Blackened face
Blackened face (lit. a mild form of punishment, akin to the old practise of European towns where people were locked in a stock as public punishment and embarrassment.)
The records of Bhai Santokh Singh, in his Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, reports that the famous musicians, Satta and Rai Balvand had, by their greed and vanity and by their disparagement of the earlier Gurus, so annoyed Guru Arjan that he not only banished them from his presence but also declared that anyone pleading pardon for them would be punished by having his face blackened and then be tied to a donkey for a ride ride through town, with a garland of old shoes hung around his neck.
Satta and Balvand were penitent, but found no one who would be willing to escort them back to the Guru. They, finally approached Bhai Laddha, who agreed to help them, even at the risk of earning the Guru's displeasure, but well aware of the Guru's inditement he blackened his face (perhaps with soot), put a string of old shoes around his neck, mounted a donkey and went to see the Guru, after leaving Satta and Balvand at the entrance. Guru Arjan, seeing that Bhai Laddha had voluntarily undergone the proclaimed punishment for having Satta and Balvand pardoned, agreed to readmit the bards to the sangat, provided they indemnified the sacrilege committed by composing verses in honour of the Gurus they had spoken ill of earlier. Bhai Gurdas, in one of his stanzas, praises Bhai Laddha calling him parupkdn (one ready to do a good turn to others even at personal risk).
Shoes, Donkeys, and blackened faces
One can remember that throwing or hitting someone with shoes is still considered the worst of insults among the Muslims. The war to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq saw one of the monumental statues of him pulled down in Bagdad with men and young children, beating the statue with their shoes as it was dragged through the streets. Even US Pres. Bush 43 was treated to having a pair of shoes thrown at him in a recent visit to Bagdad.
The inhumane killing of innocents in both Gaza and Israel, has led to worldwide demonstrations where the Shia and Sunnis have buried their hatchets, for the moment, not in each others backs as they demonstrated against the unbalanced killing of the citizens of Gaza. Pictures of each demonstration reveal streets filled with shoes thrown in the heat of the moment. It seems that maybe the purveyors of weapons, medical supplies and shoe makers will be the only winners in this battle.
The story below is from the Daily Times of Pakistan (Lahore) in a report (filed Jan 10th, 2009)
About a week ago, the faces of two people were blackened on the orders of a Taleban (Sharia) court in Hangu district and they were paraded on donkeys in a market. A Taliban group has announced sharia in parts of Hangu and was responsible for the punishment - right out of the times of the Sikh Gurus.
