Ballan, India - Eighteen days after the gunning down of Ravidassia leader Sant Rama Nand in Vienna by radical Sikhs, the sect has now made a major shift in its religious practice by not having the parkash of Guru Granth Sahib on the occasion of antim ardas of the slain preacher.
As thousands thronged Dera Sachkhand Ballan to attend the ceremony and shradhanjali samagam of Rama Nand on Saturday, the dera made a significant departure from its own traditions by not organizing the akhand path. The palanquin, usually bearing Sikhs’ holy book, instead held the portrait of Sant Sarwan Dass in whose name the dera was established a century ago.
Devotees arriving at the venue, bowed before the portrait ahead of taking their seats on the floor under a large tent enclosure to listen to preachers.
Dera spokesperson SR Heer called this deviation a ‘‘reaction to Vienna incident” and ‘‘decision of sants of the dera”. Reacting to it, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Avtar Singh Makkar said, “The Guru Granth Sahib is common to all. SGPC had strongly criticised the attack on spiritual leaders in Austria and minced no words while doing so. In the light of this, the sect’s deviation is quite unfortunate.”
While holy men read out 40 hymns and a shloka of Guru Ravidass contained in the Guru Granth Sahib, no politician was allowed to address the gathering on the occasion. In fact, this divergence was observed on June 11 itself when the death anniversary of Sant Sarwan Dass was held without the holy book. In the past, however, 11 akhand paths used to mark such a function.
Rama Nand was killed at a Ravidass temple in Vienna on May 24 in an assault, which also saw dera head Sant Niranjan Dass sustain injuries, by radical Sikhs who reportedly objected to the way devotees in the temple bowed before the religious leaders in the presence of their holy book. The killing and subsequent violent protests by sect followers in most parts of Punjab also brought the issue of identity of Adharmis to centrestage, besides triggering a debate within the community whether or not to change rituals practised by the dera.