Hindal

'''Hindal''' (1573{{snd}}1646/1648), also spelt as '''Handal''' or '''Hundal''', was a Sikh religious leader. A sect associated with him later arose, with the group producing their own literature, such as a ''janamsakhi'' tradition, the ''Hindaliya Janam Sakhi''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Singha |first=H. S. |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (Over 1000 Entries) |publisher=Hemkunt Press |year=2000 |isbn=9788170103011 |pages=100 |chapter=HINDAL}}</ref> However, the sect was not as influential as the Minas.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Pashaura |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |last2=Fenech |first2=Louis E. |date=Mar 27, 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191004124 |chapter=EXPLAINING SIKHI: THE WRITINGS OF MIHARVAN, HARJI, AND THE HINDALIS}}</ref>

== Biography == He was a Jatt<ref>{{Cite book |title=Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 31 |publisher=Department of Religious Studies, Punjabi University |year=2000 |chapter=IX. HINDALI TRADITION |quote=9.1 Another tradition, the Hindali that was totally heterodox in nature, also deserves our attention. It owes its origin to Hindal, a jat of Jandiala (Jandiala Guru), now in the district of Amritsar. The Sikh sources describe that previously he had been a follower of Sakhi Sarwar ...}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> who was born as Sukh Ram Hundal, being the son of father Gaji and mother Sukkhi of Jandiala (near Amritsar).<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Gurdev |title=HINDĀL (HANDĀL), BHĀĪ (d. 1648), |url=https://eos.learnpunjabi.org/HINDAL%20(HANDAL)%20BHAI%20(D.%201648).html |access-date=24 March 2026 |website=Encyclopedia of Sikhism (Online Edition) |publisher=Punjabi University, Patiala}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Singh |first=Pukhraj |date=20 June 2013 |title=God Just Left The Gurdwara |url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2013/06/20/god-just-left-the-gurdwara |access-date=24 March 2026 |work=newslaundry}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Joginder |title=Religious Pluralism in Punjab: A Contemporary Account of Sikh Sants, Babas, Gurus and Satgurus |date=22 August 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351986342 |chapter=Emerging Religious Consciousness, Trends and Founding Establishments - Sikhs}}</ref> He would marry a woman named Uttami, daughter of a Chahal Jatt named Hamza. Originally a follower of Sakhi Sarwar (Sultani cult), Hindal was converted to Sikhism due to the missionary work of the third Sikh guru, Guru Amar Das.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> Hindal, remembered as being a man of few-words and meditative, served Guru Amar Das (receiving the Sikh initiation from the third guru) at the ''langar'' and was responsible for the collection of ''dasvandh'' at Goindwal,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> and later served Guru Ram Das.<ref name=":3" /> As per ''Suraj Prakash'', after an act of devotion, Guru Ram Das instructed Hindal to returned to his native village of Jandiala, where he had been appointed as the ''masand'' for that ''manji'',<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> to spread Sikhism there.<ref name=":3" /> Hindal spread Sikhism in the Jandiala region of Amritsar district by using the word ''Niranjan'' ("bright one"), with the utterance ''Niranjan-Niranjan'' being associated to Hindal,<ref name=":0" /> used to refer to the divine.<ref name=":2" /> Hindal engaged in farming and clerical work.<ref name=":4" /> Jandiala was a ''kasba'' (small settlement).<ref name=":4" /> His followers came to be known as the ''Hindalis'' or ''Niranjanias'' ("unsullied ones"). Hindal lived to an old-age and died either as an orthodox Sikh as per some accounts or as a heretical leader, as per other traditions, being succeeded by his son, Bidhi Chand.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

== Hindalis == According to Joginder Singh, Hindal did not remain an orthodox Sikh and created his own sect with its own ''guru-gaddi'' running parallel to the mainstream one, with the leaders being known as ''gurus'' or ''mahants''. However, other sources claim the sect was founded by the son and successor of Hindal, named Bidhi Chand.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> According to the former version, Hindal began to style himself as a guru at Jandiala, with his popularity growing to such as a level that the settlement of Jandiala became known as Jandiala Guru (or Guru-ka-Jandiala<ref name=":0" />), with ''guru'' appended to its name.<ref name=":2" /> The 20-30 villages surrounding Jandiala became the area of influence for the Hindali sect.<ref name=":2" /> Hindali constructed a two-story and tunneled shrine at Jandiala, which had been decorated with frescoes of Hindali verses, which was known as Sri Darbar Sahib, Janamasthan Baba Hindal.<ref name=":2" /> Another revered site for the sect is the Nathoana shrine, known as Tap Asthan Baba Hindal Ji, located near Nathoana Gate in Jandiala Guru.<ref name=":2" /> At this site, it is believed that Hindal met a yogi named Purush and received religious education from him.<ref name=":2" /> However, as per Joginder Singh, the Nathoana shrine actually was originally a ''mukam'' (place) associated with Sakhi Sarwar that Hindal had destroyed.<ref name=":2" /> There there was a pond called ''Nathoana Tobha'', which Hindal used to bathe in, making it become marked as a ''sarovar''. Afterwards, the current shrine complex was constructed over it.<ref name=":2" />

Over-time, the Sikh sect became Islamized, although the sect was also influenced by Hinduism.<ref name=":2" /> The verses attributed to Hindal became ''bani'' to the sect, with these works consisting of praises of ''Hari/Har'', ''Akal Purakh'', and ''Nirankar'' aspects of the divine.<ref name=":2" /> The works of Hindal also touched upon the relationship the creator and creation, discussing the concept of ''maya'' and remembrance of the name.<ref name=":2" /> Also, the names of Hindu deities and Muslim saints (''pirs'' and ''auliyas'') are recorded and referred to as prophets of God (Niranjan or Akal Purakh), acting as his messengers.<ref name=":2" /> They had their own form of the ''ardas'' supplicatory prayer, which personifies attributes of God as being also the attributes of Hindal, and in the prayer they call upon the ''sants'', ''mahants'', ''tapassavis'', ''bhaktas'', and ''shaheeds''.<ref name=":2" /> They preferred to call the prayer ''ardasa'' instead of ''ardas'' and in it they refer to ''satnam'' as ''sachnam''.<ref name=":2" /> [[File:Mural depicting the heretical Hindali sect of Sikhism, showing a courtly (darbar) scene, perhaps with leaders of the sect, circa 19th century.jpg|thumb|Mural depicting the heretical Hindali sect of Sikhism, showing a courtly (''darbar'') scene, perhaps with leaders of the sect. The fresco is located within Gurdwara Janam Asthan Guru Baba Handaal Ji at Gali Darbar sahib, Baba Handal Road, Jandiala Guru, Jandiala, Punjab, India]] Another version of the sect's history states that Bidhi Chand (not to be confused with another Sikh with the same name), son of Hindal, succeeded his father as the masand of the Jandiala manji, and that Hindal had remained a staunch Sikh.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> Whilst initially Bidhi Chand was aligned with the mainstream Sikhs, he married a Muslim woman, which the Sikhs admonished him for and he lost his Sikh following, turning him into an apostate, creating the schism between the Niranjanias and the Sikhs.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Pashaura |title=The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning and Authority |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780195648942 |pages=215}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Bidhi Chand went against the mainstream lineage of Sikh guruship, attempting to undermine the guruship of Guru Hargobind,<ref name=":1" /> with him establishing a sect by compiling his own granth and janamsakhi that exalted his father Hindal and demoted Guru Nanak.<ref name=":3" /> The sect compiled the ''Hindaliya Janam Sakhi'', a plaigerised version of the ''Bhai Bala Janamsakhi'' tradition associated with Bala, with the Hindali janamsakhi portraying Guru Nanak as a mere follower/disciple of the low-caste Muslim weaver, Kabir, portraying a meeting between the two at Varanasi, and replacing the name of Nanak in the janamsakhis with the name Hindal.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> One edition of their janamsakhi claims Guru Nanak requested seignorial rights over the daughter of Guru Angad.<ref name=":2" /> However, later editions and manuscripts of the Bhai Bala Janamsakhi tradition would remove much of the material from the text that had been influenced by the Hindalis in the earlier manuscripts of the Bala tradition.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Toby Braden |title=Re-imagining South Asian Religions: Essays in Honour of Professors Harold G. Coward and Ronald W. Neufeldt |date=Dec 3, 2012 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004242371 |pages=104 |chapter=Pedagogy in the Janam-sakhis}}</ref> It is debated by scholars if the Hindalis were the creators of the Bala janamsakhi tradition or had interfered with an existing literary tradition that existed before them.<ref name=":1" /> Scholars note that the Bala tradition is linked to Bhai Bala, who was a Jatt of the Sandhu clan, with the Hindali leaders also being from the Jatt caste.<ref name=":1" /> The Hindalis, alongside the Udasis and Bhatras, are blamed for corruption the Bhanno recension of the Ād Granth.<ref name=":2" />

The Niranjanias found themselves allied to the ruling powers who were persecuting Sikhs at different periods of time.<ref name=":4" /> During times of anti-Sikh persecution, the Hindalis denied being Khalsa Sikhs at all or having any association with the Khalsa.<ref name=":2" /> Instead of appending ''Singh'' to their name, they instead appended the title ''Das''.<ref name=":2" /> Bidhi Chand died in 1654 and was succeeded as leader of the sect by his son Devi Das, who was born to his Muslim wife.<ref name=":2" /> During the 18th century, the Hindali sect helped the Mughal and Afghan administrations persecute the orthodox Sikhs, such as Aqil Das (also known as Haribhagat), an 18th-century leader of the sect, giving intel which led to the deaths of Mehtab Singh and Taru Singh.<ref name=":3" /> Aqil Das had been a direct descendant of Hindal.<ref name=":2" /> Rattan Singh Bhangu's ''Panth Prakash'' called them ''chandalas'' ("butchers of the Sikhs") and nindaks ("back-biters") of the Sikhs during the period of the ''Vadda Ghalughara'' committed by the Durranis.<ref name=":2" /> Maharaja Ranjit Singh confiscated the lands of the Niranjania sect at Jandiala as punishment for their actions against the Sikhs during the previous century.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> By the late 19th century, the Hindalis still existed and observed their own marriage (having their own unique marriage custom) and death customs (not performing ''kiria karam'' or ''phul''), rejecting Hindu customs, and they did not pay respect to Brahmins.<ref name=":2" /> Some heretical/heterdoxical verses attributed to Hindal can be found engraved on the walls of the Darbar Sahib Janamasthan at Jandiala Guru, Amritsar district, Punjab.<ref name=":2" />

Over-time, they adopted Khalsa attributes, such as keeping ''kesh'' and wearing a turban.<ref name=":2" /> The 1881–91 census reports records the Hindalis as both ''Sehajdhari'' and ''Keshdharis''.<ref name=":2" /> A survey of Hindali families in 2007 by Manpreet Kaur observed that many of the males maintain the mainstream Sikh practice of wearing a turban, having a beard, and maintaining uncut hair, with these families paying respect to both an idol of Baba Hindal and the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib.<ref name=":2" /> In 1949, an Udasi named Sant Santokh Muni held an ''akhand path'' at the Nathoana Tobha and claimed it to be ''Tap Asthan''.<ref name=":2" /> The site was marked by a gurdwara (Sikh temple), thakurdwara (Vaishnavist temple), and shivala (Shavist temple).<ref name=":2" /> Modern Hindalis pay respect to all three shrines and believe that dipping in the toba found there can grant them wishes, due to the blessings of Hindal.<ref name=":2" /> Whilst the Hindalis can be found across different caste backgrounds, most of them come from Jatt Sikh backgrounds and are from different regions of the Punjab. Some devotees also hail from the Sikh diaspora.<ref name=":2" />

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindal}} Category:Indian Sikh religious leaders Category:16th-century Indian people Category:1573 births Category:1640s deaths Category:Year of birth uncertain

Hindal

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