
The Amritsar Singh Sabha was the first faction of reformers of the
Singh Sabha movement
The Singh Sabhā Movement, also known as the Singh Sabhā Lehar, was a Sikh movement that began in Punjab in the 1870s in reaction to the proselytising activities of Christians, Hindu reform movements (Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj) and Muslims ( Ali ...
, founded in 1873, and was one of the major groups who competed to reform and define the Sikh identity in the late 19th century.
[ It was "essentially original and bourgeoisie," and "arose because of a perceived dissolution of the Sikh faith, i.e., Sikhs were believed to be falling into the folds of Hindu thought and practice."
]
Origins
Having gained social prominence in the pre-British 18th- and colonial-era 19th-century Punjab by taking over ''gurdwaras'' and Sikh institutions, the forerunners of this faction were composed of what are now referred to as Sanatan Sikh
Sanatan Sikh (IAST: ''sanātana sikkha'', ), a neologism and hypothesis formulated by Harjot Oberoi in 1987, to refer to Sikhs who formed the Amritsar Singh Sabha faction during the broader Singh Sabha Movement in 1873. It also describes tho ...
s (a neologism and formulation coined by Harjot Oberoi). The custom of this faction, which had emerged from the duality between initiated Khalsa and uninitiated Sehajdhari identities, was only as old as the late eighteenth century, in the post-Sikh Empire
The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...
society where Khalsa Sikhism was no longer the universal norm.
Non-Khalsa factions had gained social prominence following Khalsa persecution and loss of institutional control in the 1700s,[ and guided the operations of Sikh gurdwaras in the pre-British 18th- and colonial-era 19th-century Punjab because of support from Sikh elites and later the colonial British empire,][ remaining under the control of a "loyalist, landed elite with extensive ties to the British Raj." They were most prominent in the 1800s, and self-identified as Hindu,][ and were also the significant molders and primary participants among the rural masses of Sikh population.
]
Views
This first Singh Sabha, called the Amritsar Singh Sabha, was set up and backed by a faction of Sikhs, Gianis, and granthis belonging to a Khatri
Khatri () is a caste system in India, caste originating from the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are war ...
background.[ They had rejected the ]Khalsa
The term ''Khalsa'' refers to both a community that follows Sikhism as its religion,[Khalsa: Sikhism< ...]
initiation practices like the ''Khande di Pahul'' ceremony on the grounds that it threatened their caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
and polluted their ritual boundaries which they considered as primary. As such, they aligned Sikh tradition with the Brahmanical social structure and caste ideology; their predominant concern was to protect the social framework in which they held status.[ While this faction resented the democratic tendency within the Khalsa groups, they continued to co-exist within the broader Sikh panth, even as they remained aloof from the mainstream Khalsa practices.][ The Tat Khalsa's monotheism, iconoclastic sentiments, egalitarian social values and notion of a standardized Sikh identity did not blend well with the polytheism, idol worship, caste distinctions, and diversity of rites espoused by the Sanatan faction.] Giani Ditt Singh
Giani Ditt Singh (ca. 1850–1901) was a historian, scholar, poet, editor and an eminent Singh Sabha reformer. Singh wrote over 70 books on Sikhism, the most famous of which is ''Khalsa Akhbar''. His ''Dayanand naal mera Samvaad'' and ''Dur ...
, as a Mazhabi Sikh, was critical of Khem Singh Bedi's views on pollution, ritual, and lack of distinct identity.
For these groups the principle of authority of Sikh tradition was invested in living gurus (as Khem Singh Bedi, leader of the Amritsar faction, liked to be regarded) rather than the principle of shabad-guru, or the Guru Granth Sahib
The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...
as the Guru, which was upheld by the dominant Khalsa tradition.[ Not subscribing to the idea of the Guru Granth Sahib being the guru of the Sikhs, but allowing the worship of images, living gurus, and even "charismatic descendants" of the Sikh gurus, who devotees would be expected to show the same allegiance as that of "a subject and his ruler," it was primarily a "priestly" religion with a strong distinction between intermediaries and the laypeople, and was essentially the "religious universe" of a small minority, the Sikh elites.
The Arya Samaj attacked the formation of a religious aristocracy among the descendants of the Gurus in their 1887 ''Arya Patrika'' publication, which the Amritsar Singh Sabha was characterized by.
Like the Lahore Singh Sabha, the leaders of the Amritsar Singh Sabha also appreciated the translations of ]Max Arthur Macauliffe
Max Arthur MacAuliffe (11 September 1838 − 15 March 1913), originally known as Michael McAuliffe, was a senior British administrator, prolific scholar and author. MacAuliffe is renowned for his partial translation of Sikh scripture Guru Grant ...
.
History
They were opposed by the numerically predominant groups in the Panth, particularly those who held Khalsa beliefs, who through access to previously limited education and employment, had reached a position to challenge the Amritsar faction, forming the Tat Khalsa
The Tat Khalsa (), also romanised as Tatt Khalsa, known as the Akal Purkhias during the 18th century, was a Sikh faction that arose from the schism following the passing of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708, led by his widow Mata Sundari, opposed to th ...
faction, or "true Khalsa," in 1879, headed by Gurmukh Singh, Harsha Singh Arora, Jawahir Singh and Giani Ditt Singh. They formed the Lahore Singh Sabha. The Tat Khalsa met with immediately successful organizational and ideological challenging of the Sanatan faction as early as the early 1880s. The Amritsar Singh Sabha was subsequently challenged and eventually marginalised.
See also
* Khem Singh Bedi
KCIE Khem Singh Bedi (21 February 183210 April 1905) was a claimed direct descendant of Guru Nanak, a leader, and the founder of the Amritsar Singh Sabha in 1873. It instituted many charitable causes for Sikhs, was a landowner and politician in ...
* Singh Sabha movement
The Singh Sabhā Movement, also known as the Singh Sabhā Lehar, was a Sikh movement that began in Punjab in the 1870s in reaction to the proselytising activities of Christians, Hindu reform movements (Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj) and Muslims ( Ali ...
References
{{Sikhism
Sikh groups and sects
Singh Sabha movement