100years since the Nabha Massacre, a pivotal event in India's fight for Independence. Known as ‘Jaito da Morcha’, the ‘outbreak’ was a 2 year long series of protests by Sikhs for the restoration of sovereignty of Sikh places of worship. (Eyewitnesses claim over 100 shot dead) The protests started in 1923, when the Maharaja of Nabha began bitterly opposing British rule in India following the Amritsar massacre of 1919. He supported greater Sikh religious autonomy, his relationship with the British floundered badly and he was forced to abdicate

The 2020 @UKPHA Bookclub talks build up to a library of some of the most important books on Sikh & Punjabi History & Heritage

Start with @KimAtiWagner and the magnificent ‘Amritsar 1919’ an essential history of the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh
amzn.to/36XV9rN In our second bookclub meeting @PhilipDeslippe presented a brilliant talk on ‘The History of Yogi Bhajan and the 3HO’ based on his 2012 paper ‘From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric’

Available here: bit.ly/395i7zK

On VE Day in 1945 some 2.5million Indian Soldiers who fought as part of the Allied Forces also celebrated. Pictured is Aircraftman Singh of Ambala receiving news of victory with Corporal Boyd of Lanarkshire in 1945). Indians had participated in the European …(contd)#VEDay75 ..campaign, most notably in Italy where they were a significant part of the allied forces liberating Italy from the Nazis. Pictured are Sikhs fighting as part of the Allied contingent who fought alongside British and Americans in 1944 in Italy

When I was growing up White/American Sikhs were a strange phenomenon. Wafting about dressed solely in white-totally at ease in their adopted identity while I was still uncomfortable in my own skin. It always seemed that someone had whispered into their ears some great Sikh secret That someone was the charismatic, larger than life, bejewelled Sri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Yogi (Yogi Bhajan).He was the one who turned thousands of west coast hippies into good Sikhs, he was a master of a thing called Kundalini Yoga & the virtual god-head of their org (3HO)

#Sikh is trending in the UK thanks to some less-than-well-informed comments on the role of Sikhs in the First World War. A great opportunity to fill in some gaps

(painting: Risaldar Jagat Singh and Risaldar Man Singh by P. A. de László, May 1916) Lt. John Smyth (wearing a turban)of the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs – he was awarded the Victoria Cross in a daring mission supported by 10 Sikhs (8 of whom were killed in action)

A decade of the Sikh world looking at each years biggest news stories is fascinating reading. Identity, persecution and political presence are constant themes.
2010
Obama dodges visit to the Golden Temple fearing 'headgear' pics
Two prominent Sikhs beheaded in Afghanistan
contd. 2010
Britain's biggest Gurdwara opens in Gravesend
2011
Young Sikh businessman found murdered in car boot
Rabinder Singh QC appointed first turbaned High Court judge (UK)
2012
Gunman kills 6 in shooting at Gurdwara in Oak Creek
Contd

Udasi Sikhs photographed in the 1860s. An image of ash covered ascetics seems completely at odds with the Sikh ideal, but these men are descendants of a tradition that rooted in the very origins of the Sikh faith... read more... When Guru Nanak selected the successor to his spiritual path, he didn’t choose either of his two sons. The Guru’s youngest son had chosen a mercantile career. while his eldest son, Sri Chand, was deeply spiritual from a very early age, but in a manner largely rejected by the Guru

It’s easy to be mistaken by this picture of a grandfatherly 95 year-old. He was in fact one of the most dangerous men in British India. So feared was he by the British that he was held for 16 years in near solitary confinement for fear of the revolution he tried to spark. contd.. This is Sohan Singh Bhakna, co-founder of the Ghadr Party. When India joined WW1, Punjabi men were vigorously encouraged to join the Indian Army, even Congress & Mahatma Gandhi supported recruitment.Opposing the consensus were the violent and vociferous Ghadrs, or revolutionaries