ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>R&#256MR&#256&#298&#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 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">&#65279<i>R&#256MR&#256&#298&#256S</i>, originally a splinter sect of the Sikhs, now comprise an independent group more akin to the Ud&#257s&#299s. The sect owes its origin to B&#257b&#257 R&#257m R&#257i, whose name it bears. R&#257m R&#257i, who was the elder son of Gur&#363 Har R&#257i (1630-61), the seventh Gur&#363, and who had been anathematized for deliberately misreading in the court of Emperor Aura&#7749gz&#299b a line from one of Gur&#363 N&#257nak's hymns in order to avoid his displeasure, had shifted to a sub-Himalayan <i>d&#363n</i> (valley) where he established his <i>&#7693er&#257</i> or abode in a <i>j&#257g&#299r</i> or fief granted to him by the feudatory chief of Ga&#7771hv&#257l under the orders of the Mu<u>gh</u>al court. The followers of B&#257b&#257 R&#257m R&#257i came to be known as R&#257mr&#257&#299&#257s. B&#257b&#257 R&#257m R&#257i, shortly before his death in 1687, had met Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, N&#257nak X, who was then staying at P&#257o&#7751&#7789&#257, not far from Dehr&#257 D&#363n, while the latter visited Dehr&#257 D&#363n soon after to install Pañj&#257b Kaur, R&#257m R&#257i's widow, as his successor. However, R&#257mr&#257&#299&#257s remained outside the pale of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 the Gur&#363 had initiated.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the death of Pañj&#257b Kaur in 1741, the leadership and control of the R&#257mr&#257&#299&#257 sect passed to Ud&#257s&#299 <i>s&#257dh&#363s</i> who, besides the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, paid obeisance to B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand and treated B&#257b&#257 R&#257m R&#257i as successor to the first seven Sikh Gur&#363s. Up to the time of the Ak&#257l&#299 agitation in the early 1920's, Darb&#257r S&#257hib or Jha&#7751&#7693&#257 S&#257hib, the principal R&#257mr&#257&#299&#257s shrine at Dehr&#257 D&#363n, had Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib installed in it, although images of B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand as well as of some Hindu deities were also worshipped. Thereafter, apprehensive of losing to the Ak&#257l&#299s the shrine and the vast estate attached to it, the <i>sajjad&#257nash&#299ns</i>, as the custodians were styled, discontinued the display of Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, thus converting the place into a non-Sikh shrine. At present R&#257mr&#257&#299&#257s, estimated roughly to be a hundred thousand strong, have little in common with the Sikhs except in <i>gur-mantra</i>, V&#257higur&#363, and the institution of <i>la&#7749gar</i> or community kitchen at Darb&#257r S&#257hib Dehr&#257 D&#363n. Their worship comprises <i>&#257rat&#299</i> of B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand and recitation and <i>kath&#257</i> of <i>Bh&#257gvata Pur&#257&#7751a</i> and of other Hindu texts.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Teja Singh, <i>Sikhism: Its Ideals and Institutions</i>. Bombay, 1937<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Gupta, Hari Ram, <i>History of Sikh Gur&#363s</i>. Delhi, 1973<BR> <li class="C1"> Rose, H.A., ed., <i>A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province</i>. Lahore, X 911-19<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurbachan Si&#7749gh Gi&#257n&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>