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Religious Order

Nirankari

Sikh Orders and Jathas
Origin from 1851

The Nirankari is a Sikh reform order founded by Baba Dyal Das, also called Baba Dyal Singh, in 1851 in northwest Punjab, originally based in Rawalpindi, seeking to restore what its founder held were the authentic practices of Guru Nanak's era. Its name derives from the belief that God is Nirankar, or without form, opposing any physical representation of the divine, and its central practice is nam simaran, the remembering and repeating of God's name, alongside a distinctive belief in a lineage of living hereditary gurus extending beyond the ten recognized by orthodox Sikhism, treating the Guru Granth Sahib as an open text to which those living gurus' teachings can be added. During the 1947 partition of India the order abandoned its Rawalpindi base, which became part of Pakistan, and relocated to India, establishing a new center at Chandigarh in 1958.

Facts
Classification
Kind of order
Sikh Orders and Jathas 1
Apostolate
Spiritual Direction and Dhikr 2
Practice
Liturgical Language
Gurmukhi script and Sant Bhasha, the shared literary language in which Sikh scripture is composed 2
Origins
Origin Period
from 1851 1
Organisation
Ordination
Authority conferred by initiation rather than by ordination 2
Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Sikhism, Religions

Rooted In

Sikhism, Religions

Uses Liturgical Language

Sant Bhasha, Languages
Sources
1. Nirankari (Wikipedia)
  • lead paragraph
    Nirankari (Punjabi: ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰੀ, lit. "formless one") is a sect of Sikhism. It was a reform movement founded by Baba Dyal Das in northwest Punjab in 1851. He sought to restore the practices and
  • Lead section: origin year
    It was a reform movement founded by Baba Dyal Das in northwest Punjab in 1851.
View the Source
2. Wikidata: Nirankari
Wikidata Q5010889, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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