Our last stop as we left the Punjab plains was at an Ad Dharm temple in Pathankot. A seemingly out of the way place with an unassuming façade, inside, stairs lead down to the temple hall.
Similar to the community we met in Jalandhar, these Ad Dharmis are a Dalit community and followers of Ravi Das. However, there is a striking difference. They are not Sikhs but are instead regarded as a sect of Hinduism. Inside the temple’s shrine are two life size icons, Ravi Das and the temple’s founder. Although these Ad Dharmis are devotees of Ravi Das, they also venerate their leaders.
In addition, personal authority is instilled in the form of their living leader. I’m not sure if he’s regarded as a guru but he definitely presents himself as one. As our group sat on the floor, he sat on a chair above us with his turban, long graying beard, and dressed in a simple peach kurta-pyjama. The community’s leadership has two goals, to educate its followers and to remove the drug problem so prevalent among the socially downtrodden.
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