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Sikhism

Langar and the gurdwara in the Sikh community

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Students learn how langar began and what Guru Amar Das required of visitors, why the food is vegetarian, the pangat and equality, langar as sewa, and what a gurdwara offers the wider community beyond worship.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is langar?

Key term

Which Guru began the practice of langar?

Who and when

According to Sikh tradition, what did Guru Amar Das require of visitors?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is langar?

    Model answer

    Langar is the free kitchen attached to every gurdwara and the meal served there. Anyone may eat, whatever their religion, caste or background.

  2. 2

    Which Guru began the practice of langar?

    Model answer

    Guru Nanak began the practice of sharing a free common meal. Guru Amar Das later made langar a fixed part of Sikh life.

  3. 3

    According to Sikh tradition, what did Guru Amar Das require of visitors?

    Model answer

    Sikh tradition says Guru Amar Das made every visitor eat in the langar before meeting him. The Emperor Akbar is said to have sat on the floor with everyone else.

  4. 4

    Why is the food served in langar always vegetarian?

    Model answer

    Vegetarian food allows people of every religion to eat without breaking their own food rules. Sikhs want nobody excluded from the meal.

  5. 5

    How does langar express the Sikh belief in equality?

    Model answer

    Everyone in langar sits in rows on the floor at the same height. Rich and poor, women and men, receive exactly the same food.

  6. 6

    How is langar an example of sewa?

    Model answer

    Volunteers cook, serve and clean without payment, which is physical sewa. Gifts of food and money towards langar are a form of dhan sewa.

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