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Concept
Nirmala (sect)
Summary
Nirmala (Punjabi: ਨਿਰਮਲੇ, lit. "those without blemish") also known as Nirmala Taksal or Girhvarhi Samparda, is a Sikh sect of ascetics. According to the traditional beliefs, the Sanatan Nirmala Sikh tradition was founded by Guru Gobind Singh in late 17th century when he sent five Sikhs to Varanasi to learn Sanskrit and Vedanta texts.
The origin of the Nirmalas is uncertain. According to Khushwant Singh and other historians, the sect is first mentioned in the Sikh literature during the Guru Gobind Singh era, in the last decade of the 17th century. According to Nirmal Panth Pardipka, the Nirmala tradition has roots in the early history of Sikhism. In the 19th century, some Nirmala scholars traced their origin to the period of the first Sikh Guru, Nanak, but some others such as Khushwant Singh state that the Nirmala tradition was founded by the last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. The belief that the sect originated in the 17th century, according to W. H. McLeod, is of doubtful historicity because they are "scarcely mentioned" in Sikh literature before the 19th century.
According to the Nirmalas, in 1686, Guru Gobind Singh sent five Sikhs (Bir Singh, Ganda Singh, Karam Singh, Ram Singh and Saina Singh) to Varanasi to learn Sanskrit and classical Hindu literature. This began the Nirmala tradition. After they returned to Anandpur, they were honoured by the title Nirmala (Sanskrit for "pure" or "unsullied"). The Nirmalas took the Amrit initiation into the Khalsa panth.
According to another account found in the late 19th-century Nirmal Panth Pardipika by the Nirmala scholar and Tat Khalsa supporter Giani Gian Singh, Guru Gobind Singh met a Sanskrit scholar named Pandit Raghunath in late 17th-century. He asked him to teach Sanskrit to Sikhs. However, Raghunath politely refused to do so, because he did not want to teach Sanskrit to Shudras. So Guru Gobind Singh sent some Sikhs dressed in upper-caste attire to Varanasi, where they became accomplished scholars of Indian theology and philosophy.
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