renamed the Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar.         It included 36 to 37 different Singh
     In 1886 the Lahore Singh Sabha created its own Khalsa Diwan (Sikh
Council). Only the Sabhas of Faridkot, Amritsar, and Rawalpindi allied with
the original Diwan; the rest turned to the Lahore leader-ship and to its radical
ideology of social and religious change. The Lahore Khalsa Diwan received
assistance from the Maharaja of Nabha as its patron, while Sir Attar Singh
served as its president and Bhai Gurmukh Singh as its secretary.
     The Singh Sabhas continued to expand, new branches were founded that,
at times, created their own distinct ideas and programmes. The Bhasur Singh
Sabha became a hub of Sikh militancy under the leadership of Bhai Teja
Singh. It was aggressive in its missionary zeal and extreme in its ideology. In
time it developed into the Panch Khalsa Diwan and competed with other
Khalsa Diwans. Not all deviation or enthusiasm by local Singh Sabhas
proved as controversial.
     The low-caste Sikhs, particularly the Rahtias (untouchable weavers) from
the Jullundur Doab, demanded that the Singh Sabhas remove their social and
religious liabilities, caste system. Since the Singh Sabha leaders did not
respond to their pleas, they turned to the Arya Samaj, which welcomed them
and conducted public ceremonies of shuddhi for Rahtias.
     Thus, in the 20th century the Singh Sabhas were overwhelmed by other
organisations. In the first decade they were supplanted by the Khalsa Diwans
and then in the second decade by the struggle for control over the Sikh places
of worship.
Akali Movement
The next important Sikh reform movement was the akali movement in the
1920s. The main aim of the Akalis was to purify the management of the Sikh
gurudwaras or shrines by removing the corrupt and selfish mahants (priests)
from them. Their movement led to the enactment of a new Sikh Gurudwaras
Act by the British in 1925, and with the help of this Act and sometimes
through direct action, they removed the mahants from the gurudwaras and
managed them through the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee
(SGPC).