The Multifarious Faces of Sikhism
throughout Sikh History
Page 1 of 10
Samparda
Bhindra
Time of origin: 1918 (however 'Santhia'
tradition can be traced back to 1704 at Dam
Dama Sahib)
The great Nirmala Sikh, and holy man, Sriman
108 Baba Sundar Singh Ji Nirmala, founded
'Samparda Bhindra'.
Baba Sundar Singh was born in 1887, in the
village of Bhindra Kalan in Firozepur District,
Punjab. His father’s name was Baba
Khajan Singh, and his mother’s
name Mata Mehtab Kaur. Baba
Khajan Singh was himself a learned Nirmala Singh,
and at the age of approximately 9-10 years,
Baba Sundar Singh was taught to read Adi Guru
Durbar by his father. The venerable Bhai Mohr
Singh initiated Baba Sundar Singh into the Khalsa
brotherhood at the tender age of 10.
Sriman 108 Giani Sundar Singh Ji Nirmala
At the age of 16, Baba Khajan Singh had managed
to teach his the entire Adi Guru Durbar, and
a huge number of texts such as, ‘Panj
Granthi’, ‘Das Granthi’, '22
Vaaran’, ‘Bhagat Bani’, ‘Hanuman
Natak’, ‘Sarkutvali’, ‘Bhvaar
Simriti’, ‘Vairag Shakt’,
‘Probodh Chandra Natak’, Bhai Nand
Lal’s ‘Jindgi Nama’, ‘Mahabharat’,
‘Bhagvad Gita’, Bhai Gurdas Ji’s
‘Vaaran’, ‘Kabit Svaiya’
and ‘Sri Guru Nanak Prakash’.
At the age of 17, Baba Sundar Singh received
his father’s permission to take spare
time off from farming to visit the village of
Dharm Kot to learn Sanskrit from a Pundit. He
spent 2 years mastering the language of Sanskrit
that would aid his already phenomenal understanding
of Indian scriptures.
Dharm Kot The village of Dharm Kot, circa early
20th century
It was at the age of 18 that Baba Sundar Singh
sought out the great Sikh holy man, Sriman 108
Pundit Jawala Das Udasi:
‘In the village of
Dadh near Ludhiana he [Baba Sundar Singh]
merged himself in study to gain knowledge
in the troupe of the great ‘Mahatama’
(holy man) Sant Pundit Jawala Das Udasi.
This Pundit was a leader of a great troupe
and many ‘Sadhus’ (holy men)
use to study holy texts from him. At
this time Sant [Baba Sundar Singh Ji] had
memorized the ‘Panj Granthi’,
‘Jaap’, ‘Swaya’
etc. Sikh scripture and was able to recite
them beautifully. Panj Bani and
these scriptures from that time became his
daily liturgy. The Pundit [Jawala Das Ji]
had great desire to listen to proper reading
of Sikh scripture. Seating the Sant on a
high place sitting other Sadhus around him
he use to listen to the proper reading of
Sikh scripture from the Sant. On arriving
in the troupe Sant [Baba Sundar Singh Ji]
had right away asked the Pundit [Baba Jawala
Das Udasi] the service of assisting him
with his bath. Thus every day at
‘Amrit Vela’ [Ambrosial time/
early morning just before sunrise] he would
arise to assist the Pundit with his bath
and at that time if he had not understood
any passage [of Sikh scripture] or had any
other doubts he had them explained.
Like this he in a short time studied ‘Vichar
Sagar’, ‘Mokh Panth’,
etc. many Vedic language texts and then
came back to his home.’ ‘Amrit
Jiwan’, Dr. Sher Singh Giani, Pa.37
