Bhindran Kalan

Bhindran Kalan, also written Bhindar Kalan, is a village in Moga district of Punjab, about 15 km north of Moga town. The village is the base of the Bhindran branch of the Damdami Taksal, a school of Sikh learning tied to Gurdwara Akhand Parkash Sahib. The name Bhindranwale, used for the Taksal's teachers, comes from this village.

Key moments

• Sant Sundar Singh set up Gurdwara Sri Akhand Prakash at Bhindran Kalan as a seminary, according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Wikipedia dates the Bhindran Taksal to 1906 and gives his years as 1883 to 1930.
• 1921: the Taksal's own account says the young Gurbachan Singh, aged 19, met Sant Sundar Singh at the gurdwara at Bhindran Kalan, asked for the blessing of brahm vidya, and began to live with the jatha.
• 15 February 1930: Sant Sundar Singh died. The Encyclopaedia says the sangat chose Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa to head the seminary; he was associated with the gurdwara at Bhindran Kalan but usually took his pupils on long preaching tours.
• The Encyclopaedia says Jarnail Singh joined the Damdami Taksal of Bhindar Kalan village while Gurbachan Singh Khalsa headed it, which gave him the epithet Bhindranwale, but calls his association with the village only notional.
• 28 June 1969: Gurbachan Singh died at Mehta, in Amritsar district. Wikipedia, citing Pashaura Singh and Michael Hawley, says the succession then divided: Giani Mohan Singh led the original Bhindran Kalan branch and Kartar Singh Khalsa led the branch at Mehta, where he built Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash.

What it means today. The gurdwara in the village, Gurdwara Akhand Parkash Sahib, remains the seat of the Bhindran branch; Wikipedia says Sant Mohan Singh headed it until his death in 2020. For the Panth the village is the origin of the line of teachers from whom Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale took his name.