ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>K&#362K&#256S</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="KjKS"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279K&#362K&#256S or N&#256MDH&#256R&#298S, the name given to the members of a sectarian group that arose among the Sikhs towards the close of the nineteenth century. <i>K&#363k</i>, in Punjabi, means a scream or shout. While chanting the sacred hymns at their religious congregations, the adherents of the new order broke into ecstatic cries which led to their being called K&#363k&#257s. The other term N&#257mdh&#257r&#299s, also used for them, means devotees of <i>n&#257m</i>, i.e. those attached to God's Name. The sect had its origin it the movement of reform intimations of which first became audible in the northwest corner of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore. It harked back to a way of life more in keeping with the spiritual tradition of the Sikhs. Its principal concern was to spread the true spirit of the faith shorn of empty ritualism which had grown on it since the beginning of Sikh monarchy. These ideas were preached by B&#257b&#257 B&#257lak Si&#7749gh (1797-1862), a pious and saintly man, who collected around him at Hazro, in Attock district in the northwest frontier region, a small following. He was visited one day by a young man, R&#257m Si&#7749gh (1816-85), then serving in the Sikh army. R&#257m Si&#7749gh was deeply impressed by B&#257b&#257 B&#257lak Si&#7749gh's concern about the decline of Sikh values in the wake of political power and his appeal for a life of simplicity and spirituality. He resigned from the army and dedicated himself to his precept. Before he died, B&#257b&#257 B&#257lak Si&#7749gh named him his successor. B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh who made Bhai&#7751&#299 in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district his headquarters, imparted to the movement vigour as well as form. He attached special importance to the administration of the rites of <i>amrit</i> or <i>p&#257hul</i>, the vows of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 introduced by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. Those admitted to the discipline were distinguished by their peculiarly simple style of tying their turbans and by their woollen rosary and white dress. A strict code of conduct was enjoined upon the members. They were to adore the One Formless Being and to acknowledge but one Scripture, the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. They were forbidden to worship at tombs and graves and to venerate scions of So&#7693h&#299 and Bed&#299 families, then claiming religious popularity. The importance of leading a life of regular prayer and meditation and of abstinence from falsehood, slander, adultery, and from eating flesh and use of liquor, hemp or opium was reiterated. Protection to the cow was made a cardinal principle of the K&#363k&#257s' social ethics. Beggary and parasitism were condemned as evil, and industry and charity were applauded. Regard for personal hygiene, likewise, formed an essential ingredient of the K&#363k&#257 code. No caste distinctions were recognized. Women were freely admitted to the ranks of the brotherhood and were allowed to participate in all community activity. Female infanticide, enforced widowhood and dowry were forbidden. Simple and inexpensive marrige custom, following Sikh injunctions, was introduced. B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh asked his followers to breed horses, learn horsemanship and carry clubs in their hands; also, to recite daily Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's martial poem, <i>Cha&#7751&#7693&#299 d&#299 V&#257r</i>. An hierarchical structure comprising <i>s&#363b&#257s</i> (governors), <i>naib s&#363b&#257s</i> (deputy governors) and <i>jathed&#257rs</i> operated within their jurisdictions and maintained with the centre at Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib, as also amongst themselves, regular communication by means of their own private postal service. Special emphasis was laid on the use of <i>svadesh&#299</i>, homespun cloth, as against the imported mill-made cloth. Education through the medium of English introduced by the British was to be shunned.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The K&#363k&#257 activity made the government wary and in April 1863 B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh and his followers were interrogated by officials at the time of their visit to Amritsar. This was resented by the K&#363k&#257s who had among their ranks some old soldiers of the Sikh army and who were generally critical of Christian proselytization as well as of the opening of slaughter-houses by the foreign rulers. Their <i>d&#299v&#257ns</i> were now marked by added fervour. The news that the head man of a village in F&#299rozpur district had turned a K&#363k&#257, burning away in his new zeal his plough, bullock-cart, a bedstead and the spinning wheel, alarmed the district authorities who saw in such accretions the signs of the growing influence of the movement. More than 40 K&#363k&#257s trying to convene a meeting at Thar&#257jv&#257l&#257, in F&#299rozpur district, were arrested and seven of them were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment by the deputy commissioner.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The government found further grounds for suspicion in some of the K&#363k&#257s' joining the armies of the Indian princes. It was feared that the object of such recruits was to get military training and then return to the Punjab to raise a tumult against the British. Since the K&#363k&#257s were averse to seeking service under the English, some of them had visited Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ranb&#299r Si&#7749gh of Kashm&#299r in 1869 and offered to join the state forces. The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 agreed to recruit a new regiment and enlisted about 150 K&#363k&#257s under the command of S&#363b&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh of Sa&#7693haur&#257, but the force was disbanded two years later under pressure from the British government.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the early seventies of the 19th century, events moved at a catastrophic pace bringing the career of the K&#363k&#257 revolution to a dramatic climax. In their zeal for protecting the cow, some K&#363k&#257s attacked a slaughterhouse in the sacred city of Amritsar on the night of 15 June 1871. Four butchers were killed and three seriously wounded. Seven of the K&#363k&#257s were apprehended out of whom four paid the extreme penalty of the law. Exactly a month later, a similar incident took place at R&#257iko&#7789, in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district, where three butchers were killed . Five K&#363k&#257s including Gi&#257n&#299 Ratan Si&#7749gh, esteemed as a scholar, were awarded death penalty. Returning from the M&#257gh&#299 fair at Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib at the beginning of 1872, a group of K&#363k&#257s planned to plunder the armoury at M&#257lerko&#7789l&#257, the capital of a princely state. On the way, they attacked the house of the Sikh chief of Malaud to rob it of arms and horses which they needed for their assault on M&#257lerko&#7789l&#257. At M&#257lerko&#7789l&#257, the K&#363k&#257s, more than a hundred strong, were challenged by police as they scaled the city wall on the morning of 15 January 1872 to enter the treasury. In the fracas that followed eight policemen and seven K&#363k&#257s lost their lives. Sixty eight of the K&#363k&#257s, including two women, were captured by M&#299r Ni&#257z 'Al&#299, an officer of the Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state, at Ra&#7771, a nearby village to which they had retired. Under orders of the British deputy commissioner of Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257, all of them, except the women prisoners who were made over to Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 authorities, were executed --- 49 blown off by cannon and one put to the sword on 17 January and the remaining 16 again killed at gunmouth. B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh was exiled from the Punjab along with ten of his S&#363b&#257s, and taken to All&#257h&#257b&#257d from where he was transferred to Rangoon and detained under the Bengal Act of 1818. The S&#363b&#257s were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment. A police post was stationed at Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib, the K&#363k&#257 headquarters, and the entire setup placed under strict surveillance. Village functionaries, <i>zaild&#257rs</i> and <i>nambard&#257rs</i>, were ordered to report under penalty of deprivation of office or other punishment the movements of K&#363k&#257s within their respective areas. The assembly of more than five K&#363k&#257s was forbidden throughout the Punjab as also the carrying in public of axes, iron knobbed sticks and other weapons.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Despite these repressive measures, the movement was sustained by the mystique that grew around B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh. His followers continued to believe that he would one day reappear among them and lead them to freedom from British rule. A few even made the hazardous journey to Rangoon to see him, circumventing the guards, and bring messages from him. In the Punjab, B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh's brother, Budh Si&#7749gh, who now assumed the name of Har&#299 Si&#7749gh, took his place. One of the S&#363b&#257s, Gurcharan Si&#7749gh and after him Bishan Si&#7749gh, made secret trips across the borders to make contact with the Russians. Prophecies, in the name of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, were circulated predicting that Russia would invade the Punjab and drive away the British. The K&#363k&#257s were also active in campaign for the restoration of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab, who had been dethroned after the second Anglo-Sikh war.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With the turn of the century, the excitement had ebbed away. The K&#363k&#257s retained their religious fervour and evolved over the years a distinct identity. The process received great stimulus from the personality of B&#257b&#257 Part&#257p Si&#7749gh who succeeded B&#257b&#257 Har&#299 Si&#7749gh upon his death in 1906. K&#363k&#257s emerged, under his leadership, as a cohesive social and religious group. Their numbers increased and they flourished in their chosen trades such as animal husbandry, agriculture and small industry. B&#257b&#257 Part&#257p Si&#7749gh died in 1959 and was succeeded by B&#257b&#257 Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh. Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib, in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district in the Punjab, and J&#299van Nagar, in Hissar district in Hary&#257&#7751&#257, are today the two principal centres of the N&#257mdh&#257r&#299s, term which is now more commonly used. The N&#257mdh&#257r&#299s generally go to their own <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i>. They instal the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib in their <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i>, but believe in living Gur&#363s, B&#257b&#257 Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh being their present pontiff. The Namdh&#257r&#299s are known for their simple living and rigid code of conduct. They wear white homespun and wind round their heads mull or longcloth without any semblance of embellishment. They are strict vegetarians. Marriages are performed inexpensively usually in groups on special occasion such as Hol&#257 Mahall&#257.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Gand&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Kuk&#299&#257&#7749 d&#299 Vithi&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1944<BR> <li class="C1"> Vahim&#299, T&#257ran Si&#7749gh, <i>Jass J&#299van</i>. Rampur (Hissar), 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Fauja Singh, <i>Kuka Movement</i>. Delhi, 1965<BR> <li class="C1"> Jaswinder Singh, <i>Kuka Movement : Freedom Struggle in Punjab</i>. Delhi, 1985<BR> <li class="C1"> Ahluwalia, M.M., <i>Kukas : The Freedom Fighters of the Panjab</i>. Bombay, 1965<BR> <li class="C1"> Jolly, Surjit Kaur, <i>Sikh Revivalist Movements</i>. Delhi, 1988<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. II. Princeton, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Fauj&#257 Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>