ABSTRACT
The forty years since the formal opening of the Harimandir Sahib of the Nirankari Darbar in Chandigarh have been marked as much by events beyond Nirankari control as by internal developments. This period began with a confrontation between Khalsa Sikhs and the Sant Nirankaris, which did not involve the Nirankaris but nonetheless had a lasting effect upon their relationships with the wider Sikh community. These relationships were further affected not only by scholarly research concerning the Nirankari role in Sikh history but also by political and judicial decisions which affected their public identity as Sikhs. The chapter considers three challenges facing the Nirankaris in the late 1970s. The first of these was the governance issue which was resolved, at least for the time being, by the court in 2011. The second was the identity issue posed by the violent conflict between Khalsa Sikhs and Sant Nirankaris. The third issue concerned the mission and very reason for being of the Nirankaris.
