Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
286Extract 3: Nicky-Guninder Kaur-Singh, ‘Feminist Text in a
Patriarchal Context’ (2011)
Taken from: Nic ky-Guninder Kaur-Singh, Sikhism: An Introduc tion (I.B. Taurus,
2011), Chapter 6, Feminist Text in a Patriarchal Context, pp.101–119.
Though the voic e is that of male Gurus, Sikh sc ripture is a remarkably ‘feminist’
text. Liv ing in a ‘doubly’ pat riarc hal medieval Indian soc iet y, t he Sikh Gurus
witnessed the subordinate role of women. From t ime imme mo ria l, t he pat riarc hal
soc iety of northern India has been obsessed with sons: the region resounds with
the blessing ‘may you be the mother of a hundred sons!’ The great Rig Veda, one of
t he earliest t ext ual piec es produc ed in India, begins wit h a prayer t o Agni (Fire) t o
grant many ‘heroic sons’ to his worshippers. Lat er, t he Brahmin elit es, in t heir
popular Code of Manu, restricted women’s legal independence, and made them
subservient to their fathers, husbands and sons. Total devotion to the husband
(pativrata) was the sanc tioned norm. Wit h t he soc io-polit ic al rule of t he Mughal
Empire, anot her pat riarc hal layer wit h West Asian values such as purdah and
multiple wives, relegated Indian women even further. The Gurus empathized with
their situation, and tried to c reate a window of opportunity through whic h women
c ould ac hieve libert y, equalit y and sororit y.
But the followers have been unable to grasp the broadmindedness of their
Gurus. Instead of the liberating message of the Gurus, ancient oppressive feudal
values have dominat ed Sikh soc iet y. Ironic ally, just a few dec ades after Guru
Gobind Singh c reated the democ ratic and inc lusive family of the Khalsa through his
amrit init iat ion in 1699, women were barred from joining it! We hear Chaupa Singh,
a tutor and aide of the Tenth Guru, overturn the radic al implic ations of Guru Gobind
Singh’s Baisakhi and revert to the norms of stridharma, spelled out in t radit ional
Dharmashastras. His et hic al manual (The Chaupa Singh Rahit-Nama) dictates a
Sikh woman’s primary mode of religiosity as the worship of her husband: she is to
‘know her husband as god’ (apne bharte nu karta janai; 556); she is to ‘keep fasts
for the sake of her husband’ (patibratu rakhe; 567).
The ideals and prac tic es of the first Sikh c ommunity established by Guru Nanak
in Kartarpur, where men and women recited sacred verse, cooked and ate together,
are reversed by Chaupa Singh. Instead, he stipulates segregation and
disc rimination: women may listen to but are prohibited from reading the Guru
Granth in public (CS: 538). And among many other dos and don’ts, Chaupa Singh
c at egoric ally out laws men from administ ering amrit to women: ‘si khani nu khande
di pahul deve so tankhaia – he is an offender who gives Sikhni amrit prepared by
the sword’ (506)! The waves of wonder, joy and equality generated by the Gurus
quic kly found their way bac k to a stagnant pond of disc riminating and androc entric
norms that were definitely outside of the Sikh prac tic es instituted by Guru Nanak
and his suc c essor Gurus. The voic es and views of early patriarc hs suc h as Chaupa
Singh have been very harmful to the c ommunity as a whole.
The glamorous regime of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799–1839) brought great
splendour to the Sikh religion in many ways; but unfortunately, the situation for
women deteriorated even more. With the elaboration of pomp and c eremony at his
royal c ourt , formal rit uals and c eremonies disc arded by the Gurus entered into the
Sikh way of life. The c ustoms of purdah and sati undergone by women from elite
Muslim and Hindu families, respectively, began to be emulated by the upper