| Who are the Sewapanthis?
Etymology of the word 'Sewapanthi'
Sewapanthi is a conjunctive of
two words; Sewa which can be translated as selfless service
and panthi. Panth literally means a ‘widened road’
(‘mMnY mgu n clY pMQu’
] Sri Japu Sahib ji) and in this context means ‘path
of’. Therefore, this term can be defined as those who
take the path of selfless service.
Before every human lies a path
At the time of Bhai Adhan Shah
and after, Sewapanthis were also known as Adhanshahis (those
of Adhan Shah). The two terms have been used interchangeably
to identify this order.
Historical Climate
It is important to understand the
context in which the Sewapanthi samparday was created. This
historical occasion is poetically encapsulated by Professor
Puran Singh, who writes;
“The human spirit at
Anandpur manifested its joyous spiritual energy in many ways.
On every day that dawned there were new ideas in the very
air, and the Khalsa crystallized in many shapes. The Sevapanthis,
the Nirmalas, the Sahej-dharis, set forth new shining resolutions...Sevapanthis
reserved themselves for the creed of service; later on they
formed the first ‘Red Cross’ corps of Gobind Singh,
serving friend and foe alike. They carried water on their
backs in the battlefield, and held the bowl of mercy to the
thirsty lips of the dying. They carried on (them) a stock
of first aid, and gained special knowledge in surgery and
medicine...”
(Prof. Puran Singh, The Book of the Ten Masters, page 107-108)
As depicted in Prof. Puran
Singh’s quote, the Khalsa included within itself a diversity
of identities, not all shastardhari. These distinguished identities
or paths are termed ‘sampardaya’. This term has
in the past been wrongly translated as ‘sect’
or ‘cult’, terms that imply heterodoxy. Without
using equally constrictive concepts such as ‘orthodoxy’
and ‘heterodoxy’, it is clear that the term sampardaya
does not mean ‘sect’, but rather ‘order’.
In this sense a sampardaya represents one among others, mutually
complementary, that in total constitute the whole. Let us
be clear on this issue. All the traditional sampardaya began
with the Gurus blessings. The four, traditional sampardaya
are the Nirmalas (scholastic vidvans), Udasin (scholar mystics),
Nihangs (warriors) and Sewapanthis.
Udasi
Akali Nihang Singh Khalsa
Nirmala
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