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Khalsa
Panth
KHALSA,
from Arabic khalis (lit. pure, unsullied) and
PersoArabic khalisah (lit. pure; office of revenue
department; lands directly under government
management), is used collectively for the community
of baptized
Sikhs.
The term khalisah was used during the Muslim rule in
India for crownlands administered directly by the
king without the mediation of jdgirddrs or mansabddrs.
In the
Sikh
tradition, the term appears for the first time in one
of the hukamndmds (lit. written order or epistle) of
Guru
Hargobind (15951644) where a
Sangat
of the eastern region has been described as Guru kd
Khalsd (Guru`s own or Guru`s special charge). It has
also been employed in the same sense in one of the
letters of Guru Tegh Bahadur (162175) addressed to
the sangat of
Patna.
The word occurs in Sikh Scripture, the Guru
Granth
Sahib, once, but there it carries the sense of the
term khdfis, i.e. pure. The term "Khalsa", however,
acquired a specific connotation after Guru Gobind
Singh
(16661708) introduced, on 30 March 1699, the new form
of initiatory rites khande di pdhul (rites by khandd
or doubleedged sword). Sikhs so initiated on that
Baisakhi day were collectively designated as the
Khalsa Khalsa who belonged to Vahiguru, the Supreme
Lord. The phrase Vdhiguru ji kd Khalsa became part of
the Sikh salutation: Vdhiguru ji kd Khalsa, Vdhiguru
jl ki Fateh (Hail the Khalsa who belongs to the Lord
God! Hail the Lord God to whom belongs the victory!!)
It is significant that shortly before the
inauguration of the Khalsa Guru Gobind Singh had
abolished the institution of
Masands,
the Guru`s agents or intermediaries assigned to
sangat, of different regions, and his hukamnamas of
the period confirm the derecognition of masands,
establishing a direct relation between the sangats
and the Guru. Sainapati, a poet enjoying the
patronage of Guru Gobind Singh, in his Sri Gur Sobha
relates how some Sikhs, when questioned how they had
become Khalsa because khalsa was a term related to
the king of Delhi, replied that their Guru by
removing his former ndibs or deputies called masands
had made all Sikhs his Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh, at
the time of his departure from this mortal world,
conferred guruship itself upon the Khalsa along with
the holy Guru Granth Sahib. During the eighteenth
century the volunteer force organized by the Sikhs
was known as Dal Khalsa (lit. the Khalsa army).
Even
the government of Maharaja
Ranjit
Singh (17801839) was called Sarkar Khalsa. In Guru
Gobind Singh`s
Dasam Granth,
and in many later religious and historical Sikh
lexis, such as Sarbloh Granth, Prem Sumraag Granth,
Gur Bilass, Gur Pratap Suraj Granth and Pracheen
Panth
Prakash, the Khalsa is rcpctedly extolled as
composed of men of excellent moral qualities,
spiritual fervour and heroism. The words "Khalsa ji"
are also used loosely for addressing an individual
Singh or a group of them. However, it is more
appropriate to use the term for the entire community
or a representative gathering of it such as "Khalsa
Panth" or "Sarbatt Khalsa." The Khalsa in this
context implies the collective, spiritually directed
will of the community guided by the Guru Granth
Sahib.
PANTH
PANTH,
from Sanskrit patha, pathin, or pantham, means
literally a way, passage or path and, figuratively,
away of life, religious creed or cult. In
SIikh
terminology, the word panth stands for the Sikh faith
as well as for the Sikh people as a whole. It
represents the invisible mystic body comprising all
those who profess
Sikhiam
as their faith and encompassing lesser bodies,
religious as well as political, claiming to represent
the whole of the Sikh population or any section of it.
Panth for the
Sikhsis the supreme earthly body having full claim on their
allegiance. It transcends any of its components and
functional agencies. The use of the term panth as a
system of religious belief and practice, synonymous
with mdrga or religious path, is quite old. Several
medieval cults used it as a suffix to the names of
their preceptors, such as Gorkhpanth and Kabirpanth,
their followers being called Gorakhpanthis and
Kabirpanthis. Even the Sikhs were earlier known as
Nanakpanthis. In the
Guru Granth
Sahib, panth is used both in its literal as well as in
its figurative sense. In the former sense it frequently
occurs in poetical images of a lovelorn soul with her
gaze fixed on the path
Khalsa
Panth is whole Sikh community in the world come under
Khalsa Panth, Any Decision of Khalsa Panth, Sarbat
Khalsa is for every Sikh in the world and the Hukam of
Guru, Khalsa Shall Rule over the World. Nobody tackle
with Khalsa, Khalsa is of the Waheguru, Victory Belongs
to Khalsa,
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