Tat Khalsa

Singh Sabha Movement is the general term that is used for different networks of socio-religious reform movements among the Sikhs of the Panjab from the late 19th century. The first such Singh Sabha was founded in 1873 by conservative elites sikhistischen ( sikhistische landowners, regional leaders, head of Gurdwaras, di cult sites ) in Amritsar. Their approach, geared more towards preserving the current status quo in the sikhistischen religious community against external influences, among others by Christian missionaries could not prevail in the medium term against another flow of Singh Sabhas under the leadership of the Lahore Singh Sabha, which was founded in 1879. This was better organized and to the modern media and administrative structures adapted (for example, journalism, money, fundraising, advocacy and communication with the colonial authorities ) and certain increasing the occurrence of sikhistischen community in public, especially against the colonial rulers and among the urban elites. Nowadays, the term " Singh Sabha Movement" is usually unilateral, based on the outgoing branch of Lahore.

The work of the Singh - Sabhas in the transformation of tradition sikhistischen

The Singh - Sabhas spread quickly to other urban centers of Punjab and founded regional branches. Targeted was now spread to rural areas to teach the Sikhs living there one by urban standards developed ( to western values ​​of religiosity ) form of religious practice. So their self-image should be sharpened as Sikhs in distinction from other religious communities such as Hindus and Muslims. ( Formerly this was just in rural areas Northwest of India minor and all three groups had often shared places of worship. ) Against this background, various elements of the local folk beliefs were ( Holy or nature worship, worship of idols, pilgrimage to certain places of pilgrimage ) criticized the attempt to spread a uniform form of religious practice.

Was from the available scriptures one, the Adi Granth, as only selected authoritative limited (starting with the founder, Guru Nanak ) the worship of charismatic religious leader to a group of 10 "historical " gurus and religious space on the Gurdwaras as the only legitimate places of worship limited (compared to various natural sanctuaries, tombs miraculous personalities, etc.). In addition, its own forms of religious rites of passage (birth, death) have been created or explains existing rituals as universally binding and unified ( initiation, marriage). Often distinguished Sikhs in this area previously little from other surrounding religious groups.

Last, and to the present day central, generalized the Singh Sabhas the various religiously based identification of Sikhism on the currently valid 5 Ks ( dagger, Punjabi: Kirpan, uncut hair, Kes (including the turban as a head covering ); comb, Kanga, steel bracelet, Kara; specific legwear, Kachha ). Previously, there were very different ideas about the external identification of Sikhs (if they existed at all, it was often five in number), and these were worn only by a small elite of the Khalsa Sikhs.

The Khalsa is a similar organization within orden of Sikhism ( with the mythical Founded on March 30, 1699), which imposed its members particularly strict rules of conduct. Due to the agitation of the Singh Sabhas the role of the Khalsa for sikhistische community was strongly idealized and gradually a sikhistische religious practice outside of the Khalsa (and without whose distinctive mark ) was stigmatized as inadequate and devalued. Such ratings are still valid today - especially in the West, it is believed to be able to recognize Sikhs reliable at their turban. The number of non -initiated into the Khalsa Sikhs in the diaspora (ie outside India ) is now probably close to zero, which is not known to those in Germany, since no statistics are made to this question. (India considers itself a secular country with no interest in such matters and also the sikhistische Orthodoxy has no motivation to spread such numbers.)

Motivations

Reason lay in an improved visibility over the colonial administration - the interests of urban elites in the dissemination of such a unified religious form of " Sikhism " - the order in his religious representation and everyday practice, if not reinvented, yet has been transformed dramatically. This distributed jobs in local government institutions and places at state educational institutions increasingly on the basis of religiously based quotas. Therefore, many educated Sikhs in the cities could hope to participate in the social resources of power, prosperity and prestige only by a visibility as a separate religious group.

In addition, the traditional religion of the Sikhs became increasingly no longer meet the requirements of the modern world, in which many urban members of the religious community lived. Western education and the intellectual influences of Christian missionaries ( the already active since 1835 in the Panjab were ) had postponed the religious value standards of the urban elites and the demands on their religiosity strolling. Thus, to understand why a large part of the religious Homogenisierungsprogramms the Singh Sabhas with the missionary criticism of the native paganism ( ... idolatry, ritualism proliferating, confused ideas of the Divine ) was related and reacted to. Harjot Singh Oberoi writes in his book " The Construction of Religious Boundaries ": " The elites tried in their efforts to their own [ political and professional ] ambitions to generalize to transform the rest of the sikhistischen tradition in a mirror image of itself. "

Socio - political background

Another factor that promoted the religious awareness and its implementation in a standardized religiosity was the time parallel occurrence of other socio - religious reform movements, such as the Hindu Arya Samaj ( 1877 ) and the Muslim Ahmadiyya movement (from 1889), to which the Singh Sabhas soon entered into competition for members and socio - political influence. In this context, the need for external recognition of their own group (and therefore oneself off from others ) was always significant and vented itself in various, even violent tensions, particularly in connection with the conversion rituals of Arya Samaj ( Shuddhi ) against Sikhs. As well as between the different wings of the Singh Sabha movement, there was here a veritable press war, a journalistic mudslinging between the representatives of the different camps in books, journal articles, pamphlets, etc., which were often further fought on judicial means.

Socio - religious effect of power in retrospect

Against this background, it was the Singh Sabha movement, gradually, their claims regarding the religious practices of Sikhism and its ideological foundation largely to enforce and reduce the influence of traditional elites. Although the Singh Sabhas (due to their proximity to the colonial administration and their support) were pushed into the overall political dynamics of the anti -colonial movement led by the Congress Party and Mohandas Gandhi as institutions sidelined as institutions from 1919, their socio - religious reform work had continued inventory. In 1950, after long discussions about questions of detail and formulations, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC ) was ( until today dominant and recognized as sikhistische orthodoxy founded in 1925, ) by the Sikh Reht Maryada published, a kind sikhistischer Catechism with authoritative information on all dogmatic questions to Sikhism, by the practice of everyday life, to the most abstract teaching content. This can be seen in large part as a belated legacy of the work of Singh Sabhas.