Damdami Taksal History

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.

***Article:*** https://khalsachronicle.substack.com/...

***Source booklet:*** https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4vaz1k...
Main KhalsaNama High Res Tree: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4vaz1k...

**UPDATE** 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.
Please find this here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ugdack...



1) 1997 Gurmukh Parkash - https://archive.org/details/gurmukh-p...
2 1960 Gurmukh Parkash - https://archive.org/details/1_2024011...
3 Amir Bhandar 1976 (4th Edition) - https://archive.org/details/amir-bhan...
4 Amir Bhandar Later editions (2005) - https://archive.org/details/AmirBhand...
5 1974 Japji Sahib Steek Sant Kartar Singh Bhindranwale - https://archive.org/details/jap-ji-st...
6 1984 Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale publication - https://archive.org/details/khalsa-jivan
7 Giani Kirpal Singh on the life of Sant Gurbachan Singh and the succession of Sant Mohan Singh and the use of ‘Sampardai Bhindran’ - https://archive.org/details/bhindran

Sant Gurbachan Singh Bhindranwale on the origins of Jatha Bhindran -    • Видео  
Sant Gurbachan Singh Bhindranwale on meat -    • Meat - Sant Gurbachan Singh Ji Khalsa Bhin...  
Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on Alcohol -    • Sant Baba Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindraw...  


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