Nepal’s Sikhs prepare for Guru Nanak Day

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Just as Nepal’s many festivals have been muted in 2020, the Sikh Gurdwara in Kathmandu wears a forlorn look as it prepares for Guru Nanak Day on 30 November.

There are just a few caretakers at the Guru Nanak Satsang Gurdwara, and they are preparing for a small celebration on the three day festival this weekend that marks 551st birthday of the Sikh guru.

To be sure, even before the Covid-19 crisis, Nepal’s Sikh community has been shrinking – many went to India or migrated overseas in a process that started during the Maoist conflict. There was a time when the Gurdwara in the Kopundole neighbourhood used to see queues of people for the vegetarian langar meals outside the gates.

This year, for the first time in decades the Gurdwara will not be serving free vegetarian meals for guests irrespective of caste, religion or status. Sikhs believe this is service to the community as per instructions from Guru Nanak.

“The Covid-19 cases have been spreading so rapidly in Kathmandu that we may just allow 20 to 40 people in batches into the shrine and have a quiet celebration,” says Pritam Singh of the Guru Nanak Satsang Gurdwara.

In the Kupondole-based Gurdwara lives the head priest Daler Singh Bhaji, who says: “If we have to remain far apart, so be it. We cannot risk our lives in the name of celebration. We can celebrate in full once the pandemic is over, this can wait.”

Little Punjab, Meghna Bali

Sikhs first came to Nepal in 1869, following the exiled queen Maharani Jind Kaur, wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The queen sought asylum and lived for a decade in Thapathali’s Charburja Durbar across the Bagmati River from where the Gurdwara is now located. She established a number of small Gurdwaras across the Valley by placing the 1,430-page holy book Guru Granth Sahib.

While the Gurdwara in Kupondole is the most prominent and relatively new shrine, the first Guru Granth Sahib was actually placed in Nepal by Sri Chand, Guru Nanak’s son in the Balaju forest, in what is now called Prachin Udasin Shri Guru Nanak Muth.

There are other lesser-known Gurdwara in the Valley: Shri Raj Rajeshwori Udasin Nirmal Akhada and Guru Nanak Muth Udasin Bhimeshwor, both in the premises of the Pashupati Conservation Area and three others in Shobha Bhagwati.

While many Sikhs settled in Kathmandu Valley, many in Maharani Jind Kaur’s large retinue, settled in Nepalganj. A second wave of Sikhs arrived in Nepal, driven away from Pakistan during the Partition in 1947.  Sardar Amarjit Singh is 65, and remembers his parents’ struggle in making Nepalganj their home after being forced out of Lahore after the partition. Today, Amarjit runs a medical wholesale shop and a few fuel trucks for Nepal Oil Corporation in Nepalganj.

“I was born and brought up in Nepalganj, so this is my home and Nepal is my country. With so many Sikhs in Banke district, I do not feel like an outsider at all,” he adds.

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Many Nepali Sikhs first worked driving and owning trucks as roads were built in the mountains. Pritam Singh came to Nepal after being introduced to King Mahendra in 1959, and his friends and families soon followed and the clan has grown over the past decades.

Today, Pritam Singh no longer has a transport business, but is the founder of Modern Indian School in Chobhar, and the chief elder of the Sikh community in Kathmandu Valley.

Many younger Sikhs have moved out, and the third generation of Nepali Sikhs are making their mark all over the world. Jaspreet Singh Sethi, 29, fondly recalls his grandfather Manmohan Singh Sethi who helped build Patan Hospital.

Now based in Sydney, Jaspreet Sethi works for Ikea. Even after having lived away from Nepal and his parents for over 13 years, Jaspreet says, “Nepal will always be my home and there will always be that sense of belonging, my heart and mind is there.”

Another Sikh who has carved a niche for herself is Preeti Kaur, a well-established singer in the Nepali entertainment industry. Although she has the fame to her name, she yearns to receive Nepali citizenship which she has been struggling to get for over years.

She is now working on her new single, Chimlera Aakha, due for release next week on her YouTube channel. She adds: “There is the identity issue, but my family and I like to live a quiet life here, is there any other option.”

Proud to be a Sikh

Every morning, a short man in a yellow Sikh turban and blue surgical mask walks down Kupondole doing his daily chores: buying vegetables or chatting away with neighbours.

Incongruously, his name is Lal Bahadur Karki. Born in Ramechhap to a Chettri family, he was sent as a child to work for a rich family whose house is now the Sikh shrine, Guru Nanak Satsang Gurdwara in Kupondole.

Karki chose to remain and serve at the shrine after his employer sold the house to the Sikh community. He eventually converted into Sikhism and now wears a turban and has a distinctive long white beard.

“I was young and so attached to the place that over the time I became very close to the Sikh religion and its teachings,” says Lal Bahadur, whose wife Bhim Kumari, and family have also converted to Sikhism. Even his son, who is a migrant worker in Malaysia wears a turban.

“People often get confused by our surname and appearance,” he says, “they judge us, but we are used to it by now. It’s our faith and belief in God.”

Amidst the Covid-19 crisis, Karki along with his wife and other members of the Sikh community are now preparing a quiet celebration for Guru Nanak’s 551st birthday on Monday.