New code for Sikh weddings
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) announced in July 2007 a new code for Sikh weddings. These weddings are required to be kept simple, respectable and austere. Leaders of Delhi’s Sikh community have called for an immediate end to lavish wedding celebrations featuring non-veg food and alcohol on the grounds that this encourages the Dowry System mentality and may be the seed for the very serious problem of female foeticide in the community. The management is recommending that only vegetarian food should be served without liquor of any kind in keeping with the message of the founder of the faith, Guru Nanak Dev. A simple ceremony before noon is all that a wedding should be and this was the system used during the times of the Gurus.
Displaying its resolve to back its suggestions with action, DSGMC has said all Sikh weddings should be solemnised in Gurdwaras – Sikh place of worship. Those failing to observe the code will be denied marriage certificates. Though it has been claimed that the Sikh clergy would use persuasion, they clearly mean business. Sikhs have been urged not to attend weddings that don't stick to the code and to discourage others to adhere to the new code.
The anti-ostentation code was decreed at a meeting with heads of about 173 Singh Sabhas across Delhi on Saturday, 28 July 2007. While DSGMC contends that the move for a "simple wedding" is an attempt to curtail dowry harassment and even female foeticide being resorted to by parents who cannot afford expensive weddings, the spartan extreme proposed is sure to jar a community which likes to celebrate in style.
Sikhs are supposed to avoid unnecessary expenditure, but their weddings have become increasingly ostentatious in recent years. Many weddings last several days, beginning with the groom’s procession to the bride’s home and culminating in a banquet featuring lavish food, beer and whisky and dancing into the night. This has resulted in high expenditure and a distance from the underlying principles of prudence set by the religion.
More importantly, it is in line with renewed zeal displayed lately by Sikh clergy to regulate the community's affairs in Punjab as well as elsewhere and is a serious attempt to bring this very important occasion in line with the underlying message of its founders Gurus.
The DSGMC, the city’s top Sikh body, has told the capital’s one million Sikhs to boycott weddings that are not teetotal, vegetarian and over by noon. Similar measures are being considered in other Indian cities. DSGMC is keen on enforcement. The Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna says the DSGMC will "persuade" families to fall in line but said those who flout the "simple wedding" code will not get a marriage certificate from Gurdwaras. Also, those who organise baraats in the evening will not be allowed to marry in a gurdwara besides which members of the committee will boycott such weddings.
The committee has ordered the 350 Delhi’s gurdwaras (Sikh temples) not to issue wedding certificates to families who ignore its guidelines. Those who hold wedding processions in the evening will not be allowed to marry in a gurdwara.
“Our fight is against the exploitation by those who pose demands on the girl’s family to organise elaborate weddings,” said Paramjit Singh Sarna, the committee president. “It is this splurge of wealth on ceremonies which is promoting dowry and practices like female foeticide.” The Sikh religion speaks very clearly against these practises.
Although it is technically illegal to demand a dowry, most Indians ignore the ban. The bride’s family is expected to pay for a sumptuous wedding and give the groom’s family cash and other gifts. As a result, daughters are traditionally seen as a financial burden and many Indians kill newborn girls or abort female foetuses.
The Indian Medical Association says that five million female foetuses are terminated every year. The issue was highlighted last week when the wife of an Indian millionaire accused him of forcing her to abort two girls.
Sardar Ram Singh, another Sikh leader in Delhi, said that the committee’s new guidelines would soon be taken up elsewhere. “I am confident that over 95 per cent of Sikhs will positively respond to our appeal,” he said.
It is envisaged that most respectable members of the community will heed this new ruling and follow the advice given by the Sikh management.
