BANDAI,

BANDAI, name given to the followers of the Sikh hero, Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716), who regarded him not only as a military leader but also as Guru next to Guru Gobind Singh in spiritual succession. They were opposed and ultimately expelled in 1721 by the mainstream of the Sikhs, the Tatt Khalsa. A small number of Bandai Sikhs still survive. They reverence the Guru Granfh Sahib as their Scripture and most of them also undergo the Khalsa initiatory rites, but Banda Singh Bahadur is for them their eleventh Guru against the common Sikh belief of the spiritual line having ended with Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Master.

References :

1. Gian Singh, Giani, TwarUch Guru Kha/sa. Patiala, 1970
2. Cunningham, Joseph Davey, A History of the Sikhs. London, 1849
3. Ganda Singh, Life of Banda Singh Bahadur. Amritsar, 1935
4. Nripinder Singh, The Sikh Moral Tradition. Delhi, 1990