Khem Singh Bedi

Sir Khem Singh Bedi KCIE (21 February 183210 April 1905) was a claimed direct descendant of Guru Nanak, a leader, and the founder of the Amritsar Singh Sabha in 1873. It instituted many charitable causes for Sikhs, was a landowner and politician in the Punjab during the British Raj.

Family background and early life Bedi was born in Kallar Syedan in the Rawalpindi District in 1832. He claimed to be the thirteenth direct descendant of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism. His father Baba Attar Singh was killed in a family feud on 25 November 1839 with Bikram Singh Bedi, and Khem Singh Bedi along with his elder brother Sampuran Singh inherited jagirs in the Doaba region along with 41 villages in Depalpur Tehsil. Bedi held his jagirs in 4 villages of Dipalpur tahsil, while his elder brother was given jagirs in 22 villages of the same tahsil. Following the annexation of the Punjab by the East India Company in 1849, 14 of those villages were appropriated by the new administration.

Career In 1855, the Punjab administration established the Department of Public Instruction with the aim to open 30 single-teacher primary schools across the Punjab. Bedi lent his full support to the scheme, additionally opening his own schools in Rawalpindi. At least fifty schools for boys and girls were opened in the Punjab with his assistance.

Bedi was a Sanatan Sikh (lit. "Traditional Sikh"), who maintained that "there were no essential differences between Sikhs and Hindus". Instead of treating the Guru Granth Sahib as the only guru, Bedi campaigned for acceptability of human gurus to guide Sikhs, which resulted in Khem Singh Bedi considering himself the Guru. The dispute intensified and by the early decades of the 20th century, the influence of the panth was given to the Tat Khalsa ("pure, true Khalsa") resulting in the decline of Sanatan Sikhs.

Khem Singh Bedi held a grudge against the irreconcilable pioneers of the Singh Sabha movement, one reason for this is because they removed his gaddi (high-seat) from within the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which Bedi perceived as an insult.

He was appointed a magistrate in 1877 and made a Companion of the Indian Empire in 1879. On the occasion of his daughter's marriage in 1893, he donated Rs 3,00,000 for religious and charitable purposes. He was nominated to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1893 and became a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire in 1898. It contains many frescoes depicting various religious and secular themes.

Guru Nanak Lakhmi Das Dharam Chand Mehar Chand/Manik Chand Datār Chand Pahar Chand Harkaran Chand Nihal Chand Baba Kaladhari Ajit Singh Bedi/Jit Singh Sahib Singh Bedi Attar Singh Bedi Khem Singh Bedi