Marriage as Circling the Scripture

Anand Karaj, the ceremony of bliss, is the Sikh marriage rite, performed in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib rather than before an officiant with independent authority, since for Sikhs the scripture is the living Guru. Its central act is the Lavan: the couple circle the scripture four times, once for each of the four stanzas of a wedding hymn composed by Guru Ram Das, which are sung as they walk. The four rounds are read as stages of a journey from worldly attachment toward union with the divine, so that the human marriage is framed throughout as an image of the soul's relation to God.

The rite is deliberately plain. It has no priestly caste, no fire (as in the Hindu ceremony from which Sikhism distinguished itself), and no dowry in principle; the emphasis falls on the hymn and the scripture. Its legal recognition has its own history: the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 gave the ceremony civil standing in colonial India, and later legislation extended registration, reflecting the Sikh concern to have the rite acknowledged as distinct from Hindu marriage law.