“SGPC allows Women’s Sewa at Amritsar” World Sikh News, March 13 to March 19, 1996. The above headline continued on to say:
“Amritsar: In a significant decision, the SGPC accepted in principle to allow women to perform all types of “sewa” (service) in the Harimander Sahib besides being absorbed as “granthis”, “Ragis” and preachers.
“I have a question for all Sikhs what right does any male have to “allow” women to do “sewa”, become a “granthi”, a “Ragi” or one of the “Panj piare”? Guru. Nanak gave women equal status when he started Sikhism what right does any man have to deny that equal status to any woman? No one can deny that equality for women does not exist among the Sikhs today. The fact that the SGPC feels it should “allow” women to do anything is surely proof positive of this sad state of affairs. According to the latest reports, the SGPC is saying that “due to awakening in women this matter was raised” Thank you Wahee Guru for awakening women. Now my only prayer is, please Wahee Gum isn’t it time to wake up the men. They are sinning against a very basic teaching of Sikhism, and somehow they don’t seem to realize what they are doing.
Guru Nanak stated “Why denounce her, the one from whom kings are born. “ Sri Guru Granth Sahib, page 473. Before leaving for his travels Guru Nanak saw to it that his family, as well as his small band of disciples would be well taken care of, His wife, Sulakhani was given the task of teacher, mother and protector of that small band.
You can be sure that she did much more than look after the kitchen in all that time that he was away. While on his journeys, The Guru went to Assam. There he met Nur Shah. He gave her instruction and she became his disciple. When the time came for him to leave, he requested that she stay and preach the message of the one true God to all who would listen. The message was that everyone was equal, regardless of gender, social status or color. Thus Nur Shah became the first preacher designated by Guru Nanak himself, to propagate the faith. Nur Shah was a woman.
When Bibi Amro left her father’s house after marriage, her Guru father instructed her to preach the message of the one true God, to all that would listen. We know that Amar Das heard her preach and sing a Shabad. He gave up everything he ever believed in, and went to her father, asking to be his disciple. Later as Guru Amar Das, he made her a “masand”, and put her in charge of one of the first 22 “Manjis”.
Gum Amar Das chose the present site for the Harimander. His daughter Bibi Bhani worked side by side with her husband Ram Das, digging the original excavation and carrying the dirt on their heads. Many other women were there also doing “sewa. “ It was the Guru’s wife Mansa Devi, who though she was too old and frail to help in the physical work, said to the guru that women were not able to keep up with the men, no matter how hard they tried because of “purdah”, the veil, was too cumbersome. They could not see what they were doing and they tended to trip on it. After much thought, prayer and deliberation, the Guru abolished the wearing of the veil in his court. If the guru had wanted to keep women away and thus keep the status quo, he would not have bothered to abolish the veil. The intent was to keep women involved, they were doing “sewa” and he wished them to continue. The impact was such that at first ladies came to see the guru unveiled and gradually the practice of wearing the veil ended in the Sikh community. Guru Amar Das trained 146 persons to go out and preach when he organized Sikhism into 22 “Manjis”, 94 were men and 52 were women. Do we really need the SGPC to give us permission to do “sewa” today?
Guru Ram Das trained more preachers, men and women alike. At one time the entire states of Kashmir and Afghanistan were under the jurisdiction of women. These were not honorary titles. The women in charge were responsible for the quality of preaching, collecting and dispersing of funds, as well as all administration. When Guru Arjan was about to be taken away to be martyred, he instructed Mata Ganga ji, his wife not to commit sati. He was very explicit in telling her not to waste her life crying and morning. It was her duty not only to care for her minor son, but also to look after the fledgling Sikh community. The guru knew in his wisdom, that his death would cause fear in his Sikhs, and there was danger of them scattering. Mata Ganga was given the difficult task of keeping the community together. Her son was eleven at the time, the first of the child gurus. Four of the Sikh Gurus were children when they were named guru. In every case, it was their mothers who were acting as Regents until they came of age. This was an opportunity to prove that women were quite capable of instructing, administering and guiding the community. The four outstanding women who proved that point were, Mata Ganga, mother of Hargobind; Mata Natt. mother of Har Rai who was 14; Mata Kishan Kaur, mother of Har Krishan who was only five; and Mata Gujari, mother of Gobind Rai, whose father was martyred when he was only nine.
The tradition was continued when Guru Gobind Singh died. There would be no more living gurus, but the need for leadership would always be there. Banda Bahadur was a general. He was left in charge of the army, and did a tremendous job in that capacity. But, it was Mata Sundari, the guru’s widow, who guided the community both in administration and religious matters for a full 40 years after his death. After her death, another lady whose name historians did not bother to record, continued in the capacity of main administrator and preacher. She was the mother of the famous Sikh general Jassa Singh Aluwalia. Her name may be forgotten, but her accomplishments were all duly noted. So we know, without doubt, that Sikhism was under female jurisdiction for the first 50 years after the death of revert back to practices that the gurus worked so hard to get them away from? There are many questions begging to be we don’t know what went wrong, why or when. We do know that equality was given to women by God. Guru Nanak made that very clear in his teaching. Equality of women is a basic comer’s tone of the Sikh religion. All ten gurus endorsed the equality of women. There are good Sikhs who: de understands the issue. Prof. M&: Singh, head priest of the Akal Takht has spent a lifetime trying to make that point. Sikhs cannot afford to let him stand alone on this issue. We must all speak out. Let no man dare to assume that by being very modem he can “allow” women to do this, that or the other thing. Men cannot “allow” women, because men have never been given the right to control women. Women’s rights do not come from men, they come from God. What a pity that 500 years after Guru Nanak proclaimed women equal, women are no better off if their sisters in other patriarchal societies. It seems that most Sikhs today don’t even begin to understand the concept of equality.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1996
