LUDHIANA, Punjab—Sixteen years ago, on July 25, 1998, six Canada-based Sikhs were ex-communicated by the then Akal Takht jathedar for defying an Akal Takht edict to not have chairs and tables in the langar (community kitchen). All langar meals had to be eaten in the traditional manner, sitting on the ground.
However over the last few years, chairs, cushioned stools and benches have started appearing in Gurdwara halls where Guru Granth Sahib Ji is placed as well as at langars. This is especially true of urban Gurdwaras. Late last year, the Akal Takht again issued another directive asking that chairs and sofas be placed in the verandahs of Gurdwaras, and prayers be relayed on screens for them.
“Several old and sick people come to the Gurdwara and they can’t squat because of knee or back problems. Stools are placed at the end of the hall along the walls for them,” says Priptal Singh, president of Gurdwara Dookh Niwaran, the biggest Gurdwara in Ludhiana. “We make sure that the stools are lower than the platform on which the Guru Granth Sahib is placed.” Benches are placed at the rear of the congregation hall of the Sector 8 C Gurdwara in Chandigarh too.
Gurdwara Nauvin Patshahi in Guru Teg Bahadar Nagar, Jalandhar has gone in for a novel interior design. When it was being built the floor was designed to accommodate chairs at a level two feet below the rest of the floor at the end of the hall. This allows the entire congregation to remain at the same level.
“Around 60-70 old devotees visit the Gurdwara and they can’t sit on the ground. This way the maryada (discipline and decorum) are not violated and they are comfortable as well,” says Jagjit Singh Gaba, president of the Gurdwara. “The line between maryada and comfort is thin but it has to be maintained.”
In the Gurdwara at Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, chairs are placed so that they are not directly in the line of the sacred platform. “Gurdwaras in other countries have also started accommodating chairs and benches for the disabled and sick. In our Gurdwara we made two rooms at the back of the hall after raising a three foot high wall where chairs have been placed. Even a wheelchair can be taken here,” says Jaspal Singh Dhesi, former president of Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, Gravesend.
“In Canada the directive had caused a split in the community and separate Gurdwaras had been built to allow chairs and benches,” says Jaspal Singh. In langar halls too chairs and tables are placed for those who need them. Even in Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Model Town Extension, the managing committee of which is headed by SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, the stools are placed along the rear wall of the hall. “The number of those who can’t sit on the ground is rising. There is no arrogance in using a chair or stool to seat them,” says Makkar.
Prominent Sikh author and former IAS Gurtej Singh defends the ideas of separate seating arrangements for a needy few. “People visit a Gurdwara with devotion and humility but they may need a chair or stool. There is no conflict between maryada and compulsion here,” he says. But he also draws a line saying at indiscriminate use of chairs and benches.
