Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa

Sant Giani Gurbachan Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale was the eleventh head of the Damdami Taksal, the travelling Sikh school of Gurbani recitation and meaning. He should not be confused with Baba Gurbachan Singh, the Nirankari head, or with Giani Gurbachan Singh, a later Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. The Taksal's own account gives his birth as 12 February 1902. In 1920, at the village of Akhare, he met Sant Sundar Singh, took amrit and found the peace he had sought. In 1921, at Bhindran Kalan, he asked for brahm vidya and then lived permanently with the jatha. After Sant Sundar Singh passed away on 15 February 1930, the jathedari went to him; the Wikipedia table of heads dates his tenure from 1930 to 1969.

Key moments

• After about three and a half years at Boporai: he teaches katha, kirtan and parchar and, with a group of sixteen Gurmukhs, begins long tours through Punjab, Kashmir, Peshawar, Benares, Patna Sahib, Jagannath Puri, Rameshwaram, Hazur Sahib, Calcutta and Bombay. The Taksal says thousands were initiated into the Khalsa. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism notes that he usually took his pupils on prolonged tours.
• 1948: Kartar Singh takes amrit at Bhindran from his jatha and grows close to him.
• 1965: Jarnail Singh, later Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, joins the Taksal at Bhindran Kalan under him and does a one-year course at his hands (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism).
• 28 June 1969: he passes away at Mehta at 2.10 in the morning, repeating Vaheguru, and is cremated at Patalpuri, Sri Kiratpur Sahib, as he had wished (Taksal).

After him. The Encyclopaedia says Sant Kartar Singh Khalsa then headed the Taksal. Wikipedia, citing Pashaura Singh and Michael Hawley, says two men succeeded him: Giani Mohan Singh kept the original Bhindran Kalan branch and Kartar Singh led the Mehta branch. At Mehta the Taksal built Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash in Gurbachan Singh's memory. Kartar Singh named Jarnail Singh as his own successor before dying in 1977.

What he is remembered for. He is remembered for the Taksal's method of teaching correct pronunciation and meaning of Gurbani, for the many gianis he trained on his tours, and for being the teacher under whom the future leader of the Dharam Yudh Morcha first studied.