Langar

What it is

Every gurdwara has a kitchen and a hall for langar. The food is simple and always vegetarian, so that people of any diet can eat it together. A typical meal is flatbread, lentils, a vegetable dish, rice and a sweet rice pudding. It is cooked, served and cleaned up by volunteers. Giving money, bringing flour and lentils, rolling bread, ladling dal and washing plates are all forms of seva, and people of every age take part.

What it means

In the India of Guru Nanak's time, caste rules decided who could eat with whom. Sitting in a single row, called pangat, and eating the same food from the same kitchen set those rules aside. Rich and poor, men and women, Sikh and visitor sit at the same level. The Gurus who followed Guru Nanak strengthened the institution, and Sikh tradition holds that even an emperor who came to meet the Guru was asked to eat in the langar first.

How it works

Visitors cover their heads and remove their shoes on entering the gurdwara. In the langar hall you take a steel plate and sit on a mat in the next free place in the row. Volunteers come along the line serving each item. You may ask for more or for less. When you finish, you carry your plate to the washing area. The Golden Temple in Amritsar serves langar day and night and feeds tens of thousands of people every day.

How to do it

1. Cover your head and take off your shoes before entering.
2. Wash your hands, take a plate and sit in the row on the floor.
3. Hold out cupped hands to receive bread.
4. Say bas, enough, or hold a hand over your plate to refuse more.
5. Take your plate to the washing area. Offer to help if you wish.

Good manners

• Take only what you will eat. Leaving food is considered disrespectful.
• No tobacco or alcohol may be brought into a gurdwara.
• Sit cross-legged if you can. Do not point your feet toward the prayer hall.

What is eaten

DalSoupy dish made from split lentils, peas or beans, a staple across South AsiaRotiUnleavened flatbread made from whole-wheat flour, common across South Asia and beyondKheerA sweet pudding of rice, milk and sugar, flavoured with cardamom and nutsKarah ParshadA sacred Sikh sweet made from whole-wheat flour, ghee, and sugar, shared in GurdwarasKadhiYogurt and gram flour soup, often with fritters, from RajasthanDal makhaniCreamy black lentils slow-cooked with butter and spicesChapatiUnleavened flatbread cooked on a griddle and served hot with meals

Sources and further reading

• Langar (Sikhism) on Wikipedia
• BBC Religions: The Gurdwara
• Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee