Vaisakhi - the Festival of Identity
by J. Singh
11th
April 2008
On April 14th
each year, Sikhs around the world celebrate the festival of Vaisakhi.
Although originally the north Indian spring harvest festival, Vaisakhi
has come to be seen by most people as the birthday of the Sikh
religion in its present form. It is a time of contemplation, of
renewing one’s religious beliefs, and of celebrating the Sikh faith.
Vaisakhi is also significant in that it relates to the identity of
Sikhs in many respects, and it is that aspect which is perhaps the
most important of this festival. In order to appreciate how and why
Vaisakhi is a festival of Sikh identity and the ramifications of such
a festival of identity, one needs to looks at the historical context
of Vaisakhi.
Since the days of Guru
Amar Das, the Third Guru, it was customary for Sikhs to assemble at
the residence of the Guru on the days of Diwali and Vaisakhi when the
Guru would make announcements and explain developments within the Sikh
faith. Pilgrims would travel to wherever the Guru had established as
his home and would listen intently to the Guru’s teachings. It’s not
entirely clear why the days of Vaisakhi and Diwali were chosen, but it
would not be wrong to assume that they were selected as Sikhs
throughout the subcontinent would be fully aware of when those
festivals would take place and also because the two festivals have an
approximate gap of about six months, providing a natural biannual
division.
Since the torture and
subsequent death of the Fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606, the Sikhs
had been under increased persecution from the Mughal authorities. Guru
Hargobind, the Sixth Guru and the son of Guru Arjan Dev, introduced
the ideology of Miri-Piri to Sikhism – the belief that religion has
both a political and spiritual basis in the world, both of which
coexist and neither of which is superior over the other. This concept
was represented at the investiture of Guru Hargobind in 1606 by his
wearing two swords on either side of his person. Guru Hargobind
established the Akal Takht as the political equivalent of the Darbar
Sahib (‘Golden
Temple’), and its positioning opposite the Darbar Sahib itself is of
significance. Guru Hargobind’s legacy was the introduction of a
distinct Sikh identity at the start of the 17th Century,
that of the individual who is both spiritual and a warrior when
necessary, the Saint-Soldier, but that identity needed to be
strengthened as became apparent towards the end of the 17th
Century.
In the winter of 1675,
the son of Guru Hargobind and the Ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was
beheaded in Chandni Chowk in the heart of Old Delhi. After his death,
the body of the Guru was left in public, albeit under guard, and no
Sikh was willing to come forward to claim the body. In fact, the body
and the head of the Guru were only taken by Sikhs under the cover of a
heavy dust storm whereby those individuals could avoid being
identified. The Tenth Guru was left with the task of consolidating the
Sikh faith, and the fact that the Sikhs of Delhi had been too afraid
to come forward to claim the body of his father must surely have not
been too far from the Guru’s mind when he was considering the various
ways of taking the religion forward.
On the day of Vaisakhi
in 1699, it became clear that the response of Guru Gobind Rai (as he
was known then) to the death of his father and the loss of a great
spiritual leader was to create a unique identity for the Sikh
community, and he did so by initiating the Khalsa. The Khalsa, or the
‘Brotherhood of the Pure’, is recognised as the core of the Sikh
religion, and the Tenth Guru changed his own name from ‘Gobind Rai’ to
Gobind Singh’ as he too joined the Khalsa, earning the epithet of
‘aapay gur chella’ – ‘He himself is the Guru become disciple’. Upon
joining the Khalsa, one is not allowed to remove or cut the hair on
one’s body, one is to wear the Five K’s or indicators of the Khalsa at
all times, one is not to partake in any intoxicants, and one is to
live one’s life as the embodiment of the Tenth Guru along with
following a number of other conditions. Guru Gobind Singh’s aim was to
create a fearless brotherhood of spiritual men and women who would
fight in the name of justice and equality and who would be
recognisable by their appearance, thus preventing a repeat of the fear
that seemed to grip the Sikhs at the time of the death of Guru Tegh
Bahadur.
Vaisakhi is celebrated
today as a confirmation of one’s own religious identity and a
rededication of one’s faith as well as a birthday for the Sikh
religion. In that same vein, Vaisakhi is a time of year when one looks
at one’s own identity and considers what it means to be a Sikh. It is
quite easy to forget the gift of identity that Guru Gobind Singh
bestowed upon Sikhs, and when the issue of sexuality comes into the
equation, it can make that identity even more fraught. Over 300 years
have passed since the Khalsa was created and yet the turban, long hair
and unshorn beard remain the distinguishing features for many Sikh
men, as well as the middle names of Kaur (‘Princess’) for Sikh women
and Singh (‘Lion’) for Sikh men.
The keeping of long hair
and beards for men is probably the most difficult aspect of Sikhism
for many people to maintain in the present day, and this is
particularly the case for those individuals who are gay. The pressure
is usually on gay men to look a certain way and follow the fashions
and trends for that part of the world, and being a ‘Keshdhari’ Sikh
(‘one who keeps uncut hair’) goes against the grain of that way of
thinking. This often causes gay Keshdhari Sikh men specifically to
turn against their religious beliefs, with many deciding to cut their
hair in order to fit in with what it means to be gay in the 21st
Century. Some have come to see the keeping of long hair and the
wearing of a turban to be a restriction imposed upon their identity,
especially at a time when turbans and long beards are associated in
the Western World with fundamentalist Islamic beliefs rather than with
Sikhism.
To say that it is not
easy to be both a Keshdhari Sikh and a gay man would be an
understatement. Some view the keeping of long hair as being
irreconcilable with life as a gay man or woman in that it sets him or
her apart from the majority of gay people on account of their external
appearance, making that individual feel like an outsider when he or
she may be looking for acceptance from within the gay community.
However, the idea of keeping long hair is again tied up with the
concept of Sikh identity. It is the idea of being unafraid of
recognition, of standing out from the crowd, and of being proud of
one’s heritage and identity. Rather than wanting to join the masses
and look the same as the majority of gay men and women, Keshdhari
Sikhs should be proud that their long hair make them instantly
recognisable and memorable amongst those masses. Having a unique
identity is a definite advantage in the present day where one
interacts with countless identical-looking individuals on a daily
basis that one would have difficulty in otherwise recalling.
Keshdhari Sikhs should
also bear in mind the sacrifices that were made by Sikhs throughout
history in order to protect the freedom of all religions, not just
Sikhism, as was evident by Guru Tegh Bahadur’s beheading whilst
protecting the rights of religious practice for the Kashmiri Hindus.
Such sacrifices were often symbolic too, as in the case of the Sikhs
who refused to have their hair cut and instead were scalped to protect
the integrity of their religious beliefs. Sikhs have a rich history
which is intertwined with their identity, a history which can be
easily overlooked at times.
Vaisakhi should be
celebrated as the festival of one’s personal as well as religious
identity. Being Keshdhari Sikh and gay are not incompatible ways of
being. The identity that one has can be changed if one so wishes, but
before one considers changing it one should look at the reasons behind
that identity and then determine whether such a change is worth
making. Guru Gobind Singh gave Sikhs their present identity, and it is
ours to keep or discard as we so wish. However, one should remember
that whilst fashions will come and go over time, the teachings of the
Gurus will not change and the Guru in the form of the Guru Granth
Sahib will always be accessible to Sikhs and non-Sikhs, Keshdhari and
non-Keshdhari alike.
A very happy Vaisakhi to
everyone.
