Chandigarh: Invoking the power vested in it through a centuries-old tradition, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, the Akal Takht, Friday declared former deputy chief minister and president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal a tankhaiya or sinner, guilty of religious misconduct.
Badal joins a long list of prominent Sikhs who have been declared sinners and had to undergo tankha or punishment to atone for their sins. These included the first Sikh emperor, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, former President of India Giani Zail Singh, former Punjab CM Surjit Singh Barnala, former home minister Buta Singh, former SAD president Jagdev Singh Talwandi and even a former jathedar of the Akal Takht, Darshan Singh.
Two prominent Sikh reformers from the pre-Independence era—professor Gurmukh Singh and preacher Teja Singh Bhasaur—are also part of the list, as are authors and journalists.
The jathedars of the five takhts or seats of power and members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that regulates the working of historical gurdwaras have also been at the receiving end of the moral stick of the Akal Takht.
Although the concept of a tankhaiya has taken several years to crystallise, it is generally agreed upon by Sikh scholars now that a tankhaiya is any Sikh who has violated the rehat maryada (Sikh code of conduct) or done anything that is detrimental to the Sikh religion.
It is a centuries-old tradition that is applicable only to the Sikhs. Over the years, the Akal Takht jathedar, as well as the jathedars of the four other holy takhts of Sikhism—Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib, Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo, Patna Sahib in Bihar and Hazur Sahib in Nanded, Maharashtra—have been vested with the authority declare a person a tankhaiya after following due procedure. However, in the past, there have been some cases of individual takht jathedars also declaring tankhaiyas.
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Crime and punishment
The declaration of the tankhaiya is done from the ramparts of the Akal Takht at the Golden Temple at Amritsar. This is done in accordance with the historical ritualistic tradition of announcing punishments and edicts.
A Sikh declared as a tankhaiya by the Akal Takht is a “sinner” in the Sikh community and is handed over a punishment or chastisement (tankha) decided by the Akal Takht. In order to accept the punishment, the tankhaiya has to present himself before the five jathedars, the Guru Granth Sahib and the Akal Takht, and seek forgiveness from the Sikh community.
The punishment is of a religious and humbling nature, like cleaning the premises of gurdwaras, polishing the shoes of gurdwara visitors, washing utensils used in the langar (community kitchen) or helping in the community kitchen. However, punishments in the past have also included flogging, blackening of the face, etc. Sometimes, the tankhaiya is ordered to hang a small wooden board around his neck declaring that he is a sinner.
Once the tankha or punishment is completed, the tankhaiya is forgiven following an ardaas or prayer.
In case a tankhaiya does not undergo the punishment, he faces excommunication from the Sikh religion. The excommunication order is in the form of a hukamnama or royal order issued by the Akal Takht and is considered binding on all Sikhs. The excommunication involves complete social boycott of the sinner and such a person cannot participate in any Sikh religious ceremony either.
The Akal Takht can also declare those who engage with a person excommunicated from Sikhism tankhaiyas.
While the majority of those declared tankhaiyas by the Akal Takht in the past have accepted the punishment meted out to them, there have been some who refused to abide by the verdict of the Akal Takht and were excommunicated.
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Tankhaiyas, excommunications
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who founded the Sikh Empire in 1801 and ruled till his death in 1839, was declared a tankhaiya by the Akal Takht in 1802 when he married a Muslim dancer, Moran Sarkar.
The jathedar of the Akal Takht, Akali Phula Singh, a Nihang leader, summoned Ranjit Singh to Amritsar, where he was asked to seek forgiveness for his mistake. Historians note that Ranjit Singh was to be flogged as a punishment but his apology was accepted by the sangat and he was forgiven.
Professor Gurmukh Singh, a prominent figure of the Sikh reformist movement, was excommunicated in 1887 for his activism to reform Sikh practices. The Akal Takht held that Singh had shown disrespect to the Guru Granth Sahib and the gurbani “orally and in print”. This hukamnama against Singh was revoked in September 1995 at the World Sikh Conference organised by the Akal Takht, where his services were appreciated.
In May 1924, the Akal Takht summoned Kartar Singh Bedi, nephew of Baba Khem Singh Bedi, chief of Amritsar Singh Sabha, for his alleged role in the infamous Nankana Sahib massacre of 1921 and for organising a gathering of sadhus at Haridwar to provoke them against the Sikhs. Bedi refused to comply with the orders of the Akal Takht and was excommunicated.
Several years later, when Kartar Singh was very old, he presented himself before the Akal Takht and admitted to his mistakes. The Akal Takht then ordered that Kartar Singh be paraded on the streets of Amritsar with his face blackened, sitting on a mule. Singh, however, begged for mercy on the grounds that his family were descendants of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak, and he should be spared the public insult.
In 1928, the Akal Takht excommunicated Sikh reformer Babu Teja Singh Bhasaur for challenging the Bhagat Bani in the Guru Granth Sahib.
A former government employee, Bhasaur left service and became a prominent leader of the Singh Sabha Movement. He advocated the removal of the Bhagat Bani compositions from the Guru Granth Sahib and went to the extent of printing the Guru Granth Sahib without the raag mala or musical notes. Bhasaur remained unrepentant till his death in 1933.
In 1961, the Akal Takht declared warring Akali leaders Master Tara Singh and Sant Fateh Singh tankhaiyas. Both were prominent leaders of the Punjabi Suba movement and were held guilty by the Akal Takht of breaking vows made in the name of the Sikh religion. Both had undertaken fasts unto death for the creation of the Punjabi Suba, but ended their fasts without achieving any concrete results.
The two were summoned by the jathedar of the Akal Takht, Achchar Singh, and were asked to recite additional prayers and told to clean utensils and shoes at the Golden Temple for five days.
In July 1977, Giani Bhag Singh of Ambala was excommunicated by Akal Takht jathedar Sadhu Singh for publishing a book about the writings of the 10th Sikh guru, Gobind Singh. The Akal Takht held that the book had been published without any discussion with the SGPC and without any review by Sikh scholars.
Sikh scholars Piar Singh and Pashaura Singh were declared tankhaiyas in 1993 and 1994, respectively, for questioning the authenticity of the Guru Granth Sahib in their respective research works.
Prominent ‘sinner’ politicians & religious leaders
A former SAD president who went on to become the president of the SGPC, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, was declared a tankhaiya in 1979 for defying the orders of the Akal Takht asking multiple Akali factions to unite. Talwandi later apologised and atoned for his mistake.
Then President of India Giani Zail Singh and Union minister Buta Singh were declared tankhaiyas for their role in Operation Blue Star in 1984, when the Army attacked the Golden Temple to flush out militants. Zail Singh was pardoned on the basis of a written apology. Buta Singh was excommunicated and sought forgiveness after 10 years, appearing before the Akal Takht.
The same year, Baba Santa Singh, the chief of a Nihang group who had taken up repairs of the damaged Akal Takht after Operation Blue Star, was declared a tankhaiya for starting the karseva at the behest of the Congress government even before the Army had left the Golden Temple. Santa Singh appeared before the Akal Takht in 2001 and apologised. He was asked to perform service at all the five Takhts.
In 1986, the Akal Takht excommunicated then Akali CM of Punjab, Surjit Singh Barnala, for hurting the feelings of the Sikh masses by ordering security forces to enter the Golden Temple in April that year as part of Operation Black Thunder. Barnala had ordered the operation to flush out militants from the temple.
Barnala was asked to pay a fine and clean the shoes of visitors at the Golden Temple besides reciting the Sikh prayers. Barnala, however, complied with the punishment five years later, submitting himself before the Akal Takht and performing seva for 21 days. He was granted pardon and taken back into the Sikh fold.
In 1998, self-styled godman Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara, who led a breakaway Sikh sect in Punjab’s Ropar, was excommunicated for attempting to insult the Guru Granth Sahib by publishing his own religious text, called the Bhavsagar Granth. The granth was banned by the Punjab government and Bhaniara was arrested under the National Security Act. Bhaniara died in December 2019.
In July 2003, Gurbaksh Singh ‘Kala Afghana’ was excommunicated for his writings about the Sikh religion. The excommunication order of the Akal Takht says that in response to it declaring him a tankhaiya, he had written to the Akal Takht using inappropriate language and said he would present himself before the takht along with international media. The Akal Takht ordered that since Gurbaksh Singh did not appear before the last date of the opportunity given to him, he was being excommunicated.
Recent declarations
In a decision that sparked a huge debate among the Sikh community, the Akal Takht in 2009 declared its former jathedar, professor Darshan Singh Khalsa, a tankhaiya and excommunicated him a year later.
Darshan Singh is a reputed kirtani (singer of hymns). The Akal Takht charged him with blasphemy during a public discourse in the US. His supporters criticised the takht for “taking arbitrary decisions behind closed doors” while several Sikh bodies supported the Akal Takht in its decision.
In April 2017, the Akal Takht declared more than three dozen Sikh political leaders from the Congress and the SAD tankhaiyas for seeking votes from the Dera Sacha Sauda during the 2017 Punjab election. These leaders were asked to perform seva in gurdwaras, sweep the road leading to the gurdwara, wash the parikrama of the Golden Temple, polish shoes and serve langar, besides listening to kirtan.
These included SAD leaders Surjit Singh Rakhra and Sikandar Singh Maluka who are now leaders in the group that has rebelled against Sukhbir Badal. One of the charges levelled against Badal by the rebel group last month related to having orchestrated the Akal Taht’s pardon for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for political ends.
In November 2017, one of these leaders who were given punishment, Gobind Singh Longowal, was elected as the SGPC president.
The Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa, Haryana, has been in conflict with the Sikhs since 2007 when the Dera chief dressed himself as Guru Gobind Singh. Sikhs and Dera followers have clashed multiple times in the state.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim was also excommunicated for his 2007 act. However, in a controversial move, he was granted pardon by the Akal Takht in 2015 on the basis of a written apology. The move led to severe backlash from Sikhs in Punjab and the Akal Takht hurriedly revoked its pardon a few months later.
Senior Akali leader and former cabinet minister Sucha Singh Langah was excommunicated after an alleged sleaze video of his went viral in 2017. Although he was acquitted by a court in the video incident in 2018, he was pardoned by the Akal Takht only in 2022.
In 2022, the then jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet Singh, declared the former jathedar of takht Patna Sahib, Giani Iqbal Singh, a tankhaiya for participating in a power struggle at the Patna Sahib gurdwara.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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