ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ

A gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship and community gathering, and its name means the gateway to the Guru. At its heart is the Darbar Sahib, the hall where Guru Granth Sahib Ji rests on a raised throne, and every gurdwara serves a free meal, langar, to anyone who comes.

What is a gurdwara?

The word comes from gur, the Guru, and dwara, a door or gateway: the gateway through which the Guru can be reached. Sikhs often say Gurdwara Sahib, adding Sahib as a mark of respect. The name fits what the building is. A gurdwara holds no idols, because it is not a temple to a statue or an image: it is the house of the Guru, and the Guru is the holy book itself, Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

The basic condition for a place to be called a gurdwara is the installation of Guru Granth Sahib Ji within it. Everything else follows from that presence. The congregation gathers around the book, the hymns are sung from it, and the community kitchen serves in its name. Sikhism has no priesthood, so no priest stands between the congregation and the Guru. Any member of the congregation may recite, sing and explain the verses, and a granthi is simply a congregant with training in reading the scripture.

Five features mark a gurdwara: the Guru, meaning the book; the ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨ ਸਾਹਿਬ, the tall saffron flag bearing the khanda; the pangat, or langar, the free kitchen; the sangat, the holy congregation; and the golak, the offerings box kept before the Guru. A gurdwara may also have a Sach Khand, the room where the book rests overnight, and rooms where travellers can stay.

How the gurdwara began

In ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ's time, the Sikh place of worship was called a dharamsala, an abode of righteousness. The janamsakhis tell that wherever Guru Nanak Dev Ji went, he called on his followers to set up dharamsalas and gather in them to repeat God's Name and sing His praise. He set up one himself at Kartarpur Sahib, on the bank of the Ravi, where he settled after his long travels.

The name changed in the time of Guru Hargobind Ji, the sixth Guru. ਗੁਰੂ ਅਰਜਨ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ had compiled the Adi Granth in 1604 and installed the first copy in the Harmandir at Amritsar, and copies of the book were carried to dharamsalas across Punjab and installed there with reverence. The dharamsal that held the Granth came to be called a gurdwara, the Guru's door, and the name became universal after ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਨੇ ended the line of living Gurus in 1708 and installed the book itself as the eternal Guru.

As Sikhs acquired territory in the later 1700s, gurdwaras rose in Sikh settlements and on sites tied to the Gurus' lives, and many historical gurdwaras were endowed with grants of land by Sikh chiefs and nobility. By the early 1900s, a number of gurdwaras in British India were in the hands of hereditary custodians called mahants, and the Gurdwara Reform Movement of the 1920s, a sustained non-violent agitation, won the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, which placed the major historical shrines under the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, a body elected by the sangat. Smaller gurdwaras are run by committees chosen by their local congregations.

Inside a gurdwara

Walk into any gurdwara and the layout is easy to read. The main hall is the Darbar Sahib, where the congregation sits on the floor facing the Guru's throne at the front. The throne itself has several parts: the manji sahib, the low bed on which the book rests; the palki sahib, the canopy above it; the chanani, the rich cloth canopy overhead; and the rumalla, the cloth that covers the book when it is not being read. A chaur sahib, a whisk of fine hair, is waved gently over the book as a mark of honour, and the golak stands before the throne for offerings.

Above the building flies the Nishan Sahib, a tall saffron flag bearing the khanda, the emblem of the Khalsa. It is the sign by which a gurdwara can be recognised from a distance. There is no fixed architectural style for a gurdwara. The only requirements are that the book sits under a canopy on a platform raised above the floor where the congregation sits, and that the flag flies above the building. Many modern gurdwaras follow the pattern of ਹਰਿਮੰਦਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ, with square halls, a plinth, entrances on all four sides and a domed sanctum, and historical gurdwaras often have a sarovar, a pool for bathing, beside them.

Beyond the prayer hall, a gurdwara is a working building. The langar hall is where the free meal is cooked and served. Many gurdwaras also have a library, rooms for Gurmukhi and scripture classes, a hall for meetings and weddings, and rooms where travellers can stay the night. Some run a clinic or organise charitable work for the wider neighbourhood.

What happens in a gurdwara?

The day in a gurdwara is built around the book. In the morning the Granth is brought in procession to the Darbar Sahib and opened, and the first hymn read becomes the hukamnama, the day's order. Through the day the congregation gathers for shabad kirtan, the singing of hymns from the Granth, and for paath, the reading of the scripture with explanation. A full reading may run as an Akhand Paath, read without a break over about two days, or a Sadharan Paath, read at a slower pace over a week or more.

The gurdwara is also where the milestones of a Sikh life are kept. The ਅਨੰਦ ਕਾਰਜ, the Sikh marriage ceremony, is held before the Granth, and the rites of Antam Sanskar, the funeral, begin there. Festivals fill the gurdwara through the year: ਵੈਸਾਖੀ, the birthdays of the Gurus, and the martyrdom days. A Nagar Kirtan, the procession of hymn singing through the streets, begins and ends at a gurdwara.

None of this is the work of a priesthood. The congregation itself runs the gurdwara, and its members take turns at every task: reading, singing, cooking, serving, cleaning, waving the chaur. This voluntary service is called seva, and it is counted as worship in its own right. The langar is the clearest expression of it. Volunteers cook and serve a lacto-vegetarian meal to everyone who comes, and everyone sits together on the floor in a single row, the pangat, whatever their background.

How to visit a gurdwara

Anyone may visit a gurdwara, of any faith or none, and there is no charge and no booking. The rules of the visit are simple and are part of the Sikh code of conduct, the Rehat Maryada. Remove your shoes before entering the building; shoe racks are provided. Cover your head; scarves are usually available at the door for visitors who do not have one. Do not carry tobacco or drugs into the gurdwara.

Inside the Darbar Sahib, bow before Guru Granth Sahib Ji if you wish, take a seat on the floor with the congregation, and stay for the kirtan. Men and women often sit on separate sides of the hall, though the division is not a rule and designs vary. You will be offered karah parshad, a sweet of flour and ghee, in cupped hands. After the service, go to the langar hall and sit for the meal. It is free, it is offered to all, and accepting it is part of the visit.

Gurdwaras are generally open all hours of the day, and many keep a morning and an evening service as their fixed points. If you are visiting a large gurdwara, arrive for the morning divan to hear the kirtan at its fullest, and allow time for the langar afterwards.

Gurdwaras around the world

There are gurdwaras wherever Sikhs have settled. In Punjab the great historical gurdwaras draw pilgrims from around the world: Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar, the five Takhts, the shrines of Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, and the gurdwaras of Delhi, Patna and Nanded. Beyond India and Pakistan, the diaspora has built gurdwaras that serve as the centre of Sikh life in their cities: in Canada, the United States, Britain and Australia, and across Europe.

Many of these are community gurdwaras, built by local Sikhs to meet the religious and social needs of the congregation, while the historical gurdwaras stand on sites of importance in Sikh history. The distinction matters to a visitor. A community gurdwara will welcome you to its Sunday divan and its langar, while a historical gurdwara will also tell the story of the Guru or the event it marks.

Jugti's guides list the gurdwaras of each country and city in full. ਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ, ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ and ਕੈਨੇਡਾ ਦੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ are good places to start planning a visit, and every historical gurdwara on this site has its own page with its story.