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The Amritsar Singh Sabha (Punjabi: ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਭਾ), popularly known as Sanatan Singh Sabha (Punjabi: ਸਨਾਤਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਭਾ), was founded in 1873, "It was essentially original and Sanatan ('eternal'). The Sanatan Sikh (a term and formulation coined by Harjot Oberoi[1]) were the traditional Sikhs who were eventually marginalised.[2][failed verification]
A second Singh Sabha was shaped and named the Tat Khalsa (`True` Khalsa) as a political reaction [3] to the formation of the Sanatan Singh Sabha. The Governing British Administration based at Lahore in 1879 founded the Tat khalsa.[3] This Sabha was also called the Lahore Singh Sabha (Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha).
The British Raj utilized the Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha Sikhs to apply their `divide and rule` policy,[4] which included a more reformist approach.[5] The leader of Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha was Bhai Gurmukh Singh,[6][7] a professor and co-sponsor at the Oriental College of Lahore. Bhai Gurmukh Singh cooperated with Max Arthur Macauliffe, a divisional judge, to undertake the translation of the Guru Granth Sahib (finished in 1909). The western educated Sikh reformers,[8] went onto write Mahan Kosh (encyclopedia of Sikhism) and Ham Hindu Nahin (We are not Hindus).
"The British established the current Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha which reflected the views and interests of an emerging Western educated vernacular elite, including men such as Gurmukh Singh, the co-sponsor of the Lahore Singh Sabha a professor at Oriental college"[9]
On the issue of Diet, the Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha diluted issues such as cow protection,[10] although historical Sikh figures such as Maharaja Ranjit Singh, banned cow slaughter throughout his kingdom.[11][12][13] “The British Raj, applies the Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha Sikhs to apply their divide and rule policy which sought to negate the original Sanatan Sikhism in the name of “reform” whereas Sanatan Sikhism was inclusive, the British created Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha is not” [14]