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Paper short abstract

Sikhs’ travels to Rameshwaram, one of India’s most significant pilgrimage sites, reveals intersections of narrative and place that position them at the center rather than periphery of Sikh tradition.

Paper long abstract

Sikhs, followers of the monotheistic Indian religion whose founder, Guru Nanak, was born in the 15th century, are dispersed throughout the globe. In each place where they reside, Sikhs create complex diasporic relationships with other Sikhs, with non-Sikhs, with nature, their homeland of Punjab, and with the land on which they have migrated to. Chennai, the capital city of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, hosts a vibrant Sikh community that is part of the internal Indian diaspora. Most studies of the Sikh diaspora focus on communities in Western or Western settler colonial societies. By contrast, this paper examines a pilgrimage by Chennai-based Sikhs living as a minority community within India 1,500 miles south of their cultural and religious homeland.

This paper discusses how the Indian state of Tamil Nadu came to be considered sacred landscape for Sikhs. It examines the terrain of Chennai-based Sikhs’ sacred geographies, as illustrated through the narratives and discourses they employ. Guru Nanak’s udasis or travels include his journey to Rameshwaram, one of India’s most significant pilgrimage sites. Narratives of Nanak in Rameshwaram as well as annual pilgrimages foster Chennai-based Sikhs sense of belonging on Tamil soil and within a broader Tamil Hindu sacred landscape. Religious travel to Rameshwaram enables Chennai-based Punjabi Sikhs to include themselves in Sikh geography and form themselves within a Sikh community narrative. Chennai Sikhs’ pilgrimage to Rameshwaram reveals intersections of narrative and place, that position them at the center rather than periphery of the Sikh tradition.