 | |
| Founder | |
|---|---|
| Guru Nanak | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Dhaka · Chittagong · Mymensingh · Sylhet | |
| Scriptures | |
| Guru Granth Sahib | |
| Languages | |
| Sant Bhasha (sacred) Punjabi (cultural) Bengali (national) Hindi • Urdu |
Sikhism in Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশী শিখ.Punjabi: ਬੰਗਲਾਦੇਸ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਿੱਖ ਧਰਮ) has an extensive heritage and history, althoughSikhs had always been a minority community in Bengal. Their founder,Guru Nanak visited a number of places in Bengal in the early sixteenth century where he introduced Sikhism to locals and founded numerous establishments.
In its early history, theSikh gurus despatched their followers to propagate Sikh teachings in Bengal and issuedhukamnamas to that region, with Udasi preachers converting locals to Sikhism.Guru Tegh Bahadur lived in Bengal for two years, and his successorGuru Gobind Singh also visited the region.
Sikhism in Bengal continued to exist during the colonial period as Sikhs found employment in the region, but it declined afterthe partition in 1947.[1] Among the eighteen historicalgurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) in Bangladesh, only five are extant. TheGurdwara Nanak Shahi ofDhaka is the principal and largestgurdwara in the country.[2] The Sikh population in the country almost entirely consists of businessmen and government officials from the neighbouringRepublic of India.[2]
Sikhism first emerged inBengal when its founder,Guru Nanak, visited theBengal Sultanate in 1504 during the reign of SultanAlauddin Husain Shah.[2] Guru Nanak's visit to Bengal in the early 16th century is corroborated in Sikh hagiographical literature, alongside local traditions.[3] He passed throughKantanagar andSylhet.[2]Kahn Singh Nabha credits the establishment of Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet to Nanak himself.[2] Mughal courtierAbu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak also records in hisAkbarnama that Nanak had entered Sylhet fromKamrup with his followers.[2] He further narrates a story in which afaqir (Sufi ascetic) called Nur Shahtransmorphed Nanak's senior companionBhai Mardana into alamb although Nanak was able to undo the spell later on.[2]
Nanak then sailed intoDhaka, where he stopped at the village ofShivpur and also visitedFaridpur.[4] He first preached to the potters ofRayer Bazaar, for whom he dug and consecrated a well in Jafarabad village for.[4] Nanak was also said to have constructed agurdwara in Jafarabad.[4] The ruins of the well in Jafarabad is still visited by Sikhs, who believe that its waters have curative powers.[5] Nanak then left Dhaka as he intended to travel toCalcutta and subsequently theDeccan. He passed throughChittagong, where he established amanji (religious headquarter) inChawkbazar and made Bhai Jhanda its firstmasand. Raja Sudhir Sen of Chittagong converted to Sikhism as a result of his converted son, Indra Singh, and became a disciple of Guru Nanak. This manji later became the Chittagong Gurdwara (Joy Nagar Lane,Panchlaish) through the effort of Dewan Mohan Singh, theBihari-Sikhdewan of theNawab of BengalMurshid Quli Khan. The Nawab had also allowed the entire property to be rent-free. The Dewan also established the Gurdwara of English Road inDhaka which later collapsed.[2][6]
During the guruship ofGuru Amar Das, preachers were dispatched to the Bengal region and congregations (sangats) of Sikhs were established.[3] The Guru Granth Sahib compiled by Guru Arjan features poetry attributed toJayadeva, which someclaim was from Bengal.[7]Baba Gurditta later visited Bengal, where he established amanji in Shujatpur (presently theUniversity of Dhaka campus) which Gurditta traced to be the location in which Nanak resided during his stay in Bengal.[2] During the reign ofMughal emperorJahangir,Guru Hargobind dispatched Bhai Natha (Bhai Almast's successor) to Bengal, who dug another well and also laid the foundation stone for the Shujatpur Sikh Sangat, a religious congregation.[3][2] Thesangat commemorated the footsteps of Guru Nanak.[2] Dalbir Singh Dhillon claims that the sixth guru had dispatched Bhai Almast to conduct missionary work in Bengal, whose original work was carried-on by Bhai Natha by the time of the ninth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur.[3]
Guru Tegh Bahadur stayed inDhaka between 1666 and 1668 after visitingAssam. During this time, Bulaki Das was themasand (Sikh minister) of Dhaka.[3] He established the Gurdwara Sangat Tola (14 Sreesh Das Lane), then referred to as adharamsaal, inBangla Bazar.[5][4] His wooden sandals are preserved at theGurdwara Nanak Shahi.[8] He also visited the Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet twice. His successor,Guru Gobind Singh, issued manyhukamnamas to the Sylhet temple and also visited Dhaka. The Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet provided war elephants for him too.[4][9] Whilst Guru Tegh Bahadur was residing in Dhaka, Sikh pilgrims from congregations located in Sylhet, Sondip, Chittagong travelled to the guru's location to obtaindarshan of him.[3] Guru Gobind Singh is also purported to have visited Dhaka at some point.[4]
By the early 18th century, there were a few Sikhs living in the region of Bengal.[10] One famous Sikh who lived during this time period wasOmichand, a localKhatri Sikh banker and landlord who participate in the conspiracy againstNawabSiraj ud-Daulah with theEast India Company.[10][11] The Flemish artistFrans Baltazard Solvyns arrived in Calcutta in 1791 and observed many Sikhs, whom one could differentiate from the rest of the land's inhabitants by their garbs and traditions.[10] He etched depictions of aKhalsa Sikh and aNanakpanthi, which was published in 1799.[10]
Over time, the Shujatpursangat developed into what is now theGurdwara Nanak Shahi from 1830 onwards. Under the initiative of Mahant Prem Daas, Bhai Nattha's well was reformed in 1833.[2] A large number ofSikhs found employment with theAssam Bengal Railway and agurdwara was established for them inPahartali, Chittagong.[12] The Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet was destroyed as result of the1897 earthquake. The Sangat Sutrashashi at Urdu Road was later destroyed by the Sutra Sadhus. There is also a gurdwara inBanigram, Banshkhali.[13]
In 1945, Sikhs established the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Sahib inMymensingh which continues to be used by ten local families today. ABengali Sikh called Here Singh was appointed as its inaugural chief. From 1915 to 1947, Sri Chandrajyoti served as thegranthi ofGurdwara Nanak Shahi in Dhaka. After theIndependence of Pakistan, most of the Sikh community left for theDominion of India and the Dhaka gurdwara was looked after by Bhai Swaran Singh.[2] TheGovernment of Pakistan requisitioned this part of Jafarabad under Sikh supervision until 1959.[7] After theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971 andBangladesh Liberation War, Indian Sikh soldiers helped renovate the extantgurdwaras of Bangladesh including the Gurdwara Nanak Shahi.[8] A handwritten copy of theGuru Granth Sahib from the time ofGuru Arjan was kept at theGurdwara Sangat Tola and later moved to theGurdwara Nanak Shahi in 1985.[7]
During floods in the country, Sikh organizations such as Sampardai Kaar Sewa Sarhali Sahib run by Sukha Singh, have donated to the government ofSheikh Hasina for the purpose of humanitarian causes.[16]
The Guru Granth Sahib has not been fully translated into Bengali, however selections from it have been translated into Bengali byRabindranath Tagore (a couple ofshlokas of Guru Nanak), Jnanendranath Datta (in prose), and Kiranchand Dervish (in verse).[7] A two-volume translation of parts of the scripture by Haranchandra Chakladar was published in 1957 and 1962 asShriShri Gurugrantha Sahibji.[7]
The Sikh population almost entirely consists ofPunjabi businessmen and government officials from the neighbouringRepublic of India.[2] These Sikhs mostly reside in Dhaka, Chittagong, and Sylhet and come from abroad and only stay temporarily.[2] There exists a small ancientBalmiki community who retain fluency in thePunjabi language from the time ofGuru Nanak.[2] Thus, they can read the Guru Granth Sahib.[2] Despite the direct propagation from four of theSikh gurus, the religion was unable to profoundly influence theBengali people due to its seeminglyPunjabi-centric nature.[2] Sikh soldiers were posted in Bengal during the British Raj but they mostly kept to themselves and did not extensively interact with local Bengalis due to differing language, culture, and religion.[2]
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The gurdwaras in the country are managed by theGurdwara Management Committee Bangladesh, whose current president is Amar Chand.[17][16] According to Sukomal Barua, former president of the committee, during the period of theBritish Raj, there were purportedly eighteengurdwaras located in what is now Bangladesh.[18][17] The gurdwaras that Nanak had established as per lore at Jafrabad is no longer extant, nor is the excavated a pond for drinking water he constructed for potters at Rayer Bazar in Dhaka.[4] Presently, five gurdwaras remain operational in the country.[18][17] Two are located in Dhaka, another two in Chittagong, and one in Mymensingh.[18][17] Aside from Gurdwara Nanak Shahi, the remaining four gurdwaras of the country lay in a decaying and neglected state.[2] Waqar A. Khan claims there are around seven gurdwaras remaining in the country, including in Sylhet besides the three aforementioned locations.[14][15] Meanwhile, Sambaru Chandra Mohanta claims there are nine to ten gurdwaras remaining in the country.[19]
Gurdwara Pahar Tali in Chittagong was originally constructed for the purpose of being used by Sikh railway employees.[2] In 1945, the gurdwara of Mymensingh was constructed and located at Ganjer Park, beside aKalimandir, and Heera Singh, a local Bengali Sikh, was appointed as the gurdwara supervisor.[2] However, the local Sikh population of Mymensingh relocated to India following the 1947 partition, leaving no one behind to care for the site.[2]
After theindependence of Bangladesh in 1971, the Bangladesh Gurdwara Management Board was granted control of all the gurdwaras in the country, including the centralGurdwara Nanak Shahi ofDhaka.[2] In 1972, the board appointed Kartar Singh, head priest of Gurdwara Nanak Shahi, to perform the daily religious functions.[2]
The Sampardai Kar Sewa Sarhali Sahib has been carrying-out kar seva renovations at five historical Bangladeshi gurdwaras since 2004 under the purview of Sukha Singh, with the organization being granted permission to-do so by the Bangladesh Gurdwara Management Committee.[17][16] In circa 2011, it was reported that Sukha Singh of the Sampardai Kar Sewa Sarhali Sahib appointed eight ragis and granthis to carry-out religious services at the gurdwara.[17] Mostly localBengali Hindus and someBengali Muslims attend the daily services of the gurdwaras, as Bangladesh lacks a local Sikh population.[17] Furthermore, two Punjabi schools were constructed, one at Dhaka and the other in Chittagong.[17]
A Sikh Research Centre (SRC) at Gurdwara Nanak Shahi was set-up with Dhaka University professor Nirol Kazi as its head.[17] Around 50 Muslims students were reportedly students of the SRC.[17]
During the2024 unrest, there were concerns that the gurdwaras would be targeted as part of theanti-Hindu violence, however none of the five gurdwaras of Bangladesh were attacked as per local Sikh leaders.[18] The gates of the gurdwaras were shut and prayers were held on a daily-basis during the unrest.[16]
Most local attendees of the gurdwaras in Bangladesh hail from theBalmiki community, whom are characterized as beingfollowers of Guru Nanak.[2]
