Rehat
Rehat refers to the rules and traditions which govern the unique Sikh lifestyle and determines correct Sikh orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The Sikh Rehit Maryada is a code of conduct and conventions for Sikhism. The final version of the Rehat Maryada was controversially approved by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar in 1945. The Rehat Maryada was created to provide guidance to Sikhs on practical and functional aspects of daily life, including the operations of Sikh Gurdwaras, and religious practices to foster cohesion throughout the community. Rehitnāma is a Punjabi term that refers to a genre of Sikh religious literature which expounds upon specifying an approved way of life for a Sikh.
Etymology
Rehat derives from the Punjabi word rahiṇā and means "mode of living". Maryādā derives from a Sanskrit compound word composed of marya and ādā, meaning bounds or limits of morality and propriety, rule, or custom.History
Before the passing of the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, in 1708, he transferred the Guruship and authority to the Sikh Holy Scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, and the body of initiated Sikhs, called the Khalsa Panth. Before his death, Guru Gobind Singh provided what is known as 52 Hukams and instructed his followers to formalize them by writing Rehat Namas. The 52 Hukams are a set of 52 rules on proper conduct. As per Dr. William Hewat McLeod, these set of rules were transcribed into the Rehatnamas by Sikh scholars Bhai Nand Lal, Bhai Dessa Singh, son of Bhai Mani Singh, Bhai Chaupa Singh, Bhai Daya Singh and Bhai Prahlad Singh. However, for the next almost 100 years, persecution at the hands of Mughal rulers put the affairs of Sikh faith into disarray. The control of Sikh Gurdwaras and affairs fell into the hands of Udasis and Nirmala Sikh, who had embraced vedic philosophy. According to scholars of the time such Bhai Vir Singh these Nirmala and Udasi Sikhs introduced vedic concepts into the Sikh Rehat, which led sectarianism in the absence of any centralized authority apart from that arranged under British rule from 1849. A range of other codes and collections of tradition existed, which were corrected in 1898 by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, who collected all the old Rehat Namas and removed spurious references to Hinduism.1699-1925
While the Khalsa was gaining political power in the 18th century, a large number of sehajdharis began joining its ranks from around the mid-18th century onwards. Sehajdharis Sikhs practiced religion in a more fluid manner without following boundaries, in-contrast to the Khalsa Sikhs, which had always been a small minority. This presented a paradigm where as Sikhs gained political power, they further relapsed back into Hinduism. Sikh theology began to be re-interpreted under a Brahminical lens, such as in relation to the varnasramadharma. Sikh rehatnamas from this period, such as Chaupa Singh's, are heavily influenced by Hindu practices, especially with regard to the status of women and interactions with Muslims. These manuals were more akin to the stridharma laid out in Hindu texts, such as the Dharamshastra.File:Rehat Maryada document issued by the Akal Takht in the year 1877 C.E..jpg|thumb|Rehat Maryada document issued by the Akal Takht in the year 1877. It is written in larivār GurmukhiThere was no standard rehat but there were many with the same points and concepts, like the Muktinamah, Bhai Nand Lal's Rehatnamah and Tankhahnamah, 54 Hukams etc. As per Giani Gian Singh, in 1857, Bhai Rai Singh travelled and stayed at Hazur Sahib, Nanded, for months to document and reproduce the code of conduct of the Sikhs at the time for the Namdhari sect of Sikhism. As per Dr. McLeod, several books were published during this period that attempted to provide a renaissance to the faith. Budh Singh published Khalsa Dharm Shatak in 1876, Kahn Singh Nabha wrote Raj Dharm, Ham Hindu Nahin and Mahan Kosh, Gurmat Sudhakar. In 1915, Chief Khalsa Diwan published Gurmat Parkash Bhag Sanskar while Teja Singh Bhasaur published Khalsa Rahit Parkash in 1911 and Bhai Jodh Singh's Gurmati Niranay was published in 1932. Finally Sikh Rahit Maryada was brought out by the SGPC in 1945. These publications showed a significant attempt by the Sikh intelligentsia and bodies to develop appropriate code of conduct reflective of the Sikh philosophy.
The early Sikh rahit namas were markedly anti Mughal, the rahits derided Mughals as being "polluting"; injunctions included avoiding contact with the ritually sacrificed meat of all faiths, a ban on sexual contact with Muslim women, and a proscription on all intoxicants. Furthermore, an early rahit-nama asserted that karah parsad, whilst to be distributed to everyone irrespective of their religious background, was not to be consumed by a Sikh in the company of a Mughal. William Hewat McLeod writes that these injunctions were a reflection of a period of extended warfare between the Sikhs and Muslims during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Pashaura Singh writes that the Tat Khalsa scholars refused to accept the anti Muslim injunctions and remarks as the work of Guru Gobind Singh and quietly removed them from their revised rahit-namas. Six Rahitnamas were placed in the time of Guru Gobind Singh, the Tankhahnama of those in particular stresses hostility towards Mughal Aristocrats, referred to as "Turks". Although there was unanimous hostility and antipathy directed towards Mughals in the Sikh writings of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the works of Chaupa, Kesar Singh Chibbar, and Koer Singh are considered the apotheosis of this aversion. The twentieth century versions of the rahit; drawing upon and furthering developing earlier forms of rahits were representative of an effort to systemize codes presented in different versions and modify them in line with the evolving Sikh orthodoxy associated with the Singh Sahba reform movement. W.H McLeod further comments that while Guru Gobind's utterance of the rahit does not oppose nor is it inconsistent with the traditional version used today, it is suggested that he announced a considerably simpler one. Only a portion of the current Rahit dates to the time of Guru Gobind Singh, and it evolved according to the conditions and circumstances of the time. While the early eighteenth century rahits feature considerable variation; W.H. McLeod noted a few consistent features among them; Louis Fenech notes that the eighteenth century Sikh literature consisting of the rahit-namas and gur-bilas genres impart hostile attitudes towards Muslims and Islam and mention that Muslims were desirous of converting all Indians. He also noted that while the eighteenth century rahits disagreed on many points, a universal belief that the Khalsa was the principal sovereign not just of India, but the entire world, was accorded among them, and that many of the earliest rahit-namas violated certain Sikh precepts in the Guru Granth Sahib- including observation of caste status. He also notes that the eighteenth and nineteenth century Sikh manuscripts proclaimed Guru Gobind Singh to be the avatar of Vishnu and four of the five Panj Pyare as the incarnations of a Hindu demigod and three Hindu bhakts. He adds that the Tat Khalsa expunged the Hindu elements of the Panj Pyare tradition within these manuscripts. The Tat Khalsa's origins are said to be influenced by contemporary nineteenth century European understanding of religion and modernity; their objective became to reduce the Sikh faith of its contemporary plurality, multiplicity and diversity to a single solidarity identity centered around the Khalsa and to inculcate firm religious boundaries within the community through various methods including purging content they deemed offensive and non Sikh in the early rahit-namas and the permuting of Sikh history towards a certain trajectory.
Many Sikhs today assert that during the early 1800s, many Brahmanical and other Hindu influences came into the writings of Sikhs, which led to a "corruption" of the rehitnamahs.
1925–27
In 1925, the Sikh Gurdwaras Act was made in Punjab, legislating the establishment of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, an elected body of Sikhs, for the purpose of administering Gurdwaras.A general meeting of the SGPC was held on 15 March 1927 to establish a subcommittee with the task of producing a draft Code of Conduct. The subcommittee at the time consisted of 29 high-profile Sikhs, listed by name in the Introduction to the Sikh Rehat Maryada.
1931–32
A preliminary draft was circulated to Sikhs in April 1931, for comment. The subcommittee met on the 4th and 5 October 1931, then on the 3rd and 31 January 1932, at the Akal Takht in Amritsar. During this time the number of subcommittee members present at meetings reduced, and other people were listed as present.On March 1, four members were exited from the subcommittee, and eight more were appointed. Of the four who were exited, one had died and another was excommunicated. The subcommittee met again to deliberate and consider the draft on 8 May and 26 September 1932. On 1 October, the sub-committee submitted its report to the SGPC Secretary recommending a special session of the Committee be convened to consider the final draft and approve it for acceptance.
1933–36
The SGPC arranged a conclave of Sikhs on 30 December, where 170 individuals attended and debated the draft. Only nine attendees were members of the original sub-committee, and the conclave ultimately failed to reach an agreement. The SGPC then received comments on the draft from a subcommittee of 50 individuals and 21 Panthic Associations, all of whom are listed in the Introduction to the Sikh Rehat Maryada.After nearly three years, on 1 August 1936, the broader subcommittee approved the draft, and the general body of the SGPC ratified it on 12 October 1936. Thereafter, the Rehat was implemented.