Sarbat Khalsa (lit. meaning ''all the Khalsa''; Punjabi: ( Gurmukhi) pronunciation: ), was a biannual

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Po ...

(on the same lines as a

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in a

Direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

) of the

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

held at

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

in Punjab during the 18th century. It literally translates to the "entire Sikh

Nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

" but as a political institution it refers to the meetings of the Dal Khalsa and the legislature of the Sikh Confederacy.

Procedure

Meetings of the Sarbat Khalsa began with an Ardās, a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

prayer for guidance. The body then chose Panj Piare, or five members, to act as the governing body of the mass meeting. To become one of the Panj Piare members would have to be nominated, answer objections from the assembly, and be subject to a direct vote. After their election the Panj Piare sat next to the Guru Granth Sahib on the

Akal Takht The Akal Takht (; ), also spelt as Akal Takhat and historically known as Akal Bunga, is the most prominent of the Takht (Sikhism), five takhts (Seat (legal entity), seats of authority) of the Sikhs. Located within the Golden Temple, Darbar Sah ...

of Harmandir Sahib. Members put proposals up for consideration and the Panj Piare intervened in disputes that came up during the assembly. A proposal passed by the Sarbat Khalsa, known as a '' Gurmata'' (The Guru's decision) binding on all Sikhs. The declaration of the Independence of Khalistan was conducted in the Sarbat Khalsa (1986).

History

The first Sarbat Khalsa was called by the tenth guru,

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; born Gobind Das; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708) was the tenth and last human Sikh gurus, Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the ...

before his death in 1708 and the tradition of calling Sarbat Khalsa has continued ever since at times of hardship or conflict. After the demolition of the Mahant System by the Khalsa Panth, S. Kartar Singh Jhabbar called the Sarbat Khalsa in 1920. He was not the Jathedar of the Akal Takht but a Sikh leader. In the resolution of that Sarbat Khalsa, Teja Singh Bhuchhar was announced as the Jathedar of the Akal Takht. The next known meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa took place on the occasion of Divali in 1721 when a clash between Tat Khalsa and the Bandais (owing fealty to Banda Singh Bahadur) was averted and amicably settled through the intervention and wise counsel of Bhai Mani Singh. The next notable Sarbat Khalsa, which was held soon after the martyrdom of Bhai Tara Singh Wan in 1726, passed a '' Gurmata'' (the decisions of the Sarbat Khalsa), laying down a threefold plan of action: to plunder government treasures in transit between local and regional offices and the central treasury; to raid government armouries for weapons and government stables for horses and carriages; and to eliminate government informers and lackeys. This Sarbat Khalsa was arranged by the

Jathedar of the Akal Takht The Jathedar of the Akal Takht () is the head of the Akal Takht and head of the Sikhs worldwide. The jathedar has the de facto power as the supreme spokesperson of the Khalsa to Summons, summon, trial, try and sentence (law), sentence any person ...

at the time, Baba Darbara Singh. Another Sarbat Khalsa assembled in 1733 to deliberate upon and accept the government's offer of a Nawabship and jagir to the Panth. Under a gurmata of the Sarbat Khalsa on 14 October (Divali day) 1745, the active fighting force of the Sikhs was reorganized into 25 jathas (bands) of about 100 each. A further reorganization into 11

misls The Sikh Confederacy was a confederation of twelve Sovereign state, sovereign Sikh states (each known as a Misl, derived from the Arabic word مِثْل meaning 'equal'; sometimes spelt as Misal) which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab ...

(divisions) forming the Dal Khalsa was made by the Sarbat Khalsa on Baisakhi, 29 March 1748. Thus, Sarbat Khalsa became the central body of what J.D. Cunningham, in his book, ''A history of the Sikhs'', terms a "theocratic confederate feudalism" established by the misls. On 29 April 1986, a Sarbat Khalsa at the Golden Temple declared the rebuilding of

. After the death of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716 the Khalsa was in disarray. After 1716, the Mughal government began a campaign of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

against

led by Abdus Samad Khan and later his son Zakariya Khan that was carried out by in the form of a standing army dedicated to eliminating Sikhs, daily public executions, and monetary rewards for the heads of killed Sikhs. The Dal Khalsa "retaliated by killing government functionaries and plundering Mughal posts, arsenals, and treasuries". In 1733, because of the failure of the Mughal government to subdue the Sikhs they were offered a jagir in 1733. Nawab Kapur Singh was appointed head of the Dal Khalsa and he reorganized the Sikhs into the Taruna Dal and Budda Dal. The Taruna Dal formed the basis of the Sikh Misls. Maharaja Ranjit Singh abolished the Sarbat Khalsa in 1805. Prior to its abolition, its last convening was also held in 1805 to discuss the pursuance of the Maratha leader Yashwantrao Holkar by the British military in the Punjab.

Revival

The practice of Sarbat Khalsa has recently been revived. In 2015, a Sarbat Khalsa was held against the wishes of SGPC and announced 13 resolutions deliberated upon by the Sikh panth and its representatives.

List of prominent Sarbat Khalsas

* Sarbat Khalsa (1986) * Sarbat Khalsa (2015)

Procedure

History

Revival

List of prominent Sarbat Khalsas

See also

References

Further reading