The Gurdwara and the Langar
The gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship, open to all; attached to almost every one is the langar, the free community kitchen where everyone eats together as equals.
The gurdwara (“doorway to the Guru”) is the Sikh place of worship, open to all regardless of faith or background. At its heart sits the Guru Granth Sahib, treated as the living Guru. Attached to almost every gurdwara is the langar — the free community kitchen founded in Guru Nanak’s own time, where volunteers cook and serve a meal to anyone who comes, all seated together on the floor as equals.
Langar is Sikhi’s most visible social teaching: equality and service made edible. No one is turned away, and no distinction of caste, wealth, or creed survives the shared meal on the floor.1,2,4
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Sources
Numbers in the text link to the work the claim rests on. Naming a work is not the same as checking every sentence against it; how entries are checked.
- Eleanor Nesbitt. Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press (2005). no page given yet
- W. Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi. The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. no page given yet standard academic reference on Sikh belief and practice
- Khushwant Singh. A History of the Sikhs, Volume 1: 1469–1839. Oxford University Press (2004). no page given yet
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sikhism.