The Damdami Taksal (Jatha Bhindra-Mehta) has emerged as one of the most popular orders within modern day Sikhi, holding significant ideological, socio-political and cultural sway all over the world. The institution became a household name in Punjab by the time of Operation Blue Star (1984) and today many Amritdhari Sikhs in both India and the west adhere to the Rehit Maryada of the Damdami Taksal.
Despite being a relatively new establishment founded by Sant Sundar Singh Bhindranwale at the turn of the 20th century (with their name being consecrated in the 1970s) the Damdami Taksal claims a lineage going all the way back to Guru Gobind Singh. In this episode we look to explore the validity of these claims whilst simultaneously looking further into the two major historical orders which are crucial to this investigation: the Giani and Nirmala Samaprdas. In our previous episode we touched upon some of their practices during the 18th and 19th century. This episode will look to delve deeper into their key figures, historic events, taboos, rehat-maryada as well as their stories of origin.
As this episode is a step up in difficulty in learning about these historical traditions, we’ve produced a 58 page booklet for you to explore in your own time which we recommend using to compliment this documentary. There are also useful links to texts which have been mentioned within the documentary which can be found below.
Timestamps
00:00 Background
11:34 Part 1: The Giani Samparda
23:53 Part 2: The Nirmala Samparda
25:27 Part 3: The Critical Link Branch of Jatha Bhindran
31.11 Part 4: Sato Ki Gali Taksal & Bhai Vir Singh
33:19 Part 5: The Modern Damdami Taksal Lineage
38:17 Part 6: Verdict
42:17 Part 7: Rehit Maryada, Taboos and the Damdami Taksal
DATE: On release of this video another earlier source (From Sant Gurbachan Singh Bhindranwale) has come to light that aligns with his Katha, but this does not align with his Gurmukh Parkash text, and is completely different to the Damdami Taksal's modern lineage charts. This chart does not include Baba Deep Singh:
(Click to expand)
Vichaars
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