the institutionalisation process it
tionally called, until the time of Guru Go bind Singh". has now come to mean a paid employee. In a contemporary in-
3. A Persian document from Ranjit Singh's time which docu- terview, one devotee complained that "at least with the mahants
mented the various personnel employed at the Golden temple. only they and their families ate from the offerings, now with the
4. See Kamaljit Malhotra (2007) for an examination of the eigh- SGPC there are hundreds of employees stealing from the takings
teenth century period immediately after the death of the last liv- (golak)".
ing Guru Gobind Singh when Sikh rituals and practice became 8. See the double issue of Sikh Formations (2011) in which none
more clearly specified through the creation of"a new bounded iden- of the articles devoted to kirtan mention the on-going exclusion of
tity" in the Rahitnama which framed "Sikh" within a Khalsa iden- women and this particular struggle, whilst the issue of correct mu-
tity, pp. 179-182. sical form is tediously discussed.