ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>NIRA&#7748K&#256R&#298S</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="NIRADKR*S"> <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">&#65279NIRA&#7748K&#256R&#298S, a sect of the Sikhs born of a reform movement which arose in northwest Punjab in the middle of the nineteenth century aiming to restore the purity of Sikh belief and custom. Its founder, B&#257b&#257 Day&#257l (1783-1855), was a contemporary of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. A man of humble origin, he cavilled at the shortcomings of the mighty and assailed the rites and observances which had perverted the Sikh way of life. His main target was the worship of images against which he preached vigorously. He re-emphasized the Sikh belief in Nira&#7749k&#257r --- the Formless One. From this the movement he started came to be known as the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 movement. What a crucial development this movement was in Sikh life will be borne out by this excerpt from the annual report of the Ludhiana Christian Mission for 1853:</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sometime in the summer we heard of a movement... which from the representations we received seemed to indicate a state of mind favourable to the reception of Truth. It was deemed expedient to visit them, to ascertain the true nature of the movement and, if possible, to give it 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.... They professedly reject idolatry, and all reverence and respect for whatever is held sacred by Sikhs or Hindus, except Nanak and his Granth.... 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 are 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 one of their numbers, and explained also if their leader be present. Secondly, they do not burn their dead, because that would assimilate them to the Hindus; nor bury them, because that would make them too much like Christians and Musalmans, but throw them into the river.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In its emphasis on the primacy of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib in the Sikh system and on self-identity, the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 movement foreshadowed the principal concerns of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 reformation.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; B&#257b&#257 Day&#257l's influence was confined to the north western districts of the Punjab, and he founded in 1851 at R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 Darb&#257r. B&#257b&#257 Day&#257l was succeeded by his eldest son, B&#257b&#257 Darb&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, who led the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s from 1855 to 1870. The most important work of B&#257b&#257 Darb&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh was to issue a <i>hukamn&#257m&#257</i> in which he explained, with profuse quotations from the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, how the Sikhs were to order their ceremonial life at the time of birth, engagement, marriage, death and during the regular worship of God. He continued to propagate his father's teachings, prohibiting idolatrous worship, the use of alcohol and extravagant expenditure on weddings. He introduced in the R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 area the <i>anand</i> form of marriage rite. <i>Anand</i>, an austerely simple and inexpensive ceremony, became a cardinal point with leaders of subsequent Sikh reformation movements.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The number of Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s steadily increased. From a reported sixty-one in 1853, their number grew to around five hundred in 1861; by the time of the death in 1909 of Darb&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh's brother and successor, B&#257b&#257 S&#257hib Ratt&#257, they were a few thousand. Their organization was based upon a hereditary <i>gur&#363</i> and his appointees called <i>b&#299&#7771ed&#257rs</i> who were to watch over Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s living in towns and villages outside R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299. What seems to have held the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s together as the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257s gained influence towards the end of the century was their <i>gur&#363s</i>, their distinctive ceremonies, and their annual gathering at the Darb&#257r in R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 held to celebrate the death anniversary of B&#257b&#257 Day&#257l. They had no special initiation ceremony to separate them from non-Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s. They were Sikhs, some <i>kes&#257dh&#257r&#299</i> and some <i>sahijdh&#257r&#299</i>, but, because of their rites and ceremonies, they were called by the 1881 Census Commissioner, "the Purists of the Sikh religion," and that is probably how they saw themselves.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The fourth Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 leader was B&#257b&#257 Gurdit Si&#7749gh, the son of S&#257hib Ratt&#257. During his time, January 1909 to April 1947, there were two developments of note. The first was the creation of a succession of Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 organizations the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 B&#257l&#257k Jath&#257 (1922), the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 Bhujha&#7749g&#299 Sev&#257k Jath&#257 (1923), and especially the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 Youngmen's Association (1929) which represented at least a modification of, if not a departure from, the traditional Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 pattern of organization. With these new organizations came new visions of what the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s ought to be doing beyond the purely religious. The result was a degree of internal tension between what might be termed the traditionalists and the modernists in the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 fold. The second development was closely related to the first; the new organizations began to collect, record and publish, in a series of tracts, accounts of incidents in the lives of the first three teachers. These appear in the form of <i>s&#257kh&#299s</i> which provide the basis of what has been a somewhat-idealized and very <i>gur&#363</i>-centred account of Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 history. Other tracts were devoted to discussing important issues of theology and conduct.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The partition of the Punjab in 1947 created a serious crisis for the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s, the majority of whom lived in and around R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299. The Darb&#257r had to be shifted to India and only in 1958 was it permanently established in Cha&#7751&#7693iga&#7771h. Equally important, but far more difficult, was the location and gathering together of the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s who were now scattered all over north India. This work of rebuilding was undertaken by S&#257hib Har&#257 Si&#7749gh, the fifth Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 teacher. Today the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s are led by B&#257b&#257 Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh, the eldest son of S&#257hib Har&#257 Si&#7749gh. They number about 1200 families scattered from Srinagar to Bombay to Calcutta. They are drawn largely from the Khatr&#299, Aro&#7771&#257, Bh&#257&#7789&#299&#257 and goldsmith communities and include significant proportions of both <i>kes&#257dh&#257r&#299s</i> and <i>sahijdh&#257r&#299s</i>. They have a large new <i>darb&#257r</i> hall located in Cha&#7751&#7693&#299ga&#7771h where they now gather for their annual functions. They continue to maintain their traditional patterns of organization with only slight modifications. The office of <i>bi&#7771ed&#257r</i> seems to be passing out of existence, but prominent local Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s perform the functions traditionally carried out by <i>bi&#7771ed&#257rs</i>. Thus the difference would seem to be that local initiative is replacing appointment by the teacher.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A Sikh visiting the Nira&#7749kar&#299 Darb&#257r would find that in most respects it resembles any other <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>. The architecture is different, as all of the Darb&#257r's doors face in one direction: the setting of worship is the same. The Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib occupies the central place and the teacher sits either behind it when reading from it or beneath it to one side when he is not. The <i>ard&#257s</i> differs in two respects; it invokes God as Nira&#7749k&#257r and not as Bhagaut&#299 and it mentions the former Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 teachers after Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. In the <i>sa&#7749gat</i>, and in all Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 affairs, <i>sahijdh&#257r&#299s</i> enjoy equal status with <i>kes&#257dh&#257r&#299s</i>. The teacher's role is that of interpreter of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib which is authoritative for all Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s; he is not an object of veneration and makes no claim to be one. The Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s have always considered themselves to be Sikhs and not a separate sect. The label, "Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 Sikhs" is perhaps the most appropriate one for them as they are Sikhs and yet distinctive as Sikhs. These Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s should not, however, be mixed up with "Sant Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s" for the latter have nothing in common with the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 sect of the Sikhs, except for the name. They are not even a schism split from it, although the founder, B&#363&#7789&#257 Si&#7749gh, was once a member of the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 Darb&#257r at R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299. Upon being asked to sever his connection with the Darb&#257r for some misdemeanour, he raised a group of his own. He was succeeded by Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh, who after partition migrated to Delhi and set up a centre there. Over the years he recruited a considerable following from among the Sikhs, Hindus and others. The present leader, Hardev Si&#7749gh, is his grandson.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Webster, John C.B., <i>The Nirankari Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1979<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> McMullen, Clarence O., <i>The Nature of Guruship</i>. Delhi, 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Nirankari, Man Si&#7749gh, <i>Nirank&#257r&#299 Gurmat Pr&#257rambhit&#257</i>. Chandigarh, 1951<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">John C. B. Webster<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>