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41 3 Scriptures and the Nature of Authority The Case of the Guru Granth in Sikh Tradition Gurinder Singh Mann A quick look inside a gurdwara (house of the Guru/preceptor, Sikh place of worship) reveals the high degree of reverence with which the Sikhs hold their “scriptures.” The gurdwara is literally the house of the Guru Granth (the Guru manifested as the book), which is covered in expensive robes (rumalas) and displayed at the head of a well-lit congregational hall replicating a royal court (darbar/ divan). The text is placed on a throne-like structure with a canopy (palaki), and an attendant ceremonially waves a yak’s tail flywhisk over it (chaur). The canopy and the flywhisk, two core symbols of royalty in the Indian culture, validate the Guru Granth’s status as the supreme authority within the Sikh community. The text is opened in the morning (prakash) and put to rest in the evening (sukhasan), and it is transported from one place to another at an elevation above the human height and with appropriate retinue accompanying it. Historic gurdwaras have pools attached to them where pilgrims take a holy dip (ishnan) prior to entering the congregational hall. In other places, all entrants undergo a ritual cleansing that includes washing of feet, hands up to the elbows, and the mouth, the five parts of the body considered most exposed (panj ishnana). They walk up to the Guru Granth with hands folded, leave their offerings there, register obeisance by touching their foreheads to the ground (matha tekanha), and then move aside and sit on the floor respectfully facing toward the text. The same setting is recreated in Sikh households, where a separate room is allocated to the Guru Granth and families gather there for daily prayers and other ceremonial events. If the house is not large enough for this arrangement, a smaller text (gutka/sanchi) containing selected compositions from the Guru Granth is used for prayers, and this text is assigned fitting respect by keeping it wrapped in silk cloth and placed on the top shelf of a cupboard when not in use. The Guru Granth constitutes the center of Sikh devotional worship, which includes the following five elements: the recitation of its verses (path), their singing with accompaniment by musical instruments (kirtan), their exegesis (katha), a supplication (ardas) addressed through the text to Vahiguru (Great Guru, the most commonly used designation for God among the Sikhs), and the receiving of the Gurinder Singh Mann 42 divine reply (hukam) at the conclusion of worship. The text is opened at random, and the first composition on the left-hand top corner of the page is considered the hukam to the congregation’s supplication. The Sikhs do not have a priestly class, and anyone regardless of gender or age distinction can attend to the text, recite, sing, lead the prayers, receive the hukam, or carry the text to its place of rest. Particularly, within the family setting, the lady of the house is responsible for the opening and closing of the text and related activities. The Guru Granth also plays the central role in Sikh ritual and ceremonial life. It includes ceremonies such as the naming of the newborn (namkaran) with the first letter of the hukam to the family’s supplication after the birth of the baby; the taking of the nectar of the double-edged sword (khande di pahul), symbolizing one’s commitment to serve the community with complete dedication in the presence of the Guru Granth; the listening to a special prayer from the text and circumambulating it four times to mark a wedding (lavan); and the recitation of the complete text followed by a prayer for the peace of the departed soul (bhog). Because the primary thrust of the message of the Guru Granth is ethical, the text defines the norms of a meaningful and productive Sikh life. Given this centrality of the Guru Granth in Sikh life, a variety of its printed editions, ranging from a large-size text used in congregational worship to multivolume texts for family prayers or study, are available. The text contains around 3,000 poetic compositions and is now printed with a standard pagination of 1,430 pages. It opens with a liturgical section (pp. 1–13); its main body includes thirty-one chapters constructed around the musical modes on which these poetic compositions are to be sung (pp. 14–1352); and the final section closes with miscellaneous compositions that are...

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