Speaking Tree - Why can't women pray wherever they wish to?

Speaking Tree - Why can't women pray wherever they wish to?

In recent times, women across India have been fighting against ban on their entry to some prominent religious places. Watching their struggle on live TV is extremely dismaying. While some of these places of worship have reluctantly agreed to allow women to pray, the fundamental question is --  if God created men and women as equals, then why this discrimination? With these questions in my mind, I turned to analyse the status of women in the Sikh religion from a historical and philosophical perspective to see if there was any learning that could be applied to the current situation.

Historically, a number of prominent women have played a very important role in the evolution of the Sikh faith.

Bebe Nanki, the elder sister of Guru Nanak was the first to recognise his divine powers; she was his first disciple.   Exemplary womenMata Gujri, the wife of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru and mother of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru is revered as the epitome of wisdom and sacrifice. Mata Gujri not only sent away her husband to martyrdom to save the faith of Kashmiri Pandits; she also inspired the younger two of her grandsons, Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh to heroically face death rather than give up their faith.

Sikh history is resplendent with other such exemplary women.  Equality of genders is a basic underlying principle of Sikhism and all Sikh Gurus laid a great deal of emphasis on this. Right from inception of the Sikh religion, women have enjoyed freedom to pray, read religious texts, sing hymns and perform seva or service at the Gurdwara. Sikh Gurus totally rejected misogynist practices like female infanticide and sati which were prevalent in medieval Indian society and they believed in equal status for men and women.

Guru Nanak vehemently spoke out against those who treated women as inferiors: “So why call women inferior when they give birth to kings and superiors?” he asked.  Unique qualitiesSikh Gurus recognised that women have unique qualities like purity, sacrifice, selflessness, empathy, warmth, softness, humility and generosity. These qualities, they felt, separated the worldly from the divine. Those aiming to achieve the state of nirvana first needed to purify their minds by inculcating these qualities.

The female gender has been praised, lauded and revered immensely throughout the Guru Granth Sahib.   A large number of hymns of Sri Guru Granth Sahib offer supplication to God in feminine form:  “I am intoxicated in the love of my Omnipresent Lord, my Husband; I adorn and I embellish myself with good deeds and character to entice him in my love” sang Bhagat Namdev (Sri Guru Granth Sahib pg 1164). Gender equityWhile compiling the Adi Granth, Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru, included the hymns of a lot of Bhagats from various parts of the country.

One touchstone principle that he applied while selecting these compositions was to make sure that these compositions recognised equality of genders and were respectful towards women. The message in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib is clear and consistent to anyone who would care to listen and that message is as follows:  “Respect women and let them pray”.