What is a Gurdwara?

This is further information to support pages 4-5 of Sikh gurdwara

Who and What is a Sikh?

According to the Reht Maryada, the Sikh Code of Conduct, a Sikh is:

"Any human being who faithfully believes in: (i) One Immortal Being, (ii) Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh, (iii) The Guru Granth Sahib, (iv) The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and, (v) the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion is a Sikh."

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent much of his adult life as a wandering preacher in order to spread his message of Sikhism. He taught by using poetry and music, which he wrote himself, in order to convey his message. Whenever he went to a new place, he would sing songs in praise of God and play a traditional instrument called a rebec.

Because he spent most of his time moving from place to place, Guru Nanak would stay wherever he could. As the number of Sikhs grew, meetings were held in people's homes. A special room was reserved for this purpose. As the number of devotees grew larger, Sikh worship meetings were held in buildings called dharamsal. These were buildings constructed in most Indian towns and used by travellers or as meeting halls or for marriage parties. In some towns, Sikhs would construct their own dharamsal. These were the first permanent Sikh places of worship. Guru Nanak and Sikhs coming from neighbouring villages to listen to the Guru would also sleep in these dharamsal.

Each of the Sikh Gurus built places of worship in their home towns and in the places where they visited. During the first four Gurus the Sikh temple was called dharamsal. The fifth Guru, Guru Arjan, named the Sikh place of worship the Hari Mandar. The sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, introduced the word gurudwara, which means a gateway through which one could reach the Guru. Thereafter all Sikh places of worship came to be known as gurdwaras.

Any place where there is a Guru Granth Sahib can be called a gurdwara, whether it is a room in a house or a huge building. Not many people keep a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib in their house, because the book must also be treated with great respect: it cannot be touched unless the person touching it has bathed first, it must have a separate room during the night, etc.

Three main functions are carried out in all public gurdwaras. One is kirtan, which is the singing hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib, another is katha which is reading the Guru Granth Sahib and discussing its meaning. The third main function which is carried out at every gurdwara is the langar, free community kitchen for all visitors of all religions. Along with these main functions gurdwaras around the world also serve the Sikh community in many other ways by containing libraries of Sikh literature, schools to teach children Gurmukhi and the Sikh scriptures and performing charitable work in the community on behalf of Sikhs and others.

There are two kinds of gurdwaras. The first kind are gurdwaras built to meet the religious and social needs of the local people, like those described above.. The second type are gurdwaras with special, historic meaning to Sikhs. These are usually associated with important events in the lives of the Gurus. The most important of these are called the Five Holy Takhts (Throne). These are considered the seats of Sikh religious authority. Many important decisions concerning the religious and social life of the Sikh community were made here.