Jathedar Sadhu Singh Bhaura
Encyclopedia
Jathedar Sadhu Singh Bhaura (1905-1984), was a Sikh missionary who rose to be the Jathedar or high priest of Sri Akal Takhat, Amritsar, was born the son of Bhai Ran Singh and Mai Atam Kaur, on 6 June 1905 at Chakk No. 7, a village in Saini Bar region of Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan).

Family background

He was born in a Saini
Saini
Saini is a Rajput descent caste of India. Sainis, also known as Shoorsaini in Puranic literature, are now found by their original name only in Punjab and in the neighboring states of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh...

 Sikh family which had relocated there from Jalandhar region. There were about 15 exclusively Saini
Saini
Saini is a Rajput descent caste of India. Sainis, also known as Shoorsaini in Puranic literature, are now found by their original name only in Punjab and in the neighboring states of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh...

 owned villages in Saini Bar settlement and all of them had relocated there from Doaba and Gurdaspur region. The villages were named as Chakks and each Chakk had number alloted to them in official records, though some of them were named after predominant clan names or village head, examples being Chakk Naura-Bhaura and Chak Bhola. Chaudhari Bhola Ram Saini
Saini
Saini is a Rajput descent caste of India. Sainis, also known as Shoorsaini in Puranic literature, are now found by their original name only in Punjab and in the neighboring states of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh...

 of Chakk 178 was the Zaildar
Zaildar
Zaildar was a native officer in charge of a Zail in the colonial rural administration of Punjab in British India. Each Zail was an administrative unit, extending between 2 to 40 villages....

 of the entire Saini Bar region in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) district of British Punjab.

Political background

After matriculating from Khalsa High School, Lyallpur (where Master Tara Singh
Master Tara Singh
Master Tara Singh Malhotra was a prominent Sikh political and religious leader in the first half of the 20th century...

, later a leading figure in Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

 politics, was the headmaster), he joined police service and served at Quetta from 1923 to 1925 before resigning to take part in the Akali
Akali
In the context of Sikhism, Akali may refer to:*any member of the Khalsa, i.e. the collective body of baptized Sikhs*a term for Nihangs*a politician of the Akali Dal political parties...

 agitation for Gurdwara reform. From 1926 to 1928, he studied at the Shahid Sikh Missionary College, Amritsar, to train as a missionary. From 1928 to 1964, he headed the Sikh preaching centres at Aligarh and Hapur, in Uttar Pradesh, where he is said to have initiated nearly half a million persons according to Sikh rites, among them mostly Vanjara Sikhs of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. He was a member of the executive committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal
Shiromani Akali Dal
The Shiromani Akali Dal , translation: Supreme Akali Party) is a Sikh nationalist political parties based in Punjab. The current party to be recognized by the Election Commission of India is the one led by Parkash Singh Badal...

 from 1955 to 1960 and took part in several of the political agitations launched by the party. He was Jathedar
Jathedar
Jathedar means "leader" and refers to a leader of a jatha . Among the Sikhs, a Jathedar is an ordained leader of the clergy and leads a Takht, a sacred and authoritative seat....

 of Takhat Sri Kesgarh, Anandpur Sahib, from 1961 to 1964.

Elevation as Jathedar of Akal Takth

In 1964, Sadhu Singh Bhaura was elevated to the position of Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht
Akal Takht
The Akal Takht of the Timeless One or Seat of God. It is one of the five seats of temporal authority of the Sikhs equivalent to any parliament of world sovereign country. Akal means The Timeless One - another term for God. Takht means 'seat' or 'throne' in Persian...

, the highest seat of religious authority and legislation for the Sikhs. He attracted wide public notice when, on 10 June 1978, he issued a hukamnama or edict calling upon all Sikhs to boycott socially the neoNirankari sect. In 1980, Jathedar Sadhu Singh Bhaura, in an effort to avert a vertical split in the Akali Dal, formed a seven member committee of senior party leaders to function as collegiate executive, but soon after himself resigned on health grounds and retired to live with his sons in Jalandhar where he died on 7 March 1984.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK