Damdami Taksal

What it is: The Damdami Taksal is a Sikh school of Gurbani recitation and exegesis. Its students train under a head called the jathedar. Its seat today is Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash at Mehta Chowk near Amritsar.

Origin, two accounts: Documented elsewhere. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Guru Gobind Singh stayed at Damdama Sahib for over nine months in 1706 and had Bhai Mani Singh prepare a fresh copy of the Guru Granth Sahib. Baba Deep Singh stayed on to look after the shrine, and the Encyclopaedia names him founder of the Damdami Taksal. The Taksal’s own account. The Guru himself founded it after a Sikh mispronounced one word of the Baavan Akhri. At Damdama he dictated the Granth from memory with Mani Singh as scribe, then sent Mani Singh to Amritsar and Deep Singh to Damdama to go on teaching. The Taksal says it has been led by “Brahm Gianis” ever since. No independent historian in the published sources confirms the Guru’s own founding or an unbroken line of heads.

Its line of heads, as the Taksal lists them: Baba Deep Singh, Baba Gurbaksh Singh, Giani Soorat Singh, Bhai Gurdas Singh, Giani Sant Singh, Sant Daya Singh, Sant Bhagwan Singh, Sant Harnam Singh Bedi, Sant Bishan Singh Muralewale, Sant Sundar Singh Bhindranwale, Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa, Sant Kartar Singh Khalsa, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Baba Thakur Singh. The Taksal’s pages give almost no dates. The Encyclopaedia says Gurbachan Singh headed it in 1965 and died in June 1969, and that Kartar Singh then succeeded him and based it at Mehta Chowk. Wikipedia adds that in 1969 two men led two branches: Giani Mohan Singh kept the original Bhindran Kalan branch, and Kartar Singh led the Mehta branch.

Bhindranwale and 1984: Kartar Singh died on 16 August 1977 after a car crash. Jarnail Singh, who had joined the Taksal in 1965, was formally elected head at his bhog ceremony at Mehta Chowk on 25 August 1977.

• 13 April 1978: Sikh marchers protesting a Nirankari convention at Amritsar were fired on; 13 were killed and 78 wounded. The Taksal was among the protesters, and the episode drew Bhindranwale into politics.
• September 1981: after the Chando Kalan raid, Bhindranwale surrendered at Mehta Chowk on 20 September, and police fired on his followers. The Tribune’s report on the 1981 hijackers’ demands refers to 16 Sikhs killed in that firing.
• 1982: he moved into the Guru Nanak Niwas on 20 July, and on 4 August merged his morcha with the Akali Dharam Yudh.
• 15 December 1983: he and armed followers entered the Akal Takht. On 7 June 1984 his body was found in its basement, the Encyclopaedia says. The Taksal’s own account says he left for an undisclosed place on the advice of the Singhs.
• 26 January 1986: a Sarbat Khalsa called by the Taksal formed a five-member Panthic Committee. The Taksal credits Baba Thakur Singh with leading the rebuilding of the Akal Takht.

After 1984: Baba Thakur Singh led the Taksal as acting jathedar until his death, dated 24 December 2004 on the Taksal’s page. The succession then split. The Tribune reported that Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma was named acting jathedar at Mehta Chowk, while the Akal Takht and the SGPC recognised a breakaway group under Baba Ram Singh on the strength of a fax of 17 June 2004 naming him. A Taksal spokesman alleged forged signatures. Wikipedia says the SGPC later recognised Dhumma, in July 2017, and he heads the Mehta Chowk Taksal.

Where it stands: In March 2025 the Taksal said the Panth would never accept Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj as acting jathedar of the Akal Takht. On 27 August 2026 the Tribune reported that it had set up a Damdami Taksal Sevak Jatha organised like a political outfit, and that Dhumma has been seen in recent years as close to the BJP. On 6 October 2026 the Tribune listed Dhumma on the Punjab government’s panel for talks with the Akal Takht on the Satkar Act.