Gurdwara, Sikh Sabha Movement, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee
Gurminder Singh
Gurdwara: A place for Sikh worship and community gatherings. In the Adi Granth the term Guru duara refers to the grace of the guru, understood as the 'voice' of Akal Purakh. Gradually, during the eighteen and nineteen centuries, 'dharam-sala' was abandoned for this purpose and the meaning of 'gurduara' extended to take its place. The place of assembly, formerly a dharma-sala. Thus became known as a gurdwara. The Gurdwara is a powerful institution in the Panth, frequently providing Sikhs with a social center as well as a place of worship. Gurdwara is a shortened version of Guru Dwara used by Guru Nanak in his bani (words, verse). When Guru Nanak used the word Guru Dwara in his bani he referred Guru to the Almighty and Dwara to the Gateway, thus Guru Dwara means the Gateway to the Almighty.
Singh Sabha Movement: In 1873, the Singh Sabha Movement was established with the aim of achieving a moral, spiritual and educational evolution of the Sikh people. The basic aim of the founder of Sikh Sabha Movement was to impart knowledge of the glorious heritage of the Sikh faith and its tradition to the younger generations. The movement sought to inspire the young with high moral standards of conduct so that they could become the best models of the community.
The Sikh Sabha Movement concerned itself with four main areas: Establishment of Sikh schools and colleges, Organization and management of Sikh Gurdwaras by the congregation, Re-establishment of the Khalsa codes of Conduct and lifestyle, as taught by the Sikh Gurus, Promotion of the Political rights of the individual.
The Singh Sabha Movement's accomplishments were many, but they did not come without the sacrifice of many lives in the process, Sikh schools were set up in villages and cities. Adults were taught Gurmukhi, to enable them to read the Shri Guru Granth Sahib and other Punjabi literature. The Chief Khalsa Diwan, made up of representatives of various Singh Sabha and congregations in the Punjab, was set up in 1883.
Before World War I the Rakab-ganj Gurdwara affair indicated a growing sense of dissatis-faction on the part of many Sikhs and a feeling that their Khalsa rights were not adequately recognized. Soon after the war the Gurdwara Reform Movement began. An agitation, lasting from 1920 until 1925, for control of the major Sikh gurdwaras by the Panth rather than by the individual owners who had been granted possession by the British. In 1919 the Central Sikh League was constituted, and it in turn formed the Akali Dal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee in 1920. Eventually it passed the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 that transferred ownership of a lengthy list of the more important gurdwaras in the Punjab to a committee to be elected by those people whom the Act defined as Sikhs. The Akalis then transferred the title of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee to the committee, which was to control the gurdwaras.
Singh Sabha Gurdwara: Singh Sabha Gurdwara has its own rules and regulations, and code of conduct to administer the Gurdwara. The Granthis, Raagis, Kathakar, and preachers are appointed or invited of their own choice. Dr (Bhai) Harbans Lal (14) quoted Bhai Kahn Singh in his article about the Institution of Gurdwara as follows: "The author (Bhai Kahn Singh) sincerely offers his prayer before the Akal Purkh (God) that time may soon come when we see virtuous persons like Babba Budha, Bhai Gurdas, Saint Almust, Bhai Kanhya, Mahant Gurbaksh, and Bhai Mani Singh as custodians of Gurdwaras so that Nanak's message can reach everywhere in the world." "In the above verse bhaanda means body (and the mind), Guru means the Almighty, dwara means gateway, maanis means man, amrit means elixir, agay and teh lok means the next world and three worlds, used here as similes, respectively". AGGS, M1, p 730.
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee : Within the area covered by the Sikh Gurdwara Act the major gurdwaras are almost all controlled directly by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee "SGPC"; those of Delhi are under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, the body set up by the Delhi Gurdwaras Act of 1971 to manage gurdwara and gurdwara property within the union territory of Delhi. The legislation was modeled on the 1925 Gurdwara Act, and the Committee it authorized is similar to the SGPC. One difference is that only Amrit-dharis and Kes-dharis are entitled to vote for Delhi Committee, not sahaj-dharis. Delhi has around three hundred Gurdwaras but twelve of the Gurdwaras in the Delhi are under the control of DSGPC, they are under the Local Singh Sabhas.