Nirankari
| Motto | Khalsa Spirit. |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1890s |
|
Official language
|
Punjabi |
| Leader | Nirankari |
Nirankari (Punjabi: ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰੀ, Hindi: निरंकारी, English: Followers of the Formless One) is a reformist movement in Sikhism.
Nirankari originated in Rawalpindi in the northwest of the Punjab in what is now modern day Pakistan.
Baba Dyal's successor, Baba Darbar Singh, collected and recorded the Baba Dyal's essential teachings and established Nirankari communities outside of Rawalpindi. During the leadership of Sahib Rattaji (1870-1909), the Nirankari were estimated to number in the thousands. Some members became involved in the Singh Sabha Movement, a Sikhism revivalist movement, under the fourth leader Baba Gurdit Singh. However, the Singh Sabha Movement was largely based on Guru Nanak Dev's teachings, which were less popular to the Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh, causing its significant marginalization.
Under the British Raj, the Nirankari was further sidelined. In 1929 the Sant Nirankari Mission formed out of the Nirankari. The Mission was defined by its belief in a living Guru after the Guru Granth Sahib. The group later developed its own distinct spiritual movement. At the time of the partition of India in 1947, the Nirankari abandoned their center in Rawalpindi, which has since then been part of Pakistan, and established themselves on the Indian side of the partition.
Baba Dyal Singh (1783-1855) lived during a period of Sikh dominance, resulting from the victories of the Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh. However, Baba Dyal felt that the military successes were a distraction of the Sikh duty to remember Akal Purakh through the practice of Naam Japo. Baba Dyal further preached against the assimilation of other religious traditions into Sikhism. Namely, he was concerned that the Hindu practice of idolatry was becoming increasingly prevalent in Sikhism, and thus Baba Dyal emphasized the formless, or ni ran kar, quality of Akal Purakh, which gave the movement its name.
...
Wikipedia