Mina (Sikhism)

Mina
ਮੀਣਾ
Fresco of a Mina Sikh figure from Pothimala, Guru Harsahai, ca.1745
Founder
Prithi Chand
Regions with significant populations
Punjab (mostly extinct but a branch survives in Guru Harsahai)
Religions
Sikhism
Scriptures
Goshti Gurū Miharivānu
Languages
Punjabi
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The Mīnās (Gurmukhi: ਮੀਣਾ; mīṇā) were a heretical sect of Sikhs that followed Prithi Chand[1] (1558–April 1618), the eldest son of Guru Ram Das, after his younger brother Guru Arjan was selected by the Guru to succeed him.[2][3] Prithi Chand would vigorously contest this,[3] attracting a portion of Sikhs to his side who followers of Guru Arjan referred to as ਮੀਣੇ mīṇe, meaning "charlatans,"[4] "dissemblers,"[5] or "scoundrels."[3][6] They sustained their opposition to the orthodox line of Gurus through the seventeenth century, and upon Guru Gobind Singh's founding of the Khalsa in 1699, they were declared by him, as well as by Khalsa rahitnamas (codes of conduct),[7] as one of the Panj Mel, or five reprobate groups,[6] that a Sikh must avoid.[3] They are occasionally referred to in the more neutral terms Sikhān dā chhotā mel ("those who remained with the true Guru lineage for a short time") or as the Miharvān sampraday (Gurmukhi: ਮਿਹਰਵਾਨ ਸੰਪਰਦਾ; miharavāna saparadā; meaning "the order of Miharvan") in scholarship.[8]

They emerged as the only major rival sect of the Sikh Guru period, whose line of succession ran in parallel to that of Guru Arjan and his official successors.[4] They controlled Amritsar and Harmandir Sahib built under Guru Arjan for much of the 17th century.[5] During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Minas gradually faded into the background of Sikh society in relation to the mainstream Khalsa,[7] as Mina literati declined along with the sect.[9]

  1. ^ Syan 2013, pp. 88–90.
  2. ^ H. S. Singha (2000). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (over 1000 Entries). Hemkunt Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-81-7010-301-1.
  3. ^ a b c d Winand M. Callewaert; Rupert Snell (1994). According to Tradition: Hagiographical Writing in India. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-3-447-03524-8.
  4. ^ a b Syan 2014, p. 170.
  5. ^ a b W. H. McLeod (2005). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Scarecrow. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-0-8108-5088-0.
  6. ^ a b Arvind-Pal S. Mandair; Christopher Shackle; Gurharpal Singh (2013). Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity. Taylor & Francis. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1-136-84634-2.
  7. ^ a b Syan 2014, p. 178.
  8. ^ Syan 2014, p. 171.
  9. ^ Syan 2014, p. 179.