Antam Sanskār — the Farewell
When a Sikh departs, the Gurū's code keeps the farewell simple and luminous: Gurbānī, Ardās, the Sehaj Pāṭh read by the family, and sevā in the departed's name. This guide walks each stage — and, just as importantly, names what the Rehat Maryādā deliberately does not require, so a grieving family is never pressured into rites that are not the Panth's way.
Prepared with reverence from the Sikh Rehat Maryādā's article on funeral ceremonies. Local gurdwārā committees and granthīs guide each family's arrangements; where a family custom differs from the Maryādā, the sangat resolves it with love. May the Gurū keep the departed in eternal care.
- As the end draws near
Being with the dying
The family stays close and keeps the room in the remembrance of Wāhegurū — softly reciting Gurbānī (Sukhmanī Sāhib is beloved for this) or simply 'Wāhegurū' together. The Maryādā asks that the family console themselves and others in the light of the Gurū's teaching, and not give way to loud lamentation.
The spirit: Death, in Gurbānī, is the completion of a journey home — 'the dawn of a new day'. The dying should leave hearing the Gurū's word, not wailing.
- At death
Preparing with love, without superstition
The body is bathed and dressed in clean clothes. For an Amritdhārī, the five kakārs remain with the body. The Maryādā is explicit that no superstitious observances are called for — no lamp placed in the hand, no cow-gift at the doorway, no breaking of pots, no consulting of omens for the timing.
The spirit: The person is honoured as a Sikh of the Gurū, exactly as they lived. Nothing more is needed; nothing more is asked.
- • Cremation may take place on any day and at any hour — no day is inauspicious.
- • Where cremation is genuinely impossible, the Maryādā accepts respectful alternatives (e.g., committal to flowing water).
- The same day, where possible
The cremation
The body is taken in procession with hymns of the Gurū — not with wailing or beating of the breast. ANY relative or friend may light the pyre: the Maryādā names no requirement of a son, and no restriction of gender — a daughter, a widow, a grandchild, a friend, all are fully entitled. As the pyre burns, Kīrtan Sohilā (the night prayer) is recited, and Ardās is offered for the departed soul.
The spirit: The same prayer a Sikh recites before sleep is recited at the pyre — because in the Gurū's eyes this is the soul's rest at the close of its day.
- • At an electric or gas crematorium the same order holds: shabads, the committal, Kīrtan Sohilā, Ardās.
- After the fire has cooled
The ashes (phul)
The ashes and remains are collected and committed to flowing water — any river or the sea. Many families carry them to Kīratpur Sāhib by custom, and that is a fine custom — but the Maryādā requires no particular place. What it DOES require: no memorial, monument or shrine is to be raised at the cremation site or over the remains.
The spirit: A Sikh's monument is the Gurū's word in the lives they touched — not a structure over ashes.
- Beginning at once, Bhog within about ten days
The Sehaj Pāṭh and its Bhog
A complete reading of the Gurū Granth Sāhib is begun — ideally a Sehaj Pāṭh read by the family themselves, at home or at the gurdwārā, each taking their turn (an Akhaṇḍ Pāṭh may be arranged where the family prefers). The Bhog (completion) is held within about ten days, as suits the family: the concluding angs, kīrtan — the Alāhṇīāṅ, the Gurū's own hymns of mourning, are sung — the six stanzas of Anand Sāhib, Ardās for the departed, a Hukamnāmā, and kaṛāh prasād shared with the sangat.
The spirit: The family's grief is poured into the Gurū's word, day by day, until on the tenth day it is the WHOLE Gurū they have read together. That reading — not a ritual specialist's mediation — is the Sikh farewell.
- • Reading it yourselves, even a few angs each, is worth more than any hired reading — this app's Sehaj Pāṭh tracker lets the whole family share one pāṭh and watch it reach Bhog together.
- • Langar or sevā in the departed's name at the Bhog is a beloved practice.
- The weeks and years after
Remembrance, the Sikh way
There is no prescribed mourning period, no ritual impurity, no monthly or annual rite that MUST be performed. Families who wish to remember do so with Ardās on the anniversary, kīrtan, langar and sevā in the departed's name, and by continuing whatever the departed loved — their nitnem, their sevā, their sangat.
The spirit: The Gurū turned remembrance from obligation into love. Nothing is owed; everything may be given.
- • The app can save the anniversary and remind the family for an Ardās each year — remembrance as a gift, not a burden.
Questions families ask
Who lights the pyre if there is no son?
Anyone the family chooses — the Maryādā says any relative or friend, with no requirement of a son and no restriction of gender. A daughter, a widow, a grandchild or a dear friend performing this final sevā is fully in accord with the Panth's code.
Are we supposed to do śrāddha, piṇḍ dān, or feed brāhmaṇs?
No. The Maryādā explicitly sets these aside — Sikhī holds that the departed is in Wāhegurū's care and is served by Gurbānī, Ardās and sevā, not by ritual offerings. A family that is pressured toward such rites can decline them with a clear conscience: the Gurū's own code is on their side.
Is there a mourning period during which we cannot go to the gurdwārā?
No. There is no concept of ritual impurity after a death in Sikhī. The gurdwārā and the Gurū's presence are exactly where a grieving family belongs, from the very first day.
Must the ashes go to a particular place?
No — any flowing water. Kīratpur Sāhib is a widespread and worthy custom, not an obligation. What the Maryādā does forbid is raising a memorial or shrine over the remains or at the cremation site.
Sehaj Pāṭh or Akhaṇḍ Pāṭh?
The Maryādā's own preference for a bereavement is the Sehaj Pāṭh — an unhurried complete reading, ideally by the family themselves, with Bhog in about ten days. An Akhaṇḍ Pāṭh (48-hour unbroken reading) may be arranged where the family wishes and can properly provide for it; what matters is that it be read and heard with attention, not merely commissioned.
May we mark the anniversary (barsī)?
Remembrance is beautiful; obligation is not. An Ardās, kīrtan, langar or sevā in their name on the anniversary is fully in the Sikh spirit — done as love, not as a rite the departed 'needs'.
Begin, right here
- 📖 Start the family's Sehaj Pāṭh — share one pāṭh, each read your angs, and reach Bhog together within the ten days.
- 🙏 Offer an Ardās for the departed, with the sangat's blessing.
- 📿 Arrange a granthī or rāgī for the Bhog — Anand Sāhib, the Alāhṇīāṅ, kīrtan and Ardās.