Tat Khalsa

Tat Khalsa
ਤੱਤ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ
Illustration titled 'Guru Govind Singh’s armed disciples, the early soldiers of the Khalsa' from The Sikhs (1904) by John James Hood Gordon
Founder
Guru Gobind Singh (legendary)
Mata Sundari, Binod Singh, and Kahn Singh (historical)
Regions with significant populations
Punjab
Religions
Sikhism
Scriptures
Guru Granth SahibDasam GranthSarbloh Granth
Languages
PunjabiKhalsa bole

The Tat Khalsa[1] (Gurmukhi: ਤੱਤ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, romanized: Tata khālasā, lit.'true Khalsa'), also romanised as Tatt Khalsa, known as the Akal Purkhias during the 18th century,[2] was a Sikh faction that arose from the schism following the passing of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708, led by his widow Mata Sundari, opposed to the religious innovations of Banda Singh Bahadur and his followers.[1][3] The roots of the Tat Khalsa lies in the official formalization and sanctification of the Khalsa order by the tenth Guru in 1699.[4]

  1. ^ a b Singh, Sudarshan (1997). Siṅgh, Harbans (ed.). Tatt Ḵẖālsā (3rd ed.). Patiala, Punjab, India: Punjab University, Patiala, 2011. pp. 326–327. ISBN 9788173803499.
  2. ^ Grewal, J. S. (2019). Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) : master of the white hawk (1st ed.). New Delhi, India. ISBN 978-0-19-949494-1. OCLC 1121651952.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (2009). Britannica Guide to India. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-59339-847-7.
  4. ^ Fenech, Louis E. (2021). "Notes". The Cherished Five in Sikh History. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-19-753287-4. OCLC 1157751641. 88. The use of the words Tat Khalsa can often be problematic for historians of the Sikhs, as, at times, it is as amorphous a signifier as Hinduism or Sikhism. The tradition of the Tat Khalsa encompasses many ways of being Sikh, including not only discursivity, that is to say, the Sikh emphasis on written and spoken texts, but also a whole host of rituals, gestures, materials, and imaginaries. What sets the category apart from simply Sikhism is the fact that at the centre of all Tat Khalsa imaginaries and imaginings is the Khalsa, although even the story of its formation is subject to some minor contestations and discrepancies, particularly in regard to the creation of the Cherished Five. There were, as we know by now, many satellite branches of the Tat Khalsa (which is also known as the Lahore Singh Sabha), some of which contributed their own particular nuances to the Tat Khalsa narrative of the triumphant Khalsa and Sikh tradition and ideology.