Rababi Ghulam Mohammad passes away in Lahore

PAITALA: Bhai Ghulam Mohammad Chand, whose forefathers traced their lineage to the family of Bhai Mardana and whose request to recite kirtan in the Golden Temple was declined by Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) citing that he was not a baptized Sikh, died in Lahore on Wednesday late evening.
Despite being a Muslim, Ghulam Mohammad performed several times in the gurdwaras in Pakistan.He was the sixth generation of Bhai Sadha and Bhai Madha, who sang during the lifetimes of Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh.
Bhai Ghulam Mohammad’s father Bhai Sunder Giani was one of the last rababis to perform in Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) before 1947.
Confirming Ghulam Mohammad’s death, Navtej Kaur Purewal, deputy director, South Asia Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, said, “Bhai Ghulam Mohammad passed away in Lahore on Wednesday after a long period of ill health. I came to know him in 2008 after he was refused to perform kirtan at the Darbar Sahib. During his life time, he longed to recite kirtan at Darbar Sahib, but his wish had remained unfulfilled.” Navtej also sponsored Ghulam Mohammad’s historic visit to the UK in 2011 and also wrote a research paper on the Rababis titled ‘Sikh/Muslim Bhai-Bhai? Towards a Social History of the Rababi Tradition of Shabad Kirtan.’
Born in Rajasansi village near Amritsar in 1927, Bhai Ghulam Mohammad had migrated to Pakistan after the Partition. He shot to news in 2008 when his wish to recite kirtan at Darbar Sahib was declined by the SGPC citing the code which allowed only baptized Sikhs to perform kirtan there.
England-based Punjabi writer Amarjit Chandan, said, “Bhai Ghulam virtually died the day he was not allowed to perform kirtan in Darbar Sahib in 2008 for not being an ‘amritdhari’. They didn't know his forefather Bhai Mardana was not one either. But he was Baba Nanak’s true and first Sikh, his lifelong companion and rababi.”
Carried pain of refusal in his heart
Such was the pain that Bhai Ghulam Mohammad carried after the refusal to perform kirtan in the Darbar Sahib that in an interview with Purewal in 2011, he said, “Who bothered to ask whether we were Gursikh (baptized Sikhs) in those days? Were my ancestors Gursikhs? Did they wear the ‘dastaar’ (turban) and show the signs of being a Sikh? No. But that never stopped them from having a passion for music and their work… Those people (rhe Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee that manage gurdwaras in Punjab) have a short vision...”
‘Not direct descendant of Bhai Mardana’
“Most Sikhs mistakenly say he is a direct descendent of Bhai Mardana. The complex inter-marriage of rababi families makes the family tree less straightforward to draw out. He was a descendant of Bhai Sadha and Bhai Madha who sang during the lifetimes of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. So, he is their sixth generation,” said Purewal.
Professor Gurnam Singh, founder-head of Gurmat Sangeet chair, Punjabi University, Patiala, who also recorded Bhai Ghulam Mohammad’s several recitations, said, “It is correct that he was not a direct descendant of Bhai Mardana biologically. But since Bhai Mardana is considered as the root of the entire rababi tradition, he is usually seen as forefather of rababis.”