BATTLE OF THE TAKHTS

A bitter clash between two seats of Sikh authority exposes deep ideological and institutional rifts within the faith

- By Anilesh S. Mahajan

INA FAITH WHERE FIVE THRONES symbolise unity, two just went to war. On May 21, a religious cannonball was fired from the east: Takht Sri Patna Sahib, one of Sikhism's five revered seats, located in Bihar. The Panj Pyare or 'five beloved' leaders of Patna have declared as tankhaiya, i.e. guilty of religious misconduct, two of their senior clerical peers back in Punjab: the acting jathedar of Akal Takht, the supreme seat of Sikh authority in Amritsar, as well as the Takht Damdama Sahib head.

The flashpoint? A decision by the Akal Takht to reinstate a controversial former jathedar, Giani Ranjit Singh Gauhar, without so much as consulting Patna Sahib, which had dismissed him in 2022 amidst a welter of corruption and other allegations.