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What was the Nirankari Movement?

By BYJU'S Exam Prep

Updated on: November 9th, 2023

Nirankari Movement was founded by Baba Dayal Das between 1783 and 1855, a movement for purification and withdrawal. Dayal Das, clearly dissatisfied with the current religion, concluded that Sikhism was decadent and full of lies, superstitions, and errors. He built a Dharamshala known as Nirankari Darbar on the outskirts of Rawalpindi.

Table of content

1. Nirankari Movement
2. What was the Nirankari Movement?

Nirankari Movement

In 1840, he advocated that Sikhism must return to its roots and emphasized the worship of God as Nirankari, meaning formless. This approach meant rejecting idols, idolatrous rituals, and the Brahmin priests who performed these rituals.

Dayal Das urged his followers to congregate at the Dharamsala every morning for daily worship.
His followers were told to “worship the formless God and listen to the Shabad of Guru, clean the congregation’s shoes and feet, serve their parents, shun bad habits, and earn their living through labor.”
Dayal Das imparted a religious code for a householder—someone who upheld family and social relationships and, in keeping with Sikh tradition, did not descend to the level of a beggar.
It was against the law to consume meat, consume wine, commit fraud, lies, and use falsified weights.
The Nirankaris helped obfuscate the distinctions between Sikhs and Hindus and developed into a permanent subgroup of the Sikh religion.

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