Sikh reformist movements

CENTRAL MAJHA KHALSA DiWAN, also known as the Shiromani Panth Milauni Jatha, was one of the several regional organizations that came into being on the eve of the Gurdwara reform movement of the 1920\'s. A Khalsa Diwan in the Majha area had in fact been established as early as 1904, but it had merged with the Chief Khalsa Diwan three years later. Upon its revival in 1918 as Central Majha Khalsa Diwan, it concerned itself mainly with reforming the ceremonial in Sikh holy places, especially at Tarn Taran and Amritsar.

DEV SAMAJ, a religious and social reform society, was founded on 16 February 1887 in Lahore by Pandit Shiv Narayan Agnihotri (1850-1929). The story of the Dev Samaj is in essence the story of its founder. Pandit Agnihotri was born in the village of Akbarpur, in Uttar Pradesh, on 20 December 1850. At sixteen he went to Thomson College of Engineering at Roorkee. In November 1873, he moved to Lahore taking a position as drawing master at the Government College.

GURU KA BAGH MORCHA, one of the major compaigns in the Sikhs` agitation in the early 1920`s for the reformation of their holy places. Guru ka Bagh in Ghukkevali village, about 20 km from Amritsar, has two historic gurudwaras close to each other, commemorating the visits respectively of Guru Arjan in 1585 and Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1664. The latter is laid out on the site of a bdgh (garden) which gave the place its name.Like most other gurudwaras, the management of these two had passed into the hands of mahantsor abbots belonging to the monastic order of Udasi Sikhs.

KHALSA DIWAN, afterwards renamed Central Malva Khalsa Pritinidhi Diwan, Nabha, was formed on 1 January 1906 at a large conclave of the Sikhs held in the princely town. The inspiration came from Tikka Ripudaman Singh (1883-1943), henapparent to the Nabha throne, who was a staunch advocate of the Singh Sabha doctrine, and his tutor Bhai Kahn Singh. A committee consisting of five members, Hazura Singh, Nihal Singh, Bedi Hukam Singh, Raghbfr Singh and Mihari Singh, was constituted the same day to administer the Diwan.

KHALSA DIWAN AMRITSAR, established at Amritsar on 11 April 1883 to oversee and provide direction to the work of the Singh Sabha. This reform movement had originated in Amritsar with the formation of the first Singh Sabha on 1 October 1873. Singh Sabhas began springing up in other places, the one at Lahore being formed on 2 November 1879. Amritsar and Lahore Singh Sabhas joined hands to evolve a common platform under the name of General Sabha set up at Amritsar on 11 April 1880.

KHALSA DIWAN LAHORE, formed on 11 April 1886 by a group of Sikhs who following a schism had severed their connections with the Khalsa Diwan Amritsar. Bhai Attar Singh, chief of Bhadaur, was named president and Bhai Gurmukh Singh chief secretary. The Diwan was formally registered with the government on 19 February 1892. The membership comprised representatives of the Singh Sabhas affiliated to it as well as those from states where no Singh Sabhas existed.

KHALSA DIWAN MAJHA, an association of reformist Sikhs representing the districts of Lahore, Amritsar and Gurdaspur, was set up in 1904. The Singh Sabha movement had created among the Sikhs a new consciousness for the need to reform their religious and social practices. Early in 1904, Risaldar Basant Singh of Naushahra Pannuari, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district, celebrated the marriage of his daughter. Although the actual marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the Sikh rites of Anand sanctioned and popularized by the Singh Sabha, it was marked by much extravagance and ostentation. 

KHALSA PRACHARAK VIDYALA, TARN TARAN, an institution established in 1906 by the Khalsa Diwan Majha. From its inception in 1904, the setting up of centres in the rural areas to conduct worship services and reform programmes among villagers had constituted a vital part of the DTwan`s mission. The new organizational structure in turn required preparation of specialists who, well versed in Sikh theology, history and Iwian, could meet the needs of the masses.

MORCHA CHABIAN, campaign for the recovery of the keys of the Golden Temple treasury, marks a dramatic episode in the Sikhs` agitation in the early 1920`s for reforming the management of their places of worship. The Golden Temple at Amritsar, which had a government nominated sarbrdh or controller to manage it since 1849, came under Akali control in October 1920. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee nominated the old sarbrdh, Sundar Singh Ramgarhia, member of the Committee appointed to administer the affairs of the Golden Temple.

SHUDDHI SABHA, a society working in the closing years of the nineteenth century primarily for the reconversion to Sikhism of those proselytized into Christianity or Islam, was established in 1893. . Christian pro-selytization had started with the advent of British rule in the Punjab with official encouragement. Though the rate was never alarming, the local religious communities were becoming increasingly self-conscious. The Sikh response had materialized in the shape of the Singh Sabha.