Manji (Sikhism)

A Manji (Punjabi: ਮੰਜੀ ਪ੍ਰਥਾ (Gurmukhi)) was a Sikh religious administrative unit for the propagation of Sikhism towards men.[1] It was part of the Sikh missionary administrative organization founded by Guru Amar Das, the third Guru of Sikhism. Manji refers to each zone of religious administration with an appointed chief called sangatias, with officially appointed representatives known as a masand.[2][3] It had been conceptually similar in its aims to the diocese system in Christianity, and had been similarly important in Sikh missionary activity.[4][5]

This article is about a clergy system in Sikhism. For other uses, see Manji (disambiguation).
Brass plaque at Gurdwara Chaubara Sahib Goindwal depicting scene of Guru Ramdas being enthroned to Guruship in the presence of regional Manji and Piri heads
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General topics and terminology

The word Manji or Manja literally means a cot (taken as the seat of authority in this context).[5]

A similar administrative unit existed for women. It was known as a Piri and was part of the Piri system.[6]

Guru Amar Das divided the Sikh congregation areas into twenty-two Manjis. He appointed a local preacher to be in-charge of each of the Manjis. For this purpose, a large group of 146 followers were trained for the propagation of Sikhism. 94 of them were men and assigned to a Manji whilst 52 were women and assigned to a Piri.[7]

See also

References
  1. Manji: SIKH RELIGIOUS ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT, Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. William Owen Cole; Piara Singh Sambhi (1995). The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1-898723-13-4.
  3. Louis E. Fenech; W. H. McLeod (2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 29–30. ISBN 978-1-4422-3601-1.
  4. Alon Goshen-Gottstein (2016). The Future of Religious Leadership: World Religions in Conversation. Lexington. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-4985-4025-4.
  5. DS Dhillon (1988). Sikhism Origin and Development. Atlantic Publishers. pp. 207–208.
  6. Saith, Ashwani (2019). Ajit Singh of Cambridge and Chandigarh: An Intellectual Biography of the Radical Sikh Economist. Cham: Springer International Publishing. p. 317. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12422-9. ISBN 978-3-030-12421-2. S2CID 194267065. Guru Amar Das is known and respected for several edicts and progressive practices within the Sikh faith, but above all, he was a powerful proponent of gender equality which was one of his principal teaching planks; he initiated the piri system whereby there could be female preachers in the faith, and with his practice following his preaching, he passed on the mantle of Guru not to his son but on merit to his son-in-law; maybe there was an inherited gender gene at work!
  7. Chawla, A.S.; Singh, Dharminder; Kaur, Jasleen. "7.2 - Established the Sikh Administration System". Management Perspectives of Sikh Religion. Guru Amar Das established the Manji System to propagate Sikhism in a logical and planned way. He divided Sikh congregation areas into 22 Manjis and a local preacher was made in-charge of each Manji. He trained the group of 146 followers, out of which 52 were women, to attend to the spiritual needs of the people. He also appointed preachers called Masands, who went across the country to spread the gospel of Sikhism.
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