The institution of Langar predates Sikhism. But only in Sikhism does it become a religious tenet: Yogesh Snehi

As the country and the world celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, Down To Earth delves into why the institution of Langar or community kitchen is such an intrinsic and fundamental part of the faith and how it came to be so.

DTE spoke to historian and Associate Professor, School of Liberal Studies, at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Yogesh Snehi, about the backstory to Langar becoming an article of faith in Sikhism. Excerpts:

Rajat Ghai (RG): How, in your view, did Guru Nanak zero in on the idea of equality through food through the institution of Langar in a caste-ridden society, adhering to the ideas of pollution and purity?

Yogesh Snehi (YS): To answer that, we must first understand the space in which Guru Nanak was evolving his teachings.

As we know, the Guru was born and lived in the Punjab of the late 15th and early 16th centuries (1469-1539). This is a period when Sufism is already well-established throughout Punjab. Various Sufi tariqahs including the Naqshbandi, Chishti, Suhrawardi and Qalandar are thriving across the province. The Chishtis and Suhrawardis are the largest of these with the latter having their base in Uch Sharif in south Punjab (today in Pakistan) and the former in Pakpattan, Lahore and other areas further north.

To be able to understand and respond to your question, I must go even further back in time, even before Sufism took root in Punjab, which was roughly around the 11th century. That is even before the Delhi Sultanate was established in the 13th century.

This is a time when the most revered tradition in the Punjab is of the Nath Panth of Saivite Yogis. Punjab was ecologically a vast pasture which was dominantly conducive to the practice of pastoral life. The anti-caste attitudes and practices in Sufism are largely due to the influence of the Nath Panth. Sufi tradition, in turn, influenced the Sikh tradition in this manner. All three traditions also share a common theological aspect: monotheism.

The deras (hospices) of the Nath Yogis were said to be open to all. Anyone, including even Muslims, could come. The influence of the Nath Panth is apparent on Baba Farid Ganjshakar, among the Punjab’s earliest and most well-known Sufis. It is said that he practiced chilla-e-makus (a 40-day inverted meditation), which is similar to what the Nath Yogis observed too.

Nath deras were also open to travellers. However, these deras were not exactly located on major highways and trade routes as Nath Yogis practiced ascetism in secluded places. But when this practice came into Sufism, it added a nuance to it: there were Sufi shrines on all major trade routes. And this is what then came into the Sikh tradition as well. All early important Sikh sites were also along highways and trade routes.

The Sufi Khanqahs were where people would come, pay their respect, and partake the Langar, which these sites offered (they still do). Travellers even halted for the night as these places offered sanctuary from marauding robbers and highwaymen.

While we do not have evidence for Langar in Nath deras, I am assuming they did offer Langar as they were also open to all. The institution of Langar thus predates Sikhism.

But why did it become such an intrinsic part of Sikhism and Sikh practice? For that, we need to understand what is changing in Punjab’s economic landscape at this time.

The rise of Sufism in Punjab coincides with the coming of Jats into the province from Sindh into Multan. By the 12th-13th century, large populations of Jats are settling in Punjab. As these Jats move northward, they come into contact with Sufi mystics and their shrines. By the 14th century, the Tughlaqs of the Delhi Sultanate have endowed Sufi Khanqahs in Punjab with land grants. The pastoral Jat settlers coming into Punjab then associate themselves with these Khanqahs and settle down on their lands, becoming peasants. They also adopt Islam in the process.

This is the beginning of sedentary agriculture in Punjab, with areas in its south such as Uch, Multan and Pakpattan recording these experiments by the Tughlaqs, who built canals, endowed land grants and constructed tombs over the graves of Sufi saints.

What this does is that by the 16th century, the time of Guru Nanak and the Mughal Empire, peasant ethic becomes the dominant ethic in Punjab.

RG: Alongside Langar, Guru Nanak also led an agrarian movement during his last days at Kartarpur Sahib. Do you think there is a relation between the two (Langar and his last days as a farmer)?

YS: As I said in my answer to the previous question, peasant ethic was the most important ethic in Punjab by the 16th century. So important was it that farming became an ideal occupation. The idea of Kirat (to work, to labour) in the Sikh tradition comes from here. 

Even if you look at sources other than Sikh ones, you find evidence of this. By the 16th and 17th centuries, one has written versions of Heer-Ranjha, one of the four popular tragic romances of Punjab. In these, the eponymous hero Ranjha’s kin taunt him, saying he is lazy and just keeps herding animals instead of being an ideal Jat peasant and working in the fields.   

So, by the late 16th century, you have a peasant ethic becoming part of literary culture. Agrarian production is rising. This is evidenced by the fact that the Mughals collect the maximum amount of land revenue from the province, and this leads to peasant rebellions like that of Dulla Bhatti against Akbar. This means Punjab’s peasants produced a large surplus. This coincides in the 16th century with the rise of the Sikh tradition. So, Jats of the Punjab’s central plains, primarily Majha districts like Lahore, Amritsar and Tarn Taran, adopt Sikhism. The Sikh tradition benefits from both major socio-economic transformations: the emergence of the peasant ethic and the adoption of anti-caste rhetoric as a religious precept.

We also see this transformation in other religious traditions. The peasant way of life takes predominance in areas where agrarian transformation is happening, and a peasant ethic is emerging. Meanwhile, the Nath Jogi figure is becoming a romantic and nostalgic representation of the past.

One can draw parallels between this and the rise of the Krishna cult in the Braj region of western Uttar Pradesh during the Mughal period. As western Uttar Pradesh becomes more agrarian, the lore of Krishna, a symbol of pastoralism, becomes a relic of the past and is enshrined that way. In fact, the identity of Ranjha is similar to Krishna. He plays his flute and attracts buffaloes and also women. Therefore, you can see these parallels of social transformation and acquisition of certain ethics in religious movements. The ascetic and mobile way of life is no longer idyllic as earlier. Guru Nanak’s Siddh Gosth represents jogis as lazy ascetics who practice false beliefs. The peasant is the new ideal, and a settled householder life, a desired mode of life.

RG: So, all this means the influence of Jats on Sikhism begins with the founder of the faith himself?

YS: Absolutely. In his last years, Guru Nanak settled on land in Kartarpur that belonged to the Jat chieftain Ajita Randhawa. Though the Sikh Gurus were not Jats, the Jat tradition’s influence on Sikhism is apparent very early on.  That is why I do not agree with historian W.H. McLeod associating Jats with the latter part of Sikh history. Otherwise, why would Guru Nanak settle as a peasant? The Khatris, from where Guru Nanak came, idealised trade and administrative service, and the profession of scribes as a worthy occupation. Thus, Guru Nanak becoming a peasant is a fundamental shift. He was already disenchanted with the professions that his community did: as scribes and accountants who served the state. The Guru was also highly disenchanted with the destruction that Babar’s invasion had wrought on Punjab. He thinks that the state which should have been the protector, had become the destructor of Punjab’s social fabric; narrated as sharp criticism in Babar Vani. He is now becoming enchanted with the peasant way of life instead, which had by then, become the idealised way of life in 16th century Punjab. These peasants replenished food supplies of Langar kitchens and gave permanence to this living tradition. Langar is the umbilical cord which ties Sikhs to the Sufi tradition.