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The (John C.B. Webster)

; John C. B. W ebster

THE NIRANKARI SIKHS BY THE SAME AUTHOR The Study of History and College History Teaching (Editor) History for College Students (Editor) History and Contemporary India (Editor) Popular Religion in the Today (Editc.' The Christian Community and Change in Nineteenth Century North India An Introduction to History THE NIRANKARI SIKHS

John C. B. W ebster

On behalf of THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE OF SIKH STUDIES © John C. B. Webster, 1979 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission

First published 1979 by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF INDIA LIMITED Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Associated companies throughout the world on behalf o f The Christian Institute of Sikh Studies, Batala

SBN 33390 317 X

Published by S. G. Wasani for The Macmillan Company of India Limited and printed by T. K. Sengupta at Macmillan India Press, Madras 600002 To the colleagues, students, and friends with whom I have been associated through Baring Union Christian College and The Christian Institute of Sikh Studies 1963-1976

! T •f i I i Contents < f

Preface ix

i 1 Introduction 1 i f 2 The N ineteenth Century 9 } Baba Dayal and the Origin of the 9 j Developments under Baba Darbara Singh and j Sahib Rattaji 11 | The Nirankaris and the Anand Marriage Act 16 j Conclusion IS I 3 The Consolidation of Tradition, 1909-1947 22 Nirankari Balak and Nirankari Bhujangi Sevak Jatha 23 The Recording of Nirankari History 24 Defining a Theological Position 30 Internal Tensions and the Origins of the Sant Nirankaris 32 Conclusion 35

! 4 The Partition Crisis and A fter, 1947-1976 39 I Reconstruction 40 1 Nirankaris and Sikh History 43 ! Conclusion 49 | i 5 The N irankaris Today 52 Description 52 Challenges 56

7 A ppendices 65 A Journal of the Rev. J. H. Morrison, 1853 67 B Annual Report of the Lodiana Mission, 1854 73 C Report of the Rev. J. H. Orbison, 1861 75 D Punjab Census Report, 1881 78 I V lll Contents E Punjab Census Report, 1891 79 F Tribes and Castes of the Punjab, 1914 81 G Hukumnama of Baba Darbara Singh 83 H Will of Sahib Rattaji, 1903 100 I Anand Marriage Act Correspondence 103 Preface

The Nirankaris have been a small, and until this year, little known, group within . Recent events in the Punjab have both brought them to public attention and created considerable confusion about them in the public mind. Actually, there are two separate and very different groups who use the name ‘Nirankari’. The first are Nirankari Sikhs founded by Baba Dayal in the nineteenth century and presently under the leader­ ship of Baba Gurbakhsh Singh with headquarters at the Sn Nirankari Darbar, Sector 21, . They are the subject of this book. The second are Sant Nirankans founded in the twentieth century by Baba Avtar Singh and presently under t e leadership of his son, Baba Gurbachan Singh, with headquarters at the Sant Nirankari Mandal in New Delhi. Only their origins and certain aspects of their present conflict with the Sikhs are described here. 1 r . Timely as it is, this book is not a product of recent events but of a request from Professor Harbans Singh, editor of the Encyclopaedia o f Sikhism, back in 1973 when I was Director o the Christian Institute of Sikh Studies, to contnbute an article to the Encyclopaedia on the Nirankaris. This I agreed to do, although I did not begin work on it until 1975 when Mr Parveen Paul joined the Institute staff and the Institute made this project part of its research programme, which was started to increase understanding of the Punjabi religious scene. I wrote the first two chapters in 1976 and then, after a two-year break, completed it only this past summer. The study of the Nirankari tracts in the third chapter is based, for the most part, upon t e research of Mr Parveen Paul, now Research Assistant in the Department of History, Dev University, who was unable to complete work on this project due to his responsibil­ ities there. The interpretation, however, is largely my own and I must accept responsibility for it. . I have sought to apply modern critical methods to the study of Nirankari history and to adopt a perspective which will x Preface highlight certain developments • in that history which have hitherto been neglected. I have paid less attention to the Niran­ kari gurus than to the Nirankari cult; to nineteenth than to twentieth century developments. I have sought to pay special attention to the developing self-understanding of the Nirankaris and to their wider Sikh context. I should also mention that I have made no attempt to be comprehensive or exhaustive, but have concentrated upon those events or developments which I consider will stand the test of time and, therefore, be of histo- rical significance. In the appendices are reproduced the most important sources of early Nirankari history; some of them appear in print for the first time. I have tried to follow cur­ rent conventions concerning Indian words in my text, but have retained the author’s spellings and usages in quotations. At points where this may cause confusion I have inserted clarifications. I wish to acknowledge the great debt of gratitude I owe to Baba Gurbakhsh Singh and Dr Man Singh Nirankari, both of whom welcomed a critical study of this kind and gave me every assistance in carrying it out. At the end, they went through the completed manuscript and corrected some of my mistakes. Without their help this study would have been of little value and, indeed, would never have been carried out. I have also benefited greatly from the suggestions of Dr W. H. McLeod and Dr Mark Juergensmeyer. However, neither they nor Baba Gurbakhsh Singh and Dr Man Singh Nirankari can be held responsible for the errors which remain, as they are mine alone. I wish to thank Mr Parveen Paul and Mr Vinod Khiyale for their assistance in research and Mr Clarence McMullen, Director of the Christian Institute of Sikh Studies, for arranging publication of this book. The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia provided photocopies of the excerpts found in Appendices A and C. The material in Appendix I was found in the National Archives of India, New Delhi. The translation of the Hukumnama in Appendix G was done by Major Gur- mukh Singh (Retd) and Professor Harbans Singh of Punjabi University. The translation of the will in Appendix H is the work of Miss Nina Chander, Mr I. Bhatti, Mr N. S. Duggal, Baba Gurbakhsh Singh and Mr Jagdarshan Singh Nirankari. Both translations were finalized by Dr W. H. McLeod and Preface xi myself. My wife, Ellen, and daughters, Elizabeth and Marilyn, deserve my thanks for putting up with yet another one of my writing projects. Finally, now that we have moved away from the Punjab, I want to thank all those people there who have given me their friendship and taught me so much. To them T have dedicated this book.

United Theological College J o h n C. B . W e b st e r Bangalore ' August 1978

Chapter 1

Introduction

Two difficult problems face the historian of the Nirankaris. The first is that there are very few source materials available on which to base a history. It is probable that a few written sources were produced during the early years of Nirankari history and that some of those which were produced have been lost or were destroyed at the time of Partition in 1947. In addition to those sources which have already been compiled and published by the Nirankaris themselves, some new ones have been discovered and added here (in Appendices A, C and I). However, because the sources are still so few in number, the question of how they are to be evaluated and interpreted becomes extremely import­ ant. Hence, it seems appropriate to begin this history with a discussion of the available sources and of how they will be used. This study is based upon primary sources, i.e., sources of evidence produced by people close in time and space to the events and persons they describe. When evidence from primary sources conflicts with that found in later secondary sources, the former is invariably preferred. Since the Nirankaris began to collect and record their traditions only in the late 1920s and 1930s, almost all of the primary source material for the nine­ teenth century ‘foundation period’ of their history comes from non-Nirankari sources. It is for this reason that, while Nirankari writers have based their histories of their ‘founding fathers’ upon these traditions and supplemented them with references from non-Nirankari sources, the opposite procedure will be employed in this study. The traditions will be used more to analyze twentieth century developments in Nirankari tradition and self-understanding than to describe events in their earlier history. This procedure has two advantages. First, it is more safe and sound from a scholarly point of view because second­ ary sources in general, and oral traditions of this kind in particular, must be suspect. Second, it gives greater importance to the twentieth century when the traditions were recorded, a 2 The Nirankari Sikhs period generally underestimated and even overlooked by Nirankari writers. Since our treatment of the sources is so important to our understanding of the Nirankaris, a word about each of our sources would seem to be in order. The early sources may be divided into three groups. The first and earliest are niissionary sources produced in 1853 and 1861. The second are thosejDrb- duced by therjbverninent for" the use of its own officials or for the public record. The As one moves from -the nineteenth to the twentieth century, one finds no missionary or government sources, but the number of Nirankari sources increases and occasional refer­ ences to the Nirankaris do appear in non-Nirankari, usually Sikh, sources. For more recent times, we have relied upon interviews and our own observations as well as upon written sources. The earliest available sources concerning the Nirankaris were produced by the members of the Lodiana Mission of the Presbyterian ChurchJn the U.S.A. Members of this mission stationed at Lahore learned of the Nirankaris in and of the Nirankari interest in Christian books and teachers. As a result the Rev. J. H. Morrison visited them in 1853. A detailed account of his meeting with the Nirankaris, including Baba^ayahhs-given-tn his journal dated ‘Lahor, October 18th2 >/1853’ (Apper»dix-AV A more condensed account, based on the same journey, is found in the Annual Eew rt o f the Lodiana Mission for 1853-1854 fAnpendix BL Bv_T861. the Lodiana-- Mission had established a mission station at RawalnindLand the Rev. J. H. Orbison, who was posted there, sent a report on the^ city and its'people to NewYork. That portion dealing with the Nirankarisjs given j n AppendNTTT^ Several observations concerning the background of these sources may prove useful in assessing their worth. The Rev. JotuLLLuntei'-Morrlson (1806-1881) was born in Wall kill Town­ ship, New York, and after his graduation from Princeton College (1834) and Princeton Theological Seminary (1837) served as a missionary in a number of cities in north India between 1837 and 1881. As both the tone of his report on the Nirankaris and the description of his own behaviour given in it indicate, he was probably the most aggressive and even Introduction 3 combative member of the Lodiana Mission. His assessments of motives or character in this and his other writings are highly judgmental and cannot be trusted; he seems to have accepted as true those reports which fit into his extremely negative evaluation of the Indian character. None the less, when due allowance is made for the strong bias in his reporting of his debates with the Nirankaris, Morrison still provides a lot of useFuTdetails about basic Nirankari beliefs, about some of their 'T^es, and about their strained relations with the Hindu S uhity. Some of this is given more succinctly and in less judgmental language in the mission’s annual report. The ftpy Tamps Hpnxy-Clcbi&nn (187.6-1869). hv contrast was capable of more Hetacher} observation than Morrison He Was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, graduated from Jefferson College (1846) and Princeton Theological Seminary (1850), and served as a missionary in Ambala and Rawalpindi from 1850 to 1869. Orbison, unlike Morrison, was an opponent of rdigious controversyJHJis account appears to be based more on observation of than argument with the Nirankaris. Its value lies in the abundance of descriptive detail concerning the Nirankari dharamsala and Nirankari worship.. The earliest of the government sources are the statements about the Nirankaris in the censuses of both 1881 and 1891 (Appendices'!) and E). Subsequent census reports" give no information about the Nirankaris, but simply record the num­ ber of adherents. Bingely’s description of the Nirankaris given in his handbook on the Sikhs written for the Indian army (1899) is clearly based on these census reports; the only new thing which Bingely adds is the sentence, ‘Besides the usual Sikh places of Pilgrimage the Nirankaris look with special reverence upon a pool in the Park at Rawalpindi to which they have given the name of .’2 The Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (1914) also gives a brief account of the Nirankaris which was also quite obviously and explicitly based on the two census reports. However, it does add a few details not found in the census (Appendix F). The accounts of the Nirankaris found in these government sources are very brief and rather general in nature. They are lacking in dateable historical facts or discussions of internal 4 The Nirankari Sikhs developments among the Nirankaris. Moreover, they add little to what can be learned from the much earlier missionary accounts. While this would suggest that the Nirankaris underwent few if any changes of importance during the nine­ teenth century, it may also mean that government information became very dated. For example, the Glossary (1914) makes no mention of Baba Gurdit Singh, who succeeded Sahib Rattaji early in 1909. For this reason it would be helpful to know how the government acquired its information about the Nirankaris, as one could then use it with greater confidence. Our assumption here is that the information government sources provide (except where contradictions occur) is probably accurate, being based in all likelihood upon observation and interview at some point, possibly at the time when the censuses of 1881 and 1891 were taken. We have only five Nirankari sources dating from the nine­ teenth century (pre-World War I). The first of these is a Hukum- nama (a set of orders or directions) several copies, but not the original, of which are extant and available at the Nirankari Darbar in Chandigarh (Appendix G). One of these copies is signed by Sahib Rattaji, the son and second successor of Baba Dayal, but contains no date. Another was done by one Pingle- das in Bikrami J941 (a .d . 1884) and is unsigned. There is a reference to the original being issued by Baba Darbara Singh, the first successor of Baba Dayal, and written down by Bhai Rup Singh in 1856.3 It is difficult to say whether or not this reference is accurate. The second Nirankari source, an order dated Bikrami 1930 (a .d . 1873) by Sahib Rattaji and some of his Nirankari biredars (those in charge of local Nirankari centres) to implement the Hukumnama, suggests that the Hukumnama was probably issued before 1873. In any case, it was issued no later than 1884, the date of the Pingledas copy. Taken together these two sources provide valuable insights into the central concerns, rationale, and organization of the Nirankaris during their formative years together. The third source is Sahib Rattaji’s will dated 1960 Bikrami (a .d . 1903), now in the possession of Man Singh Nirankari, from which inferences about the state of the Nirankaris at that time can be drawn (Appendix H). Bhai Kahn Singh’s4 Prem Prakash, our fourth source, is a eulogy in poetic form on the Introduction 5 occasion of the first death anniversary of Sahib Rattaji. Finally, there are two letters and a telegram sent by Baba Hara Singh and Baba Gurdit Singh to the Government of India in support of the Anand Marriage Act (Appendix I). In addition to these written sources, there are flags (), ornaments, a canopy and other such objects dating back to the times of Sahib Rattaji and, in a few instances, Baba Darbara Singh. There has been a great increase in the number of Nirankari sources in the twentieth century, as the Nirankaris have become involved in writing and publishing. During the 1920s and 1930s they produced a series of tracts which enable the reader to understand more recent developments in the Nirankari tradition. Of special importance in this connection are their attempts to recover from the companions of the early leaders as much information about them as possible. What is lacking, however, are the reports of outside observers one finds in the earlier period. We have found no reference to the Nirankaris in our survey of the Sikh press5 during this period. While we have been given to understand that articles on the Nirankaris did appear in Phulwari, we have been unable to locate these. The references to the Nirankaris we find in recent histories of the Sikhs or of the Punjab appear to be based upon either the census material produced much earlier or upon recent Nirankari tract material rather than upon independent study and observation. Both the nature and the quantity of the available source materials tell us something about the Nirankaris. Without even examining the contents of the sources listed earlier, one is given the impression that this has been a small, non-aggressive, basically religious (rather than political or even social change- oriented) Sikh body. Unlike the (Kukas), they never got into trouble with the government and unlike the Singh Sabhas they neither developed an active publication programme nor established institutions. In addition they do not seem to have become either numerous enough or ‘heretical’ enough to have caused alarm or stimulated much controversy within the Sikh community. This leads directly to the second major problem in studying the Nirankaris, namely, that of finding a label for them which does not contradict the findings of this study. The title of this book, The Nirankari Sikhs, is indicative of the problem, for the 6 The Nirankari Sikhs Nirankaris were Sikhs and yet have been somewhat (although not totally) distinctive in Sikhism. It is also apparent that some of the English language labels which might be and have been used to describe them are, in the light of this study, misleading. Although it has been customary for historians to refer to the Nirankaris as a movement, this practice is open to serious question. A social movement has been defined as a collective attempt to bring about change in certain social institutions or to create an entirely new order6 and as ‘socially shared demands for change in some aspect of the social order’.7 These definitions would imply that a movement (1) involves collective effort, (2) is assertive, perhaps aggressive, in seeking to bring about change, and (3) has some impact or influence even if it is not successful in changing any part of the social order. Of these three characteristics of a movement, only the first would apply to the Nirankaris, as they have had a collective life, although in a loosely organized form. Only in the case of Baba Dayal and Baba Darbara Singh do we find evidence of the Nirankaris being assertive and conflict-producing; since that time they seem to have been very peaceful and quiet. There is no evidence that they sought to change the social order, in whole or in part, and, indeed, their influence or impact upon the social order has been negligible. Thus, they could not be called a social movement. However, one might transfer these definitions from the social to the religious realm and view the Nirankaris as a religious movement which sought to change certain religious institutions or the entire religious order. This line of argument does have some plausibility for, as we shall see, the Nirankaris were interested in changing Sikh religious ceremonial. However, their attempts to change ceremonial were directed primarily at those associated with them rather than at the wider Sikh community and, thus, their impact upon the religious institutions of the Sikhs is by no means clear. Whether the Nirankaris were a ‘cause of’ or a ‘harbinger of’ or a ‘prelude to’ or simply an indication of the Sikh resurgence in the nineteenth century is problematical. Moreover, if one were to concede that theirs was a movement which sought ceremonial reform among the wider Sikh com­ munity, one would then have to explain their continued existence after those reforms were largely achieved. For these reasons the label, ‘movement’, does not seem to be a very satisfactory one. Introduction 7 A second label often used for the Nirankaris is that of a ‘sect’. This has been defined as a ‘new religious movement which rejects the authority of the dominant religious tradition’ and is a product of schism or mutual rejection.8 This clearly does not apply to the Nirankaris as they have never been separatist. They are Sikhs and have stood within the Sikh tradition, acknowl­ edging the and the Adi Granth as authoritative. A third label which might be used is that of a ‘community’. This has the advantage of pointing to the important fact that being a Nirankari is more a matter of heredity and tradition than of conversion. However, Nirankaris belong to several jatis which do not intermarry and Nirankaris often marry non-Nirankaris of the same jati. For this reason, the label, ‘community’, would be inappropriate. The final possibility is that the Nirankaris are a ‘cult’, which has been defined as ‘a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies’ and ‘a group having a sacred ideology and set of rites centering around their sacred symbols’.9 The term, ‘cult’, does suggest to some people either esoteric and secret rites or veneration of a special individual (as in the phrase ‘personality cult’), but these are not necessary connotations of the definitions given earlier. The term has been applied to Indian religions to describe distinctive patterns and traditions of worship, e.g., ‘such-and-such is a Hindu cult’, without any suggestion that the cult in question is esoteric, secret, or centred upon a particular personality. Clearly, no one of these labels is perfect. However, because shared rites and ceremonies are the defining characteristics of a cult, this term, devoid of implications of the secret, esoteric, and person-centred, does apply to the Nirankaris better than any of the other labels used thus far. It also does not carry overtones of being a closed group as does the label ‘community’ or a separatist group as in the case of a sect, or an aggressive, change- oriented, and influential group as in the case of a movement. For this reason, we shall use the label, ‘cult’, in preference to the others while referring to the Nirankaris. 8 The Nirankari Sikhs

NOTES 1. See J. H. Orbison, ‘On Hindoo and Mahomedan Controversy’, Report of the Punjab Missionary Conference held at Lahore in December and January, 1862-63 (Lodiana: 1863), pp. 20-8. 2. A. H. Bingley, Handbook for the Indian Army: Sikh (Simla: 1899), p. 67. 3. The text of the Hukumnama refers to the fact that it was issued in the month of Abinashi, Bikrami 1913. A kundlia in the Rawalpindi manu­ script refers to Bhai Rup Singh as the person who wrote it down. See Surinder Singh Nirankari, Nirankari Gurmat Prarambhita (Amritsar: Youngmen’s Association, 1951), p. 169. 4. This Bhai Kahn Singh was a Nirankari and not the famous Bhai , the author of Mahan Kosh. 5. No references to the Nirankaris were found in preparing Chander Mani Khanna and John C. B. Webster, ‘Views of and Christians in the Sikh Press, 1897-1930’, Bulletin o f the Christian Institute of Sikh Studies, V (January, 1976), pp. 5-12. 6. Rudolf Heberle, ‘Social Movements, I: Types and Functions of Social Movements’, in David L. Sills (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New York: The Macmillan Company and Free Press, 1968), 14: 438-9. 7. Joseph R. Gusfield, ‘Social Movements, II: The Study of Social Movements’, ibid:, 14:445. 8. Bryan R. Wilson, ‘Religious Organization’, in ibid., 13: 434. 9. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (New York: Random House, 1967), p. 353. O’Dea’s view of the cult leans more towards the first than the second of these definitions, but it does not exclude referring to a group which uses a particular pattern of worship as a cult. Thomas F. O’Dea, The Sociology of Religion (New Delhi: Prentice-Hall, 1969), pp. 36-41. Chapter 2

The Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century was the ‘foundation-laying period’ in the history of the Nirankaris. During this time the funda­ mental teachings were set forth, a code of conduct was laid down, and certain basic institutions as well as traditions were established. Ill short, it was during this period that the Niran­ karis developed a certain pattern in their collective life which continues on even until today. This pattern evolved under the leadership of three gurus: Baba Dayal ( ? -1855), Baba Darbara Singh (1855-1870), and Sahib Rattaji (1870-1909). a**' BABA DAYAL AND THE ORIGIN OF THE NIRANKARIS We know very little about Baba Dayal from contemporary or near-contemporary sources. His name was Dayal Dass1 and, according to the 1891 census, he was a Dhaigarh from Peshawar who moved to Rawalpindi where he earned his living as a shopkeeper.2 Contemporary sources are silent about his date of birth, his marriage, his move to Rawalpindi, and virtually all the details of his life. By the time Morrison met him in 1853 he was an old man who exercised considerable authority over his followers. In 1861 Orbison reported that he had died four to five years earlier, thus supporting the Nirankari conten­ tion that he died in 1855 rather than in 1870, as reported in the census.3 It would seem that to his early followers, as to mission­ ary observers, the man was less important than his message. The basic features of Baba Dayal’s message were simple and clear. Of these the first and most important was that God is one and formless (nirankar). It was this conviction which led him to reject not only idol worship but all the deities of the Hindu pantheon as well. Secondly, salvation was to be attained through meditation on God. This belief accounts for the Nirankari practice of meeting daily for morning worship in their dharam- salas. (Some Nirankaris also met again for evening worship at Baba Dayal’s home.) Thirdly, for Baba Dayal, Nanak was clearly the Guru and the Adi Granth the sacred scripture. x&aBszxmaaBKBmmL'i..___

10 The Nircinkari Sikhs In defending his beliefs against Morrison’s challenge, Baba Dayal referred to Nanak as their saviour ‘inasmuch as he point­ ed out to them the way of salvation’. Morrison also said that the Nirankaris do in fact worship the Granth just as much and in the same way as the other Sikhs do. They wave over it the chauri (fly-whisk), bow down to it with the forehead touching the ground, and present their offerings before it just as the other Sikhs do.’* Moreover, ‘hearing the Granth read by one of their numbers, and explained also if their leader be present’ was an important regular feature of Nirankari morning worship.5 This particular form of morning worship was one of the things which the Lodiana Mission found distinctive about the Niran­ karis. The other was their manner of disposing of their dead. Morrison s way of putting this is quite suggestive: ‘They do not bury their dead, because the Musalmans and Christians do so. They will not burn them, because that would assimilate them too much to the . They therefore throw them into the water.’6 Thus, to Morrison at least, the Nirankari cult was definitely, if not distinctively, Sikh. There is no agreement regarding the date on which the Niran­ karis actually began. Morrison’s informant put it between 1843 and 1845, while Orbison dated it around 1811-1821.7 Of these two sets of dates, Morrison’s are the more probable because he was the earlier observer, his informant was ‘one of the principal men of the sect, and his estimate is supported by later govern­ ment reports.8 Morrison’s informant also said that during Sikh rule it was a secret cult.9 Morrison himself indicated quite clearly that the Nirankaris were facing considerable opposition and may, perhaps, have sought an alliance with the missionaries in a joint crusade against idolatry. The number of Nirankaris in 1853 was repoi ted to Morrison as being ‘sixty-one persons, some few of whom had gone back’10 and by then the Nirankaris had a dharamsala of their own. It is difficult to tell from the scanty information available whether Baba Dayal’s aims were simply reformist or separatist and sectarian. Morrison’s remark that Baba Dayal ‘is evidently determined to be a great guru, and the leader of a new sect, by which his name will be handed down to posterity'11 is an opinion with no solid evidence (e.g., concerning Baba Dayal’s claims) provided to support it. It seems based more on pique and The Nineteenth Century 11 prejudice than on a sound understanding of the man and his mission. Morrison identified Baba Dayal and his followers as Sikhs.12 His description of the basic features of Baba Dayal’s message shows that he did not depart from the teachings of Guru Nanak. Moreover, the Adi Granth played a central role in Nirankari ritual and teaching.13 Opposition to the Nirankaris came not from orthodox Sikhs but from Hindus and seems to have been provoked not by what Baba Dayal affirmed, but by his denial of the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Thus, Baba Dayal and the Nirankaris appear to have stood firmly within the Sikh tradition from the outset. However, it is important to note that Baba Dayal was, at least in the eyes of contemporaries, an innovator in the area of religious ceremony. He seems to have rejected several rites in current usage and substituted new ones. The mode of morning and evening worship he advocated was seen as a departure from customary usage, as was the way in which the Nirankaris disposed of their dead. It was thus at the point of ritual rather than of doctrine that Baba Dayal was a radical, if not an innovator. His aim thus seems to have been to bring Sikh ritual into conformity with Sikh teaching as found in the Adi Granth.

DEVELOPMENTS UNDER BABA DARBARA SINGH AND SAHIB RATTAJI Baba Dayal was succeeded by his eldest son, Darbara Singh, and then in 187014 by his third son, Rattan Chand, known as Sahib Rattaji. We know nothing of the manner in which or of the criteria according to which these successors were chosen. What is significant, however, is that successors were chosen to continue the work of Baba Dayal and that they were members of his own family. By 187315 we note the existence of biredars appointed by the leader or guru as special deputies to watch over those Nirankaris living in the towns and villages outside Rawalpindi. The office of biredar, like that of guru, tended to be hereditary in practice, although probably not in theory.16 While the basic teachings of Baba Dayal continued without apparent change, significant developments did take place in other areas during the period of his first two successors. One was the development of the central at Rawalpindi. Orbison described the Nirankari dharamsala in 1861 as a long, 12 The Nirankari Sikhs low building, open in front with/a long room inside, at one end of which were several copies of the Adi Granth set upon wooden stands.17 The painting of the Rawalpindi dharamsala found in the present Nirankari darbar at Chandigarh indicates that this later became a two-storey building built on a similar pattern.18 Since Orbison’s description also fits both the older, temporary darbar at Chandigarh as well as the large new one just next to it, this would suggest that the Nirankaris developed their own distinctive architectural style. Whereas most Sikhgurdwaras have doors opening in all directions and a single Adi Granth installed in the centre, the Nirankaris have one side of their darbar open with several copies of the Adi Granth installed opposite the open side. Whether this difference is a matter of historical accident or deliberate intention is not clear.19 The will of Sahib Rattaji, written in 1903, indicates that by that time the darbar had acquired two houses for visitors, a (common kitchen), and a well. There were also gold and silver ornaments for the darbar itself.20 In addition to the central darbar in Rawalpindi, another building was built outside the city near Lei stream. Since this was the place where Baba Dayal’s body had been placed in the stream, it became known as Dayalsar and served as a Nirankari shrine and cremation ground.21 The second area in which important developments took place during this period was that of rehat or conduct. The Hukum- nama issued in the time of Baba Darbara Singh carried forward the innovative work of Baba Dayal in this regard and made these innovations mandatory for all Nirankaris. In this connec­ tion the theological context in which the Hukumnama is set is of considerable significance. The Hukumnama begins by asserting that Baba Dayal had been commissioned by God and the ten Sikh gurus to be the guru of the Sikhs and specifically to guide them in the area of conduct. It is clear from the many references given and the kinds of reforms enjoined that the Sikhs, by following Brahmanical rites, were straying from the path laid down by the Sikh gurus j and that it was the task of Baba Dayal and his successors to set I them right. The immediate occasion given for the Hukumnama was the request of a Sikh to Baba Darbara Singh for guidance specifically on this matter of rites and ceremonies in order to The Nineteenth Century 13^ r escape from Brahmanical control. Both Baba Dayal and Baba Darbara Singh are referred to as Satguru, the conduct they enjoin is that which accords with the teaching of the Adi Granth, and the Hukumnama is addressed to all Sikhs as coming from both Guru Nanak and Baba Dayal. Thus, Baba Dayal and Baba Darbara Singh stood in the succession of Sikh gurus to continue their teachings and with a special responsibility to apply those teachings to the ceremonial life of the Sikhs. This, rather than theological innovation, was their basic purpose and mission. < The Hukumnama covers the ceremonies dealing with birth, engagement, marriage, death, as well as the behaviour appropri­ ate for the regular worship of God. Some specific superstitions to be avoided are also listed, and, at the end, the basic message of the gurus is summed up. A constant emphasis throughout the Hukumnama is the reading, recitation, or singing of speci­ fied portions of the Adi Granth and, by clear inference, not other scriptures. In this way, therefore, the centrality of the Adi Granth to Sikh ceremony was being constantly pointed out and affirmed. , , _ . When a child is born, hymns from the Adi Granth are sung and prashad distributed. A son’s name is to be taken from the Adi Granth forty days after his birth. The marriage ceremony is to take place in the presence of the Adi Granth which is brought in procession from the bridegroom’s house. After the Ardas (prayer) is recited, the bride and the bridegroom are tied to­ gether with a cloth and they go around the Adi Granth four times. They are then seated and the four lawan (hymns) composed by Guru Ramdas are read. After that a shabad or hymn from the Adi Granth is sung and the Anand read. Prashad is then distri­ buted and the ceremony concludes. Death is seen as a time o rejoicing rather than of sorrow and it is significant that, accor - ing to the Hukumnama, the dead are to be disposed of either by cremation or by being thrown into the river. On all these occasions, certain practices are specifical y o be avoided—treating women as unclean at childbirth; fixing auspicious days for marriages and other occasions (indeed astrology in general); the display of the dowry at a marria^> the placing of lighted lamps or prashad in the river and the feeding of Brahmans at the time of death; and the acceptance of payment for the performance of ceremonies. In tact, ritualism 14 The Nirankari Sikhs in general (karam dhann) is to be .avoided. Instead, Sikhs are to worship the formless God, to obey the shabad of the guru (in the Adi Granth), to clean the shoes and feet of the congregation (as an act of humility), to serve one’s parents, to avoid bad habits, and to earn one’s livelihood through work. The purpose of the specific recommendations on ceremonies is to free the Sikhs from ritualism (and from the Brahmans who live off it) and to centre their ceremonial life around the Adi Granth as well as to direct it towards those goals laid down in the Adi Granth. Our sources provide only two descriptions of actual (as opposed to prescribed) Nirankari worship during this period. The first is given by Orbison, who noted such ecstatic elements in their worship as the following: ‘For a while they sang, swing­ ing back and forwards, and bowing every now and then to the Grunth, and kissing the floor fervently. Then they rose, and marched around the room many times,, singing and bowing, and often burst out into strong exclamations of “Blessed be Nira- kar!” .’23 The 1891 census mentioned that some slippers of Baba Dayal were kept as relics and that ‘the Nirankaris have degener­ ated sufficiently to revere these relics and prostrate themselves on their foreheads before them.’24 The will of Sahib Rattaji not only mentions these slippers but also indicates that they were kept in a special place on a pedestal and under a canopy.25 Given the great respect in which Baba Dayal was held by Nirankaris, such expressions of popular piety are not surprising—a belief in God as formless to the contrary notwithstanding. The Hukumnama also mentions a foot-washing (charanamrit) ceremony according to which members of the congregation, and not just the guru, dipped their big toes into water and then the water was drunk. However, I am told that this ceremony went out of practice during the time of Baba Gurdit Singh. It is worth noting that neither the Hukumnama nor the accounts of contemporary observers mention a rite of initiation. This is significant because it meant that there were no formal steps one took in order to become a Nirankari; one may receive the baptismal rite of and wear the ‘five K’s’ or one may do neither and still be a Nirankari. This suggests ) that Baba Darbara Singh did not see his followers as a separate group or sect drawn apart from the main body of Sikhs and The Nineteenth Century 15 Hindus so much as a collection of people who had decided to reorder their ceremonial life along the lines laid down by Guru Nanak and Baba Dayal. Sahib Rattaji mentioned in his will that the Nirankaris should continue to celebrate all their special festivals, including the annual function, in the future as they had in the past,26 thus suggesting that these festivals, and especially the annual gathering, rather than any rite of initiation, were what gave the Nirankaris a sense of belonging together and being distinctive. The various nineteenth century government sources rein­ force the impression of anti-ritualism conveyed in the Hukum- nama and, in addition, stress the purity of conduct enjoined upon Nirankaris. Eating meat, drinking liquor, smoking, lying, cheating, the use of false weights in business were all prohibited. They also mention that widow remarriage was allowed, if not encouraged. Thus the Punjab Census Commissioner of 1881 may not have been too wide of the mark in stating that ‘the Nirankaris are the Purists of the Sikh religion’.27 Although the number of Nirankaris increased during the course of the nineteenth century, the Nirankari cult was still a small one. In 1861 Orbison estimated that there were ‘several hundreds of them in this city, perhaps four or five hundred, and a few scattered in some of the neighbouring towns’.28 No separate figures were given in the 1881 census, but the 1891 Punjab census listed 50,726 Nirankaris in British territory and another 9,885 in the Native States.29 These figures are un­ doubtedly highly inflated. Not only was the Census Commission­ er of the opinion that the manner in which the schedule was set up led many sahajdharis to return themselves as Nirankaris,30 but also the districtwise figures indicate that this total cannot be accurate. Although Rawalpindi was the centre and the head­ quarters of the Nirankaris, eight other districts, including far­ away Hissar, were listed as having a larger number of Nirankaris. In district there were nine times as many listed and in both Amritsar and Ferozepur districts about six times as many.31 The fact that there is no mention of the Nirankaris in the 1893-94 edition of the Rawalpindi District Gazetteer is yet another indication that the Nirankaris could not have been too numerous at that time. 16 The Nirankari Sikhs The 1901 census and subsequent ones give very low figures:32 1901— 546 1921— 21 1911—1,569 1931— 282 While the 1901 District Census Report of Rawalpindi indicated that ‘as education advances the followers of Sir Khem Singh Bedi and Nirankaris are joining the Singh Sabha’,33 it would seem that these figures (and especially those of 1921) are as deflated as the earlier one was inflated. It is difficult to come to any definite conclusions concerning the number of Nirankaris be­ cause of the great fluctuations in the census figures and because the Nirankaris themselves had no initiation rite or membership rolls. It is our estimate that the 1911 census figures were prob­ ably the most accurate, not as exact figures but as an order of magnitude.34 The actual total may have been as high as 5,000, but that would probably be an upper limit.

THE NIRANKARIS AND THE ANAND MARRIAGE ACT The Nirankari marriage ceremony described earlier bears a strong resemblance to the anand marriage ceremony. The only significant point of difference is that that in the Nirankari ceremony the four lawans are sung after the couple has gone around the Adi Granth, while in the anand ceremony they are sung while the couple are going around the Adi Granth. Because of the close similarity between the two ceremonies, Nirankaris have claimed that Baba Darbara Singh was the first to perform the anand ceremony and that the Singh Sabhas got it from the Nirankaris. They have also claimed that Baba Gurdit Singh, ^ who succeeded his father, Sahib Rattaji, in 1909 ‘worked vigorously for the enactment of the Anand Marriage Act, which was finally enacted by the Indian Government in October, 1909, legalizing the marriage ceremony according to the , initially performed by Sahib Darbar Singh Ji in a .d . 1855’.35 In the petitions sent by the Singh Sabhas to the government in support of the Anand Marriage Bill, the anand ceremony was described as ‘authorized by the Sikh scriptures and is in force since the beginning of Sikhism’,36 or as an ‘old and established custom of the Sikhs’,37 which fell into partial disuse during the reign of Maharaja when the Sikhs came under Hindu influence.38 Opponents of the Bill argued that it was a The Nineteenth Century 17 recent innovation of the Tat Party, modelled on a ceremony used for the remarriage of widows known as Chadar Andasi.39 No non-Nirankari attributed it to either Baba Darbara Singh or the Nirankaris. It is difficult to name the originator of the anand ceremony and it would, therefore, seem best to conclude that it grew out of the diversity of traditional practices during the nineteenth century by a process of selection and synthesis which was in harmony with the spirit of the Sikh scriptures; no person or group can take credit for it, though many contributed to it. Among the contributors were the Nirankaris, but they were not the only ones. For example, Leach reported in 1845, ten years before Baba Darbara Singh is alleged to have performed the first anand marriage, that Sikhs used the anand prayer and distributed prashad at the end of the ceremony, while the 1901 census reported that Bhagat-panthi marriages took place in the presence of the Adi Granth instead of fire.40 One, therefore, can draw a straight line of direct influence from the Hukumnama to the anand ceremony only by ignoring the diversity of pre­ valent practice as well as the significant number of potential or actual innovators already at work and by refusing to ask where Baba Darbara Singh got the idea of that particular form of ceremony from. It is, therefore, safest to conclude that we do not and cannot know precisely who was the first to use the anand ceremony in its present form. We can affirm, however, that we have come across no evidence prior to 1857 of a couple circumambulating the Adi Granth instead of fire, so that this could well have been Baba Darbara Singh’s special contribution to the total process by which the anand marriage ceremony came into being.41 The Nirankaris’ contribution to the passage of the Anand Marriage Act is somewhat more easily defined. It is clear that the Nirankaris supported the Bill as they wrote two letters to the government in support of it. (See Appendix I.) The Bill served Nirankari interests well as it legalized marriages per­ formed according to the rite laid down in the Hukumnama, Apparently, however, the Nirankaris had some reservations about some revisions in the Bill as they sent a telegram to that effect; these reservations, however, were not specified as the government received no further communication from them.42 18 The Nirankari Sikhs There is no evidence that they were active in creating support for the Bill in and around Rawalpindi, but there is evidence that Nirankari support for the Bill was put to good advantage by its Singh Sabha supporters. Sundar Singh Majitha made a reference to their use of the ceremony in his speech in the Imperial Legislative Assembly on 27 August 1909.43 In their represen­ tation (received 17 September 1909) Gurbaksh Singh, manager of the Works, and others wrote: ‘Again, it is wrongly stated that the Sehjdhari Sikhs are opposed to “Anand Marriage Ceremony”, you have, we believe, received the opinion of Baba Ratta —the leader of the Nirankaris in support of the Bill. Nirankaris count among them thousands of Sehjdhari Sikhs.’44 This was a telling remark when one bears in mind that op­ ponents of the Bill branded both the ceremony and the Bill as devices of the Party to impose their views upon the Sikh community as a whole.45 And it is amusing to note that the inflated Nirankari figures in the 1891 census could be used to show broad support for the Bill and thus overcome a major objection raised by its opponents!

CONCLUSION Before his death on 3 January 1909 after thirty-nine years of leading the Nirankaris, Sahib Rattaji appointed his son, Baba Gurdit Singh, as his successor and also placed a tilak on the forehead of Gurdit Singh’s son, Hara Singh.46 In his will he had left everything to the Nirankari darbar—relics, gold and silver ornaments, utensils, and all his income. He also stated that all functions should be celebrated in the same manner in the future as they had been in the past.47 Looking back over the nineteenth century phase of their history, the Nirankaris may rightly be described as a ‘Tradi­ tional Quietist’ group which Brush has defined as one which shuns socio-political activity and in which ‘authority was created by the spiritual inspiration of the founder and was legitimately exercised only by him and his authorized deputies. Authority within such movements emanates from the founder and in doing so reproduces the familiar guru-shishya and pirmurid pattern of traditional Indian religious organiza­ tion.’48 The Nineteenth Century 19 While today the Nirankaris are drawn almost entirely from the Khatri, , Bhatia and Suniara communities, we cannot be certain that this was so in the nineteenth century. We do know from the location of biredars that the early Nirankaris were both urban and rural; that they included both kesadharis and sahajdharis; and in all probability that they came from the same communities as they do now. The special prohibi­ tions against both the display of the dowry at the time of marriage and the use of false weights in business would support this. What set the Nirankaris apart from others were their distinctive ceremonies rather than their distinctive beliefs. Among the Nirankaris, leadership was vested in a guru and the succession to the guruship remained in the same family. The same hereditary principle seems to have been applied to the appointment of biredars by the guru as well. This type of organization gave them considerable cohesion but at the same time limited the number of Nirankaris and their influence as religious reformers. Non-Nirankari writers49 have argued that as Western education spread in the Punjab, the influence of the Nirankaris declined. There is probably a good measure of truth in this observation for the new Western educated elite tended to be attracted to the more modernized movements whose objec­ tives were not purely religious and in which authority was vested in the membership and elected office-bearers rather than in a hereditary guru and his appointees.50 The Nirankaris went against the spirit of the age both in the matter of ceremony at the time of Baba Dayal and in the pattern of leadership and reform objectives at the end of the nineteenth century. Perhaps it was this ‘moving against the stream’ which gave the Nirankaris a sense of their own distinctiveness. They believed in and followed a succession of living gurus, they had their own distinctive nishan or flag, and they had their annual gathering, all of which helped to keep them together and make them aware of their own special identity. But because they did not have a special initiation ceremony as well, which would clearly demarcate the Nirankaris from the non-Nirankaris, one cannot conclude thut the Nirankaris were a separate Sikh sect, but would have to view the work of Baba Dayal, his successors and followers as an important development within Sikhism. 20 The Nirankari Sikhs NOTES 1. See Appendix C. 2. See Appendix E. 3. Compare Appendices C and D. For the Nirankari view see Surinder Singh Nirankari (ed.), Nirankari Gurmat Prarambhita: Satguru DayaljVs Red Flag Revolution and Brahmanical Decadence, Tract 19, revised edition, Chandigarh: Youngmen’s Nirankari Association, 1974, p. 19. 4. See Appendix A. (Italics added.) 5. See Appendix B. 6. See Appendix A. 7. See Appendices A and C. 8. See Appendices A, E and F. 9. See Appendix A. 10. See Appendix A. 11. See Appendix A. 12. See Appendix A. The fact that the Lodiana Mission refers to the Nirankaris as a movement among the Hindus may be due to ignorance or to its sahajdhari Sikh and Hindu composition. 13. See Appendix A. Nirankaris drew inspiration from Christian publications not in formulating their basic beliefs but when attacking idolatry. 14. The 1881 census was wrong in giving Baba Dayal’s death date as 1870* that was actually the death date of Baba Darbara Singh. See Note 3. 15. See the Parwana Likhia in Surinder Singh Nirankari (ed.), Nirankari Gurmati Prarambhata, Tract 20, Amritsar: Youngmen’s Nirankari Association, 1951 p. 171. 16. Three of the men I interviewed at the time of the 1976 annual function had ancestors who were biredars and this passed from father to son. 17. See Appendix C. 18. Apparently the Darbar building was renovated by Baba Gurdit Singh in 1922. Tract 19, revised edition, p. 24. 19. Perhaps the first building they got for a dharamsala just happened to be constructed in this way and for reasons of sentiment the pattern was con­ tinued. Alternatively, this style could have been used because it resembled a darbar or hall of audience such as is found at the Red Fort in Delhi or the Agra fort. Contemporary sources are silent on this point. 20. See Appendix H. 21. See Appendix E. The pool was not called ‘Amritsar’ as the census indicated. 22. See Appendix G. 23. See Appendix C. 24. See Appendix E. 25. See Appendix H. 26. See Appendix H. 27. See Appendix D. 28. See Appendix C. 29. See Appendix E and also pp. 836-7 of Vol. XX of the same census. Of these 14,001 were recorded as Hindus! 30. See Appendix E. This statement is deliberately omitted from Nirankari The Nineteenth Century 21 excerpts from this census. Compare Appendix E with Tract 19, revised edition, pp. 46-7, Tract 20, pp. 186-7, Tract 21, p. 23. 31. E.D. Maclagan, The Punjab and its Feudatories, Part II, Census oflndia, 1891, Vol. XX, pp. 836-7. 32. These figures are taken from H. A. Rose, The Punjab, its Feudatories, and the North-West Frontier Province, Census of India 1901, Vol. XVII, p. 178; Harikishan Kaul, Punjab, Part I, Report, Census of India, 1911, Vol. XIV, p. 143; L. Middleton and S. M. Jacob, Punjab and Delhi, Part /. Report, Census of India 1921, Vol. XV, p. 185; Khan Ahmad Hasan Khan, Punjab, Part I, Report, Census of India 1931, Vol. XVII, p. 309. 33. H. A. Rose, op. cit., p. 125. 34. The 1891 figures for Rawalpindi district were listed as 1380. Allowing for the confusion mentioned above and for the presence of Nirankaris in neighbour­ ing districts, this seems about right. Moreover, the pattern of Nirankari organization, its present size, and the silence of contemporary sources would argue for a fairly small figure. 35. Tract 19, revised edition, pp. 23-4. 36. See Petition of the Lahore Singh Sabha, 22 November, 1908 in Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909, Part I. 37. See Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909, Part I, passim. 38. This argument was summarized by M. W. Fenton in ‘Home Department Judicial’, July 1909. Proceedings Part B, Nos. 55-6. 39. See the Petition of Maya Singh, 7 September 1909 in Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909, Part I. 40. Major M. Leach, ‘Notes on the Religion of the Sikhs and Other Sects Inhabit­ ing the Punjab’, in Foreign Department Proceedings, 20 December 1845, No. 144. 41. This is the view now held by Man Singh Nirankari. 42. No letter is found in Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909. 43. See Petition of Sikhs of Lahore, 4 October, 1909 in Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909, Part I. 44. See Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909, Part I. 45. See Petition of Maya Singh dated 7 September, 1909, ibid., and A Note on ‘The Anand Marriage Bill’ by Bhai Dan Singh in M. W. Fenton, loc. cit. 46. Kahn Singh, Prem Prakash, Tract 25, Chandigarh: Youngmen’s Nirankari Association, 1955, pp. 22, 25, 28. This was originally written in 1910, one year after the death of Sahib Rattaji. 47. See Appendix H. 48. Stanley Elwood Brush, ‘Protestants in the Punjab: Religion and Social Change in an Indian Province in the Nineteenth Century’, revised manuscript of unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Berkeley: University of California, 1971, p. 269. 49. H. A. Rose, loc. cit., and Harbans Singh, The Heritage of the Sikhs, Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1964, p. 138. 50. This is the thesis of the work by Brush cited in Note 48 which this author finds quite convincing. C hapter 3

The Consolidation o f Tradition, 1909-1947

Baba Gurdit Singh succeeded his father in January 1909, just before the Anand Marriage Act was passed, and died on 26 April 1947, just before Partition. The period between these two events marks an important phase in the history of the Nirankaris. For one thing, the period witnessed the increas­ ing growth and influence among Sikhs of the , the Akall movement, the Shiromani Prabandhak Committee (S.G.P.C.), and the political struggle leading to Independence and the partition of the Punjab. These organizations and movements not only captured the imagin­ ation and loyalty of many Sikhs but also gave shape and direction to their activities. An important consequence of this was that whereas in the nineteenth century the Nirankaris symbolized, and contributed to, the religious ferment within Sikhism, in the twentieth century they found themselves very much on the fringes of the major preoccupations of the Sikh community as a whole. It is not surprising, that under these circumstances the Nirankaris, therefore, became concerned with recording their tradition and defining their position. Thus, it is to history and theology that one must look for the most significant developments and contributions of this phase of Nirankari history. Our major source for this period is a series of tracts, seventeen in number, produced by three successive Nirankari organizations. The first, the Nirankari Balak Jatha, produced the first tract in 1922. The second, the Nirankari Bhujangi Sevak Jatha, pro­ duced annually the second through the seventh tracts between 1923 and 1928. The remainder was produced by the Nirankari Youngmen’s Association which began in 1929 and is still in existence. These tracts can be divided into two groups which will be treated separately. The first consists of those tracts publish­ ed by the Nirankari Balak Jatha and the Nirankari Bhujangi Sevak Jatha, as these consist primarily of poems written in praise of Baba Dayal. The tracts of the Nirankari Youngmen’s The Consolidation of Tradition 23 Association, the second group, were more often written in prose and dealt with a wider variety of subjects.

NIRANKARI BALAK JATHA AND NIRANKARI BHUJANGI SEVAK JATHA Both the Nirankari Balak Jatha and the Nirankari Bhujangi Sevak Jatha represent a new departure for the Nirankaris. While their publication programme was very modest indeed— only one tract per year—they were, none the less, voluntary organizations of Nirankaris whose aim was to propagate, at least within if not beyond the cult, Nirankari teachings through the printed word.1 While their message was nothing very new, their aim and pattern of organization were. They did not replace the traditional pattern of Nirankari religious organization, but they did represent a kind of modern graft upon it or a supple­ ment to it. Such a step, as we have suggested, may have been considered necessary for survival in the fast-changing circumstances of the 1920s.2 A common theme dominates these early tracts which may be summarized as follows. The condition of the Sikh panth declined after the death of Guru Gobind Singh and the Brahmans came to dominate Sikh religious life. Superstitions and meaningless rituals began to replace (the writings or teachings of the gurus). In this state of affairs, BabaDayal came to save the Sikh religion, by raising his voice against current beliefs and practices. Several significant theological points were made in elab­ orating this theme. In the first place, Baba Dayal was depicted as the successor of Guru Gobind Singh. In several tracts a story is told of Baba Dayal having a vision of Guru Gobind Singh in which the latter bestowed guruship upon him.3 In one tract Baba Dayal was described as an incarnation of Guru Gobind Singh.4 Thus, as the successor of Guru Gobind Singh and as the one who shared the same mission as the earlier ten gurus,5 Baba Dayal was placed at par with the ten Sikh gurus. The same spirit which dwelled in them earlier then came to dwell in him.6 The same point is also found in the Prem Prakash, a eulogy of Sahib Rattaji, written in 1910, on the occasion of his first death anniversary by Bhai Kahn Singh.7 The second factor is that the tracts were clearly written within a Sikh frame of reference. Not only is the language 24 The Nirankari Sikhs Punjabi, but also Baba Darbara Singh was depicted as c< addressing his followers as ‘Khalsaji’.8 Baba Dayal’s mission r< was related to that of the earlier Sikh gurus and his work was t( seen as a continuation of theirs. Thus, the Nirankari writers did not see themselves as a break-away group but as true Sikhs b under the leadership of true Sikh gurus. In this connection it tl must be pointed out that they were very emphatic about the continuation of human guruship after Guru Gobind Singh. In n one tract, the writer denied that Guru Gobind Singh ended the Ii human guruship9 and several tracts quote the Adi Granth to ti support the institution of human guruship.10 In fact, they go b beyond the argument that human guruship is permissible in tl Sikhism to affirm that is necessary.11 d The other thing worth noting is that the writers described r< the Nirankari gurus as having miraculous, supernatural powers. Thus, for example, in one story Baba Dayal was poisoned, but a the poison had no effect.12 In another, Baba Darbara Singh tl predicted with complete accuracy the death date of a newly B married couple.13 This suggests the beginnings of a kind of B janam-sakhi tradition not unlike that surrounding Guru Nanak.14 ii However, the work of developing a historical tradition concern- n ing Baba Dayal and his successors was to be the work of the S Nirankari Youngmen’s Association. iJ fc THE RECORDING OF NIRANKARI HISTORY a The Nirankari Youngmen’s Association was a continuation of £ the earlier organizations under a new name. The same people ti were involved, but, as indicated earlier, the tracts they produced ^ under the Nirankari Youngmen’s Association were quite differ- ^ ent from the earlier ones in style and range of content. Of a< particular importance were their efforts to record Nirankari S history. Tracts 12, 14 and 15 are collections of sakhis (testimonies) « ^ containing incidents in the lives of Baba Dayal, Baba Dar- f S1 bara Singh and Sahib Rattaji respectively which were gathered 1 r( from various Nirankaris who claimed to have witnessed the ^ ^ events they described or else to have heard about them from ? parents and grandparents. Often the name of the contributor was ls given at the end of the sakhi. These sakhis elaborate in greater detail some of the events noted in earlier tracts and some ^ The Consolidation of Tradition 25 contain elements of the miraculous also. The sakhis were simply recorded without criticism and no effort was made at this stage to blend them into one unified historical account. Thus, what we find in these tracts are source materials for a history of the Nirankaris, and of the Nirankari gurus in particular, rather than a history as such. Our task here is neither to present these sakhis in full nor to repeat the history given in Chapter 2 in a more elaborate form. Instead, we shall analyze the contents of these sakhis in rela­ tion to the primary source materials on which Chapter 2 was based in order to: (1) determine their reliability, and (2) note thereby significant developments in the Nirankari tradition during the 1930s. This we shall do by considering the events referred to in chronological order. We begin with the state of Sikhism during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Although this period witnessed the rise of Sikh power and eventually Sikh rule under Maharaja Ranjit .Singh (1799-1839), Sikhism as such degenerated as Brahmans came to dominate Sikh religious life. Under Brahman influence the followers of Guru Nanak, forgetting the funda­ mentals of the Sikh faith, became superstitious and ritualistic. Sikhs treated the Adi Granth like a collection of mantras, recit­ ing its contents without understanding; they took part in such false observances as purification ceremonies following birth and death; forgetting the One Formless God, they worshipped Hindu gods and goddesses, their incarnations and manifesta­ tions ; they followed Brahmanical rites rather than those which were in accord with Gurbani and hired Brahmans to perform them. Even the sons of Maharaja Ranjit Singh were married according to Hindu rites and there were satis among the Sikhs.15 This view of the situation is in accord with conventional wisdom on the subject. It reveals the customary reformist per­ spective in which the situation prior to the coming of a great reformer or reform movement is depicted as being quite bleak.16 However, until some detailed research on Sikhism during Ranjit Singh’s period, which examines more than just court religion, is conducted, this view will have to stand. Into this situation, then, came Baba Dayal to bring the Sikhs back to the teachings of their gurus. Dayal Dass was born in 26 The Nirankari Sikhs

Bikrami 1840 (a.d . 1783) to Ram.Sahai and Ladikki in Pesha- 1 war. He was a Malhotra Khatri by jati and his father was a t dealer in coins, exchanging Indian for Afghan money. Under i the influence of his mother Dayal became a very religious per- J son, worshipping daily in the local gurdwara of Bhai Joga < Singh. Stories are told of his piety and honesty as a small ( boy.17 First, his father and then his mother died while he was > still in his teens. While she was on her death bed, Dayal pro- - 1 mised his mother that he would worship faithfully at Gurdwara * Bhai Joga Singh every morning and evening.18 Soon after her death, leaving the family business, Dayal moved to Rawalpindi, £ on the advice of his maternal uncle who lived there, and opened £ up an apothecary. In Rawalpindi, he went daily to Gurdwara < Peshawarian; as he became more familiar with the contents of > the Adi Granth, he became increasingly upset at the ways in £ which the Sikhs were departing from the teachings of their £ gurus by following Brahmanical rites and superstitions. So, he i began to preach against this.19 # c We may take this information concerning Baba Dayal’s 1 family and birth as reliable.20 There is nothing in the contem- r porary evidence which contradicts this description of the gen- I eral course of Baba Dayal’s religious development or of his 1 move from Peshawar to Rawalpindi, although the stories c illustrating his character in early childhood probably contain d more hagiography than biography. t There are differing accounts of the decisive religious experi- I ence or ‘call’ which marked the beginning of Baba Dayal’s a mission. According to one, this event took place while he was 11 still in Peshawar. While waving a chour (fly-whisk) over the Adi ? Granth in the gurdwara there, he heard a voice telling him not s only to give that up and to go out and preach but also that y ‘all the Sikh Sangat is put under your charge’.21 A second 1] story says that a woman in the neighbourhood was possessed ^ by a goddess and Baba Dayal went, under compulsion, to see v this phenomenon. While climbing the stairs of the woman’s 11 house, he swooned, fell down, and while in an unconscious P state had a vision of Guru Gobind Singh who told him that c he had been sent into the world for the worship of Nirankar ^ and asked him why he was going to look at a manifestation ° of a goddess—had he forgotten the promise he made before a< The Consolidation o f Tradition 27 Nirankar?22 The third is a variation on the second. According to this one, he went to see the woman, again under compulsion, in order to be cured of smallpox. Again he fell down and had a vision of Guru Gobind Singh who said, ‘Oh man, you were ordained to worship , the immortal God. Why have you come to worship a goddess? Have you forgotten the promise which you made to your mother?’23 The second story gives the location as Peshawar and the third gives the time as very soon after the death of Baba Dayal’s mother. When comparing the first of these accounts with the second and third, we note the first one defines Baba Dayal’s mission as a mission to the Sikhs in the name of Nirankar, whereas the other two define it merely in terms of opposition to goddess worship and probably, by extension, to popular religiosity in general. In this the first is closer in content to the description given at the beginning of the Hukumnama which is also repeated in these tracts.24 This simply states, without reference to time or place, that during divine worship Baba Dayal went to the land of Nirankar where he found Guru Nanak and the other nine gurus sitting. Then the whole gathering stood up and Dayal was told, ‘O man of Nirankar, go and teach rehat to all the Sikhs. All the Sikhs of the ten gurus are put under your charge.’25 Clearly the Hukumnama used a special metaphor to describe an experience similar to that stated in the first account to have taken place in the gurdwara of Bhai Joga Singh in Peshawar. It is this understanding of Baba Dayal’s mission, and not that found in the second or third accounts, which is most in accord with what we know about Baba Dayal’s mission from primary sources. However, the timing of the event would seem to be open to question, since it is placed in Peshawar while Baba Dayal was still in his teens, before he had matured in his religious development, and well before he brought the Nirankari cult into existence. The second and third accounts would seem to portray, given the reference to an earlier pro­ mise, a later ‘lapse’ on Baba Dayal’s part, or else they are products of a later tradition (not surprising, given the confusion concerning the circumstances under which Baba Dayal visited the woman’s house) designed either to explain Dayal’s strong opposition to superstition and idolatry or to warn his followers against having anything to do with such things. 28 The Nirankari Sikhs Two events would seem to have followed his ‘call* at some point. The first is a visit by Maharaja Ranjit Singh who came to pay his respects26 and the second was an encounter with a local , Dewan Singh Mangwal, over the question of ritual defilement of food at the time when a death occurred.27 The first of these accords with what McLeod has called ‘the familiar tendency to introduce interviews with the acknowledged great’,28 and contradicts the testimony of Morrison’s informant that the Nirankaris were not letting their sentiments be known publicly. The second is quite possible. Incidents of persecution are also mentioned and names, Nihal Singh and Dewan Torn Rai, given. Even govern­ ment pressure was brought to bear, but Baba Dayal remained firm in his purpose.29 After being driven out of the local gurd- wara, Baba Dayal purchased a piece of land on the outskirts of Rawalpindi on which was built the dharamsala that later became the Nirankari darbar. But Baba Dayal died before he had time to consolidate his mission. Before his death, however, he appointed his son, Darbara Singh, to succeed him and urged that his death be a time of rejoicing rather than of weeping. He died on the 30 January 1855 and his body was immersed in the Lei stream at the spot where he used to meditate. After that the place became known as Dayalsar. None of this is contradicted by contemporary sources. The fact of persecution, although not specific instances of persecu­ tion, as well as the Nirankari concern for allies in dealing with the government are corroborated by Morrison. Morrison also noted that the Nirankaris had their own darbar when he visited them in 1853. Orbison also corroborated Baba Dayal’s death date. However, the burden of this evidence, when taken in conjunction with that provided by contemporary sources, points to a late (1840s) rather than an early date (1810s, 1820s) for the beginning of the Nirankari cult. Open preaching by Baba Dayal as well as the persecution which followed it must have taken place only after the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849. Morrison’s informant said that they had been carried on in secret during Sikh rule and the description, in the tracts, of government pressure included reference to a deputy com­ missioner. This, and Baba Dayal’s inability to consolidate his mission before he died, would support a later date than the The Consolidation of Tradition 29 Peshawar period for his ‘call’ as well. It is difficult to believe that Baba Dayal’s ‘call’ came twenty to thirty years before he began the cult which would implement it or that, given the nature of his mission described in that call, he would have kept the cult secret for as many as thirty to forty years! Baba Darbara Singh was born to Mool Dai in 1814. An energetic man, he gave practical shape to the teachings of Baba Dayal by severing all ties with Brahmanical rites and customs and substituting new ones which were consistent with the teachings' of the Adi Granth. These he laid down in his Hukumnama which he issued the year after he took over leader­ ship of the Nirankaris. He toured the Rawalpindi area (the Pothohar) and beyond; in Fateh Jang, Kala Gujran, Tarlai Kalan, Pindi Ghap, Sayyadan, Barnalai and Amritsar he performed marriages according to the new rite described in the Hukumnama. He is also reported to have initiated fifty-two Singhs (although the rite is not described),30 to have converted to Sikhism the followers of the Jogis,31 to have debated with and defeated a Muslim Qazi and Maulvie,32 and to have won over Baba Bikram Singh Bedi.33 In spite of persecution by his father’s old tormentors and new ones,34 his influence increased and he opened forty new beerhas or sub-centres.35 He appointed his younger brother, Rattan Chand, as his successor and died on 13 February 1870. Sahib Rattaji continued the work of his brother by issuing a parwana to all Nirankari biredars telling them to follow the Hukumnama of Darbara Singh and to have it read every fort­ night.36 He also built up the Nirankari darbar by building a well on the darbar premises in 1876, reconstructing the darbar itself in 1879, and in 1895, building a gurd.wara at Dayalsar.37 He, like his brother, toured the Pothohar area and established new beerhas.38 He was not as energetic in this respect as was his brother and Nirankari influence is said to have remained confined to the Pothohar area.39 A sahajdhari Sikh, Sahib Rattaji was known for his piety, humility and tranquillity of mind. He died on 3 January 1909. Once again, the tract information described earlier is not contradicted by contemporary sources; in fact, most of it finds indirect confirmation from them. One would expect Baba Darbara Singh to perform marriages according to the new rite; 30 The Nirankari Sikhs new beer has are mentioned in. the parwana; and the develop­ ment both of the Nirankari darbar and of Dayalsar are men­ tioned in government sources. Baba Darbara Singh’s debates, conversions and victories, while not inherently unlikely, still suggest what McLeod has described as stories which inevitably are attached to revered religious figures.40 It is worth noting that, according to the tracts, the period of greatest Nirankari expansion and influence came during the lifetime not of Sahib Rattaji, but of Baba Darbara Singh. What kind of self-image do these historical reminiscences and records of the Nirankari gurus project? First, there is Baba Dayal, called of God to redeem the Sikhs from their fallen state and endowed with supernatural power and insight (despite a serious lapse) for his task, spreading and implement­ ing fearlessly the message he had been given in the face of opposition and persecution by the upholders of Hindu ortho­ doxy. He is followed by Baba Darbara Singh, energetic, zealous, and powerful in debate, who spreads and consolidates the work begun by his father. Finally, there is Sahib Rattaji, the saintly man of God and builder of the central Nirankari . Along with these images of the central figures of Nirankari history is a tendency to make the cult appear both as old and as influential as possible. This is the Nirankari tradition and heritage; these are the signs of Nirankari greatness as well as the models for Nirankaris to emulate and draw inspiration from. It is in these terms that the Nirankaris of the 1930s saw themselves. However, history does not tell the whole story; to complete it we must turn to theology.

DEFINING A THEOLOGICAL POSITION There were no noticeable shifts or changes in the theological position of the Nirankaris during this period. Nor can one discern divergent views on theological questions. There was, however, some elaboration of the position taken earlier and, more importantly, an attempt to distinguish the Nirankari from other Sikh positions, for by this time, under the influence of the Singh Sabhas, there were other Sikh theological positions to contend with. The first point that needs to be made, however, is that the Nirankaris did not claim to be anything but Sikhs. They saw The Consolidation of Tradition 31 themselves as a reform group within Sikhism rather than as a separate sect or religion. Baba Dayal’s mission was related to that of 'the earlier Sikh gurus and his work was seen as a con­ tinuation of theirs.41 The tract writers often used the epithet, ‘Khalsaji’, when addressing the Nirankaris and saw their mission as similar to that of the Akalis, i.e., the betterment of Sikhism. In dealing with controversial issues, they supported their arguments with references to the Sikh scriptures and Sikh tradition. The tract writers constantly laid stress upon Gurbani and the worship of Nirankar, the One Formless God. Tract 11 criticizes the Radhaswamis and Baba Sawan Singh in parti­ cular for misinterpreting the Adi Granth and leading Sikhs away from the teachings of Guru Nanak. There were, however, three places at which the Nirankaris disagreed with other Sikhs, particularly the Akalis and Singh Sabha Sikhs. The first was their belief in a living guru. The Adi Granth is authoritative but a human guru is necessary to help people understand it and follow its teachings. The mere word of the Adi Granth is not sufficient of itself to lead humanity to the Dasam Dwar, referred to by Guru Nanak as the goal of human existence; a human guide is needed for that task. Thus the guru was, is, and will continue to be necessary as long as human beings exist.42 A second difference comes with regard to the Nirankari prayer. The Nirankari writers were critical of the invocation of God as ‘Bhagauti’ in the Sikh prayer; whether Bhagauti refers to a Hindu goddess or to the sword as a symbol of power, the reference is to something which is either unreal or material and destructible—and hence of secondary importance in comparison to Nirankar, the Formless God.43 The third difference lies in the place which they give to non- kesadhari or sahajdhari Sikhs. In the view of the tract writers, the message of Guru Nanak is universal and all who follow it are equally Sikhs. The creation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh did not mean that those who did not join were reduced to the status of either non-Sikhs or second-class Sikhs. The distinction is rather between the Sikh army and Sikh civilians, all of whom are equally Sikhs. They pointed out that people as close to Guru Gobind Singh as his vazir, Bhai Nand Lai, and his uncle, Kirpal Chand, were sahajdharis. The author of 32 The Nirankari Sikhs Tract 16 then took modern Sikhs to task for not allowing sahajdhari Sikhs to: (1) prepare and distribute the langar; (2) read the Adi Granth in the Sikh congregation or at an Akand Path; (3) say the prayer in the congregation; (4) distribute karah prashad; (5) mount the takhats of the Sikhs. If Guru Gobind Singh never discriminated against sahajdharis, why then, the writer asked, should modern Sikhs? Moreover, because of this, many sahajdharis are leaving Sikhism, he said, and this is a situation which could prove fatal to the Sikh panthj4 This concern for equality among Sikhs is also seen in Nirankari criticisms of casteism within the Sikh community.45 One can see in these theological works the need to define the Nirankari position vis-a-vis the dominant Singh Sabha and the Akali position and to argue on the basis of the Adi Granth and references to Sikh history that the Nirankari position is closer to the intentions of the gurus than of their competitors. This too was an important part of the self-image of the Nirankaris.

INTERNAL TENSIONS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE SANT NIRANKARIS There are indications in the tracts of tensions among the Nirankaris during this period. The references are vague, in­ direct and general, lacking in concrete detail. Some sound more like sermons on the need for unity and faith than comments on the existing situation.46 None the less, there is a mention of being neglected, of even Dayalsar being in poor condition, of groups criticizing the Nirankari Youngmen’s Association, of people leaving the cult, and of factionalism.47 More significant than these isolated references are the pro­ posals made to deal with a situation of disunity. These include the need to get rid of illiteracy so that people might under­ stand things better, the need to broaden the Nirankari pro­ gramme by stressing more than just the religious side of life, going beyond tracing the history and traditions of the Niran­ karis to developing constructive programmes. Organizational changes were also suggested. One was the need for a strong central organization; another was that local societies be formed; a third was that a weekly diwan be held which would be a time not only for corporate worship but also for discussing plans for the improvement of the cult and settling differences. There The Consolidation of Tradition 33 was also the suggestion of a Ramta Nirankari, or mass con­ tact campaign, through which people might be informed of Nirankari plans, and programmes be made more attractive.48 Obviously, in the eyes of the Nirankari Youngmen’s Associa­ tion, all was not well. Whether or not the root of the matter lay in loss of faith, personal ambition, and selfish interests, as the tract writers seem to suggest, one can discern in the suggestions offered to solve problems a new outlook among young Nirankaris who believed that the traditional pattern alone was no longer quite adequate to do the job. On the one hand, there are indications that the Nirankaris’ reason for existence must extend beyond worship, rite and ceremony. On the other, there are indications that new methods and new patterns of organization must be adopted if the Nirankaris are to progress, or perhaps even survive. The institution of local societies, of diwans to discuss community affairs, and of the Ramta Nirankari are signs of further supplements to the old pattern, the first ones being the Nirankari Youngmen’s Associa­ tion and its predecessors. In 1932, 1933, and 1934 the Nirankari Youngmen’s Association also organized special conferences at Dayalsar both to propagate Nirankari teachings and to dis­ cuss how this might be done more effectively.49 What is clear from this scanty evidence is that those who had the well-being of the cult at heart were questioning the traditional patterns and suggesting improvements so that a process of decline might be halted and reversed. It was to this period that the origins of the Sant Nirankaris may be traced. However, it would be wrong to see the Sant Nirankaris as an offshoot of what might be described as tradi­ tionalist-modernist tensions within the Nirankari cult, as the nature of their origins were quite different. Since versions of their origins differ and since the matter is of considerable importance, these versions should be examined with some care. The first point to be made in this connection is that today the Nirankaris and Sant Nirankaris are as different as night and day. The former are Sikhs, whereas the latter claim to be a new world religion with distinctive forms, customs and secret mantras. Patterns of worship vary greatly, the Sant Nirankaris being far more boisterous, unrestrained and uninhibited than 34 The Nirankari Sikhs the Nirankari Sikhs. Perhaps,, most important of all, the place of the guru is very different within the two groups; for the Sant Nirankaris he is the central figure and an object of worship, whereas for the Nirankari Sikhs he is neither.50 The continuities between Baba Dayal and the Nirankari Sikhs are clear, whereas the Sant Nirankaris represent a sharp break with that tradition. The connections between the two, beyond the similarity of their names, are almost accidental, unless one views the Sant Nirankaris as a reaction to the puritanism of the Nirankari Sikhs as they seem to oppose almost everything the latter stand for.51 According to Balwant Gargi, who has written on the Sant Nirankaris,52 it was Bhai Kahn Singh, the author of the Prem Prakash, who began the process which led to the birth of the Sant Nirankaris. After the death of Sahib Rattaji, he went in search of a guru and found him twenty years later in 1929 in the person of one Baba Buta Singh, a tattoo maker and kirtani of considerable ability. So happy was he that he carried Buta Singh on his shoulders through the streets of Rawalpindi. Buta Singh was the founder of the Sant Nirankaris. There are three serious difficulties with this account. The first is that there is no evidence that Bhai Kahn Singh was dissatisfied with the then existing Nirankari leadership and was, therefore, in search of a new guru, while the Prem Prakash provides evi­ dence to the contrary. Secondly, it would have been physically impossible for him to carry a big man like Baba Buta Singh anywhere on his shoulders in the year 1929, as he was too old for such a feat at that time. Thirdly, and most importantly, Bhai Kahn Singh willed his property to the Nirankari darbar in 1944 and made (Baba) Gurbakhsh Singh one of the trustees.53 Thus he remained a loyal member of the Nirankari cult throughout his lifetime. A second account appeared more recently in The Times of India: The breakaway group of Nirankaris, headed by Baba Gurbachan Singh, was founded by Baba Buta Singh, a disciple of Baba Dayalji. He was good at doing “” but at one congregation held in observance of the death anniversary of Baba Dayalji he was turned out as he was allegedly found drunk. Thereafter, he met Baba Avtar Singh, and founded a separate sect. Baba Buta Singh died in 1943. The Consolidation o f Tradition 35 Till 1947 nothing much of this sect had been heard, but after that Baba Avtar Singh established his headquarters at Paharganj in Delhi and the spread and the enormity of his popularity is the envy of many a religious organization.54 This account appears to be substantially correct. Buta Singh was a good singer and Gargi tells of his drinking habits.55 In addition, Buta Singh seems to have sought a special secret gyan or knowledge and so was not fully satisfied with the open Nirankari teachings.56 The incident which led to his break with the Nirankaris took place in the 1930s, but nobody seems to know specifically in which year, as the incident was not consi­ dered significant until much later. Moreover, Buta Singh was simply asked to leave until he had sobered up and was not permanently excommunicated. He continued to come to the annual functions, but ceased to take as active a role as he did formerly.57 He did have a following of his own which included Baba Avtar Singh, but this made no . significant departures from traditional Nirankari ways during Baba Buta Singh’s life­ time. These changes came about after his death under the leadership of Baba Avtar Singh whose direct connection with the Nirankari Sikhs was minimal. It is best, therefore, to see him, rather than Baba Buta Singh, as the founder of the Sant Nirankaris and to treat the two groups as separate, distinct, and without a common history.58

CONCLUSION Nothing has been said about Baba Gurdit Singh, beyond his birth and death dates, in this chapter. He rebuilt the Nirankari darbar in 1922 and he is said to have been a member of the S.G.P.C. from 1921 to 1925,59 thus providing a link with the wider Sikh community. No mention is made of his role in the deliberations of the S.G.P.C.; since it was not a legally recogniz­ ed body at that time and since he did not continue on it once it did become legally recognized, one may expect his role to have been a marginal one. And this nominal connection is perhaps a suitable symbol of the Nirankari role in the twentieth century phase of the Sikh resurgence. Of equal significance for the Nirankaris themselves, however, were their efforts to clarify their own historical origins and to define their own theological posi­ tion within the Sikh tradition, as these could bear fruit later on.

\ 36 The Nirankari Sikhs

NOTES

1. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh, who was active in the Nirankari Young men’s Asso­ ciation, said that during the Akali awakening the Nirankaris felt they had to propagate their own views just as the Akalis were doing. Interview, 24 April 1978. 2. The census figures described earlier, while not very accurate, do show a decline in the number of Nirankaris since the days of Sahib Rattaji. This decline is confirmed by prominent Nirankaris. 3. For example, Tract 2, p. 2. 4. Tract 6, p. 2, 5. Tract 5, p. 6. 6. Tract 5, p. 6. 7. Reprinted in Tract 25, pp. 18-28. 8. Tract 7, p. 1. 9. Tract 7, p. 5. 10. Tract 5, p. 3; Tract 6, pp. 6 and 9; Tract 7, pp. 4 and 6. 11. Tract 6, p. 6. 12. Tract 4, p. 3. 13. Tract 7, p. 1. 14. We have in the tracts a series of anecdotes about the Nirankari gurus which are hagiographic in nature but perhaps derived from actual incidents in their lives, that have grown out of the oral traditions of the cult. This follows W. H. McLeod’s analysis of the janam-sakhis in his The Evolution of the Sikh Community, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1975, pp. 20-4. These tracts would represent the second of the four stages in the evolution of a janam-sakhi tradition he describes. 15. Tracts 12, 14, and 15. 16. This tendency can be seen in standard portrayals of Guru Nanak, Swami Dayanand, and the Brahmo Samaj. 17. Tract 12, pp. 9-10. 18. Ibid. 19. Tracts 12, 14, and 15. 20. McLeod considers genealogical references of this type to be normally quite accurate for at least several generations and we see no reason to question this. W. H. McLeod, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), p. 69. 21. Tract 12, p. 15. 22. Tract 12, pp. 12-13. 23. Tract 14, p. 15. There is a footnote stating, on the authority of Sahib Rattaji, that this incident did not take place. 24. Tract 12, p. 80. 25. Appendix G. 26. Tract 12, pp. 28-9; Tract 16, pp. 20-1. 27. Tract 12, pp. 29-33; Tract 14, pp. 21-3. 28. W. H. McLeod, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, p. 138. 29. Tract 12, pp. 26-7, 35-6; Tract 14, p. 21. 30. Tract 15, pp. 17-18. The Consolidation of Tradition 37

31. Tract 15, pp. 21-2. 32. Tract 15, pp. 30-2, 48-9. 33. Tract 12, pp. 51-3. 34. Tract 12, pp. 46-8, 74-9; Tract 14, pp. 27-32, 43-5; Tract 15, pp. 53-7. 35. Tract 12, p. 20. 36. See Chapter 2, note 15. Tract 12, pp. 96-7. 37. Tract 12, pp. 74 and 92. 38. Tract 12, p. 92; Tract 14, pp. 63-6; Tract 16, pp. 27-9. 39. Tract 12, p. 92. 40. W. H. McLeod, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, p. 87. 41. Tract 17, pp. 35-7. 42. Tract 8. 43. Tracts 10 and 13. 44. Tract 16, pp. 36-9. 45. Tract 10, pp. 35-6. 46. Tract 17, pp. 7-10. 47. Tracts 9 and 16. Also Tract 17, pp. 45-6. 48. Tract 10, pp. 9-10; Tract 16, pp. 6-7, 45; Tract 17, pp. 7-10, 47-8. 49. Interview with Baba Gurbakhsh Singh, 24 April 1978. 50. Two important studies of the Sant Nirankaris are Balwant Gargi, Nirankari Baba, Delhi: Thomson Press, 1973 and H. S. Seekree, ‘The Sant Nirankaris’, in John C. B. Webster (ed.), Popular Today, Delhi: Indian Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, 1974, pp. 26-9. 51. The only possible positive link was the charnamrit ceremony in which water which has touched the big toe of every member of the sangat is drunk with sweetener added. The Nirankari Sikhs stopped this ceremony well before Partition. 52. Balwant Gargi, ‘Nirankaris’, The Illustrated Weekly of India, 24 October 1971, pp. 21-5. See especially p. 23. 53. A certified copy of this will is in the possession of Baba Gurbakhsh Singh in Chandigarh. 54. The Times of India, 20 April 1978, p. 4. 55. Balwant Gargi, Nirankari Baba, p. 58. 56. Man Singh Nirankari was present when Buta Singh asked Hara Singh for some secret word or formula in 1926 or 1927. They had a private conversa­ tion which pleased Buta Singh very much, even though Hara Singh insisted that there was no secret involved. Interview, 25 April 1978. This incident is also referred to in Pratap Singh , Nakli Nirankari, Delhi: Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, n.d., p. 8. 57. Man Singh Nirankari, interview, 25 April 1978. A letter from Buta Singh’s brother dated 12 October 1970 in the possession of Baba Gurbakhsh Singh indicates that Buta Singh was a faithful Nirankari and attended the annual session each year. 58. In an eleven-page cyclostyled paper prepared by the Prakashan Vibhag, Sant Nirankari Mandal, Delhi, ‘For the Immediate Attention of the MPs, MLAs and Other Publicmen’, they state that the Sant Nirankaris are not ‘a particular sect of Sikh religion’ but a ‘universal brotherhood society. A similar statement was made to the press by D. S. Shaque, Pramukh of the 38 The Nirankari Sikhs Sant Nirankari Mandal, Chandigarh, on 22 April 1978. The Tribune, 23 April 1978, p. 14. This is completely contrary to everything we have said about the Nirankaris in this book. 59. Tract 19 (revised edition), p. 24. According to Baba Gurbakhsh Singh, he was a member of the S.G.P.C., from 1921 to 1923 and his son, Hara Singh, was a member from 1923 to 1925. Chapter 4

The Partition Crisis and After, 1947-1976

During the previous one hundred years of its history no external attack or internal division posed so serious a threat to the very existence of the Nirankari cult as did the partition of the Punjab in August 1947, less than four months after the death of Baba Gurdit Singh. Fortunately, the Nirankaris had in Baba Gurdit Singh’s successor, Sahib Hara Singh Ji, a leader equal to the enormity of the crisis and, while he did not act alone, it is to him more than to any other single person that the Nirankari cult owes its survival. Prior to Partition, the Nirankaris were concentrated around Rawalpindi in the Pothohar and claimed sixty beerhas or centres in that region.1 This was an overwhelmingly Muslim area and so when Partition was announced in June 1947 and with the increase in communal rioting, which had begun in Rawalpindi as early as March 1947, the Nirankaris had no choice but to pack up whatever they could and go eastward to India. Since the vast majority of them were businessmen and traders, they had to begin life anew with what few resources they could take out of Pakistan. Some of the refugees lost their lives and virtually all of them lost their homes, property, and sources of livelihood. When they reached India, they went wherever they could to find work and begin a new life. As a result of this, the Nirankaris not only lost their central shrines in Rawalpindi and Dayalsar as well as their collective wealth but also faced a radical change in their basic demography. Whereas prior to Partition they were heavily concentrated in the Pothohar region, they were now scattered all over North India from Amritsar to Calcutta to Bombay. Thus, Sahib Hara Singh Ji faced a twofold challenge: he had to locate and gather together his scattered flock as best he could and he had to build new central shrines and institutions for the continuation of the Nirankari cult. 40 The Nirankari Sikhs

RECONSTRUCTION At the time of the riots in Rawalpindi in March 1947 the Nirankari darbar became a refugee camp. Most of the refugees who had gathered there for protection were Nirankaris. Sahib Hara Singh Ji’s diary mentions efforts made to strengthen the place so that those inside might be protected: bricks to strengthen the wall (9 July), hiring two chaukidars (7 August), paying his gun licence fee (9 August), hiring another chaukidar (13 August).2 It was only on 6 August that Sahib Hara Singh Ji sent his wife and third son, Avtar Singh, accompanied by Daya Singh as an escort to India. They went by train to Delhi carrying with them two boxes of valuables from the darbar and were met in Delhi by Gurbakhsh Singh, Hara Singh’s oldest son, who at that time had a stone business in Ramganj Mandi in Kota State, . While Gurbakhsh Singh took his mother and brother to his home, Daya Singh returned to Rawalpindi and, accompanied by Hira Singh, returned to Kota with a second load of valuables on 12 August. Thus, at the time of Independence and Partition on 15 August, Hara Singh was still in Rawalpindi while his family had moved across the border to India. Sahib Hara Singh Ji stayed on in Rawalpindi and, as his diary indicates that he continued to purchase wood for the langar on 19 and 26 August, we may assume that the langar continued and refugees were still on the darbar premises. It was only on 3 September that he left Rawalpindi by a private plane for Delhi with his son-in-law who was a magistrate in Campbellpur. He arrived in Delhi that afternoon and reached Ramganj Mandi (Kota) the next day. Two custodians, Santokh Singh and Gyani Deva Singh as well as the wife of the latter, stayed behind to look after the darbar property. They placed in military custody some records, carpets, nishans, and Adi Granths, most of which were recovered later from the military at the Kurukshetra refugee camp in January 1948, and then left the darbar once that work had been completed. During the entire period from March to September 1947 nobody in the darbar was killed in spite of all the killing that went on around them.3 Sahib Hara Singh Ji spent the remainder of 1947 in Ramganj Mandi reciting and meditating upon the Adi Granth. (He went The Partition Crisis and After 41 through it at least six times.) From there he went to New Delhi, where the first annual function in independent India was held in Karol Bagh. About one thousand people were present, many of them refugees who had come to Delhi after Partition and had not yet dispersed. The timing of this annual function coincided with Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the Nirankaris joined the funeral procession carrying their nishan.4 During 1948 Sahib Hara Singh Ji spent six months in medi­ tation and study of the Adi Granth at Ramganj Mandi and two months in Amritsar. He made several short visits to Delhi and Meerut. In mid-Noyember he visited Tatanagar and then stop­ ped at Calcutta, Patna, Banaras, Kanpur, Lucknow and four other places before returning to Delhi at the end of December. In 1949 he spent six months (22 March-16 September) in meditation and study at Ramganj Mandi. During the remainder of the year, almost two months of which he spent in Amritsar, he visited Delhi and sixteen different places in the Punjab and Western U.P. In 1950 he spent only three months in Ramganj Mandi and was on tour for the rest of the year, making fifty-two stops in different places between Amritsar and Kanpur, visiting some of them several times.5 It was through such extensive touring that he was able to see, to gather together, and to feed his widely scattered flock. This pattern was to continue in subsequent years also. In interviews with a number of Nirankaris at the time of the 1976 annual function, one got an impression of what these visits meant to his followers. He visited them when their fortunes were at their lowest, when their struggle to begin anew was most desperate. He offered guidance, solace, and concrete assistance. For example, in Kanpur he helped local Nirankaris acquire land for residences;6 no wonder he was held in such great veneration. As was mentioned earlier, the first annual function after Partition was held in Delhi at the end of January 1948. There­ after, the function was held in a number of different places until the Nirankari darbar was finally established at Chandigarh. The first function to be held there took place in 1959. In the intervening years the function was held in Delhi (1949, 1955, 1956), (1950, 1951, 1954), Chandausi, U.P. (1952), and Meerut Cantonment (1953, 1957, 1958). 42 The Nirankari Sikhs In 1958 the Nirankaris purchased ten kanals (about 5,000 sq. yards) of land in Chandigarh for the new darbar. Chandi­ garh was chosen in preference to Delhi, which had a larger number of Nirankaris residents there, because it was in the Punjab. The new darbar took some time to be erected as funds had to be collected. In 1960 the foundation stone was laid by the Maharaja of Patiala. However, the annual function had to be held there under a shamiyanah until 1962 when a small hall (now a library) was erected. In 1972 they held their first function in the large new darbar hall which was then still under construction. In 1976 this was formally opened by a Muslim, a Christian, the President of the Delhi Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, and two Nirankaris, each of these opening one of the five doors. The Nirankaris, thus, now have a central shrine, filled with memorabilia from Rawalpindi, to which they can make an annual pilgrimage. The annual function, celebrated at the time of Baba Dayal’s death anniversary, lasts from 18 to 21 Magh (usually 30 January to 2 February, although occasionally 29 January to 1 February). The darbar hall is decorated and the gold and silver ornaments of the Rawalpindi darbar are displayed. The four-day pro­ gramme includes shabad kirtan (hymn singing), kavi darbar (poetical recitations), a procession through the city, a langar (free common kitchen), and addresses on Baba Dayal and other such topics. Also a free medical clinic is set up. And, of course, the annual function is a time of reunion, a social occasion when families and friends can get together and visit each other. Finally, at the annual function appeals have been made for the money necessary to build the new darbar at Chandigarh.7 Immediately following the annual function at Patiala in 1950, fifty Nirankaris with Sahib Hara Singh Ji’s eldest son, Gurbakhsh Singh, as organizer visited the old Nirankari darbar at Rawalpindi and had a diwan there.8 The last of these visits, which took place at irregular intervals because the permission of the Pakistan Government was required, was in 1960. Sahib Hara Singh Ji went on that pilgrimage. Man Singh Nirankari has taken steps to obtain reclamation money for the Nirankari darbar from the Government of India for their immovable property in Pakistan. This effort has only recently met with some success, although the size of the award The Partition Crisis and After 43 is very small. In Delhi Nirankaris have purchased land for a residential colony known as Dayalsar, while in Amritsar the Improvement Trust has earmarked some land in the civil lines area for the Nirankari Trust to use for a multipurpose scheme which includes a school, a dispensary, a library and a hall.9 On 15%anuary 1971 Sahib Hara Singh Ji died in Amritsar. The following day he was cremated on the grounds of the Nirankari Darbar at Chandigarh. A ceremony was held on the first day of the annual function that year. At that time Hara Singh’s widow, Maya Wanti, placed a tilak on the fore­ head first of her eldest son, Gurbakhsh Singh, whom Sahib Hara Singh Ji had formally associated with his work at Patiala in 1950,10 and then of her second son, Man Singh Nirankari, who had also been actively involved in much of the property and other affairs of the Nirankari darbar since the Chandausi annual function in 1952. Thus, Baba Gurbakhsh Singh became the sixth of the Nirankari gurus with his brother, Man Singh, to assist him in the capacity of President of the Nirankari Darbar (of Rawalpindi), Chandigarh.

NIRANKARIS AND SIKH HISTORY No less important than the work of reconstruction following Partition were the literary efforts of the Nirankaris through which they came to occupy an accepted place in Sikh history and in the Sikh community. This period witnessed some notable strides forward in the quality of Nirankari historical scholarship and theological reflection. Of special significance were their attempts to relate and integrate their tradition with what had become, through the efforts of the Singh Sabhas and the Akalis, the mainstream of Sikh tradition in general, for this had impli­ cations not only for their understanding of their past but also for the position which they would therefore occupy within the wider Sikh community of the present and future. Tracts 20 and 21, prepared in 1951, mark the beginning of this process. They were edited by Surinder Singh Nirankari, Sahib Hara Singh Ji’s youngest son, and published under the title, Nirankari Gurmat Prarambhita. Tract 21, written in English with the subtitle, Satguru DayaljVs Red Flag Revolution and Brahmanical Decadence, presented a brief history of the Nirankaris based largely upon the materials gathered in the 44 The Nirankari Sikhs earlier tracts to which reference'has already been made in the previous chapter. Tract 20 is a much larger history written in Punjabi. Taken together, the two tracts represent a major at­ tempt to bring together both Nirankari traditions and evidence from non-Nirankari sources into one coherent account of the history of the Nirankaris. Three features of the t\!o works deserve special mention, especially since they were placed in the hands of Sikh historians and provided the basis for what others would be writing about the Nirankaris. The first is the image of the Nirankaris which they project. The Nirankaris were, in this view, an important movement, in fact a revolutionary movement, which initiated and was largely responsible for turning the Sikhs away from Brahmanical rites and religion to the true teachings of the Sikh gurus. Thus, the ‘golden age’ of Nirankari history was clearly that of their first three gurus and their role in it was so central that Nirankari history was equated with their life histories. Baba Dayal, ‘whose ways were sincere, honest and truthful’,11 rediscovered the true Sikh teachings and persisted in affirming them in spite of persecution. Baba Darbara Singh took the offensive by initiating a complete break from Brahmanical ritual and by actively going out to spread his reforms. Sahib Rattaji consolidated the work of his predecessors. Of special significance to this image is the way in which the relationship of the Nirankaris to the Singh Sabha movement is described. Sahib Rattaji gave his blessing to the Singh Sabha movement12 and, in fact, several of the key leaders of the move­ ment—Gyani Ditt Singh, Gyani Thakar Singh, Jawahar Singh Kapur, and later Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha—were in personal contact with Sahib Rattaji and were strongly influenced by him.13 In short: ‘The work and example of Nirankari Guru did not fail to give an impetus to many a young Sikh active and ambitious to further the interests of Sikhism and make it completely free from all Brahmnic [s/c] influence. A powerful Singh Sabha Movement was set up.’14 The fact that the Niran­ kari gurus were not given the prominent place in the Singh Sabha movement which they deserved was due to their being sahaj- dharis, to the fact that ‘the Singh Sabha movement was tinged with politics and the Nirankari movement was purely religious or Dharmak’,15 and because the Nirankaris differed from the The Partition Crisis and After 45 leaders of the Singh Sabhas on the invocation of Bhagauti and the institution of human guruship.16 The second feature of these tracts is the incorporation in appendices of extracts concerning the Nirankaris from census reports and other non-Nirankari publications. From a scholarly point of view, this marked a considerable step forward in recording of Nirankari history because such source materials could be used both to provide important corroborative evidence for certain aspects of Nirankari history and to test certain Nirankari claims. No piece of evidence from non-Nirankari sources was put to greater advantage than the 1891 census figures which listed 60,611 Nirankaris widely spread out from Rawal­ pindi to Hissar. These figures the Nirankaris later used as evidence of the large following and, hence, great influence of the cult at that time.17 The third feature of these tracts is related to the second: not all the excerpts were transcribed accurately. Apart from numerous spelling, typographical and other such careless errors, some statements which would cast doubt on the general self- image that the Nirankaris wished to project were omitted from the printed extracts. The first and most obvious of these is the sentence in the 1891 census which states that the Nirankari figures given for that year were considerably inflated.18 This sentence was removed from the middle of a paragraph, but there is no indication that something has been deleted. Clearly, the sentence would undermine confidence in the high census figures and, hence, raise questions about the size and influence of the Nirankari cult in the reader’s mind. The second is the statement in the same census report that Nirankaris were bowing down before Baba Dayal’s slippers, which were kept as relics in the Nirankari Darbar, in the same manner that they

bowed before the Adi Granth. 19 This statement would suggest that in spite of their teachings, Nirankaris either needed material objects to inspire worship of the Formless God or venerated Baba Dayal as much as the Adi Granth, and that this weakness had the implicit, if not explicit, sanction of Sahib Rattaji who allowed the slippers to be displayed! It should be noted that the statement that ‘Bhai Dial’s (Dayal) slippers are kept and revered’ is kept in the excerpt from the Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province20 but this is less 46 The Nirankari Sikhs explicit and damaging than the 1$91 census statement on which it is based. Generally, when inaccurate statements were made in the excerpts, the statement was reprinted as originally given, but a footnote was added to indicate the error.21 That this was not done in these two cases would suggest that some editing was done with a view to presenting as favourable a public image as possible. J A good number of historians have used the Nirankari Gurmat J Praramhhita in preparing their histories of the Sikhs or of the Punjab with the result that the Nirankaris now occupy an accepted place in that history, usually as forerunners or as the first signs of the Sikh renaissance dominated by the Singh Sabha movement.22 In addition, Nirankaris began to contribute | historical and theological articles, in English and Punjabi, to j non-Nirankari publications. The most prolific and important Nirankari writer has been Man Singh Nirankari, the second son of Sahib Hara Singh Ji, whose work has been published in a large number of newspapers, magazines, journals and books. Man Singh was born in Rawalpindi on 8 December 1911. i He was trained not as a historian or theologian but as a doctor. § He did his F.Sc. at Gordon College in 1931 and his M.B.B.S. at King Edward Medical College, Lahore, in 1937. After two years at the Royal College of Surgeons and at the Edinburgh Infirmary, he joined the Provincial Medical Service. Most of his career was spent at the Medical College in Amritsar where, j after additional training abroad, he rose to be Professor of f Ophthalmology (1956) and Principal (1971). In 1962 he was j made a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences by President | Radhakrishnan. He is a man with not only a keen interest in religious subjects but also wide social and professional \ contacts. He has been a member of the Senates of Punjab and : Guru Nanak Dev Universities, as well as of the Dharamak Salhakar Committee of the S.G.P.C. His writings, which appear in great numbers from the late 1960s onwards, deal not only with distinctively Nirankari subjects but also with those aspects of Sikh history and thought which Nirankaris share with other i Sikhs. Of particular importance are his view of Nirankari history and the distinctively Nirankari perspective he brings to bear on certain important themes in Sikh theology. As indicated earlier, Man Singh has not been trained as a The Partition Crisis and After 47 historian and so his histories of the Nirankaris are not written on modern critical lines. In this respect, they do not differ from Sikh history in general, which, with rare exceptions, has so far failed to rise to the challenge posed by modern historical scholarship.23 In Man Singh’s case, we should note that his histories of the Nirankaris24 are almost completely without footnotes, so that his assertions are difficult to verify. Moreover, when the evidence produced in what we have called the ‘primary sources’ is at variance with Nirankari tradition, he invariably prefers the latter. These two technical limitations must be kept in mind when assessing.his findings. Three important themes run through his history. The first is the strong anti-Brahmanical thrust of Nirankari history. ‘In a nutshell Baba Dayal the first Sikh protestant was against all that smack of Brahmanic ritualism and superstitions.’25 So too was Baba Darbara Singh, and in Man Singh’s view such ritualism is ‘the very negation of Sikh way of life’.26 The second theme is that the Nirankari gurus played the same role in Sikhism as did Martin Luther in Christianity as well as the Brahmo Samaj and Swami Dayanand in ,27 that of reformers whose role it was to lift their people out of the rut of meaningless ritual and degrading superstition and to return them to the pure religion of their original scriptures. The third, and probably the most significant theme is that there were close ties and direct causal connections between the Nirankaris and the Singh Sabha movement. Both were reformist movements and, in Man Singh’s view, the ‘Singh Sabha Move­ ment is an extension of Nirankari Movement and notits rival’.28 This he seeks to establish by showing that certain Singh Sabha leaders were influenced by Sahib Rattaji. However, in his view it is the anand marriage ceremony which provides the major link between the Nirankaris and the Singh Sabhas. Indeed, the anand marriage ceremony is, to his way of thinking, the Niran­ karis’ main claim to fame and the most important contribution to Sikhism. While Baba Dayal was married in an anand cere­ mony, but without the circumambulation of the Adi Granth, in iu. 1808, Baba Darbara Singh performed the first anand marriage in its full form at the Nirankari Darbar, Rawalpindi, in 1855. i Subsequently, he performed the ceremony on several occasions r . elsewere. The first anand marriage in Lahore ‘on the Singh 48 The Nirankari Sikhs Sabha stage’ was performed by a Nirankari, Bhai Manna Singh, in 1893-94.29 And it was Sahib Rattaji who urged Maharaja Hira Singh and his son, Maharajkumar Ripudaman Singh of Nabha, when they came to pay homage to him in 1908, to get legal sanction for the anand ceremony. Against this back-drop [s/c] Maharajkumar Ripudaman Singh intro­ duced the Anand Marriage Bill in Imperial Legislature [sic] Council in 1908, and in the subsequent meeting of the Council, speaking on the Bill Sir Sunder Singh Majitha mentioned that Anand marri­ age was already prevalent amongst the Nirankaris. On the final reading Lieut. Governor of the Punjab mentioned that the greatest supporters of Maharajkumar Ripudaman Singh were the Sehjdhari Sikhs who had already adopted this ceremony for the past thirty years. This is a significant reference that could only pin-point one great personality of the time, Sahib Rattaji, who was a Sehjdhari with a large number of ardent Sehjdhari followers. The Bill was passed into an Act in October 1909.30 It is through these themes, and particularly the last one, that Man Singh has integrated Nirankari history into what has now become the mainstream of Sikh history. Sikh historians, while perhaps conceding the authorship of the anand ceremony to the Nirankaris, assign them a much less significant role in the Sikh renaissance generally and in the passage of the Anand Marriage Act in particular.31 In addition to these themes of Nirankari history, two matters of detail in Man Singh’s writing deserve mention. The first is that he has made great use of the 1891 census figures, about which much has already been said, as indicators of Nirankari numbers and influence. The second is in supplying a chronology of Baba Dayal’s life. In his article, ‘The Nirankaris as Harbinger of Sikh Renaissance’, Man Singh juxtaposed the Lodiana Mission report concerning the date of founding (1844-45) and the secret nature of the Nirankari cult with Nirankari tradi­ tion. He placed Baba Dayal’s mother’s death in 1801, his ‘call’ in 1802, his move to Rawalpindi and the foundation of the cult in 1805, his open preaching from 1815, and Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s visit in 1820.32 This gives the Nirankaris an early date of origin and avoids the critical issues involved in doing so. Of Man Singh’s theological works two are of special importance. The first, on the Nirankari view of guruship,33 The Partition Crisis and After 49 examines texts from the Adi Granih as well as primary sources of evidence for the last days of Guru Gobind Singh and concludes: First, the institution of human guruship is both sanctioned and encouraged by the Adi Granth. Second, the evidence that Guru Gobind Singh ended the line of human gurus by vesting guruship in the Adi Granth is not strong enough to command much confidence. By vesting guruship in the Khalsa, the Guru may simply have meant that henceforth it would no longer be the sole preserve of the Sodhi caste but that anyone from the sangat having all the attributes of the Guru could lead the Panth.u He then develops a view according to which the guru takes three forms—Nirgun (formless and without attributes), Sargun (in person with attributes), and Gur Shabad (the word of the guru). Usually a human (Sargun) guru is necessary, al­ though at times (as between Guru Gobind Singh and Baba Dayal) he hides himself. Moreover, a human guru functions according to the principles laid down in the Adi Granth (Gur Shabad).25 The other work, a short article on ‘The Significance of “Khalsa” ’36 examines the writings of the gurus, especially those contained in a collection of Hukumnamas published by the S.G.P.C., to show that the epithet, ‘Khalsa’ was applied by the gurus, including Guru Gobind Singh, to all Sikhs and not just to the Singhs. These two works, based on a far more critical approach to sources than are his writings on the Niran- karis’ history, are serious challenges to generally accepted assumptions. They are based upon widely acknowledged Sikh sources and provide, in the former case, a place within Sikhism for a human guru subordinate to the Adi Granth and, in the latter, a position of equality within the Khalsa for sahajdhari Sikhs.

CONCLUSION The period from 1947 to the present witnessed the transfer, under conditions of extreme hardship, of the Nirankari cult from the Pothohar region of West Punjab to a much wider area in North India running from Amritsar to Calcutta to Bombay; the gathering together of Nirankaris who had been widely dispersed during the Partition exodus from the Pothohar; the establishment of a new central shrine and institutions; and the 50 The Niranjcari Sikhs reception of the distinctive Nirankari tradition within the broader framework of Sikh thought. In short, the Nirankaris had not only survived the Partition crisis but had succeeded in gaining a hearing and a place within the wider Sikh community.

n o t e s f i, 1. See the list of Nirankari beerhas in the litigation files of Man Singh Nirankari ( 2. This date bbok is in the possession of Man Singh Nirankari. 3. This account is based upon Sahib Hara Singh Ji’s date book for 1947, an | interview with his widow on 31 January 1976, and an interview with Baba | Gurbaksh Singh on 24 April 1978. There is almost no variation in the j information provided by the three sources. 4. This is based on Sahib Hara Singh Ji’s date book for 1947 and 1948 as well as the interview with his widow on 31 January 1976. 5. This is based on Sahib Hara Singh Ji’s date books for 1948, 1949 and 1950. 6. Interview with Jiwan Singh Nirankari, 31 January 1976. 7. For a description of the Nirankari annual function, see Man Singh Nirankari, ‘The Nirankaris’, in John C.B. Webster (ed.), Popular Religion in the Punjab Today, Delhi: I.S.P.C.K., 1974, pp. 23-4. 8. Tract 19 (revised edition), pp. 52-3. 9. Man Singh Nirankari, ‘The Nirankaris’, pp. 24-5. 10. Interview with Maya Wanti, 31 January 1976. 11. Tract 21, p. 10. 12. Ibid., p. 17. 13. Ibid., p. 3. 14. Ibid., p .19. 15. Ibid., p. 20. 16. Ibid., pp. 19-21. 17. This is seen less in the tracts themselves than in subsequent writings. 18. Compare Tract 20, pp. 186-7, Tract 21, p. 23, and Tract 19 (revised edition), pp. 46-7 with Appendix E. 19. Compare Tract 21, p. 23 and Appendix E. Tract 20 includes the statement on pp. 186-7 and the revised edition of Tract 19 on pp. 46-7. 20. Tract 20, p. 183; Tract 21, p. 6. 21. E.g., Tract 19 (revised edition), pp. 6, 34, 35. 22. E.g., Shamsher Singh Ashok, Ganda Singh, G. S. Chhabra, , Harbans Singh. 23. See John C. B. Webster, ‘Modern Historical Scholarship and Sikh Religious jl Tradition’, in J. S. Grewal (ed)., Studies in Local and Regional History, * Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 1974, pp. 109-37 and ‘Sikh Studies j in the Punjab’, in Mark Juergensmeyer and N. Gerald Barrier (eds.), Sikh I Studies, Berkeley: Berkeley Research Publishing, 1978, pp. 25-32. 24. There are three major histories which have appeared in different places under different titles, but are basically the same, even down to the wording of The Partition Crisis and After 51 certain portions. These are ‘The Nirankaris’, The Panjab Past and Present, VII, April 1973, pp. 1-11; ‘The Nirankaris as Harbinger of Sikh Renaissance’, The ‘Spokesman' Weekly, XXIV, anniversary number, 1974, pp. 43-6; ‘The Nirankaris: A Sikh Protestant Movement’, The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, XXVI, Silver Jubilee Number, 1976, pp. 83-8. 25. ‘The Nirankaris: A Sikh Protestant Movement’, p. 85. 26. ‘Guru Nanak “The Eternal” ’, The ‘Spokesman' Weekly, XXIV, Guru Nanak number, 1974, p. 29. 27. ‘The Nirankaris’, The Panjab Past and Present, VII, p. 9. 28. ‘Vagaries of Nirankari Mandal’, The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, XXIII, 10 December 1973, p. 9. 29. ‘The Nirankaris as Harbinger of Sikh Renaissance’, p. 46. 30. Ibid. 31. See K. S. Talwar, ‘The Anand Marriage Act’, The Panjab Past and Present, II, October 1968, pp. 400-10 on the Act and the histories of the men listed in Note 22 for overall perspectives. 32. ‘The Nirankaris as Harbinger of Sikh Renaissance’, p. 43. 33. ‘The Nature of Guruship According to Nirankari Sikh Tradition’, in Clarence O. McMullen (ed.), The Nature of. Guruship, Delhi: I.S.P.C.K., 1976, pp. 116-23. 34. Ibid., p. 120. 35. Ibid. 36. ‘The Significance of “Khalsa” ’, The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, XXVII, Baisakhi number, 1978, pp. 7-8. Chapter 5

The Nirankaris Today

On 30 January 1976 the official opening of the new Nirankari f Harimandir Sahib took place at the annual function in Chandi- f garh. Nirankaris from many places gathered for this special occasion which provided an excellent opportunity to see, at a I single glance, as it were, their present state. [

DESCRIPTION The following estimates1 indicate the approximate size and distribution of the Nirankaris inside and outside the Punjab: '

The Punjab Elsewhere

Ludhiana 100 families Delhi 400 families Patiala 50-80 families Bombay 100 families Chandigarh 50-75 families Tatanagar 100 families Amritsar 30 families Lucknow 50 families Sirhind 20 families Kanpur 40 families Jullundur 10-12 families Ambala 40 families Khanna 3-4 families Meerut 20-30 families Chandausi 20 families Moradabad 20 families Calcutta 5-6 families Jammu 3-4 families Srinagar 3-4 families Rest of J and K 5 families

T o t a l 263-321 families 806-819 families

This list does not include all the places where Nirankaris are to be found and the numbers given are only rough estimates. The total of about 1,000 to 1,100 families is less precise than suggestive of the approximate size of the Nirankari cult. It J| is apparent from the list that the Nirankaris, like other urban ^ , had migrated to cities rather than just to the East Punjab at the time of Partition.2 Although no figures are available, the Nirankaris include large numbers of both Kesadharis and Sahajdharis.3 The Nirankaris Today 53 Of the various centres, the largest, best organized, and most active is the one in Delhi. In 1972 the Nirankaris organized and bought land for a residential colony called Dayalsar Colony, almost all the plots in which have been sold to Nirankaris. P Some of the land in the colony was reserved for a darbar, most of the construction for which has now been completed. At present, monthly meetings are held and the death anniversaries of Baba Darbara Singh, Sahib Rattaji, Baba Gurdit Singh as well as the birth anniversary of Sahib Hara Singh Ji are celebrated. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh visits Delhi once every two months or so, or for such special occasions as marriages when he is specially called. Here, as in most Nirankari centres, it is Babaji who almost always solemnizes marriages. At the other centres, Nirankaris meet less frequently as a community and only in Kanpur and Lucknow are other Nirankari darbars under construction. Thus, when there is a local gathering of Nirankaris, it is usually at the home of some prominent Nirankari to celebrate the death anniversary of a Nirankari guru, or for a marriage, or to welcome Baba i Gurbakhsh Singh when he comes to the city. Thus, Nirankaris generally worship either at home or in non-Nirankari gurdwaras. Nirankari organization remains very informal. The practice of appointing biredars seems to have been dropped; instead either one or several prominent local Nirankaris take the lead in bringing the Nirankaris together. Apart from Delhi, only in Amritsar has an attempt been made to establish a Nirankari residential colony. For this purpose the Nirankari Darbar Pratinidhi Sabha was established. Indeed, it is only for the ' purpose of holding land or managing funds that the Nirankaris have organizations—for this is required by the law. As for the remainder of their activities, organization is minimal and informal, both at the local and central levels. Even the Nirankari Darbar Pratinidhi Sabha and the Nirankari Youngmen’s Association are not highly organized bodies ] with frequent or regular meetings. The salaries of the Granthi, kirtani jatha, chaukidar and mali at the Nirankari Darbar are paid from daily offerings, while donations have been given for construction work. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh is support­ ed by his sons, both of whom are in business, and by the income from a cement business he has rented out. Thus, there N . S.—3 54 The Nirankari Sikhs seems to be no financial imperative for a greater degree of organization. In Chandigarh the Nirankari headquarters, or Sri Nirankari Darbar, owns five thousand square yards of land. On this is the large new darbar hall, the Harimandir Sahib, measuring 80' by 52', with five large doors opening to the southeast, while the other three sides are closed. The Harimandir also has a large basement and a balcony. There are no pictures on its walls and there is now one copy of the Adi Granth installed in the centre under a canopy.4 The canopy poles are of silver and the canopy itself dates back to the time of Sahib Rattaji. At the time of the annual function, special gold and silver ornaments, most of them quite old, are hung on a special canopy. In front of the Harimandir to one side is a monument with a marble pillar, as well as a nishan, marking the place where Sahib Hara Singh Ji was cremated. To the southwest of the Harimandir Sahib is the much smaller, older building which was formerly used as the darbar hall and is now used as a library and a training centre for musicians (Kirtanis). It contains the memorabilia and historical documents of the darbar and has large pictures of the Nirankari gurus on the back wall. Next to this is a long narrow building, one half of which contains the Sahib Dayal Public School, a small English- medium school started in July 1977 for children from the neigh­ bourhood running from nursery to the second standard. The other half contains guest rooms as well as the rooms where Baba Gurbakhsh Singh and his wife live when in Chandigarh. There is daily morning and evening worship at the Hari­ mandir Sahib. This is led by a Granthi and a kirtani jatha employed by the Darbar. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh attends regularly when in station and sits to one side in front of the Adi Granth, as one devotee among others, except that he leads the Ardas at the appropriate time. Worship in the Nirankari Darbar resembles that in most Sikh gurdwaras. Hymns from the Adi Granth are sung or recited. Only the form of the Ardas differs, first, because it refers to God only as Nirankar and not as Bhagauti, and secondly, because it adds to the list of Sikh gurus who are remembered, the names of Baba Dayal and his successors down through Sahib Hara Singh Ji. This is done after bowing down and acknowledging the Adi Granth as guru. The Nirankaris Today 55 Both Nirankaris and non-Nirankaris come for the morning and evening prayer, although the numbers are not very large. At the time of the annual function the Darbar compound is full of Nirankaris who have come from other centres for the occasion. During this time they place their bedding inside the Harimandir Sahib either to sit on and listen or to sleep on during the four-day function, so that it becomes a place of rest as well as of worship. A langar is set up behind the school to feed all the guests. At the annual function Baba Gurubakhsh Singh plays the role of host, taking care of the physical and spiritual needs of the gathering both in looking after the programmes and through private conversations with individuals. In this he is assisted by his family and other Nirankaris. His mother, Maya Wanti, still plays hostess to out-of-station guests at her home and is a much-venerated personage at the gathering itself. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh was born in Rawalpindi on 19 December 1907. He was educated at the Government High School and at Gordon College in Rawalpindi where he studied chemistry, physics and mathematics up to F.Sc. He then entered business and in 1934 ran a printing press in Lahore until the paper shortage during World War II brought an end to that venture. He moved to Kota in 1940 and joined his brother-in- law there in a stone business in Ramganj Mandi. He was active in the Nirankari Youngmen’s Association during his days in the Punjab, both in writing and in editing tracts as well as in collecting historical materials. He also participated in the special conferences at Dayalsar in the 1930s. He married in 1927 but his wife, Jaswant Kaur, died in 1936, leaving one daughter, Jasbir Kaur, behind. His second wife, Gobind Kaur, and he were married in 1944 and they have two sons, Jagdarshan Singh and Ravi Inder Singh. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh lived in Ramganj Mandi until 1953 when he and his younger brother, Avtar Singh, moved to Chandigarh. The two of them were joint owners of a petrol pump, but after 1958 Baba Gurbakhsh Singh spent a lot of his time building up the Nirankari Darbar. As indicated earlier, Sahib Hara Singh Ji formally associated Baba Gurbakhsh Singh with his work in 1950 and he succeeded his father in 1971. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh describes himself as ‘a humble servant 56 The Nirankari Sikhs of the community’ and that is a fairly accurate description of what he is. He makes no special claims for himself; it is the Adi Granth which is authoritative and his task as guru is simply to explain its teachings to the faithful. Moreover, he is not a charismatic person who attracts or expects popular veneration, while some Nirankaris will touch his feet, most do not and he discourages those who do. Thus, he is not the object of a ‘personality cult’ as are many gurus, but he is treated with respect because of the office he holds. Like his father, he spends a lot of time visiting Nirankari centres, solemnizing marriages, and offering advice where needed. One is struck by the similarity between his role and that of a pastor in a congregation of Protestant Christians, for the pastor is set apart primarily by his ceremonial and teaching role and is not considered to be of a higher order of humanity than the members of his congre­ gation. Moreover, the actual functions which Baba Gurbakhsh Singh carries out are similar to those of a Protestant Pastor. Thus, his concept of the guru, and indeed the Nirankari concept in general as embodied in all of their six gurus, is a very ‘low church’ concept indeed.

CHALLENGES It would seem wise to conclude this study of the Nirankaris by pointing to some of the challenges they face at present. These challenges are products both of their past history and of the times in which they now must live. By focusing attention on these challenges, we can sum up what seems, at least to this observer, to be some of the central themes in their history. The three challenges are those of structure, identity and mission. Each shall be considered in turn. Structurally, the Nirankari cult has been organized around a series of gurus who have appointed their associates (e.g., biredars) and successors, generally along hereditary lines. Local beerhas have been placed in the care of biredars or of prominent local Nirankaris, while the guru himself has provided the link between the beerhas and the central organization of the cult. Only after World War I do we find central organizations which have a life of their own independent of the guru (although they had his blessing and patronage). Moreover, we noted that at the time there was criticism of this development and of the people The Nirankaris Today 57 involved in it. Traditionally authority has been vested in the guru or by him in certain subordinates and there were people who wanted to continue the traditional ways. Thus, we find evidence in the tracts from as early as the 1930s of a tension between those who wished to make structural changes in the cult and those who preferred the traditional ways. This tension continues. Baba Gurbakhsh Singh himself believes that the ‘traditional ways are the best ways’. In this he has considerable support. One Nirankari, in an interview, pointed out that among Nirankaris, unlike other Sikh groups, there is no politics.5 Electoral politics is, to his mind, the curse of Sikhism, stimulating personal ambition and struggles for power. Among the Nirankaris, the atmosphere is very much different because these matters are taken care of by the guru; he makes decisions or appoints those who do. And this, to his way of thinking, is a great blessing. Other Nirankaris do not agree. They question the wisdom of some of the decisions which their leader has taken or believe that new initiatives in certain areas need to be taken. They feel frustrated by the fact that the structure of the cult is such that they find no way of making their voices heard. There is a feeling that in this age of democracy the Nirankari cult should be run on democratic lines. One can dismiss this as simple self-seeking, as the familiar and ever-present desire for power and prestige. There may, of course, be something to that, but to see the prob­ lem solely in such terms is to prejudge the question at issue. For the Nirankaris the Adi Granth, not the guru, is authoritative and no Nirankari guru has claimed to be an infallible interpreter of the teachings of the Adi Granth. Since the Nirankari guru is, in theory, no more inspired in his judgments than is any other Nirankari, there is no theological justification for giving all authority over the affairs of the cult to the guru. That is a matter of tradition and convenience rather than of theological necessity. Presumably matters of tradition and convenience, unlike matters of theological principle, can be changed or modified. The present author is aware of serious disagreements among Nirankaris on a number of matters but is not aware of a desire on the part of anyone to split the Nirankaris by starting a new group. But the fact of disagreement, and of the consequent desire 58 The Nirankari Sikhs for new structures which will allow for corporate decision-making in an age when democratic structures are generally considered the norm, does pose a challenge which Nirankaris have no choice but to face. It is not a new challenge, as there is evidence of it as far back as the 1930s, and it is not one for which there is some eternally valid solution. Instead, like most human institutions, the Nirankari cult will continually have to evolve new structures and change old ones if dissent is to be contained within the cult and the cult is to preserve its identity and carry out its mission. A major theme of this study has been that Nirankari identity from the beginning of their history may be summed up in the two words in our title, Nirankari Sikhs. They have always seen themselves as Sikhs, and their beliefs and usages would confirm them as Sikhs. But they do have a special heritage and distinctive features, especially a human guru, a slightly different Ardas (prayer), and an equal place for sahajdharis which set them some­ what apart from other Sikhs. The Nirankaris interviewed seem­ ed secure with this identity, while non-Nirankari Sikhs seem prepared to accept them both as fellow Sikhs and as Nirankaris. On 13 April 1978 a clash took place in Amritsar between the Sant Nirankaris who were having a mela and some followers of Sant Bhindranwala in which eighteen people were killed and many others injured. This was not the first clash between the two groups, the first having occurred in Mehta Chawk in 1973, but it was the most serious one. According to The Tribune, fighting broke out after an anti-Nirankari jatha of 150-200 Sikhs broke through a police cordon set up to keep the two groups apart.6 The day after the clash there was a hartal in Amritsar and on 15 April a massive funeral procession was held for the fourteen Sikhs who were killed. Feelings have run high and there is little love lost between various Sikh bodies and the Sant Nirankaris. Demands were made for the arrest of Baba Gurbachan Singh, the head of the Sant Nirankari Mandal, both for his role in the killing and for injuring the religious sentiments of the Sikh community, and to ban the Mandal itself,7 while Baba Gurbachan Singh in turn demanded a judicial inquiry into the whole affair on the grounds that the Sant Nirankaris were the ones who were attacked and that the police, in investi­ gating the case, were discriminating against the Sant Nirankaris.8 The Nirankaris Today 59 On 10 June a Hukumnama was issued from the Akal Takhat calling for a social boycott of Sant Nirankaris by all Sikhs. This was endorsed by the Working Committee of the Akali Dal, the majority political party in the Punjab legislature, on 21 June.9 What concerns us here, however, is not the details of this clash, but its implications for the Nirankari Sikhs. The first and most obvious problem they faced was that they were confused in the public mind with the Sant Nirankaris who were referred to in the press as simply Nirankaris. In an article in The Tribune, 15 April, entitled ‘Who are the Nirankaris?’, the two groups were portrayed as having a common history and were not clearly distinguished.10 Baba Gurbakhsh Singh, at a press conference in Chandigarh on 29 April, tried to distinguish between the two groups. According to the report in The Statesman: Baba Gurbux [Gurbakhsh] Singh said that the Sant Nirankari Man- dal, which was involved in the Amritsar incidents, was misusing the name (Nirankari) of the original organization and that it should stop using this name. Moreover it had led to communal friction and should therefore be banned. He narrated in detail the history of the original Nirankari Darbar and how the more recent Sant Nirankari Mandal came into being. He admitted that the latter had suddenly become quite popular because of certain freedoms given by the Mandal to its followers.11 It is worth noting that Baba Gurbakhsh Singh supported the Sikh demand that the Sant Nirankaris be banned and in general put as much distance between himself and the Sant Nirankaris as possible. Thus, the immediate challenge which Baba Gur­ bakhsh Singh has sought to meet is that of clarifying public con­ fusion about who the Nirankaris and Sant Nirankaris are and of making a clear distinction betwen the two groups. He has not been alone in this. Sardar Bharpur Singh in his Chandigarh Newsletter in The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly of 24 April entitled, ‘Blood Bath in Amritsar’ wrote: There is a majority of Sikh public opinion which has time and again expressed itself in very clear terms and strong language against the dings of this Nirankari Mandal. This Nirankari Mandal had branched off from the main Nirankari group which was founded by Baba Dayal and flourished in Rawalpindi Division. This group is non-controversial and is having a very peaceful prayer and kirtan meetings and has never given a cause of complaint to the Sikhs. 60 The Nirankari Sikhs It is the Delhi-based Nirankari Mandal which arouses resentment in the Sikh public by the twists' and turns to the Sikh tenets of the Khalsa religion.12 A more disturbing question concerns the future. Will some of the wrath now being directed at Sant Nirankaris later be directed at the Nirankari Sikhs on similar or related grounds ? The answer to this question is somewhat unclear. The Sikh ob­ jection to Baba Gurbachan Singh and the Sant Nirankaris is that he claims to be ‘the new incarnation of Nanak’13 and that: There is no gainsaying the fact that Gurcharan [.sic] Singh allows his followers to worship him and hail him as ‘Satguru’ in the very presence of when he knows fully well that Guru Gobind Singh had made the holy volume the permanent Guru of the Sikhs for all time to come, that the line of gurudom in flesh and blood was ended nearly 300 years ago, and that personal worship is not allowed among Sikhs. If Gurcharan [sic] Singh wants to initiate a new religion, he is most welcome. But he cannot take advantage of the Guru Granth Sahib’s presence to attract followers. His denigratory [sic] remarks against the Sikh Gurus, his calling two of his followers as ‘Bala’ and ‘Mardana’ (on the pattern of Guru Nanak), his naming one lady of the house as ‘Bibi Nanaki’, and his adding or deleting words from Gurbani as his own divine songs are an open assault on Sikhs and Sikhism. And no one can, or should, tolerate all this blasphemy.14 Clearly the same complaints cannot be made against Baba Gurbakhsh Singh and the Nirankari Sikhs for their concept and style of guruship is, as we have seen, totally different. However, it is, according to Nirankari belief, guruship in the succession of the ten Sikh gurus. If religious feelings continue to run high, deviation from what some consider to be correct Sikh belief and practice may not be tolerated and scholarly explanations of Nirankari history may not suffice to preserve the religious liberty of Nirankari Sikhs. One would hope that the role of the guru as one who stands not above but under the authority of the Adi Granth will be understood and appreciated and that the essential quietism of the Nirankari Sikhs will convince others of their right to exist as a distinct cult. Otherwise, the present situation could pose a serious threat to their identity. This raises the question of the mission of the Nirankari Sikhs —the third challenge which they face. What is their present reason for being? Why should they continue as a distinct Sikh The Nirankaris Today 61 cult? What special role do they see themselves playing within the wider Sikh community? These are difficult questions and one can go about the task of answering them in several ways. A useful reference point in this discussion is the aims and objec­ tives listed in the Memorandum of the Association of the Nirankari Darbar Pratinidhi Sabha which are as follows: (1) To propagate the mission of Satguru Nanak Nirankari as defined and explained by Satguru Dayal; (2) To propagate Hukamnama (code of conduct) framed by Satguru Darbara Singh and later on written by Bhai Rup Singh in Booklet called ‘Nirankari Challan Da Chithha’; (3) To propagate and devise ways and means for the progress of spiritual, social, cultural and educational uplift of masses; (4) To propagate mother tongue Punjabi in Gurmukhi script of Guru Nanak and further convey to the masses of [j/c] mission of Gurumat Nirankari in other parts of the country and world in the various languages and scripts; (5) To serve and maintain mutual brotherhood amongst the humanity as a whole and Sikhs (Kesadhari and Nonkesadhari) in particular.15 Historically, the Nirankaris have defined their mission in terms of bringing and ceremonies into conformity with the teachings of the Adi Granth. Baba Dayal’s ‘call’, the Hukumnama of Baba Darbara Singh, the observations of con­ temporary observers, the place which present Nirankaris accord to the anand marriage ceremony as their special contri­ bution to Sikhism, and the first two aims and objectives in the Memorandum of the Association would provide support for this concept of mission. However, one might argue that, due to the labours of the Nirankari gurus and of others such as the Singh Sabhas, this mission has largely been accomplished, that the Sikh dependence upon Brahmanical rites and Brahmans to perform them is now a thing of the past, and, thus, there is no special reason for the cult to exist. A second way of trying to define the mission of the Nirankaris is to examine their distinctive features and assess their importance. The first of these is the institution of the human 62 The Nirankari Sikhs guru. This the Nirankaris consider desirable, although not absolutely necessary. Moreover, since the Nirankaris claim no divine status for their gurus, but see them as pastors and teachers, these functions could be performed by others. Thus, the institution of human guruship would not in itself justify the continued existence of the Nirankari cult. The invocation of God as ‘Nirankar’ rather than as ‘Bhagauti’ in the Ardas is, however, different for this is a matter of principle. So too is the equal status accorded to sahajdharis mentioned in the aims and objec­ tives. Thus, until the wider Sikh community makes changes in these two areas, it would be the mission of the Nirankaris to prod them into doing so. Presumably, as in the case of rites and ceremonies, once those changes were made, the mission of the Nirankaris would then be accomplished and they would have no reason to exist as a distinct cult. A third way of proceeding is to analyse the nature of the Nirankari Sikh phenomenon and to derive their mission from that. If the Nirankaris are a movement, then their mission is to bring about change in certain areas of social and/or religious life—e.g., rites and ceremonies, Ardas, equality for sahajdharis, ‘the progress of spiritual, social, cultural and educational uplift of masses’.16 As indicated in the ‘introduction’, we have argued that the Nirankaris have not been sufficiently assertive and conflict-producing to qualify as a movement—except perhaps in the time of Baba Dayal and Baba Darbara Singh. Since then they have been peaceful, quiet and non-influential. This does not mean, however, that they cannot become a movement once again, but to do so they will have to recover or develop a sense and a focus of mission. The Nirankaris have not been a sect so far but could become one by heightening the importance of their line of gurus, by laying greater stress on the things which make them distinctive from other Sikhs (and adding some new ones) rather than on all that they share with other Sikhs, by purging members who do not measure up to their standards of purity of belief and practice, and by forcing a split with the wider Sikh community. To become a community, which they have not been so far, they would have to change their marriage customs and cut themselves off from the non-Nirankari members of their various jatis. In all three cases, however, the Nirankaris would have to The Nirankari Today 63 change their essential nature, to become something which they have not been so far, at least for a long time—a movement, a .sect, or a community. Finally, they can define their mission as that of remaining what they have been—a cult. The mission of a cult is simply to exist and to provide for its members and other interested people the kinds of rites and ceremonies which they find meaningful and satisfying. It has no mission to change the world outside, to restructure religion or society; it is simply to be a place where seekers- can come to find what they are looking for.

NOTES

1. These estimates were gathered at the annual function in 1976 from Niran- karis who had come from the places mentioned and then supplemented by Baba Gurbaksh Singh on 24 April 1978. 2. would be another example. 3. According to his widow, Sahib Hara Singh Ji encouraged the Nirankaris to become kesadharis: obviously many have chosen not to follow this advice. 4. Three are used at the time of the annual function. 5. The revised edition of Tract 19 makes the same point. See p. 29. 6. The Tribune, 14 April 1978, pp. 1 and 6. 7. The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, 1 May 1978, pp. 1-2; The Statesman, Delhi, 30 April 1978, p. 7. 8. The Tribune, 15 April 1978, p. 6; 23 April 1978, p. 14; The Statesman, Delhi, 20 May 1978, p. 7. 9. K. K. Katyal, ‘The Nirankari Controversy’, The Hindu, 19 June 1978, p. 8; ' The Hindu, 22 June 1978, p. 10. 10. The Tribune, 15 April 1978, p. 6. This is also true of K. K. Katyal, op. cit. 11. The Statesman, Delhi, 30 April 1978, p. 7. 12. See p. 9. The positive role of the Nirankari Sikhs in Sikh history had been publicly acknowledged by no less a person than Sardar Singh. See his ‘Vagaries of the Nirankari Mandal’, The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, XXIII (Guru Nanak number), 1973, p. 17. 13. The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, 24 April 1978, p. 2. 14. The ‘Spokesman’ Weekly, 1 May 1978, p. 2. 15. Nirankari Darbar Prati-Nidhi Sabha Nirankari Darbar Sewak Sabha Aims & Objects, Rules and Regulations (Chandigarh: Nirankari Darbar Pratinidhi Sabha, n.d., pp. 1-2. 16. Ibid., p. 2.

Appendices i 1 % A p p e n d i x A

‘India: Lodiana Mission. Journal of a Tour from Labor to Rawal Pindi, by Rev. J. H. Morrison’, The Home and Foreign Record (February, 1854), pp. 52-4

Lahor, Oct. 18th, 1853 Since my last, I have had an attack of fever of the same kind as that which laid me aside so long in Sabathu, but this time, instead of three months, I was only three weeks laid aside. As soon as I had sufficiently recovered to undertake any mis­ sionary work, I started by dak for Rawal Pindi, about one hundred and eighty miles north-west of this. The reason why so long a tour was undertaken at the season of the year when marching is out of the question, and even dak travelling diffi­ cult and dangerous, nay, even that too sometimes impossible, was, that we had heard that a large number of Hindus had abandoned all idolatry, and had commenced worshipping the one only living and true God, and that they wished very much to have a missionary come and see them. It was said, also, that they were greatly persecuted by the other Hindus. From all we could hear, it seemed to be important that some one should go to them while in that state, and endeavour to lead their minds to the Saviour. On the day of my arrival there, I was too unwell to do any­ thing, and the next day being the Sabbath, I thought it best to remain quiet that day also. A gentleman of the station, how­ ever, informed them of my arrival, and one of the principal men of the new sect came to see me. From him 1 learned that the movement had been in progress some eight or ten years, but that during the Sikh reign they durst not make any publica­ tion about it, or let their sentiments be publicly known. But now, under the English, they had nothing to fear, and had begun to publish their doctrines, and had attached to their party sixty-one persons, some few of whom had gone back. They had derived a good deal of assistance in their opposition to idolatry, from some of our books, which they had received 6 8 The Nirankari Sikhs at Hardwar, but they do not appear to have paid any attention to the doctrines of salvation contained in them, or to anything else, except so far as they could use them in their crusade against Hinduism.

► THEIR PLAN OF SALVATION— DISCUSSION IN RELATION TO ITS MERITS The plan of salvation as proposed by them is by simple medita­ tion on the Supreme Being. I showed him that meditation never could satisfy the justice of God, and therefore could be no ground for the pardon of sin, nor was it alone sufficient to change the heart and sanctify our natures. Indeed, he had to admit that their systems embraced neither of these essential elements of a plan of salvation for sinners. When driven into this dilemma, he said he was not sufficiently versed in the sub­ ject to answer me, but that their Padri could satisfy me on all points. Well, on Monday morning early, I went, accompanied by the gentleman above mentioned, to their Dharamsala. Here I found a number of people assembled, listening to an old man reading the Granth of Nanak. They treated us with great politeness, and brought chairs, and gave us a seat near the Padri. Very soon the place and the little courtyard were crowded with Sikhs, Hindus, and Musalmans, all curious to hear how the new sect would stand the test to which a Christian Padri would put them. The discussion soon commenced, during which his effort was to show that dhiyan, contemplation, was sufficient for salvation, and my effort was to prove and illus­ trate its utter insufficiency. The discussion was occasionally interrupted by interference from other Sikhs and Hindus, who felt that their systems had no better foundation, and must go with that of the new sect. This led to desultory discussion, until it became too late in the day to remain longer.

DISCUSSION RESUMED— NO SYSTEM OF RELIGION CAN STAND, THAT HAS NOT A SAVIOUR Next morning I went alone, and resumed the discussion. The old Padri had the day before been driven into so close a corner for want of a Saviour, that to-day he determined to take a new track, and make Nanak their Saviour. This the Hindus say he Appendices 69 never thought of before. I asked him who he made Nanak? Was he God or an incarnation of God? To adopt either of these views would have in their estimation been to abandon a fundamental article of their creed, and that from which they take their name, Nirankari. Nirankar means incorporeal, and Nirankari means one who believes God to be an incorporeal being, and that he never has become incarnate. He could not therefore adopt either of the above hypotheses, but admitted that Nanak was a sinful man like ourselves, but that he was a Saviour to them, inasmuch as he pointed out to them the way of salvation. I replied that one sinner could not be the saviour of other sinners, and that even admitting all he said, it drove them back to the old ground of contemplation, which had already proved to be insufficient. He then flew to the refuge common with many here, that there is no such thing as sin or virtue. I then asked how that could be, since he had just admit­ ted that all men were sinners, not even Nanak excepted. Driven off this tack, he affirmed that God was the author of all sin and virtue. To this I replied 1st, that he had just said that there was no such thing as sin or virtue, how then could God be the author of that which had no existence. 2d. He had quoted the following couplet from the Granth, in proof of his last proposition; Kare Karawe dphe dp Manus ke kuchhli nahin, hath. The meaning of this is, that God does and causes everything to be done, and man is nothing but his hand. Now, I argued, if this were true of God, he must be the worst and most unholy being in existence, and consequently the book that thus dis­ honours him could not be his word; therefore the granth is false, and must lead its followers astray. He was a good deal nettled at being thus driven from one refuge of lies to another, until at last he had got into a corner from which he saw no escape; and to make matters worse, a Hindu, seeing his posi­ tion, took advantage of it to throw in a word to increase, if possible, his embarrassment. This was too much for the old man’s temper, and he blew out with a full blast of vile abuse against the man and his religion. I endeavoured in vain to calm 70 The Nirankari Sikhs him down, but finding I could do nothing, I took up my hat and left the assembly.

THE NEW TEACHER TRIES TO GAIN A VICTORY BY SILENCE As I went out some of the Hindus followed me, and asked me to visit their Dharam sala the next day. Accordingly I went there the next day. Seeing this the Nirankari s began to fear that they had given me offence. Consequently the old Padri with two or three of his disciples, visited me, and brought with them a present of sugar-candy to sweeten me towards them. I then reasoned with them about the impropriety of their con­ duct when the old Padri said his heart had not yet been changed. To this I replied by asking him what his religion was good for if it did not change our sinful hearts. Again I went to their Dharam sala, and the old Padri tried a new plan with me. It was to keep quiet and not object to anything I said, or allow any one else either to object or to ask a question. This was very difficult to carry out, for his people were not willing to leave my arguments and preaching unanswered. But still he per­ sisted in trying to keep them silent, by arguing thus with them: All the gentleman says is perfectly true—why should you object or argue ? Christ is his Saviour, and Nanak is ours; let each one cling to his own religion. I then took up that point, and drew a contrast between Christ and Nanak, to show that the latter was not and could not be a saviour for them or any one else. To this he replied that such as he was they would stick to him, even if he went to hell. I then remarked that by taking that stand they had fairly turned their backs on the truth, and closed their eyes and ears and hearts against it, so that there was no further any use in arguing with them. Once after this I called on him (the Padri) at his house, where a number of his disciples resort for evening worship, but he pursued the same course, and shut out all access to his mind or heart. He is evidently determined to be a great guru, and the leader of a new sect, by which his name will be handed down to posterity.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS NEW SECT A word now as to the tenets of this new sect. They adopt the Granth, or Bible of Nanak, and while they profess to abandon Appendices 71 and abominate all idolatry, they do in fact worship the Granth just as much and in the same way as the other Sikhs do. They wave over it the chauri, bow down to it with the forehead touching the ground, and present their offerings before it just as the other Sikhs do. When taxed with idolatry in this, they say that they do not worship the book, but the word it contains. They do not bury their dead, because the Musalmans and Christians do so. They will not burn them, because that would assimilate them too much to the Hindus. They therefore throw them into the water. They seem to have no idea of an atone­ ment for sin, or the necessity of regeneration. Their whole plan of salvation is summed up in one word, Dhyan, contemplation. The idea of calling Nanak a Saviour, the people about him say, was forced on them by a discussion with them. Having thus been driven to a partial admission of the necessity of a Saviour, and having some of our books among them, they, or at least some of them, may be led to Christ, the only Saviour for lost sinners.

THEIR OBJECT IN GOING TO EUROPEANS FOR CHRISTIAN BOOKS Their object in visiting the Europeans and asking for books, and expressing a favourable feeling towards Christianity, and a desire to have a missionary visit them, was no doubt to gain favour with the authorities. This favour they thought they might use in two ways: 1st. By making capital of it to gain proselytes; and 2d. To secure favourable decisions in the courts when brought there in consequence of the improper means they adopted to advance the interests of their sect. Before leaving the place, I determined to go once more and make a solemn appeal to their consciences, grounded on the full exhibitions of the gospel, which I had already made to them. Accordingly, the day before leaving, I went for the last time to their Dharam sala, but not finding the Padri at his post, I waited some time, hoping he would come. Disappointed in this, at last, I attempt­ ed to address those present: but having no one to restrain them, the moment I began to speak, several of them began also, so that it was impossible to get a hearing, and I was obliged to leave them as I found them. That my views of their motives are correct is proved by the fact, that from the time 72 The Nirankari Sikhs they found they could not use me either to further their interests with the authorities, or in preaching a crusade against the Hindus, but that I impartially exposed their errors as well as those of others, they ceased visiting the Europeans of the station and asking books from them. Even since my return home, I have received a letter from a gentleman there, who tells me that not one of them has shown himself to him since I left. A p p e n d i x B

The Twentieth Annual Report of the Lodiana Mission; including stations at Lodiana, Saharanpur, Sabathu, Jalandar, Ambala, Lahore, Dehra: for the Year Ending Sept. 30th, 1854, pp. 22-3

Some time in the summer we heard of a movement among the Hindus of Rawal Pindi, which, from the representations we received, seemed to indicate a state of mind favourable to the reception of the Truth. It was deemed expedient to visit them, to ascertain the true nature of the movement, and, if possible, to give it a proper direction. On investigation, however, it was found that the whole movement was the result of the efforts of an individual to establish a new panth (religious sect), of which he should be the instructor and guide. The sect has been in existence eight or ten years, but during the Sikh reign fear kept them quiet; since the extension of the Company’s Government over the country, they have become more bold, and with the assistance of some of our religious publications to furnish them with arguments against idolatry, they have attacked the faith of the Hindus most fiercely. They professedly reject all idol­ atry, and all reverence and respect for whatever is held sacred by Sikhs or Hindus, except Nanak and his Granth. The Hindus complain that they even give abuse to the cow. This climax of impiety could not be endured, and it was followed by some street disturbances, which brought the parties into the civil courts. Here perhaps we find the secret of their interest in Christianity, which was evidently not real. They are called Nirankaris, from their belief in God, as a spirit without bodily form. The next great fundamental principle of their religion is, that salvation is to be obtained by meditation on God. They regard Nanak as their saviour, inasmuch as he taught them the way of salvation. Of their peculiar practices only two things were learned. First, they assemble every morning for worship, which consists of bowing the head to the ground before the Granth, making offerings, and in hearing the Granth read by 74 The Nirankari Sikhs one of their number, and. explained also if their leader be present. Second, they do not burn their dead, because that would assimilate them to the Hindus; nor bury them, be­ cause that would make them too much like Christians and Musulmans, but throw them into the river. A p p e n d i x G

‘Affairs at Rawalpindi’, The Home and Foreign Record (July, 1861), pp. 211-12

The Nirakarees are an interesting sect—I never met with any of them anywhere else. This new religion or sect had its origin in Rawal Pindi, about forty or fifty years ago. The founder Guru Diyal Dass, died only four or five years ago, after the mission work was commenced here. He taught his followers to give up idolatry and caste, and worship the one living and true God, who is without form, or image, or parts, and hence called Nirakar. It was at one time thought that the worshippers of Nirakar would be very favourably inclined to embrace Christianity. For a time they were persecuted by Hindus and Mohammedans. In order to form their acquaintance, and make them acquainted with the gospel, I have visited their Dharam- sala, that is, religious house or place of worship. It is entered from the street by a fine lofty gateway of brick masonry, above the arch of which there is an inscription in the Gurmukhi language on a tablet set in the wall, and covered with glass. Passing through this gateway into a courtyard, on the other side you see a long, low building, by no means imposing, plastered over with the mixture so commonly used in this country. This house is open in front, showing a long room, the floor of which is covered with coarse cloth. At one end there are several monster books on low wooden stands, some of which lie open, while others are shut, wrapped in embroidered silk covers. In front of what seemed the principal book was a brass lamp burning, and over all a square, coloured cloth sus­ pended from the roof, perhaps to keep particles of dirt from falling on the sacred books, or Grunths, as they are called. Behind some of the open Grunths were seated Gurus— religious leaders and teachers—who read for their own benefit, or that of their followers. Some of them had chowries, or fly brushes, made of the long, white hair of the yak’s tail, in their hands, and kept waving them to and fro over the books, to 76 The Nirankari Sikhs signify reverence, and keep off unholy flies. These books are nothing more nor less than the Grunths of the Sikhs, composed long ago by the Sikh Gurus, Nanuk, Arjun, Govind Singh, &c., founders of the Sikh religion. They are poetical, in the Punjabee language, and Gurmukhi character, and all written by hand. When I went on to the platform in front of the Dharamsala one of the Gurus politely requested me not to come there with my shoes on, and spread a mat to one side, where I could sit, shoes and all, without defiling holy ground. As it was evening, the time for their service, a number of people had assembled, and I had an opportunity, with frequent interruptions, for conversing and preaching until they commenced their worship. Then they ranged themselves all around the room, sitting on the floor, and following the Guru who began to chant their hymns, in which the names of Nirakar and Nanuk occur very fre­ quently. For awhile they sang, swinging back and forwards, and bowing every now and then to the Grunth, and kissing the floor fervently. Then they rose, and marched around the room many times, singing and bowing, and often burst out into strong exclamations of ‘Blessed be Nirakar!’. While the men were thus engaged, several women came one after the other, bearing lighted lamps, from which they poured each a little oil into the large lamp which stood burning before the Grunth, then bowing, kissed the ground, and repeating the name ‘Nirakar’ went away. This is the only part the women seem to take in the worship. The Nirakarees pride themselves much on being free from idolatry, and being purer and better than Hindus, Moham­ medans, and other Sikhs. But in vain I tried to convince them that it was wrong and idolatrous to bow to the Grunth. They make the excuse that the name of God is in the book, and it is only reverence for this name which causes them to bow thus. On further intercourse and inquiry, I found that they consider themselves to be the true followers of Nanuk and the Grunth, and hence, the true, orthodox Sikhs, and not a new sect. When I preached Christ to them, they replied Nanuk will save us, he is our Mediator. From this, it appears that they have not made much progress in reformation, and, indeed, they are not much more inclined to embrace Christianity than others. There are several hundreds of them in this city, perhaps four or five Appendices 7 7 hundred, and a few scattered in. some of the neighbouring towns. Perhaps this movement may be considered as another struggle of the human mind towards the truth and a pure reli­ gion. And it is likely that it was caused incidentally by the influence of Christian missions, as a similar tendency to reform has been thus caused in different parts of India. It may be that the minds of these people are better prepared for the reception of the gospel, although it does not appear very evident as yet. There does seem to be a slight ray of hope and encouragement at times. s

J. H. Orbison A p p e n d i x D

Denzil Charles Jelf Ibbetson, Report on \ the Census of the Punjab Taken I on th e 17th of February 1881, Vol. I (Calcutta, 1883), p. 138 <

f. The Nirankaris are the purists of the Sikh religion, and their | founder was Bhai Dayal Singh, who died only twelve years ago. His preaching was directed rather against religious ceremonies than against social and caste institutions, which latter he would leave untouched. But he taught that the Gurus are to be ' reverenced only as high priests of one single and invisible God, that the Hindu deities are not divine, that pilgrimages and offerings are useless and Brahmans and cows not to be rever­ enced, and that animal life is to be scrupulously respected and use of flesh as food abandoned. The first day of each month is j to be kept holy by attendance at the temple, reading the Granth, \ lamentation for sin, and giving contributions for religious pur- , poses. His ethical teaching was, like that of most of these sects when they first arise, singularly pure; and he avoided that rock of offence upon which many of them find shipwreck—a ten­ dency to license in the intercourse between the sexes. The Niran­ karis are said to have many curious ceremonies peculiar to themselves, concerning which I have no detailed information. A p p e n d i x E

E. D. Maclagan, The Punjab and its Feudatories , P a r t /. The Report of the Census, Census of India 1891, Volume XIX, pp. 156-7

The n ir a n k a r is — A remarkable outcome of the doctrines of Nanak in modern times is to be found in the sect of the Nirankaris. The word ‘Nirankar’ ‘Nirakar’ means properly, ‘The Formless’, and it was a term commonly used by Baba Nanak as an equivalent of the Deity; he was at first known as ‘Nanak Nirankari’, and it is not impossible that some of the many persons who have returned themselves as Nirankaris mean little more by this than that they are followers of the Formless God after the manner of Baba Nanak. In the speci­ mens also which were issued to show how the schedules should be filled in, there was a case of a Sikh whose sect was Nirankari, and a slavish imitation of the examples has doubtless led to a considerable inflation of the returns of this particular sect. The sect known by this name is, however, in fact one of con­ siderable size, and it is worth noticing as one of the latest developments of Nanak’s teaching. Bhai Dial Das, the founder of this sect, was a Dhaighar Khatri of Peshawar, who settled in Rawalpindi, as a shopkeeper some fifty years ago, and established the sect some five years after. He died about 1870, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Bhai Ratta, the present priest of the sect. The Niran­ karis worship God as a spirit only, avoid the worship of idols, Brahmans or the dead, abstain strictly from flesh and wine, and are said to pay strict adherence to the truth of all things. Their only sacred book is the Adi-granth of Baba Nanak, to which they pay very particular reverence, though they also respect the later Granth and the subsequent Gurus of the Sikhs. Their marriages are not performed according to the Hindu Dharamshastras, and the bride and bridegroom instead of circumambulating the sacred fire, walk round the Adi-granth. The ceremony is conducted not by a Brahman but by a 80 The Nirankari Sikhs granthi and the fiancee or bride sits in public with her face uncovered. Widow marriage is allowed, and some fifty such marriages have taken place among them during the last ten years. Similarly, at funerals, they dispense with the Brahmans, and the Hindu ceremonial generally; instead of weeping and mourning, they sing hymns, and look on the event rather as an occasion of rejoicing. Besides the usual Sikh places of pilgrimage the Nirankaris look with special reverence on a pool in the Lei stream, near the park, in Rawalpindi, which they call by the name of Amritsar. They burn their dead near that pool, and have an annual meeting there. There is also in Rawalpindi a meeting place (Darbar) and a shrine^of the Adi-granth, where are kept the slippers (now covered with velvet) which once adorned the feet of Bhai Dial. The Nirankaris have degenerated suffi­ ciently to revere these relics and prostrate themselves on their foreheads before them. The sect is recruited from all castes. A p p e n d i x F

H. A. Rose (compiler), A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-W est Frontier Province , Volume III (Lahore: Civil and Military Gazette Press, 1914) p. 171

n ir a n k a r i, a Sikh sect. The term nirankar, ‘incorporeal’ is old in Sikhism, dating back to Baba Nanak himself, who was originally called Nanak Nirankari. The sect, however, is a modern one, having been founded by one Bhai Dial Das, a Khatri of Peshawar, who established it at Rawalpindi about 1845. On his death in 1870 his son Bhai Bhara or Darbara Singh succeeded him, and then Bhai Ratta, another son. The Nirankari s worship one invisible God as a spirit who is a hearer of prayer, avoiding idols, and making no offerings to them, to Brahmans or to the dead. They abstain from all flesh and liquor and reverence truth. Pilgrimages are regarded as useless, and neither Brahmans nor cows are to be reverenced. The first day of each month is to be kept holy by attendance at the temple, reading the Granth, repentance for sins, and alms-giving. The Adi Granth of Baba Nanak is their sacred book though they also respect the later Gurus and their writings. Weddings are cele­ brated according to the Sikh rites by a granthi and not by a Brahman; the bride sits unveiled in public and the pair circum­ ambulate the Adi Granth instead of fire. Widows may remarry. At funerals also they dispense with Brahmans, and instead of mourning the event is regarded rather as an occasion for re­ joicing. The sect has an amritsar of its own on the Lei stream near the park in Rawalpindi, and their dead are burnt there. At their darbar or meeting-place in Rawalpindi town is a shrine of the Adi Granth, where Bhai Dial’s slippers are kept and revered. The sect recruits all classes. But caste and social status are not affected by conversion. The Nirankaris also inculcate belief in the transmigration of souls; reverence and honour towards parents. Lying, cheating, 82 The Nirankari Sikhs and using false weights are peculiarly heinous crimes. Smoking is forbidden, but Nirankaris may sell or deal in tobacco. They are said to have curious rites on the birth of children, described as a little reminiscent of Jewish ceremonies. The use of wine and flesh is prohibited; indeed a Nirankari, except in the course of duty as a soldier, may not deprive a sentient being of life. The Nirankari doctrines are exoteric and they gladly explain them to inquirers. Polygamy is prohibited. A p p e n d i x G

The Hukumnama

In the Name of the One Supreme ^Being Realized through the Guru’s Grace Blessed is the Formless One, True is the Formless One. Repeat the Name of the Formless One, Supremely blessed is Sri Satguru Dayalji.

THE TIMELESS ONE’S LETTER OF COMMAND ADDRESSED TO ALL SIKHS Once Satguru Dayal visited the abode of the Formless One. A divan (congregation) was in progress. All the ten gurus from Guru Nanakji onward were seated there. The whole assembly stood up. Then it was ordered thus: ‘O man of the Formless One, go hence and instruct all the Sikhs in [true] conduct. All Sikhs who have been up to the time of the ten gurus are en­ trusted to you.’ Satguru Dayal then asked, ‘What authority have I [to discharge this commission]?’ At which it was decreed: ‘O man, whosoever obeys you shall attain liber­ ation and shall have his abode in the region of Truth.’ The Brahmans have in the past misled everyone onto the path of Hell. You go and direct them in the way of the Name.’ Thus having his orders from the Divine Court, he returned to the world of mortals. Once Sri Satguru Darbara Singhji was sitting in the congre­ gation. A scriptural discourse was in progress. A Sikh came from the Punjab and asked him, ‘O true Lord, the Brahmans en­ tangle us in rituals. Kindly tell us the correct ceremonies which, according to the scripture, are sanctioned by the Guru for the occasions of birth, death and marriage.’ The congregation was then told in terms applicable to all Sikhs, ‘Repeat the Name of the Formless One. Any one who forbids you to do so [should be told] what is written in God’s scripture, the Japu Sahib: “In the realm of Truth resides the Formless One; He looks upon His creation with an eye of favour.” It is said in the Sukhmani: 84 The Nirankari Sikhs

He who is attached to th9 Name of the One God, shall not find his hope to be in vain. It behooves the servant to serve; Perceiving His hukum (command) he attains the supreme state. There is no thought above this for him In whose heart the Formless abides. Casting off all shackles, he becomes free from animosity; And night and day worships the Guru’s feet. Such persons are happy in this world And happy they remain in the next. God Himself unites them to Himself, O Nanak. (Sukhmani) He is ever, ever, ever compassionate; By remembering Him Nanak has become happy. The merciful true Guru has impressed God’s Name upon me; This is the path that leads to the Lord God. Discover the Guru in the Word itself. The Guru is without form. Merciful Lord, save me! At your mercy I remain. O Cherisher of the world, Nanak is your own child.

Say, Praise to the Formless One” before the entire congre­ gation of devout Sikhs of the true gurus, Dayal Babaji and Guru Granth Sahibji. Repeat, “Praise to the Formless One!”. Now follows the conduct of affairs according to the Guru Granth Sahib. If a child is born, whether a son or a daughter, we sing the Guru’s hymns and offer the Guru’s karahprasad.1 Brother, there is no impurity [in childbirth] as Guru Nanak cautions in in the sloka:

If the principle of impurity be accepted, there is impurity everywhere; All impurity consists in doubt and attachment to duality. Birth and death are by the Lord’s command; Through His will mortals come and go. Eating and drinking are pure, For He gives sustenance to all. Nanak, no impurity attaches to the enlightened follower of the Guru. A ppendices 85 We recite the following hymn of the fifth Guru in measure Asa:

The Satguru has sent the child, The long-lived child is born by Destiny. When it came and stayed in the womb, Its mother’s heart was very glad. I The son, a worshipper of the Lord, is born, The primal writ has become manifest among all. 1R In ten months, by God’s command, the child is born; Sorrow has vanished and great joy prevails. The mother’s friends sing the Guru’s hymns with joy. This pleases the true Lord’s heart. 2 The creeper has grown, the progeny increases, God has firmly established the basis of dharma. The true Guru has granted my heart’s desire; Freed of worldly cares, I am absorbed in contemplating the One. 3 As the child readily responds to its father, So I respond to the call of the Guru. This is no secret or hidden matter; The Guru, O Nanak, in His grace has bestowed upon me this gift. 4

Then after forty days the mother comes to the Darbar Sahib along with the child. We then offer karahprasad in the name of the Guru. The child is given a name from the Guru Granth Sahib. This is the rite to follow at the time of childbirth. % When God brings the child to the age of understanding and* when he is betrothed, we recite the following hymn2 of the fifth Guru in measure Ramkali:

Perform the betrothal in the congregation of the faithful. You have found good in-laws, distribute fruit as a sacred offering.

And we offer karahprasad. Guru Ram Dasji has said in a stanza in measure Suhi:

Relatives have come at the time of betrothal conferring the blessings of uprightness, contentment and love. 1 8 6 The Nirankari Sikhs humble myself [before them]. Meeting with devout people, I sing the Guru’s hymns. 1 humble myself [before them].

We sing hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib. This is the ritual of betrothal which is in harmony with the Guru’s Word. The Guru’s wedding hymns are chanted as the ceremony is performed. Sikh men and women recite the Anand by the third Guru in measure Ramkali:

Joy is mine, O my mother, for I have found my true Guru. I have found the true Guru with ease and joyous music resounds within me. Through the richness of the music celestial beings have come to sing hymns. Sing the Lord’s hymns, you who have enshrined Him in your hearts. Says Nanak: Joy abounds! I have found the true Guru. 1

The beneficient all-powerful guru is Guru Darbar [Granth] Sahib. We should not seek advice from the Brahmans who in their pride spread superstition. The Guru says in a sloka in Asa di Var:

He takes wages for performing marriages; And pulling out an almanac gives directions. Listen, people, and behold this wonder: Without understanding, he is considered wise. 4

The Brahman claims that it is disgraceful to eat at one’s daugh­ ter’s house, but he himself performs marriages for a fee. It is also written in the patti:

Your rule is broken, O fool! You have taken an improper gift. Your patron’s daughter is like your own; by taking this fee your life is tainted. 6 (Asa, M3 Patti) Brother, what connection is there* between the Guru’s Sikhs and those whose lives, according to the Guru Granth Sahib. Appendices 87 have been tainted? For if we do not obey the Guru’s word, we turn away from Him. It is only proper for the Guru’s Sikhs to obey the Guru’s word. And it is also written in the Japu Sahib:

The pandits have not found the [auspicious] time though it may be mentioned in the Puranas; Nor do the Qazis, who copy the Quran, know the [auspicious] time.

Brother, why ask those who themselves do not know the [auspicious] time? On the contrary they foster superstition. Therefore, it is our duty to spurn that which is false. And the Guru has also said (in a stanza of the first Master in Ramkali measure):

You calculate the auspicious day, but do not know That the One Supreme Being is above and beyond such omens.

For this reason, Sri Dayalji, the true Guru, has prescribed the pursuit of the Name. Why ? So that the whole creation may be liberated. Farid Sahib has said:

The day the bride is to be wedded is predetermined. The time appointed cannot be altered. Explain this to your soul.

Read or listen to the Guru’s hymns and live accordingly. Believe whatever they say. Even though all the Gurus, from Guru Nanak onwards, have toiled for the sake of us mortals, we are not ashamed to forsake the word and follow other pursuits. This is not good. And brother, the Guru has put everything in the Guru Granth Sahib. As a marriage party is to proceed, celebrations start in the house ten days in ad­ vance. Why ? Because has said: ‘Joy prevails, O mother mine, for I have found the True Guru.’ As the marriage procession sets off, the Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru, is carried in a palanquin with a canopy above it and a fly whisk waved over it. The procession of Sikhs

N. S.—4a 8 8 The Nirankari Sikhs accompanying it sing in unison this hymn from the Guru Granth Sahib (Stanza by the fifth Guru in measure Bilawal):

The occasion for rejoicing has come, I sing the praises of my Lord. I hear of the Everlasting Bridegroom; joy has welled up within me. Love has been bestowed upon me through my good fortune. When shall I meet the Divine Spouse ? Counsel me, my friend, that I may find perfect tranquillity in the Lord. Day and night I stand and wait upon Him. Which way can I find my Master? Prays Nanak: Have mercy, my Lord, and attach me to your mantle.

Then, brother, as the marriage procession along with the Guru Granth Sahib reaches the bride’s house, a carpet is spread below it, a canopy hung above it, and the place is enclosed with ^ tent-walls. The True Master, the Granth Sahib, is installed on a pedestal. After formal supplication, the bridegroom and bride, with the ends of their sashes tied together, walk around the Guru Granth Sahib four times while we recite the following hymn, by the fifth Guru in measure Suhi:

God has Himself come to succour the , He has come Himself to perform the task. Beautiful the earth and beautiful the pool that is filled with life-giving water. Life-giving water pours in; the task is accomplished; all desires are fulfilled; The ovations of victory resound throughout the world; all woes have vanished. He is Supreme, Unchanging, Eternal; the Vedas and the j Puranas sing His praise. The Supreme Lord has established his glory and Nanak contemplates His name. 1 | (There are four stanzas of this hymn which will be found in the Guru Granth Sahib.) Appendices 89 Then, having seated the bride and bridegroom, read the lavan (stanzas of the wedding hymn) composed by the everlasting, omnipotent, Sodhi king, Satguru Ram Dasji in measure Suhi:

By the first round, the Powerful Lord has instructed you in the duties of secular life. Hold the hymns of the Gurus as Brahma’s Vedas; hold fast to the faith; the Lord has eradicated your sins. Hold fast to dharma and contemplate the Name; the SmritiS' too inculcate the Name. Dwell upon the True Guru, the Perfect Guru; all your sins shall depart. Through good fortune, tranquillity and bliss are attained and you find the Lord sweet to your mind. Nanak, His slave, proclaims that by the first round the marriage rite has begun. (There are four stanzas in this hymn which may be seen in the Guru Granth Sahib.)

After this we sing hymns and then, after reciting Anand Sahib, we distribute karahprasad in the presence of the Granth Sahib. The bride and bridegroom go home amidst the singing of hymns. Brother, we do not display the dowry as this is prohibited by the Guru. Siri Rag Mahala: 4

O my Father, give me [the name of] God as a gift and as a dowry. Grant me the Lord as my raiment and God as my glory that my task may be accomplished. Through devotion to God the wedding is made joyful; to the True Guru I owe this gift. The glory of God has spread in all lands, in the entire universe. This gift is matchless. Any other dowry exhibited by the self-willed is false pride and worthless display. O my Father, give me the Lord’s Name as a gift and as a dowry.

Brother, what business is it of others to see the garments given to daughters ? This is the way a marriage between a boy and a 90 The Nirankari Sikhs girl is performed according to. the Guru’s words and it is the duty of the Sikhs to follow this. Further, brother, we listen to and sing the Guru’s hymns whenever we can. When a Sikh sets out on a journey, on any errand or task, he prays humbly before the Guru Granth Sahib. We do not make enquiries about the auspicious moment [to start]. The Guru’s word prohibits this.

The does not know the date nor does anyone know the season' or the month. Only the Creator of all knows. (,Japuji)

The Guru also said in , ‘Before creation existed, who thought of favourable or unfavourable omens?’. Again the Guru has said ‘He alone is concerned with omens, good or bad, who does not enshrine the Lord in his heart.’ Kabirji has also said,

To consider the fifteen lunar days and the seven-week days [as auspicious or inauspicious], Says , serves no purpose here or in the hereafter.

Brother, all years, months and days created by the Guru are good. In the words of Guru Gobind Singhji, the tenth Master, the Guru’s Sikh sets out remembering the Guru’s name, regard­ less of all bad omens. The Guru accomplishes even those tasks which are otherwise impossible. Such is the greatness of the Name. And when by the grace of the Formless One, a Sikh has completed his life, and the call comes, and the Sikh departs, then we cover the body with a white shroud and, singing hymns, carry it for cremation or for releasing it into a flowing stream. We do not mourn. Whether child, youth or old man, we cover the person with a shroud. Because the Guru is the protector of the humble, humility is the first virtue. The Guru said, ‘Humility is my staff’. Brother, humility shelters all; all vanity and hypocrisy vanish. When we cremate a Sikh, we recite Anand and Kirtan and then distribute karahprasad or fried cakes, if we can afford to do so. After that we come before the Guru Appendices 91 Granth Sahib, reciting hymns antiphonally and inaugurate a reading of the Guru Granth Sahib.) Brother, this is the rite of Guru Nanakji, revealed afresh by Satguru Dayal. It is incumbent upon Sikhs to observe ceremonial in accordance with the scripture. Brother,

Abandon the ritual that makes me forget my Beloved; Nanak, true is the love which preserves my compact with the Lord. (Ml, Vadahans ki Var)

^Moreover, brother, the opportunity for union [with God] comes only during this life. So let us repeat the Name now; no one will be able to do that later,/ And the Guru has also said,

If a dead body be smeared with sandal, tell me what shall it gain from that ? If the corpse be rolled in filth, what does it lose thereby? (Kabirji, Bhairau)

Again,

He who while living remembers God and dies immersed in God Attains salvation, Nanak, in the company of the faithful.

Hymn by the first Master in measure Asa:

The Name is my lamp in which the oil of suffering is poured. The light of the lamp has dried up all pain, And I have escaped meeting Death’s courier. 1 People, do not spurn me, For thousands of wooden logs put in a heap need but a spark of fire to consume them. 1R The Lord is my offering and His True Name is my act of devotion. Here and hereafter, in the past and in the future, this is my support. 2 92 The Nirankari Sikhs Your praise is my Ganga and Banaras wherein my soul ever bathes. A true ablution is in spending day and night in Your love. 3 Some offer rice-balls to their ancestors, Some [offer them] to their gods, But it is the Brahman who eats them all. Says Nanak, the rice-ball of the Lord’s generosity is that which is never exhausted. 4

Brother, all other lamps, rice-balls, leaf-plates and honours are false. If an offering of a lamp is not made, the Brahmans say that the dead person is unemancipated, even though he has visited all the holy pilgrimage places. If the offering of the lamp ' is made, even then they say that the dead person has become a ghost. And if, after this rite, the person still survives and recovers, they declare him ostracized. They do not bring the matter to a conclusion. It is the Guru’s Word which speaks with finality.

Your Name is the Formless One. If one repeats Your Name, one is saved from Hell.

Again the Satguru has said:

They who remember the Name of the Master are not thrown into Hell. No hot wind touches those within whom the Lord dwells.

Again,

Who that utters God’s Name ever retains the stain of sin? The fallen become pure by uttering His Name. (Namdevji, Todi)

Again the Guru says in measure Gaund:

Repeating the name of God one does not go to Hell; By serving God one acquires all the fulfilment thereof.

The Guru, the Great Master, has established the path pf Appendices 93 liberation. In the past also it was the Name alone which liberated Ganaka the harlot, Ajmal the sinner, and Balmik the highwayman. You and we are also known as children of Sikhs. Brother, those sinners were emancipated by the Name. Sikhs cannot attain salvation from holy men. And yet we again go bare-headed to the Brahmans. We are not ashamed that, being Sikhs and being the offspring of a True Master like Guru Nanak, we yet go to the Brahmans. When Guru Nanak Niran- kari went to bring salvation to Gaya, the Brahmans told him, ‘You roam in foreign lands. You should offer rice-balls on leaf plates [in order to be purified].’ Then Baba Nanak said, ‘I have performed all rites for myself, for my ancestors, and for the Sikhs who are my followers. The rice-ball we offer is the indestructible Name.’ When they heard this, all the Brahmans submitted to Guru Nanak who instructed them in the meaning of the True Name. Therefore, brother, the Guru has lifted all our burdens. Why should we follow false practices and go to Hell ? Such is the power of Guru Nanak. Moreover, brother, this is what Kabir Sahibji has to say about holy places.

Kabir, if you make your abode on the banks of the Ganga, you may drink pure water. But you will not obtain liberation without devotion to God. This is what Kabir goes about proclaiming. 54

Sri Guru Nanak has said,

Go bathe at the place of pilgrimage; The place of pilgrimage is the Name. The place of pilgrimage is where one meditates on the Word and obtains enlightenment.

Kabir has said,

O my wayward soul, there are many holy places to bathe at and many gods to worship. Kabir says, there is no salvation, O wayward soul;

Salvation comes only through the service of God. 4 94 The Nirankari Sikhs Kabirji again says,

Fathers are not obeyed when they are alive But when they die offerings are made to them. How shall unfortunate fathers receive what crows and dogs have already eaten?

Brother, during the death anniversay ceremony the Brah­ mans declare that the ancestors of the have become crows, dogs, snakes, cows, and frogs. They demand that feasts be given them (the Brahmans). The Guru’s Sikhs should avoid this. The path for the Guru’s Sikhs is the Word. Brother, when someone dies, we should not mourn, for the Guru Granth Sahib forbids us to do so. Kabirji has said, ‘Why mourn the death of others? Do it if you live [forever].’ Again,

Kabir, why weep at the death of a saint who is in fact returning to his own home? Cry only for the wordly who have lived a futile life. 16

Do not mourn. As Sri Sahib has said in Sukhmani Sahib,

God the money-lender recovers what He has loaned. Only the ignorant are upset.

Brother, when someone departs to the abode of the Formless One, then, believing in the True, Everlasting Guru, we put on milk-white garments and go about our ordinary business. We do not spread out [mourning] mats. Then, after five days we go singing hymns and immerse the ashes and the bones in running water. The Guru makes us do the Guru’s bidding."^

The Name is my merchandise, The Name is my property. The Name alone is the mainstay of Nanak’s life. Nanak gathers God’s Name as wealth and takes God’s Name as food. The Name is his robe. Appendices 95 Blessed be the Guru who has demolished the citadel of error. It is the Formless One, who gives or takes away life. The Guru’s Sikhs suffer no uncertainty. In your refuge I find all happiness; The True Guru has drawn aside the curtain of error. Again, As is your command, so shall it be. Wherever you place me, there must I abide. Evil thoughts are washed away by immersion in Thy Name. By the continued repeating of Thy Name, O Formless One, doubt and fear are dispelled. They who are immersed in Thee, are freed from the cycle of birth and death. Again, I have listened to Vedas, Puranas and Smritis and have reflected upon them from many points of view. The Formless One alone saves the fallen, disperses fear, and is the ocean of harmony. The Formless One is the one who saves sinners: Ajmal the elephant and Ganaka had committed sinful deeds, And yet they too attained salvation by repeating the Lord’s Name. Brother, repeat the Name of the Blessed Formless One, ask others to do so, have the women sing and recite scripture. Sri Guru Arjun Sahibji in his Sukhmani Sahib has mentioned the supreme importance of the Name. Many Shastras and many Smritis have I seen and I have searched them all. Nanak, they do not approach the priceless Name of God. Ashtpadi: All repeating of the Name, austerities, knowledge and meditation, 96 The Nirankari Sikhs The exposition of the six Shastras and of the Smritis, The practice of yoga and the performance of religious rituals, The abandonment of everything and wandering in the forest, The performance of many rites of various descriptions, Alms-giving, fire-offerings, and giving jewels in abundance, Cutting up the body into small pieces and making them a burnt offering, Performing fasts and rituals of many kinds— None of these equals the contemplation of God’s Name. The true believer, Nanak, need repeat the Name but once.

Again,

The empty rites and rituals which we observe are ended by Death, the ever-vigilant. Sing the praises of the Most High Creator, contemplating Whom, even for a moment, one finds salvation. (Suhi, M5)

*So brother, the rites and rituals are all false. You should I respect the Name. Moreover, brother, you are not to take 'notice of the stars. ‘Repeating the Name, there shines the light of innumerable suns, driving away the darkness of error.’ Brother, all this hypocrisy is due to the avarice of the Brahmans. Brother, what is it to us if a certain star ascends or declines ?

Kabir, I have done nothing and shall do nothing, nor has my body the power to do anything. How can one know what God has done? And yet people acclaim Kabir. 62 He whose task it is has Himself accomplished it. O God, what can a mere man do ? The devotees are radiant as they sing the glory of God, ever proclaiming His praises.

What are we mortals worth? The Guru Himself carries out our tasks. What power do men have ? By the grace of the Formless One in the presence of the Granth Sahib we wash the feet of the entire congregation of the faithful. Bhai Gurdasji composed the following verse on the birth of Guru Nanakji: Appendices 97 Satguru Nanak appeared in the world, driving away the mists and bringing light. As when the sun rises, the stars disappear ancj the darkness is dispersed.

Guru Nanak then imparted to his faithful followers his own ceremonial. Pauri:

The Merciful. Lord heard the cry [of mankind] and sent Guru Nanak into the world. Having performed the foot-washing ritual, he gave the Sikhs the charanamrit to drink. ...Guru Nanak came to redeem the present Evil Age.

Moreover, Sri Guru Arjan Sahibji has said,

Wash the saints’ feet and drink the water; dedicate yourself to the true believer. Bathe yourself in the dust of his feet; devote yourself completely to his service. (Sukhmani)

This is what you should also practice. Attend the sangat (congregation of the faithful) in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib and wash the feet of those who are present. Al­ ready by the grace of the Formless One, we clean the shoes of the congregation in the presence of the Granth Sahib because Guru Nanakji has told us to do so. Raja Devalut with all the demons came for solace to Sri Guru Nanakji saying, ‘O True Master, emancipate us and liberate us from demon-existence.’ Guru Nanak Sahib said, ‘Brother, build a dharamsala and clean the shoes of the congre­ gation.’ Eat the crumbs which they drop. As you eat them you will cease to be demons.’ Brother, the demons and animals obeyed what the Guru said. You and I are called sons of Sikhs. Shouldn’t we feel ashamed? Further, there are three precepts enunciated by the Immor­ tal Sri Guru Nanak and the Satguru Sri Dayalji: first, singing ' the praises of the Formless One; second, serving one’s parents; third earning one’s bread through one’s labour by the grace t- The Nirankari Sikhs i „ <*. of the Formless One and to renounce evil deeds. As Kabirji has said, ‘Whosoever takes intoxicants or fish shall go to Hell in spite of all his pilgrimages, fasting and daily devotion.’ The idea behind these three precepts is this: one sings the praise of the Formless One in order to terminate the cycle of birth and death; one serves one’s parents because a mother carries a child in her womb for ten months and then when the Formless One brings the child forth, its parents assume the entire responsibility for it; one should work for one’s food so that he is not dependent upon others. , If anyone acts in a manner contrary to these three precepts, do not follow him. These precepts have been enunciated by the Satguru Nanak himself and by Satguru Dayal.

For him within whose mind abides the Formless One, there is no thought more exalted than this. He is eternally compassionate. Nanak has found peace in the constant remembrance of God.

Having heard this that Sikh fell at the feet [of Satguru Dar- bara Singh] and asked to be accepted as a disciple. He was told that this, in essence, is the teaching; worship none save the Word of the Gurus; repeat the Name of the Formless One. This prayer is offered by the grace of the Formless One. May it reach the Guru Granth Sahib. Blessed is the Formless One. Blessed is the True Guru, the immortal Sri Dayal Sahib, the True Master who has set forth this belief in the Divine Name. The End

This document setting out the code of conduct was prepared in the Harimandir Sahib at Rawalpindi during a month of the Eternal Formless One in Sammat 1913 ( a .d . 1856).

Chaupai: Let it be known that Rup Singh, a resident of Rajar By the grace of Guru Dayal prepared this document. 1 By the grace of the divine Dayal, the entire code of conduct established by the gurus has been written. Appendices 99 Whosoever performs ceremonies in this manner is freed from the cycle of birth and death. 2

Dohira: He who labours in the service of dharma and the congregation, to him will Guru Dayal show grace and Darbara Singh will honour him. He who abandons such a guru will [experience] sorrow here and Hell hereafter.

Blessed is Satguru Sri Dayalji. Blessed is Satguru Sri Darbara Singh Sahibji.

Dohira: As you read this make allowances for errors; Please don’t blame me for my constant forgetfulness. Blessed is the Formless One!

NOTES

1. Karahprasad is a mixture of wheat flour, sugar and clarified butter. 2. This couplet is not in the standard version of the Adi Granth (the Kartapur bir). It is presumably from the Ramkali shabad included in the Banno ver­ sion of the Adi Granth to which W. H. McLeod refers in his The Evolution of the Sikh Community (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 77. A p p e n d i x H

The Will of Sahib Rattaji, 1903

By the grace of the Eternal One, the True Guru. Blessed be the Formless One. All praise to the immortal Satguru Dayalji. All praise to Satguru Darbara Singhji. Written by the slave- dog Ratta; successor of the eternal Satguru Dayalji. The owner of all the property and cash is Satguru Dayalji. No one else has any claim upon it. It is to be neither sold nor divided but held in trust. If anyone has the resources, let him add to it.

Guru Granth Sahib: handwritten—7, printed—3; Gur-Bilas— 2, one Ad-Pothi 1 large peacock umbrella-shaped ornament of gold 2 small umbrella-shaped ornaments with 30 tolas of gold 1 cone-shaped ornament with 15 tolas of gold 1 ornament shaped like a double umbrella with 16 tolas of gold 1 gold umbrella-shaped ornament with a silken cord weighing 16 tolas with 8 small umbrella-shaped ornaments weighing about 10 tolas; 1 rope of gold thread 1 tikka weighing one tola, a tassel weighing one tola 4 gold tikkas of (the Master’s) slippers weighing 5 tolas 1 silver umbrella-shaped ornament weighing 35 tolas 1 silver umbrella-shaped ornament weighing 40 tolas 2 cone-shaped ornaments weighing 55 tolas 2 fly whisks 1 velvet nishan (flag) 1 nishan of darai cloth 3 nishans of banati 50 pure silk clothes for the Adi Granth 1 big palki to carry the Adi Granth in procession 1 small palki 100 old and new brass plates 100 old and new bowls 3 big brass pots 3 big open-mouth iron pots Appendices 101

2 big brass plate-like vessels 8 small brass plate-like vessels 3 metal pitchers 2 metal small-mouth pitchers 10 big bronze plates 2 large cloth canopies 1 chamber to house the Adi Granth 1 room for keeping visitors’ shoes 2 rooms for visitors 1 lemgar (community kitchen) of Satguru Dayalji Maharaj Area around the well 1 hut for firewood Nobody has any claim upon this place

2 fly whisks with silver handles 2 silver tiaras 2 large staves 4 large silver maces 4 small silver maces with engraving 1 large silver pedestal 3 small silver pedestals 1 silver arch for the pedestal 1 silver plate with lamps for arati (adoration) 6 mattress cords of silver, 1 pair of pedestals for [the Master s] slippers 2 hiddas of silver 1 green velvet canopy 1 extensively embroidered velvet canopy 2 woolen canopies 1 canopy of jarabaphat 1 canopy for the slippers 1 velvet cloth to spread in front of 3 Adi Granths 1 velvet cloth for 2 Adi Granths 1 green velvet cloth 4 velvet cloths 4 cloths with gold brocade 5 cloths with gold edging

No one has any claim on this place and property. It belongs to Satguru Dayalji. * 102 The Nirankari Sikhs 5 large quilts. Cut glass, chandeliers, and globes for lamps are the property of the Darbar Sahib.

Written in his own handwriting by slave-dog Ratta in Samant 1960 on 23rd of Ashoo. Rs. 8000 (Rupees Eight Thousand) in cash belongs to the Darbar Sahib. Only the interest is to be spent, not the principal, and the interest is to be spent on the Darbar Sahib. If there is any other source of income, that also may be used for the Darbar Sahib. The festivals and melas should continue to be celebrated in the same way as in the past. We have put this in writing so that it may remain as evidence. He who accepts this shall be blessed; he who feels jealous shall be disgraced. Signature slave-dog Ratta. Every­ thing is written by me. Everything is written in the Darbar Sahib. This Rs. 8000 is with Gurdit Singh for the timber business and the money belongs to the Darbar Sahib. A p p e n d i x I

Correspondence for the Nirankari gurus concerning the Anand Marriage Act found in the three volumes entitled, Petitions Regarding the Anand Marriage Act, VII of 1909 (Part I), in the National Archives, New Delhi

No. 107/241 To The Secretary to the Government of India Legislative Department—Calcutta Sir, It has afforded me a great pleasure to learn about the pro­ posed Anand Marriage Bill. Its need was very badly felt and the Hon’ble the Tikka Sahib of Nabha has placed the whole of the Sikh community including several thousands of my disciples and followers of the Nirankary Sect widely spread throughout the Province under gratitude and obligation by introducing the bill into the Legislatice [sic] Council. My heartfelt thanks may kindly be communicated to His Excellency the Viceroy and the Governor General of India for his graciously allowing the said bill being proposed. I heartily approve of the bill and request that our benign Government may kindly be moved to pass it into an Act under the title of the Sikh Marriage Act.

V I am Sir, Yours Sincerely, (Sd.) Baba Hara Singh S/o Baba Gurdit Singhji, Rawalpindi City Guru of the Nirankari Sect of 8th December, 1908 the Sikh Community * * 104 The Nirankari Sikhs No. 24 of 1909 Sri Darbar Sahib Nirankari Rawalpindi City the 10th January 1909 To The Secretary to the Government of India Legislative Department, Calcutta Sir,

In continuation of my letter dated 8 th December 1908 in which I respectfully requested that the Anand Marriage act which received the approval of all the Nirankari Sikhs may kindly be passed into law, I beg most submissively to add that the favourable decision of the Government is anxioulsy awaited. 2 . I dont think it will be out of place to mention here that the ceremonies on the occasions of both the marriages and remarriages have been performed by all the Narankaries [j/c] according to Anand Riti (custom) from about 80 years when this sect was founded by our first Satguru Baba Dyal and that performance of ceremonies according to other rites is quite opposed to our religion. Trusting to be excused for the trouble, I am sir, Your most obedient servant (Sd.) Gurdit Singh Guru of Narakari [j/c] Sect in the 4th: place Rawal Pindi Rawal Pindi, the 9th: January [s/c] 1909 Toth * * * BR 142it 142 Telegram received 17-9-09 To Secretary Legislative Deptt Govt of India Simla Anand marriage bill as amended by select committee liable serious objections detailed representation follows. Gurditsingh Nirankari Guru # / •

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\ The Nirarkari Sikhs have been a distinctive group within Sikhism from the time of their founder, Baba Dayal, a contemporary of Maharajah Ranjit Singh who taught that God is nirankar (formless) and sought to reform Sikh ceremonial life accordingly, to the present day. This book is a study of their history which not only describes the evolution of their cult, tradition and self-understanding, but also seeks to clarify their relationship to the Sant Nirankaris with whom they have become confused in the public mind. Dr Webster’s study is both critical and sympathetic. The earliest sources of Nirankari Sikh history have been reproduced in full in the appendices. i Dr John C. B. Webster is at present Assistant Professor, History of Christianity, at United Theological College, Bangalore. From 1971 to'1976 he was Director of the Christian Institute of Sikh Studies, Batala, Punjab and he continues to serve the Institute as Consultant on Research and Programme. Among his previous publications are History and Contemporary India (Editor, 1971), Popular Religion in the Punjab Today (Editor, 1973), The Christian Community and Change in Nineteenth Century North India (1976), and An Introduction to History (1977).

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