Sanatan Singh Sabha, article being reconstructed

Time of origin: 1873

As British annexed Punjab in 1849, they opened the floodgate to Christian missionaries, who poured into the Punjab to gain Christian converts. This rocked the ‘Sanatan’ (traditional) Sikh world. C. W Forman and John Newton lead the Ludhiana Mission’s surge into the Majha region of Punjab. They set up their center in Lahore, and began coordinating the Christian proselytizing activities. English and vernacular schools, as well as hospitals and orphanages, were quickly established in the Punjab. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Methodists, Moravians, Episcopalians, Salvation Army etc. all vied with each other in gaining converts to Christianity.

When the Church of England sent it’s two missionaries to the Punjab, on their departure from England they were instructed thus:‘Though the Brahman religion still sways the minds of a large proportion of the population of the Punjab, the Mohammedan of another, the dominant religion and power for the last century has been the Sikh religion, a species of pure theism, formed in the first instance by the dissenting sect from Hinduism. A few hopeful incidents lead us to believe that the Sikhs may prove more accessible to scriptural truth than Hindus and Mohammedans.’ ‘Stories from Sikh History Book IX’, by Kartar Singh and Gurdial Singh Dhillon, Pa. 73-74

Thus, Christian missionaries began to single out Sikhs, and it was not until 1873, when four young Sikh students of Amritsar Mission School decided to convert to Christianity that the Sanatan Sikh elders within the community decided to consider this movement a threat. These elders began to meet in gatherings that came to known as ‘Singh Sabhas’ (meaning ‘a meeting of Singhs). The first official Singh Sabha came into existence in 1873 in Amritsar.

It was headed by the Udasis, Nirmalas and Bedi Sikhs, and was founded by Baba Thakur Singh Sandhanwalia, a Sikh aristocrat. Sandhanwalia’s family had close ties to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s family for he was the cousin of the deposed and exiled King, Maharaja Duleep Singh.

Another leading figure of this Sabha was Baba Khem Singh Bedi, who was the grandson of the famous Sikh holy man, Baba Sahib Singh Bedi. The secretary of the Singh Sabha was the noted historian, Giani Gian Singh Nirmala. Raja Bikram Singh of Faridkot was the patron of the Sanatan Singh Sabha. In addition to the four, many other Nirmala, Udasi and even Akali Nihang Singhs contributed to the success of this Sabha. The four youths at the Amritsar Mission School were persuaded by the Singh Sabha from converting to Christianity.

The Sanatan Sikh world that the British conquered was considered ‘Boh Panthi’ (pluralistic). The reader must appreciate that the western definition of what one considers a ‘religion’ cannot be applied to the Sanatan Sikh world, which is riddled with paradox, multi-layered ideologies and Indian culture. In comparison to this, the homogenous Tat Khalsa Singh Sabhia Sikh world considers one to be a Sikh when he/she is wearing the five K’s, is a ‘Khalsa Sikh’, and adheres to the Sikh Rehit Maryada.

The Sanatan Sikh world could not be more different to this, even if one wished it to be so, where non-Khalsa Udasi, Seva Panthi and Nirmala Sikhs are on equal footing to Khalsa Sikhs in the running of Sikh temples. Non-Khalsa Sikhs such as the Nirmalas, who were not bound by the five K’s would freely mix with Hindu Brahmins, Sufi Saints, Sadhus of various sects, and they in turn mixed with Sanatan Sikhs. Vedantic texts such as ‘Pars Bhaag’ were kept within Sikh temples and read to the congregation. Although Sanatan Sikhs considered themselves as iconoclasts, they still tolerated Hindu idols within the precincts of Sikh shrines.

The descendants of Bhai Mardana, the Muslim ‘Rababias’ (players of the Rabab), were the main singers within the Sanatan world. Though caste was not acknowledged at the spiritual level, it was practiced at the socioeconomic level.

Sikhs initiated into the Khalsa could still have ‘Dehdhari Gurus’ (living teachers/guides). Communities of ‘Nanak Panthis’ (Sikh Hindus) and ‘Nanak Shahis’ (Sikh Muslims) existed and practiced their strange mixture of religion.

A British text, based on the census report for the Punjab 1883, by Denzil Ibbetson, and the census report for the Punjab, 1882 by E. D. Maclagan, speaks of the ‘Nanak Panthi’ Sanatan Sikh communities thus:‘The ‘Nanak-panthis’ of today are known roughly as Sikhs who are not Singhs, followers of the earlier, gurus, who do not think it necessary to follow the ceremonial and social observations inculcated by Guru Gobind Singh. Their characteristics are, therefore, mainly negative: they do not forbid smoking: they do not insist on long hair, on the other four kakkas: they are not baptized with the pahul: they do not look upon the Brahmin as a superfluity, and so forth. The chief external difference between the Nanak-panthi Sikhs and the followers of Guru Gobind Singh is the disposal of the hair: the former, like the Hindus, shave all but the scalp-lock (bodi or choti), and hence is often known as a Muna (shaven) or Bodiwala Sikh, while the Sikh proper wears long hair. They are also known as Sahjdhari. The only form of baptism known among the Nanak-panthis is the ordinary Hindu practice of drinking the foot-nectar of the Guru, and even this is not very common. It will thus be seen that from one point of view there is very little difference between a Nanak-panthi and an ordinary lax Hindu.’ ‘A Glossary of the Tribes And Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, in Three Volumes’, by H. A. Rose, 1914, Pa. 153

The above text also documents the ‘Nanak Panthi’ Sikhs, who adopted certain Muslim practices, such as eating Halal meat (forbidden to Khalsa Sikhs): ‘These Nanak-panthi Aroras keep their hair uncut, and though they touch and sell tobacco, will not smoke it. They do not, however, as a rule, take the pahul or observe the four remaining kakkas of Gobind Singh’s ordinances. They eat the meat of animals whose throats have been cut after the Mohammedan fashion (kutha) and not that of animals whose necks have been cut by the Sikh method of jhatka. Except they will go every morning to the dharmsala, or Sikh place of worship, to listen to recitations from the Adi-Granth, and that they use the Sikh forms of morning and evening prayers (Japji and Rehras), they are in all other respects as other Hindus are on the frontier.’ ‘A Glossary of the Tribes And Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, in Three Volumes’, by H. A. Rose, 1914, Pa. 155

Hew Mcleod spoke of the Sanatan Sikh world thus:‘The Sikhism preached by the people such as Khem Singh Bedi and Avatar Singh Vahiria is difficult to envisage today, so comprehensive has been their defeat by the Tat Khalsa. For them Sikhism tolerated variety and upheld the right of Sikhs to participate in folk religion. Caste was maintained and idol worship was tolerated. There were different forms of marriage for different castes and different rituals could be practised by various members of the Panth. All manners of customs, such as those involving astrology, horoscopes and incantation, were acceptable. Visits to the sacred shrines of Hindus and Muslims as well as those of the Guru’s were entirely approved. Sanatan leaders might not follow these customs themselves, but certainly they were prepared to tolerate them in others. They were part of the immense variety which characterized the world they had known and the world they hoped would continue. All this was anathema to the Tat Khalsa. Sikhism could not possibly be as broad and as tolerant as Sanatan Sikhs believed.’ ‘Sikhism’, by Hew McLeod, 1997, Pa. 77

The Sanatan Singh Sabha that established itself at Amritsar sought to maintain this ‘Boh Panthi’ traditional Sikh world from the onslaught of the Christians. In time, the Sanatan Singh Sabha would be challenged by the spiritually inept and corrupt Tat Khalsa Singh Sabhias.