Fiji Parties with a Guru

The Punjabi Sikh community of Fiji celebrated the Baisakhi festival three days ago.

The total population of the Sikhs in Fiji may be only four or five thousand but they have put their own cultural stamp on the multi-culturalscape of this country.

Baisakh, also written as Vaisakh, is the second month of the Punjabi calendar.

The first day of this month is known as Baisakhi. Not only in Fiji, Baisakhi programs are organised by the Sikhs in all those countries where they have permanently settled.

The outgoing, free-spirited and enterprising Punjabi Sikhs celebrate this historical event with great enthusiasm, whether they are in Fiji, Canada, USA or any other part of the globe.

Now they are in a position to articulate and celebrate their cultural identities with confidence and zeal.

The Sikh culture has become totally transplanted in diasporic locations and visibly expressed through their songs , music and through radio, television, films and literature.

To emphasise their "omnipresence", somebody has made up an anecdote.

It is said that when Neil Armstrong stepped off the spacecraft Eagle and put his feet on the lunar surface, a taxi pulled up sharply alongside the astronaut.

Its Sikh driver approached him and asked, "Where to, Commander? My taxi is ready."

Now let us look at the origin and significance of Baisakhi.

Religious aspect

Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was the founder of the Sikh faith and Guru Gobind Singh ( 1660-1708), the last guru of the Sikhs, laid the foundations of the Khalsa Panth on the day of Baisakhi in 1699 at Anandpur, a town in Punjab.

The Khalsa Panth is best described as an order, a community possessing a religious foundation and military discipline.

On that day in 1699, a new spirit was infused by Guru Gobind Singh into his followers so that they could fight against all the injustices and tyranny, persecutions and torture, perpetrated by the rulers of those days.

His Sikhs were expected to be soldiers as well as saints. He taught them a new concept of bhakti (devotion to God) and shakti (power to fight).

They were to shun timidness, feelings of weakness and defeatist attitudes.

In his code of conduct, gambling, theft, hypocrisy, falsehood were condemned and use of tobacco and intoxicants was prohibited.

His followers were asked to become honest workers and to rise against all those who indulged in exploitation of other men.

He preached that manav ki jaat, sabho aik hee pahchaanbo that all human beings are to be treated equally and jin prem keeo, tin hee prabh paayo that the one who loves others receives the blessing of God.

The lack of space does not permit to include in this article all the teachings of Guru Gobind Singh, his sacrifices and sufferings, and many other aspects of his life but they are elaborated by Sikh preachers not only on the day of Baisakhi but in all those religious congregations, ceremonies, functions held during the year by different organisations.

Social and cultural

Baisakhi is also called the festival of harvest. It is celebrated by a large farming community of Punjab. In Fiji, our young boys and girls perform bhangra on this day and on many other important occasions but in Punjab and other overseas countries where Punjabis have settled , it is done with greater hilarity and exuberance.

In Punjab, the whole season has charming effect on the people. It brings happiness in the farmer's home.

The golden colour of the wheat crops is reflected in the eyes of all members of the family.

New hopes start throbbing in their hearts because the homes will be full with grain.

As soon as the harvest season approaches, the mood of the villagers changes with echo of folk songs:

The crops are ripe, O' my Partner!

The fragrance of wheat has intoxicated me

Let us sing and dance today. (translated from Punjabi)

After the harvest season, the farmers are free. During their leisure time, they lie down under the cool shade of mango or peepal tree.

Lyrics of the following kind would begin to dance on their lips:

O' Jatta!

Harvest season has come to an end

Worry of keeping a watch on the crops is over

Swinging, swaying and singing

We shall dance madly tonight

In the charming moonlight

Baisakhi has come O' Jatta (translated)

Punjabis are very romantic people, whether they are Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims or Christians.

Punjab is known as a land of folksongs and country of Heer-Ranjha.

During Baisakhi season they become more poetic.

A young boy is separated from his girl friend only for a few days. She sings in his absence:

O'my lover!

I pick up sand

From your fresh foot prints

and touch it to my bosom (translated)

At another place a boy, not able to bear pangs of separation from his sweetheart, would whine:

O' the queen of my heart!

You have taken out soul from my body

I am carrying now

Only the weight of my skeleton.

( translated)

There are thousands of such lyrics on the subject of Baisakhi and themes of love and passion.

The Khalsa order was established on the day of Baisakhi by Guru Gobind Singh about 300 years ago but Baisakhi as a social and cultural event has been celebrated from times immemorial.

Let us congratulate all those followers of the Sikh faith who have remembered Guru Gobind Singh in the Sikh temples on the day of Baisakhi, and all lovers of bhangra, giddha and folk songs wherever they find suitable venues to display their art.

* Jogindar Kanwal is a former Principal of Khalsa College, Ba and author of many Hindi and English books. He lives in Varadoli, Ba with his wife Amarjit.

Email: kanwalconnect.com.fj