Mahant Narain Das

Mahant Narain Das was the Udasi high priest of Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and the man the courts held responsible for the Nankana Sahib massacre of 20 February 1921. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes him as the richest and most wayward of the Udasi clergy. Udasi priests managed Janam Asthan until the SGPC took it over after the events of 1921, and Maharaja Ranjit Singh had endowed the shrine with about 20,000 acres for the Guru ka Langar. Wikipedia says he was accused of corruption and sexual impropriety.

The massacre. After the Sikh protests of 1920 he began recruiting a private army and stockpiling arms; ETV Bharat says he kept nearly 400 armed men. On 20 February 1921 a peaceful jatha of about 150 Sikhs led by Bhai Lachhman Singh Dharowali came to the shrine. His men fired on it from the roof of an adjoining building. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Narain Das stayed outside the main gate on horseback, pistol in hand, directing the attack. He reportedly shouted that no long-haired Sikh should leave alive, and he shot dead Bhai Dalip Singh, who had come to plead for the killing to stop. Estimates of the Sikhs killed range from 82 to 156 in that encyclopaedia, and the official figure was 86, according to Wikipedia. Bhai Lachhman Singh was struck down while sitting in attendance of the Guru Granth Sahib, and his body was reportedly tied to a tree and burned.

Trial and sentences. The Governor, Sir Edward Maclagan, visited on 22 February and Narain Das and his hired men were arrested. On 12 October 1921 the sessions court sentenced Narain Das and seven others to death, eight to transportation for life and sixteen Pathan hirelings to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. On 3 March 1922 the High Court reduced Narain Das's death sentence to life imprisonment. ETV Bharat reports that he was released in 1930. The sources opened for this profile do not give his death.

Aftermath. The government first handed the shrine to a committee of seven Sikhs led by Sardar Harbans Singh of Attari. The SGPC set up a relief fund for the families of the Shaheeds and founded the Shaheed Sikh Missionary College in Amritsar as their memorial.

Key moments

• 1920: begins recruiting armed men and stockpiling arms.
• 20 February 1921: the jatha is attacked at Janam Asthan.
• 12 October 1921: sentenced to death by the sessions court.
• 3 March 1922: the High Court reduces the sentence to life imprisonment.
• 1930: released, according to ETV Bharat.

What he is remembered for. In Panthic memory he is the mahant whose men killed the jatha at Nankana Sahib. The SGPC raised a memorial college to the Shaheeds, and Wikipedia describes the massacre as the core of the Gurdwara Reform movement.