Previous

Next

Ask a Question

Summary of Question:	Why Gurdwaras Are Divided By Castes?
Category:	Gurdwara
Date Posted:	Friday, 10/08/2004 9:54 AM MDT

WAHE GURU JEE DA KHALSAA WAHE GURU JEE DEE FATEH.

SAT SRI AKAAAL,
I want to know that why the people had made the different gurdwaraas while naming them as BY different casts .Like jats had made their own gurudwaras,Ramgariaaas made thier owns,ravidaasiyaaas made thier owns and many more peoples belonging to different casts.I found all these in CANADAA,AMERICAA,ENGLAND .In my life i found that jats are more responsible to differentiate people by castisms,why? Do you have any answer for this?
Did jats only have a right to become sikh,while the others not??History shows that people belonging to lower casts were with GURU BOBIND SINGH JEE.During the Muslims rule(Aurenzeb time.There were many lower caste people who give thier lives to GURU GOBIND SING JEE.So that's why GURU jee named them as thier SONS( RANGRETTE GURU KE BETTE)BABA JIWAN SINGH WHEN BROUGHT THE HEAD OF SRI GURU TEG BAHAADUR JEE AND THEN GIVEN TO GURU GOBIND SING JEE.Then guru jee said to baba jee as guru's son.So means casts like MAJHABI SIKHS are blessed by GURU GOBIND SINGH JEE.
So then we all are guru's sikh.So why not we all are integrate and make a single gurdwara in the local area.Can you encourage everyone to make gurdwara where everyone allows to enter?What steps u had taken till now for this??

**********
reply
*********
Sat Siri Akaal. It is not up to Sikhnet to take steps to handle this from gurdwara to gurdwara. We can, however, educate.

It is not in accord with Sikhi to create a gurdwara for a single caste. Our own Darbar Sahib is open on 4 sides to welcome people from all paths and places and castes. Caste is a part of Indian culture that is, unfortunately, too old to change overnight. A gurdwara built for a single caste may be have been done to assure a place for people of that caste to go to worship, since it is likely that some other gurdwara may have prohibited that same caste from worshiping. What happens is instead of stopping it by building a gurdwara to welcome people of all castes, the Indian/Hindu practice of observing caste in worship centers was incorporated into village and town gurdwaras and has thus grown and grown. But it is wrong. Our gurus created Gurdwaras and lungar halls where royalty had to sit side by side with commoners before the Guru would grant an audience. While jats may have a history of being Sikh, none of the 10 Gurus supported the idea that one caste only is Sikh. The 5 Piaray on that first Baisakhi in 1699 were from 5 different 'commoner' castes! Siri Guru Granth Sahib also does not support that caste matters; Kabeer was a leather tanner, not a Brahmin, for example.
What you can do? Educate and resist this trend to caste-ism. Just say no.
Guru ang sang,
-DKK