The Nankana Sahib Massacre refers to the grim episode during the Gurdwara Reform Movement / Akali Movement in which a peaceful batch of reformist Sikhs were subjected to a murderous assault on 20 February 1921 in the holy shrine at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Continue reading “Nankana Sahib Massacre”
The Sikh Gurdwaras Act refers to the legislation passed by the Punjab Legislative Council which marked the struggle of the Sikhs from 1920-1925 to wrest control of their places of worship from the mahants (priests) into whose hands they had passed during the 18th century when the Sikhs were driven away from their homes to seek safety in remote hills and deserts. Later when the sikhs established their way in Punjab they rebuilt their shrines. Continue reading “Gurdwara Reform Movement & Sikh Gurdwara Act”
The Akali Movement also known as Gurdwara Reform Movement came into full swing from the early 1920’s. It’s aim was to bring reform in the working and management of Sikh Gurdwaras.
The campaign which gained tremendous support, especially, from the rural masses, took the form of a peaceful agitation-marches, divans, religious gatherings, and demonstrations for Sikhs to assert their right to manage their places of worship. Continue reading “Akali Movement”
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place on 13 April 1919 in the heart of Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikhs, on a day sacred to them as the birth anniversary of the Khalsa. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre lead by a senior British military officer,involved the killing of hundreds of unarmed, defenceless Indians. Continue reading “Jallianwala Bagh”
Komagata Maru was a Japanese trampsteamer, renamed Guru Nanak Jahaz, launched from Hong Kong by Baba Gurdit Singh (1860-1954), an adventurous Sikh businessman, to take a batch of Indian emigrants to Canada.
In the year 1900 the census reported that there where 2050 people from India on the North American continent. The majority of these people were Punjabis who had settled in Canada who had come with the hope of finding work so that they could improve their economic situation from what it had been in Punjab. Continue reading “Komagata Maru”
