My visit to a Jain temple, a Sikh gurdwara and a Hindu temple

For: Religion and Ecology module

Two weeks ago, we had a very cool walking tour of the places of worship in Mussoorie: a Sikh gurdwara (my first), a Hindu temple, and a Jain temple (also my first). Our guide Mohammed Yousef Ansari is a Hindu and Urdu teacher at Woodstock School. He has been teaching since he was 20, after his father passed away and he picked up the baton as breadwinner of the family. He told me he taught language through sociopolitical issues that his students were themselves concerned about, such as BT Corn and advertising on Facebook – teaching examples that make the language come alive. I thought it was brilliant.

Stopping along the road, Yousef pointed to the hillslopes where slums have proliferated. He said Mussoorie is a town of 40,000 and experiences slow population growth because people are not allowed to build new houses. There are also no universities in Mussoorie, thus limiting population growth. However there was apparently no prohibition on hotel construction, adnd Mussoorie now suffers from overdevelopment of tourist lodges, given its relative proximity to major cities Delhi, Ambala, and Chandigarh. Prior to that, local economic growth has also been slow, with missionaries and British communities as the locals’ main source of income. From the 1970s, after the Green Revolution, the trend of domestic tourism among middle-income Indians spiked. Hence when rural migrants came in search of a better life there weren't proper housing options available. The migrants initially constructed houses on the roadside, but authorities moved them away. Illegal housing are thus constructed on dangerous soil conditions of Mussoorie’s steep slopes. Their main source of income is collecting and processing trash, especially plastic. The irony is while the migrants carry out waste management for Mussoorie’s local and tourist population, they themselves lack access to hygienic sanitation service.

Slums constructed on the slopes of Mussoorie

Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha and Sikhis

Located along Mall Road, the Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha is celebrating 100 years of its establishment. Gurudwara literally means “door to the Guru”. We sat in the Dabar Sahib (the main hall), which was undergoing renovation before the anniversary celebrations. Yousef told us that Sikhism recognises an everlasting guru – the Holy Scripture Guru Granth Sahib, which is typically housed on a takhat (an elevated throne) in a prominent central position in the Dabar Sahib.

The history of Sikhs is based on an undivided Punjab from Amritsar to Lahore, and its holiest site the Golden Temple. According to Yousef, the Founder had a reformist agenda in mind. Known for his famous words, “There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim”, Guru Nanak (1469-1539) united outcast groups – Sufi Muslims and low-caste Hindus. Sikhs are thus known to be charitable, opening communal kitchens to feed the disadvantaged. The Sikh Empire, commonly considered the zenith of Sikhism at the political and institutional levels, was notable for its religious tolerance and pluralism, featuring Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs alike in positions of power. Till this day Sikhs are reputedly the most welcoming to international refugees of all faiths.

The other reputation of Sikhs as brilliant warriors is backed by statistics: Sikhs constitute 13% of the Army but only 2% of India’s population. This reputation started when, during the fifth Guru’s reign, Sikhism clashed with the Mughal Empire (1556-1707). As prominent Gurus were killed for refusing Islamic conversion and opposing Hindu persecution, Sikhs took up the sword. By the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, there was an all-out war. Fearing a major succession crisis, the tenth decided to terminate the line of human Gurus. He blew his spirit into the Holy Book, pronouncing it his successor and an eternal spiritual guide for Sikhs. The religious and secular significance of the Guru Granth Sahib is evident in its role in marriage ceremonies. While Hindu couples circumambulate the pious fire seven times and make vows that they’ll be husband and wife in the next 7 lives, Sikh couples circumabulate the Scripture.

In recent political history, 1984 was a difficult year for Sikhs. The Khalistan Movement agitating for a separate Sikh nation reached its zenith and started turning to militancy. Refusing to back down, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Operation Bluestar. The Indian Army entered the Golden Temple at night, and by morning there were 500 dead bodies. The Sikh community was furious not only over the massacre, but also over the damage to the Akal Takhat (which is one of the five seats of temporal physical religious authority of the Sikhs). The Army had also entered the temple without covering their hair or washing their hands, adding further insult to the desecration of the holiest Sikh shrine. In a delayed retaliatory act three months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards. Communal tensions reignited, Hindu extremists enacted reprisals and pogroms against Sikhs especially in major cities. Yousef shared that Hindus in Mussoorie came out themselves in protection of the small local Sikh community. Elsewhere, over 2000 Sikhs were massacred within 2-3 days.

Shri Digambar Jain Panchayti Mandir and Jainism

Next we visited my first Jain temple. The temple has caught my eye before with its intricate carvings and clean white exterior. The interior had marble floors and featured gold decorations alongside with pictures of various nude ascetics. The priest Mr Jain (most adherents are surnamed Jain) shares his belief that Jainism is the oldest religion and civilization in the world. “We believe that because we are Dravidians, who were in Indus Valley way before the migration of Indo-Aryans from present-day Europe.” He showed us the traditional alphabet system of the Jains as evidence for their lineage to the Indus Valley.

There were also illustrations of a five-step process towards asceticism. There are 502 known ascetics presently – records are kept at temples – reputedly because it is extremely difficult to renounce every worldly ambition and possession and lead a strict lifestyle. Ascetics eat only once every 24 hours, and their food food portion must not exceed the size of their overlapping palms. They cannot hurt any living beings, not even insects. Whenever ascetics visit neighbouring towns, there will be a procession sweeping the floor free of bugs so that he won’t on any by accident. On the other hand, the laymen Jain is exempted from the sin of killing in acknowledgement of his or her worldly duties and attachments to upkeep the household and conduct business. Nevertheless, it was particularly enlightening to see how even the most peace-loving, violence-hating religion subjected women to a lower position, barring Kate and Kelly from entering on the basis of their period. Later I also confirmed that most ascetics are male. “The processes and rituals towards purification need 40 days,” explain our guide Mr Jain (most adherents are surnamed Jain). “And women usually don't have a window of that time, until they hit menopause. Our stance is that we support male ascetics, and hope that the female will be reincarnated by her good karma as a male in the next life.”

Before leaving, we heard a melodious Jain prayer, performed by both husband and wife holding a lamp and making circular motions before a statue of Mahavira, the 24th and most important Jain saviour and spiritual teacher. The statue was also made with gold, as it is considered the purest form of metal which cannot be corroded. In other rituals, saffron plays a role to symbolise gold but in a cheaper form.

The interiors of the Jain temple

Hinduism

To conclude the walking tour, we visited a Hindu temple which was a sensory overload from the start, with the large devotee crowd at 7pm, the colours of the statues and interiors, the smells, and the bells ringing. Some devotees were also blowing conch shells, which is believed to emanate the sacred syllable ‘Om’ – the first sound of creation. ‘Om’ is thus believed to the purest form of sound, ushering in freshness and new hope. Yousef says this sensory engagement is all about exciting the seven chakras of the body. Devotees pace around the room as they believe in receiving blessings by way of seeing depictions of the Gods. They touch both sides of the ear, in a gesture that Yousef translates as a practice of asking for pardon and forgiveness for not visiting and praying more often. We also learnt about the symbolic meaning of the golden-yellow saffron colour. Hindus traditionally use saffron to represent fire, which is said to purify everything regardless of how dirty or polluted it is. Worn as robes, saffron thus purifies the body and serves as a reminder that our physical self is transient, aiding thoughts of renunciation and the quest towards light and salvation. Saffron eaten, on the other hand, purifies the body from within.

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I want to thank Mohammed Yousef for the extremely informative walking tour! 

Bibliographic note: All photos are my own.