Gaining Authority and Legitimacy: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Golden Temple c. 1920–2000 by Gurveen Kaur Khurana A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology and History) in The University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Farina Mir, Co-Chair Professor Mrinalini Sinha, Co-Chair Associate Professor William Glover Professor Paul C. Johnson Professor Webb Keane Gurveen Kaur Khurana [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5452-9968 © Gurveen Kaur Khurana 2019 DEDICATION To Samarth, Ozzie and Papa ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is only a part of the journey that began more than ten years ago, and there are many that have made it possible for me to get here. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support along the way. My greatest debt is to my dissertation advisors Mrinalini Sinha and Farina Mir. Mrinalini has supported me through out and has always been a source of intellectual support and more. She has allowed me the freedom to grow and gain from her vast knowledge, while being patient with me finding my way. There are no words that can express my gratitude to her for all that she has done. Farina Mir’s rigor sets high standards for us all and will guide my way over the years. The rest of my committee, Webb Keane, William Glover and Paul Johnson have all been wonderful with their time and support through this dissertation writing. My deepest thanks also to Dilip Menon, Shahid Amin, Sunil Kumar and Neeladri Bhattacharya for the early intellectual training in historical thinking and methodology. Jennifer Hughes and Piya Chatterjee ensured that I got to the right place to get this dissertation done. To them all, I owe my deepest gratitude. The staff at the History Department were unfailingly supportive and have always been there to help in all manners possible. I want to especially thank Diana Denny and Susan Kaiser for responding calmly and professionally to panicked emails. Diana has always found an answer to my questions, as I did this dissertation remotely. The Anthro- History department has backed me, even when I doubted myself. They have provided iii support in terms of funding and other support that goes above and beyond any institutional support one can ask for. I have made some amazing friends at Michigan, and these friendships have sustained me when nothing else could. Hafsa, Tapsi, Faiza, Joost, Cyrus and Emma, Anna McCourt, Hoda, Courtney, and others were always there to support with their advice, or with food to recover and get going again. My fieldwork was made possible with the help of many a generous spirit. Raja bhaji and Mandeep bhabi gave me a home to come to after hours of looking at endless amounts of archival material, which I never thought I would find. Simran, their daughter, was a delight to come back to every evening. Their friends and neighbours supported me and opened their hearts and homes to find answers to questions that kept coming. Professor Jeevan Deol gave me a personal tour of the Golden Temple that enlightened me to many ideas tested in this dissertation. He is the kind of academic I hope to be someday. He kindly shared his contacts with me in the field, once again amazing me with his generosity. And finally, he found books that he knew I was looking for in rare book stores in Amritsar and parcelled them to my contact in Amritsar when I was at other archive offices. Daljit Ami, the man behind the Punjab Digital Archives, allowed me to sit in their office when they were still organizing their findings. These archives are paving the path for how future archives will be, and I am excited to see what his team pulls together. In Amritsar, Apinder Singh and Bagicha Singh (Head of Sikh Reference Library) were not just sources of information and go-to’s for more material but became friends who gave me insights into the history of Amritsar in the twentieth century from their perspectives. With cup after cup of very sweet tea, Bagicha bhaji would speak to his iv experiences in the Punjab and how things have changed. Apinder has been instrumental to this dissertation. He came up with the idea of the bungas (literally “rest house” in Persian) as an important piece of history to be examined and helped me gather materials on this piece of Punjab history that no longer physically exists. He would continuously come up with interesting ideas and I know that he will be a well-renowned scholar someday. Hita, my sister-friend helped dig more legal cases for the bungas, for which I will be grateful forever. Sardar Onkar Singh (may he rest in peace) was the best discovery on this research trip. He was extremely enthusiastic about the Ramgarhia museum being built and took pride in being its in-charge. He gave me a lot of insights into the Ramgarhia Bunga and the plans for this going forward. He also gave me the contact details for Colonel Iqbal, the last of the Bungai family, who lived in the Bunga. Colonel Iqbal opened his doors to my many questions and shared his families’ private papers and photographs of the Bunga as the last residents. I owe him the greatest gratitude. Satish Loomba, Ami Jija, Dr. Anita Hemrajani and Mahender Hemrajani helped in organizing accommodations and contacts to get access to archives and private papers. Using their contacts, I managed to get my work done swiftly in the Punjab State Archives and the manuscript section of the Guru Nanak Dev University. Friends in Singapore were instrumental in my thinking and writing this dissertation. I would like to thank Shobhit Choubey and Fiona Alexander for giving me courage, space and inspiration to get my thoughts together and be more coherent in my writing. Finally, this dissertation would not be complete without the unfailing support of my friends and family. Neha Malik, Chanpreet Khurana, and Tejkaran Khurana pushed and encouraged me to keep at it. My parents answered endless questions and gave me the v strength to finish the task I began many years ago- they are the reason I ever started this work. Mukesh and Samarth, my allies, my support system, suffered through the bad moods and anxiety as I ploughed through, all the while uplifting my mood. Without them, this dissertation would not be complete. vi Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... ix Glossary ......................................................................................................................................................... xi Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... xviii Chapter One: Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 The Origins of the SGPC ............................................................................................................................ 6 The SGPC and its Leadership ................................................................................................................... 17 Dominant Narratives in Historiography .................................................................................................... 19 Why the Golden Temple? ......................................................................................................................... 30 Method and Sources .................................................................................................................................. 35 Chapter Plan .............................................................................................................................................. 38 Chapter Two: SGPC’s Rise to Power: Institutionalizing Gurdwaras by Routinizing Functions ........ 42 Setting New Standards: Cleanliness and Orderliness in the Golden Temple ............................................ 53 Professionalizing the Cadres: Driving Accountability and Standardization across Gurdwaras ................ 62 Building Projects: Power, Expansion, and Routinization of the New Norms ........................................... 70 Competing Ideas of Building Projects: Objecting to SGPC’s Narrative ................................................... 83 Chapter Three: Discovering Our Roots—Performance, Pilgrimage, and Locating Histories ............. 91 Explorations: Discovering Our Roots ....................................................................................................... 98 Building Gurdwaras: Recovery, Repair, and Signs ................................................................................. 110 Disciplining Practices and Bodies through Pilgrimages ......................................................................... 115 Chapter Four: Resisting Desecration: Preserving Bungas as Symbol or Material.............................. 121 Claiming Authority: Thinking Through and with the Past ...................................................................... 130 Inheriting the Bunga: Private Property or