THERE are few acts of reverence in Sikh life more familiar, or more moving, than the sight of Guru Granth Sahib being carried on the head. The Saroop is opened with ceremony, placed with care and carried with a reverence that has become part of the lived grammar of Sikh faith. Beadbi is therefore not an abstract offence. To treat Guru Granth Sahib with contempt, to damage it deliberately or to violate the practices through which its sanctity is preserved is to wound something deeply ingrained in the community.