Abstract
In contemporary Sikh society, what we consider religious is constantly being challenged, but for Sikhs, what remain constant are Sikhi’s sacred texts—they continue to be the paramount teacher and guide. Within this consistency, I ask the question: how can Sikh feminist ideas of representation and identity find expression in response to our understanding/practice of our faith, our institutions, and of the everyday Sikh symbols? This paper critically examines the gendered nature of the Guru Granth, practices within the gurdwaras, and focuses on a part of the Rahit Maryada (Code of Conduct) as an area of exploration in the understanding of the everyday ascribed five symbols of Sikhi (punj kakar) through a feminist lens. I undertake this in order to gain a gendered appreciation of how the scriptures, religious institutions, and the articles of faith resonate with the feminine.
Highlights
As a canonical text for Sikhs and the faith’s sacred scripture, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (GuruGranth) informs my spiritual practice in a very personal manner
As an initial reference for the reader, the Guru Granth is known as the Adi Granth, “the adjective Adi, or first has been appended to distinguish this Granth from the second sacred scripture of the Sikhs, the Dasam Granth, which contains the works attributed to the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh” (Singh 2000, p. 1)
By attributing the Granth as the person of the historical Gurus, the Tenth intended to allow his Sikhs to imagine unprecedented ways of being in the world. His semantic innovation shatters the tyrannical division between body and mind, temporal and eternal, language and reality; it opens up a space for Sikh men and women to experience the sacred and the sensuous in their daily lives”. This experience of the sacred for average Sikhs is foremost assigned within places of worship, at the Sikh gurdwaras or in their own homes where the Sri Guru Granth is ceremoniously housed and obeisance is offered to it on a daily basis through devotional worship (Singh 2000)
Summary
As a canonical text for Sikhs and the faith’s sacred scripture, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (GuruGranth) informs my spiritual practice in a very personal manner. As a canonical text for Sikhs and the faith’s sacred scripture, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib As an initial reference for the reader, the Guru Granth is known as the Adi Granth, “the adjective Adi, or first has been appended to distinguish this Granth from the second sacred scripture of the Sikhs, the Dasam Granth, which contains the works attributed to the tenth (dasam) Guru, Gobind Singh” 266) and that personal knowledge of the Gurmukhi language is required in order to engage with the original form of the Granth, for this paper, I have relied on English translations of various texts to fully understand and appreciate the form and meaning of the Gurshabad (the Word) and the Sikh code. The central question of this paper is the following: what are the issues that Sikh feminists need to explore in order to further develop a Sikh feminist hermeneutic? I take a largely emic view of Sikh tradition even as I critically analyze Sikh texts and history
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