Hindal

Hindal (15731646/1648), also spelt as Handal or Hundal, was a Sikh religious leader. A sect associated with him later arose, with the group producing their own literature, such as a janamsakhi tradition, the Hindaliya Janam Sakhi. However, the sect was not as influential as the Minas.

Biography He was a Jatt He would marry a woman named Uttami, daughter of a Chahal Jatt named Hamza. Originally a follower of Sakhi Sarwar (Sultani cult), Hindal was converted to Sikhism due to the missionary work of the third Sikh guru, Guru Amar Das. It is debated by scholars if the Hindalis were the creators of the Bala janamsakhi tradition or had interfered with an existing literary tradition that existed before them. Scholars note that the Bala tradition is linked to Bhai Bala, who was a Jatt of the Sandhu clan, with the Hindali leaders also being from the Jatt caste. The Hindalis, alongside the Udasis and Bhatras, are blamed for corruption the Bhanno recension of the Ād Granth.

The Niranjanias found themselves allied to the ruling powers who were persecuting Sikhs at different periods of time. During times of anti-Sikh persecution, the Hindalis denied being Khalsa Sikhs at all or having any association with the Khalsa. Instead of appending Singh to their name, they instead appended the title Das. Bidhi Chand died in 1654 and was succeeded as leader of the sect by his son Devi Das, who was born to his Muslim wife. During the 18th century, the Hindali sect helped the Mughal and Afghan administrations persecute the orthodox Sikhs, such as Aqil Das (also known as Haribhagat), an 18th-century leader of the sect, giving intel which led to the deaths of Mehtab Singh and Taru Singh. Aqil Das had been a direct descendant of Hindal. Rattan Singh Bhangu's Panth Prakash called them chandalas ("butchers of the Sikhs") and nindaks ("back-biters") of the Sikhs during the period of the Vadda Ghalughara committed by the Durranis. Maharaja Ranjit Singh confiscated the lands of the Niranjania sect at Jandiala as punishment for their actions against the Sikhs during the previous century. By the late 19th century, the Hindalis still existed and observed their own marriage (having their own unique marriage custom) and death customs (not performing kiria karam or phul), rejecting Hindu customs, and they did not pay respect to Brahmins. Some heretical/heterdoxical verses attributed to Hindal can be found engraved on the walls of the Darbar Sahib Janamasthan at Jandiala Guru, Amritsar district, Punjab.

Over-time, they adopted Khalsa attributes, such as keeping kesh and wearing a turban. The 1881–91 census reports records the Hindalis as both Sehajdhari and Keshdharis. A survey of Hindali families in 2007 by Manpreet Kaur observed that many of the males maintain the mainstream Sikh practice of wearing a turban, having a beard, and maintaining uncut hair, with these families paying respect to both an idol of Baba Hindal and the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. In 1949, an Udasi named Sant Santokh Muni held an akhand path at the Nathoana Tobha and claimed it to be Tap Asthan. The site was marked by a gurdwara (Sikh temple), thakurdwara (Vaishnavist temple), and shivala (Shavist temple). Modern Hindalis pay respect to all three shrines and believe that dipping in the toba found there can grant them wishes, due to the blessings of Hindal. Whilst the Hindalis can be found across different caste backgrounds, most of them come from Jatt Sikh backgrounds and are from different regions of the Punjab. Some devotees also hail from the Sikh diaspora.