KCIE Khem Singh Bedi (21 February 183210 April 1905) was a claimed direct descendant of

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

, 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 the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Life

Bedi was born in Kallar Syedan in the

Rawalpindi District Rawalpindi District (Punjabi language, Punjabi and ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district located in the northernmost part of the Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the district form part of the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropo ...

in 1832. He claimed to be the thirteenth direct descendant of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

.Bobby Singh Bansal, Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan, Hay House, Inc, 1 Dec 2015 His father Baba Attar Singh was killed in a family feud on 25 November 1839 and Bedi along with his elder brother Sampuran Singh inherited

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

s in the Doaba region along with 41 villages in Depalpur Tehsil. Bedi held his

s in 4 villages of Dipalpur tahsil, while his elder brother was given

s in 22 villages of the same tahsil. Following the annexation of the Punjab by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in 1849, 14 of those villages were appropriated by the new administration.Harbans Singh, The Encyclopaedia of the Sikhism Volume, Punjabi University Patiala In 1855, the Punjab administration established the Department of Public Instruction with the aim to open 30 single-teacher primary schools across the Punjab. Bedi lent his full support to the scheme, additionally opening his own schools in Rawalpindi. At least fifty schools for boys and girls were opened in the Punjab with his assistance. During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Bedi helped British troops quell an uprising in Gugera. He distinguished himself in a cavalry charge on 21 September 1857, and the following day narrowly escaped an ambush which killed the Extra Assistant Commissioner of Gogera, Leopold Fitzhardinge Berkeley. Following the rebellion, he was given a robe of honour and a double barrelled rifle. On 1 October 1873 he co-founded the Amritsar Singh Sabha, the first of many competing Singh Sabhas during the Singh Sabha Movement, created in response to growing

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

and Brahmo Samaj proselytising in the Punjab region. They campaigned for an inclusive interpretation that accepted wide range of beliefs drawn from

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. Bedi was a Sanatan Sikh (lit. "Traditional Sikh"), who maintained that "there were no essential differences between Sikhs and Hindus". Instead of treating 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 only guru, Bedi campaigned for acceptability of human gurus to guide Sikhs, which resulted in Khem Singh Bedi considering himself the Guru. The main text of the Sanatan Sikh was Dasam Granth created in 19th century. The dispute intensified and by the early decades of the 20th century, the influence of the panth was given to the Tat Khalsa ("pure, true Khalsa") resulting in the decline of Sanatan Sikhs. Khem Singh Bedi held a grudge against the irreconcilable pioneers of the Singh Sabha movement, one reason for this is because they removed his gaddi (high-seat) from within the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which Bedi perceived as an insult. He was appointed a magistrate in 1877 and made a Companion of the Indian Empire in 1879. On the occasion of his daughter's marriage in 1893, he donated Rs 3,00,000 for religious and charitable purposes. He was nominated to the

Imperial Legislative Council The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of British Raj, British India from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Government of India Act 1858 by providing for the addition of six additional members to the Governor General ...

in 1893 and became a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire in 1898. Throughout his life he added to the land he inherited to become a substantial landholder in the Punjab. Towards the end of his life, his land possessions in the Montgomery District alone amounted to 28,272 acres. He died in Montgomery on 10 April 1905.

Haveli

A '' haveli'' (traditional Indic house) was constructed by Khem Singh Bedi in Kallar Syedan (located in present-day

Rawalpindi district Rawalpindi District (Punjabi language, Punjabi and ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district located in the northernmost part of the Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the district form part of the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropo ...

, Pakistan). It contains many frescoes depicting various religious and secular themes.

References

External links

{{commons category, Khem Singh Bedi 1832 births 1905 deaths People from Rawalpindi Sikh politics Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India Indian landowners 19th-century landowners 20th-century landowners

Life

Haveli

See also

References

External links