Nirmala
Nirmala may refer to:
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Nirmala (sect)
Nirmala is an Indian religious sect of ascetics. The Nirmalas claim origin from the Sikh Gurus.
Origin
The Nirmalas themselves claim to have originated from Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru . One legend claims that the distinct Nirmala identity was established by a group of scholars, whom Guru Gobind Singh sent to Kashi to learn Sanskrit. After mastering Sanskrit in Kashi, they returned to Anandpur, where they were honoured by the title Nirmala (Sanskrit for "pure" or "unsullied"). After Gobind Singh's evacuation from Anandpur, they spread to different parts of India. W. H. McLeod (1995) doubts the historicity of this legend, arguing that there are very few mentions of Nirmalas before the 19th century. Pashaura Singh and Louis E. Fenech hypothesize that the Nirmalas are descended from the Udasis, who are similar to them in ascetic lifestyle, celibacy and Vedantic interpretation of Sikh philosophy.
History
Patronage from Sikh nobles, especially the rulers of the Phulkian states, helped the Nirmalas become a prominent religious order. Sardar Dhyan Singh of Shahbad willed his estate to Karam Singh Nirmala. In 1766, Sadda Singh of Bahirwala offered seven villages to Bhagat Singh Nirmala, although the latter declined the offer. Sardar Jai Singh's daughter-in-law granted two villages to the Nirmal Dera at Kankhal.
Nirmala (novel)
Nirmala (Hindi: निर्मला (virtuous or pure) or The Second Wife ) is a Hindi fiction novel written in Hindi and Urdu writer Munshi Premchand. The melodramatic novel is centered on Nirmala, a young girl who was forced to marry a widower of her father's age. The plot unfolds to reveal her husband’s suspicion of a relationship between her and his eldest son, a suspicion that leads to the son’s death.
A poignant novel first published in 1927, Nirmala's reformist agenda is transparent in its theme which deals with the question of dowry, and consequently mismatched marriages and related issues. The story uses fiction to highlight an era of much needed social reform in 1920s Indian society. Nirmala was serialized in 1928 in Chand, a women’s magazine in which the novel’s feminist character was represented. Nirmala is somewhat like Godaan (published in 1936) in that it deals with the exploitation of the village poor, and was translated by multiple scholarly translators. It was first translated in 1988 as The Second Wife by David Rubin, and in 1999 as Nirmala by Alok Rai, Premchand's grandson.
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