(“purification”) Any
form of ritual purification that removes impurities and restores ritual purity.
In a more specialized sense, the term refers to people who
have "reconverted" back to Hinduism after having converted to another
religion or adopted practices from other religious traditions.
The reformist Arya Samaj, led by Swami Dayanand Saraswati,
first instituted this practice in the 1890s.
When several Sikhs were part of a group that was thus
"purified," there was a huge uproar in the Sikh community, and
according to Sikh accounts, the threat of reabsorption into the Hindu community
was one of the driving forces behind the Singh Sabha movement, which defined
the Sikhs as a separate religious community.
In modern times, the Hindu nationalist organization Vishva
Hindu Parishad has used this practice to "purify" certain groups that
have adopted some Islamic practices.
