Sadh Sangat
Literally, Sadh Sangat is ‘the congregation of the good people’. In Sikh parlance it mean the Sikh congregation composed of such Sikh believers who are known to be poised and steadfast in the Panth. The founder of the Sikh religion had declared the Sadh Sangat and the Sikh testament as the only twin ‘miracles’ vouchsafed to the Sikh religion by God for revitalizing and transforming the human society and ever since the Sadh Sangat or the congregation of those well-established in the Sikh faith has been treated with a great deal of reverence and invested with much power in relation to matters concerning the Sikhs and their religion.
Singh Sabha
What is Singh Sabha?
As it happened, however the Arya Samaj Organisation and Swami Daya Nand, both passed into the hands of an element of Hindu whose primary motivation was the hatred and opposition to Sikhism and not reversion to the original roots of Hinduism. In this manner the Arya Samaj movement became primarily a virulently anti-Sikh movement obliging its Sikh founders and office holders to quit it. Thus a positive Sikh religious reform movement came into existence; called the Singh Sabha movement. The originators and founders of Singh Sabha movement were precisely theose Sikhs who had invited Swami Daya Nand to Punjab and who fostered the Arya Samaj Societies to begin with. In the year 1873, the first central Singh Sabha organisation was established at Amritsar under the chairmanship of Sardar Thakur Singh Sandhawalia, with Giani Gian Singh, the famous Sikh scholar as its secretary. In the year 1879, a rival Singh Sabha Central Organisation was established at Lahore with Professor Gurmukh Singh of the Oriental College as its secretary and in the year1880 both these central organisations merged into one. The clarion call of Singh Sabha movement was ‘back to the original purity of Sikhism’ and to achieve this objective, a large number of social and religious reforms were affected.
The Singh Sabha Movement remained vigorous for about half a century when under the impact of political upheaval in the rest of country, the Sikh ethos was transformed into political yearnings. This change in Sikh attitude became reflected in the Akali Movement with the twin object of purifying Sikh practices and of ousting the foreign political power form India Currently, an influential committee has been set up by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to celebrate the Centenary of the Singh Sabha Movement as well as to revive the pristine purity of Sikh practices.
- Singh Sabha Movement
As it happened, however the Arya Samaj Organisation and Swami Daya Nand, both passed into the hands of an element of Hindu whose primary motivation was the hatred and opposition to Sikhism and not reversion to the original roots of Hinduism. In this manner the Arya Samaj movement became primarily a virulently anti-Sikh movement obliging its Sikh founders and office holders to quit it. Thus a positive Sikh religious reform movement came into existence; called the Singh Sabha movement. The originators and founders of Singh Sabha movement were precisely theose Sikhs who had invited Swami Daya Nand to Punjab and who fostered the Arya Samaj Societies to begin with. In the year 1873, the first central Singh Sabha organisation was established at Amritsar under the chairmanship of Sardar Thakur Singh Sandhawalia, with Giani Gian Singh, the famous Sikh scholar as its secretary. In the year 1879, a rival Singh Sabha Central Organisation was established at Lahore with Professor Gurmukh Singh of the Oriental College as its secretary and in the year1880 both these central organisations merged into one. The clarion call of Singh Sabha movement was ‘back to the original purity of Sikhism’ and to achieve this objective, a large number of social and religious reforms were affected.
The Singh Sabha Movement remained vigorous for about half a century when under the impact of political upheaval in the rest of country, the Sikh ethos was transformed into political yearnings. This change in Sikh attitude became reflected in the Akali Movement with the twin object of purifying Sikh practices and of ousting the foreign political power form India Currently, an influential committee has been set up by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to celebrate the Centenary of the Singh Sabha Movement as well as to revive the pristine purity of Sikh practices.
