The Gurdwara

The gurdwara grew out of the gatherings of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, who lived from 1469 to 1539. In the community he settled at Kartarpur, on the river Ravi, his followers met in a place known as a dharamsala, “abode of righteousness”, to sing his hymns, listen to his teaching and share a common meal. Under his successors such meeting places spread across Punjab, each linked to a local congregation, the sangat.

The third Guru, Amar Das, made the communal kitchen a central institution. Tradition holds that everyone who wished to see him, including, it is said, the Mughal emperor Akbar, first had to sit and eat in the langar alongside people of all castes. The fourth Guru, Ram Das, founded the town that became Amritsar and began the excavation of its sacred pool. His son and successor, Guru Arjan, built the Harmandir Sahib in its centre in the 1580s and 1590s. A later tradition says that the Sufi saint Mian Mir laid its foundation stone, though historians note that the story is not found in the earliest sources.

In 1604 Guru Arjan installed in the Harmandir Sahib the Adi Granth, the collection of hymns he had compiled from the works of the Gurus and of saints from Hindu and Muslim traditions. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, added the hymns of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Before his death in 1708, Sikh tradition holds, he declared that there would be no further human Gurus and that the scripture, now called the Guru Granth Sahib, would be the eternal Guru. From then on every place where the scripture was installed became a gurdwara, the door to the Guru.

The Harmandir Sahib was attacked and damaged by Afghan armies in the eighteenth century and rebuilt from the 1760s. Under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh empire, its upper storeys were covered with gilded copper. In the early twentieth century a reform movement campaigned to take historic gurdwaras out of the hands of hereditary custodians, leading to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925. In June 1984 the complex was badly damaged during an Indian army operation, an event that remains a deeply painful memory for many Sikhs.

The heart of worship in the gurdwara is kirtankirtan The singing of hymns in praise of God, central to Sikh worship. Glossary, the singing of hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib to classical melodies, led by musicians called ragis with harmonium and tabla. A reader, the granthi, reads from the scripture, and services end with Ardas, a standing prayer that recalls the Gurus and the history of the community. The granthi then opens the scripture at random and reads the first hymn on the left-hand page, the hukamnama, understood as the Guru’s word for the day.

At the close of a service volunteers distribute karah prasad, a sweet dish of flour, butter and sugar, to everyone present. The congregation then moves to the langar hall. Cooking, serving and washing up are all forms of sevaseva Selfless service to others, a core Sikh duty. Glossary, selfless service, and the volunteers include people of every age and status. At the Harmandir Sahib the kitchen serves tens of thousands of meals a day. Food and labour are given by the congregation itself, and the meal is offered without asking who the guest is or why they have come.

Gurdwaras have no ordained priesthood, and any Sikh, man or woman, may lead the readings and prayers. Communities gather especially on Sundays in the diaspora, and for the great festivals: Vaisakhi, which commemorates the founding of the Khalsa in 1699, and the gurpurabs that mark the births and deaths of the Gurus. For such occasions the whole scripture may be read without a break in an akhand path lasting about 48 hours. Weddings, naming ceremonies and funerals also take place in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib, and many gurdwaras offer lodging to travellers.

The Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar is the spiritual centre of the Sikh world. The temple stands in the middle of its sarovar, reached by a causeway, and is open on four sides. Facing it across the courtyard is the Akal Takht, the highest of the five takhts, seats of Sikh religious authority. The other takhts stand at sites linked to the Gurus’ lives, among them Patna Sahib in Bihar, the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, and Hazur Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra, where he died.

Other great gurdwaras mark places associated with the Gurus. Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi, with its gilded dome and pool, is one of the most visited in India. In Pakistan, Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, and Kartarpur, where he spent his last years, draw pilgrims from across the world; since 2019 a corridor has allowed Indian pilgrims to visit Kartarpur without a visa.

Architecturally, historic gurdwaras often combine elements of Mughal and Rajput building, such as onion domes, small kiosks and arched openings, with gilding and white marble. Most gurdwaras, however, are modest. As Sikhs migrated across the world, communities set up gurdwaras in converted houses, churches, cinemas and warehouses, while some built large new complexes. The first gurdwara in the United States opened at Stockton, California, in 1912, and Britain, Canada and East Africa have many. What makes a building a gurdwara is not its shape but the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib, the flying Nishan Sahib and a kitchen where anyone may eat.