A taste of India

Daniel Scott journeys to a Sikh temple in Woolgoolga and unravels some of life's mysteries.

I've always been intrigued, as we've driven past Woolgoolga on journeys north, by the ornate white edifice with domes and minarets crowning a hill above the Pacific Highway. The Guru Nanak Temple, opened in 1970, is the most visible sign of Australia's largest regional Sikh population, a thriving pocket of India in the land of the Big Banana, 20 kilometres north of Coffs Harbour.

As a callow teenager, I learnt to travel in India on an epic 25,000-kilometre journey across the subcontinent. But I never visited the Punjab region, where Sikhism originates, so the religion of turbanned, big-bearded men has remained a mystery to me.

This morning, the second of a two-day family visit to Woolgoolga, I've finally made it to the temple and the mystery is unravelling.

"Sikhism is very close to Buddhism and the Baha'i faith," says a prominent Sikh on Coffs City Council, John Arkan, who is showing a small group around the temple.

"We have no caste system, no priest," he continues, as we remove our shoes and cover our heads with bandannas before entering the temple, "and the guru instilled the idea of equality between men and women."

Founded by Guru Nanak in the 15th century and based on his teachings and those of 10 subsequent gurus, Sikhism is the world's fifth-largest organised religion. In Woolgoolga, 300 families worship at the gurdwara (temple) and there are plans to build another nearby.

We make our way upstairs and into a large open room, at the centre of which is a palki, an altar upon which the scriptures are placed each day. It's a welcoming, colourful space but not overelaborate.

We sit cross-legged and Arkan explains more about his faith. "We don't cut our hair because nature created it that way," he says, "so we normally wrap it in a turban together with a wooden comb to keep it clean." The uncut hair (kesh) and comb (kanga) are two of the five "Ks" worn by baptised Sikhs; the others are circular bangles (kara), symbolising God's eternity; a small double-edged sword (kirpan), representing day and night; and undershorts (kachera).

with thanks : smh : link in headline above for detailed story.

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