{"id":20856,"date":"2024-02-24T09:50:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T04:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=20856"},"modified":"2025-04-06T08:08:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T02:38:41","slug":"nihang-sikhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/nihang-sikhs\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are Nihang Sikhs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>About Nihang Sikhs<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Nihangs, or Nihang Singhs, originally known as\u00a0Akalis or Akali Nihangs, are a distinct\u00a0warrior order within the Sikh community, known for their\u00a0martial traditions,\u00a0unique attire,\u00a0and adherence to a\u00a0specific code of conduct.<\/li>\n<li>They have a rich history\u00a0dating back to the times of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru.<\/li>\n<li>They are easily\u00a0recognizable by their distinctive blue attire, which includes blue robes, high turbans adorned with steel quoits (chakrams), and they\u00a0often carry traditional weapons like swords, spears, and daggers.<\/li>\n<li>They are\u00a0highly skilled in Gatka martial arts and have historically\u00a0served as a dedicated and elite force to protect Sikh shrines and communities.<\/li>\n<li>Nihangs had a\u00a0major role in defending the Sikh Panth after the fall of the first Sikh rule (1710-15),\u00a0when Mughal governors were killing Sikhs,\u00a0and during the\u00a0onslaught of Afghan invader\u00a0Ahmed Shah Durrani (1748-65).<\/li>\n<li>Current Status:\n<ul>\n<li>Nihangs are today divided into\u00a0several groups,\u00a0each\u00a0with its own \u201cchhaoni\u201d\u00a0(cantonment), but are\u00a0loosely organised into two \u201cdals\u201d (forces)\u2014Buddha Dal and Taruna Dal, names initially given to the two sections into which the \u2018Khalsa\u2019 army was divided in 1733.<\/li>\n<li>The Buddha Dal has its headquarters at Talvandi Sabo, in Bathinda district, while the principal cantonment of the Taruna Dal Nihangs is at Baba Bakala in Amritsar district.<\/li>\n<li>Anandpur Sahib, the birthplace of the Khalsa,\u00a0remains the main centre of Nihang gatherings.<\/li>\n<li>They\u00a0assemble there in the thousands\u00a0in March every year to celebrate Hola Mahalla, a Sikh festival introduced by Guru Gobind Singh.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>On that occasion, they\u00a0hold tournaments of military skills, including mock battles.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) Who was Guru Gobind Singh?<\/h3>\n<p>He was the 10th and last human Guru of the Sikhs. Born as Gobind Rai on December 22, 1666, in Patna, Bihar, Guru Gobind Singh was the son of the ninth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Teg Bahadur. He became the spiritual and temporal leader of the Sikhs on November 11, 1675, at the age of nine, following the martyrdom of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, at the hands of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1675. He was renowned as a warrior, a poet, and a prophet. He is fondly remembered by Sikhs as a defender of the faith and a champion of equality and justice.Among his notable contributions to Sikhism are founding the Sikh warrior community called Khalsa in 1699.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/india\/nihang-sikh-warriors-join-farmers-protest-spotted-practicing-with-spears-and-shields-8790301.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Nihang Sikh Warriors Join Farmers Protest, Spotted Practicing With Spears and Shields<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nihangs, or Nihang Singhs are a distinct warrior order within the Sikh community, known for their martial traditions, unique attire, and adherence to a specific code of conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}