ABSTRACT
What remains unique to Sikhism, as the religion is lived and practiced today, is the supreme status and authority that the Sikhs attribute to their sacred scripture Guru Granth Sahib. The scripture is believed to enfold words of an ontologically divine nature and mediate the revelatory experiences and teaching of ten human Gurus. Simultaneously, the sacred text is considered to be the living Guru with the authority to provide spiritual guidance and establish human–divine connections. In scholarly studies, the Sikh scripture has been approached primarily from a textual and exegetical viewpoint, 1 while little light has been shed on the living, devotional traditions applied to venerate the book and use the sacred words enshrined in the text. In response to modernization processes in the twentieth century, the Sikhs have developed scrupulous ritual practices in connection with printing, conveyance, and installation of scriptures in private and public worship. When printed volumes of Guru Granth Sahib become old and worn-out and can no longer be used, they are solemnly transported to the town of Goindwal Sahib in Punjab, or some other established cremation center in northern India, to be ritually consigned to fire. This essay will examine how contemporary Sikhs have re-created funerary services for Guru Granth Sahib and explains the religious theories underlying this practice. The construction of a particular death ceremony, or “life-cycle rite,” for scriptures can be approached as one among many religious strategies by which the Sikhs personify their scripture as a living Guru. The organization and ritual design of the new funerary practice in Punjab is a self-conscious enterprise that attempts to set the standards for the Sikh handling of Guru Granth Sahib and forcefully underscore traditional values about the scripture’s identity and status to a global Sikh community.
