Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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As he reincorporates into society, ‘antistructure’ becomes the mode of
existence. The first Sikh c ommunity that developed with Guru Nanak at Kartarpur
fit s in wit h t he c ult ural ant hropologist Vic t or T urner’s desc ript ion of ‘antistruc ture’,
because the neat horizontal divisions and vertical hierarchies of society were broken
down. T he anc ient fourfold c lass syst em wit h it s rigid hierarc hic al c odes, or t he
ma le–female gender divisions had no plac e in Nanak’s new c ommunity. Three
import ant inst it ut ions of Sikhism – seva (voluntary service), langar ( c o mmu n it y
meal) and sangat (c ongregation) – evolved, in whic h men and women formerly
from different c ast es, c lasses and religions played an equal part. Together they
list ened t o and recited the sacred hymns, together they cooked and ate the langar,
and together they formed a democratic congregation without priests or ordained
minist ers.
These institutions established in the first Sikh c ommunity at Kartarpur were a
prac t ic al and exist ential c onsequenc e of Guru Nanak’s epiphany rec orded in the
Janamsakhi. The mystic ac c ount may not have been fac tually true, but it has been
essent ial t o t he hist oric al development of t he Sikh religion. The Tenth Sikh Guru’s
inauguration of the amrit init iation on Baisakhi Day 1699 is in fac t a return to this
p rima l mo me n t o f S ikh is m. Y ears lat er, t he ‘beginning’ of Sikhism embodied in t he
privat e, individual and myst ic al experienc e of t he First Guru was t ransc reat ed by
the Tenth as a public , soc ial and institutional ritual in Anandpur. By init iat ing his
Five Beloved with Amrit, the Tenth Guru extended the vigor of Nanak’s amrit int o
perpetuity: he made the metahistoric drink an essential part of the psyc he and
prac tic e of the Sikh c ommunity.
Guru Nanak brought to life a ‘Sikh’ c onsc iousness, whic h has c ontinued to
sustain the faith for the past five and a half c enturies. His legac y is an enduring and
int egral part of daily life. Indeed, these Janamsakhis have enormous forc e as they
c ontinue to feed the individual and c ollec t ive ident it y of t he c ommunit y. As Mirc ea
Eliade rightly said, myths c onstitute sac red history, and henc e are a ‘true history’,
because they always deal with realit ies.