100th Anniversary Of Central Gurdwara Uk (shepherds Bush)

[SikhRoots]

This year is a special one for the Sikh community in the UK. Not only is it the 300th anniversary of the Guru Granth Sahib being installed as the Guru of the Sikh community, it is also the 100th anniversary of the first Sikh Gurdwara opening in this country and this book was commissioned by the Khalsa Jatha UK, more commonly known as Shepherds Bush Gurdwara to celebrate this double anniversary.

The founders of the Khalsa Jatha were larger than life figures in a British landscape where no organized Sikh community or infrastructure existed. From the early students and educated elite of the Sikh society in this country to the Maharaja of Patiala, a frequent visitor to the UK and both an extravagant spender and a generous patron of the community a colourful story of hardship and a drive to found a focus for the sikh community comes to life. Teja Singh Mastuana, a Cambridge University student first laid the foundations of the first Sikh temple by initiating a Sikh religious gathering in 1908 in Cambridge. Sardar Narain Singh Sargodha, a barrister-at-law became the first secretary of the Khalsa Jatha and Hardit Singh Malik, one of the select few Indians flying in the Royal flying corps in the First World War was also involved. In 1913, the Maharaja of Patiala, on a shopping spree that included seven Rolls Royce cars helped fund a move by the Gurdwara to Putney in London.

From these early years, the book carefully charts the use of the Gurdwara as a spiritual centre for the Sikh soldiers fighting in World War One to its role in the Indian freedom movement , the entry of itinerant traders, the Bhat Sikhs , the roles of Dalip Singh’s daughters, Kushwant Singh the famous Sikh writer , Udham Singh, the Sikh martyr who avenged the Jallian Walla Bagh massacre and many other leading luminaries each making a contribution small or large to the evolution of the Gurdwara and the Sikh community

The book is well illustrated and includes copies of photos and documents never published before. Intriguing pictures of the early leaders and congregation captured in both formal and informal poses show the primitive conditions and the communal spirit and leave a lasting impression on the reader of a community in its formative years.

Khalsa Jatha British Isles 1908-2008 is available on Amazon.co.uk.

Click here to read the review of the book by the Times Newspaper:

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