Singh Sabha Lahore founded

Who: A circle of Sikhs in Lahore around Bhai Gurmukh Singh (1849-1898), the first lecturer in Punjabi at the Oriental College. Diwan Buta Singh was president and Gurmukh Singh secretary, with Bhai Harsa Singh, Ram Singh and Karam Singh on the working committee. Giani Ditt Singh and Bhai Jawahir Singh Kapur are tied to the Lahore name but were not founders: Gurmukh Singh drew them away from the Arya Samaj into the Singh Sabha by 1887.

What: On 2 November 1879 Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Lahore, was set up and began weekly meetings. It shared the aims of the Amritsar Singh Sabha of 1873: spread the true Sikh religion, publish historical and religious books, use Punjabi in schools and the press, bring back those who had left, and win over sympathetic Englishmen. It avoided attacks on other religions and politics. The split came later. The Amritsar body, the Singh Sabha General (soon renamed Khalsa Diwan), was formed on 11 April 1880 under Baba Khem Singh Bedi, with Gurmukh Singh as chief secretary. At the April 1884 session Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak, sat on a special cushioned seat in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib. Gurmukh Singh said nobody could claim such a privilege in a Sikh assembly where all sit as equals. He later resigned, and on 10-11 April 1886 his supporters formed a separate Khalsa Diwan at Lahore under Sardar Attar Singh Bhadaur. In April 1887 the Amritsar side had him excommunicated by a resolution issued under the seal of the Golden Temple. The Lahore Diwan, backed by most Singh Sabhas, ignored it.

Where: Lahore, now in Pakistan, with Amritsar as the rival centre.

Why it mattered: The two Diwans read Sikhi differently.

• Bedi, supported by the priestly class, saw Sikhs as part of the Hindu community and kept old customs. Gurmukh Singh held Sikhism to be a separate religion in which believers are equal without distinction of caste or status.
• Lahore's wing, the Tat Khalsa, made "Ham Hindu Nahin" (we are not Hindus) its battle cry. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha's 1898 tract of that name became the most reasoned statement of the case.
• Lahore won the ground. In February 1888 the Lahore district judge noted that about 30 Singh Sabhas sided with Lahore and six or seven with Amritsar.
• The Lahore Diwan won government support for a Sikh college, whose foundation stone was laid at Amritsar on 5 March 1892.

The rivals were later folded into the Chief Khalsa Diwan, formally set up on 30 October 1902.