Nirankari Sikhs




Nirankari Sikhs
During the reign of Maha Raja Ranjit Singh , Hindus so western Punjab and Deraja came under the influence of Sikhism.
Few accepted the Pahul and joined the Khalsa fraternity.
Others remained Hindu, but gave up worship of Hindu gods and the recitation of Hindu Vedas
They read granth and joined gurdwaras.
They were half Hindus and Half Sikhs.

Dayal Das (d. 18550 ) a bullion merchant/shopkeeper of Peshawar belonged to this Hindu-sikh community.
He condemned idol worship, obeisance to holy men, pilgrimages and Brahmanical ritual and Hindu deities.
Taught that salvation is through meditation on the  name of God
Therefore, Nirankaris meet for morning worship in their dharma Salas.
They accepted Nanak as Guru and Adi granth  as sacred scripture.

In order to be different from Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, they threw the dead into water.  
He taught that god is one and was formless (nirankar).
He called himself as Nirankari
He soon became guru and got disciples (Nirankaris).

This group got opposition from Hindu Brahmins
Thus Dayal Das moved from Peshaware to Rawlpindi.
 Nirankaris were ostracized by both Hindus and Sikhs.
Therefore they had to build their own place of worship.
The biggest was in Rawalpindi.
After his death his sandals became as object of veneration.
They were placed on altar alongside the Granth.
The temple was named after him,  Dayalsar . it became the headquarter.

Darbara Singh
After Dayal Das’s death his eldest son (of the three) Darbara Singh, succeeded.
He built new centers (biras).
He issued hukumnamas (encyclicals) to the Nirankaries.
It is to save Sikhs from Brahmanical control.
The encyclicals cover the ceremonies dealing with birth, engagement, marriage, death, behavior appropriate for the regular worship of God.
There was always emphasis on Adi Granth.
It is sais that ritualism in general to be avoided.

He standardized rituals.
These rituals were different from the Hindu ones, based on the Granth.


Rattan Chand
Darbara Singh (d.1870) was succeeded by his youngest brother Rattan Chand (d.1909).

Gurdit Sing
Rattan Chand was succeeded by his son Gurdit Sing (d. 1947).

Hara Singh
The next guru was Gurdit Sing’s son Hara Singh.

After the partition the headquarter was shifted first to Amritsar and then to Chandigarh.

Nirankaris worship gurus other than the ten recognized by the Sikhs.
Dayal Das and his successors were addressed as Sri Satguru.
Nirankaris believe in the tradition of living gurus.
Nirankari movement checked the absorption into Hinduism.
They disapprove of the militant Khalsa.

Hara Singh died 15 January 1971
After Hara Singh’s death his first son Gurbakhsh Singh with the association of his younger brother Man Singh Nirankari,  became the sixth Guru
Tracts:
A group of Nirankaris published tracts to propagate their teaching.
The main themes are:
The condition of the Sikh Panth declined after Guru Gobind Singh.
Brahmins dominate Sikh religious life.
Superstitious and meaningless rituals began to replace Gurbani (Teaching of the Gurus).
Baba Dayal came to save the Sikh religion.
They depict Baba Dayal as successor of Guru Gobind Singh.
The tract presented Nirankaris not as a breakaway group.
Nirankari Gurus were attributed with supernatural powers.

Nirankari Young Men’s Association
It attempted to record Nirankari History

After partition:
They had to pack up whatever they could and go to India from Rawalpindi
As most of them were business people, most of them lost resources and spread to find work. They lost the central shrine and their collective wealth.
Their shrine in Rawalpindi was used as refugee camp for Nirankaris for some time.
Hara Singh protected the scattered members in India by extensive visits.
Their shrine in Chandigarh was formally opend in 1976.

Nirankari’s are different from Sant Nirankaris
Nirankaris are slowly losing their separate identity.
They may merge with Sikh or Hindu parent body.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Long Live Democracy

  Long Live Democracy Introduction Democracy is the best form of government we are aware of and benefitting from. It, presumably, has adequate space at least to air our opinions on matters and to seek, in the original spirit, judicial clarification and support. No doubt, progressive democracies are thriving. India is the world’s largest democracy. M.K. Stalin, after the recently held assembly elections in Tamilnadu, declared that he would take on board the opposition members – a healthy sign of democracy. Amidst all the positive aspects of democracy, the apprehensions of Socrates and Plato still resonates some doubts, if democracy misses the purpose and spirit. Their anxiety was about ‘state that distrusts ability, and reverences number more than knowledge’ and ‘chaos where there is no thought, and the crowd decides in haste and ignorance, to repent at leisure and in desolation’. The toughest question they raised was ‘Is it not shameful that men should be ruled by orators’. [...
Read more
  Celebrating the joy of Salvation Exodus 14: 5-31, Colossians 3:1-11, Matthew 28: 1-10 Introduction : The theme for our Easter meditation is ‘celebrating the joy of Salvation’. The three assigned readings help us understand the title. Our reflection will be under five sub points - Israel Celebrating the Joy of Salvation, Celebrating the Joy of Resurrection, Celebrating the Joy of Risen Life/Salvation, Five Requirements to Lead a New Life and Glorious Resurrection.   I    Israel Celebrating the Joy of Salvation: We have the Israelites celebrating the joy of salvation in Exodus 14: 5-31. Pharaoh, after so much of the cry of the Israelites and God’s constant intervention, allowed the Israelites to flee Egypt.   But again when he realized  that the people of Israel had fled Egypt, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. Pharaoh made ready his chariot, six hundred chosen chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt ...
Read more

The Light Shines in Darkness (Christmas Message)

  The light shines in darkness Isaiah 9:1-2 & John 1: 4, 5 &9 Introduction             The theme for our Christmas meditation 2022 is Jesus is the light and the light shines in darkness. The two above mentioned scriptural passages are used here to explain the theme further. The first reading from Isaiah illustrates the light with salvation or deliverance of the people of Israel from their enemies. According to it, Zebulun and Naphtali are in the far north Galilean region of Judea. As the region of Galilee had access to seas, trade could have been very common there. The people of the region had had opportunities to mix with other people, cultures, religions and worldviews. In spite of this situation, the inhabitants of ‘Zebulun and Naphtali, and all Galilee, were lightly esteemed of, being mean and illiterate, not famous for any arts or sciences, and having no prophet among them’. [1] Further, this region, par...
Read more