Jathedar

A jathedar is the head of a jatha, a band or group, and in its most consequential use the custodian and chief officer of one of the five Takhts, the seats of Sikh temporal authority.

Head of a seat of authority

In its highest sense the jathedar is the chief officer of a takht, above all the Akal Takht at Amritsar, the first and highest of the five seats, and in that capacity he presides over the seat from which injunctions binding on the community are issued and before which Sikhs may be summoned to answer for their conduct, so the office carries real authority in the affairs of the Panth. The jathedar of the Akal Takht in particular is among the most influential figures in the Sikh world, speaking for the seat of temporal authority.

Appointment and its disputes

The jathedar is appointed rather than holding the office by any personal charisma or succession, and the manner of appointment, and the relationship between the office and the committees and bodies that administer Sikh affairs, has been a matter of real dispute, since the authority of the takht and the standing of the man who heads it can be drawn into the political conflicts of the community. The word in its plainer sense denotes the leader of any organised group or band, but its weight comes from its application to the heads of the takhts. The office thus sits at the point where the religious authority of the seats of the Panth meets the practical politics of who administers them, and the jathedar of the Akal Takht stands at the head of that structure of collective authority.

The five Takhts that anchor the office are historically and geographically distinct rather than a single system built at one time: the Akal Takht in Amritsar, established by Guru Hargobind in 1606 directly facing the Harmandir Sahib, was the first and remains the senior seat; Takht Sri Patna Sahib marks the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh; Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur marks the site of the founding of the Khalsa in 1699; Takht Sri Damdama Sahib is associated with Guru Gobind Singh's later compilation of the scripture; and Takht Sri Hazur Sahib at Nanded marks the place of the tenth Guru's death, so each seat carries the authority of a specific historical event in the life of the Gurus rather than functioning as an administrative division of equal and interchangeable seats.

Because the jathedars of the takhts can issue edicts, summon Sikhs to appear before them and impose religious sanctions, and because their appointment runs through the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, a body itself elected in ordinary Punjab politics, the office sits at a point where religious authority and electoral politics meet directly, and jathedars have at times been removed or reappointed in ways critics on various sides have characterised as politically motivated rather than purely religious, a recurring friction inherent in vesting religious authority in an office appointed by a political body.