Sikhism

religion

Alternative Title: Gurmat

Table of Contents

Introduction

History and doctrine

Sikh practice

Sikh literature

Sects and other groups

Conclusion

Sikhism, religion and philosophy founded in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent in the late 15th century. Its members are known as Sikhs. The Sikhs call their faith Gurmat (Punjabi: “the Way of the Guru”). According to Sikh tradition, Sikhism was established by Guru Nanak (1469–1539) and subsequently led by a succession of nine other Gurus. All 10 human Gurus, Sikhs believe, were inhabited by a single spirit. Upon the death of the 10th, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the spirit of the eternal Guru transferred itself to the sacred scripture of Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib (“The Granth as the Guru”), also known as the Adi Granth (“First Volume”), which thereafter was regarded as the sole Guru. In the early 21st century there were nearly 25 million Sikhs worldwide, the great majority of them living in the Indian state of Punjab.

Golden TempleThe Golden Temple, or Harmandir Sahib, in Amritsar, Punjab, northwestern India.© Tigerbarb/Shutterstock.com

The following discussion of the lives of the 10 Gurus relies on the traditional Sikh account, most elements of which are derived from hagiographic legend and lore and cannot be verified historically. This point should be borne in mind throughout, especially in the sections on the early Gurus. History and doctrine

Sikh in Punjabi means “learner,” and those who joined the Sikh community, or Panth (“Path”), were people who sought spiritual guidance. Sikhs claim that their tradition has always been separate from Hinduism. Nevertheless, many Western scholars argue that in its earliest stage Sikhism was a movement within the Hindu tradition; Nanak, they point out, was raised a Hindu and eventually belonged to the Sant tradition of northern India, a movement associated with the great poet and mystic Kabir (1440–1518). The Sants, most of whom were poor, dispossessed, and illiterate, composed hymns of great beauty expressing their experience of the divine, which they saw in all things. Their tradition drew heavily on the Vaishnava bhakti (the devotional movement within the Hindu tradition that worships the god Vishnu), though there were important differences between the two. Like the followers of bhakti, the Sants believed that devotion to God is essential to liberation from the cycle of rebirth in which all human beings are trapped; unlike the followers of bhakti, however, the Sants maintained that God is nirgun (“without form”) and not sagun (“with form”). For the Sants, God can be neither incarnated nor represented in concrete terms. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Certain lesser influences also operated on the Sant movement. Chief among them was the Nath tradition, which comprised a cluster of sects, all claiming descent from the semilegendary teacher Gorakhnath and all promoting Hatha Yoga as the means of spiritual liberation. Although the Sants rejected the physical aspects of Hatha Yoga in favour of meditation techniques, they accepted the Naths’ concept of spiritual ascent to ultimate bliss. Some scholars have argued that the Sants were influenced by Islam through their contact with the Mughal rulers of India from the early 16th century, but there is in fact little indication of this, though Sufism (Islamic mysticism) may have had a marginal effect. The 10 Gurus Guru Nanak

A member of the Khatri (trading) caste and far from illiterate, Nanak was not a typical Sant, yet he experienced the same spirit of God in everything outside him and everything within him as did others in the movement he founded. He was born in the Punjab, which has been the home of the Sikh faith ever since.

Nanak composed many hymns, which were collected in the Adi Granth by Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru, in 1604. Nanak’s authorship of these works is beyond doubt, and it is also certain that he visited pilgrimage sites throughout India. Beyond this very little is known. The story of his life has been the imagined product of the legendary janam-sakhis (“life stories”), which were composed between 50 and 80 years after the Guru’s death in 1539, though only a tiny fraction of the material found in them can be affirmed as factual.

The first janam-sakhis were attributed to the lifelong companion of Nanak, Bhai Bala (1466–1544), who composed an account of the Guru’s life that was filled with miracles and wonder stories. By the end of the 19th century, the Bala version had begun to create serious unease among Sikh scholars, who were greatly relieved when a more rational version, since known as the Puratan (“Ancient”) tradition, was discovered in London, where it had arrived as a gift for the library of the East India Company. Although it too contained fantastic elements, it had far fewer miracle stories than the Bala version, and it presented a more plausible account of the course of Guru Nanak’s journeys. When supplemented by references from a discourse by the poet Bhai Gurdas (1551–1637), the Puratan seems to provide a satisfactory description of the life of Guru Nanak.

According to this version, Nanak made five trips, one in each of the four directions of the cardinal points of the compass, followed by one within the Punjab. He traveled first to the east and then to the south, reaching Sri Lanka. He then journeyed to the north, deep in the Himalayas, where he debated with Nath masters known as Siddhs, who were believed to have attained immortality through the practice of yoga. His trip to the west took him to Baghdad, Mecca, and Medina. He then settled in Kartarpur, a village on the right bank of the Ravi River in the Punjab. After visiting southern Punjab, he died in Kartarpur, having appointed a loyal disciple as his successor.

The hagiographic character of the Puratan tradition is well illustrated by the story of Nanak’s visit to Mecca. Having entered the city, Nanak lay down with his feet pointing at the mihrab (the niche in a mosque indicating the direction of the Kaʿbah). An outraged qāẓī (judge) found him there and demanded an explanation. In reply Nanak asked him to drag his feet away from the mihrab. This the qāẓī did, only to discover that, wherever he placed Nanak’s feet, there the mihrab moved. The lesson of the story is that God is everywhere, not in any particular direction.

Another popular Puratan story concerns Nanak’s visit to the “Land Ruled by Women” in eastern India. Mardana, Nanak’s faithful minstrel and travel companion, went ahead to beg for food but was turned into a sheep by one of the women. When Nanak arrived, he caused a pot to adhere to the woman’s head and restored Mardana to his original form after instructing him to say “Vahi Guru” (“Praise to the Guru”). The women then tried all manner of fearsome magic on the pair, without success. After the queen of the Land Ruled by Women, Nur Shah, failed in her attempt to seduce Nanak, the women finally submitted.

Nanak was certainly no admirer of the Naths, who apparently competed with him for converts. (The janam-sakhi anecdotes give considerable prominence to debates between Nanak and the Siddhs, in which Nanak invariably gets the better of his opponents.) By contrast, he accepted the message of the Sants, giving it expression in hymns of the most compelling beauty. He taught that all people are subject to the transmigration of souls and that the sole and sufficient means of liberation from the cycle of rebirth is meditation on the divine nam (Persian: “name”). According to Nanak, the nam encompasses the whole of creation—everything outside the believer and everything within him. Having heard the divine word (shabad) through a grace bestowed by God, or Akal Purakh (one of Nanak’s names for God), and having chosen to accept the word, the believer undertakes nam simaran, or meditation on the name. Through this discipline, he gradually begins to perceive manifold signs of the nam, and the means of liberation are progressively revealed. Ascending to ever-higher levels of mystical experience, the believer is blessed with a mounting sense of peace and joy. Eventually the sach khand (“abode of truth”) is reached, and the believer passes into a condition of perfect and absolute union with Akal Purakh.

Sikhs believe that the “voice” with which the word is uttered within the believer’s being is that of the spirit of the eternal Guru. Because Nanak performed the discipline of nam simaran, the eternal Guru took flesh and dwelt within him. Upon Nanak’s death the eternal Guru was embodied, in turn, in each of Nanak’s successors until, with the death of Guru Gobind Singh, it was enshrined in the holy scripture of the Sikhs, the Guru Granth Sahib.

The fourth Guru, Ram Das, introduced two significant changes: he introduced the appointment of masands (vicars), charged with the care of defined congregations (sangats), and he founded the important centre of Amritsar. The chief contribution of Arjan, the fifth Guru, was the compilation of the Sikhs’ sacred scripture, using the Goindval Pothis, which had been prepared at the instructions of Guru Amar Das. All of the Gurus continued the teaching of Nanak concerning liberation through meditation on the divine name. The first five Gurus were, therefore, one as far as the central belief was concerned.

Under the sixth Guru, however, the doctrine of miri/piri emerged. Like his predecessors, the Guru still engaged in piri, spiritual leadership, but to it he now added miri, the rule of a worldly leader. The Panth was thus no longer an exclusively religious community but was also a military one that was commonly involved in open warfare. All Sikhs were expected to accept the new dual authority of the Gurus.

The final contribution of the Gurus came with Gobind Singh. As before, there was no weakening of the doctrine affirming meditation on the divine name. Guru Gobind Singh, however, believed that the forces of good and evil fell out of balance on occasion, and at times the latter increased enormously. Akal Purakh then intervened in human history to correct the balance, choosing as his agents particular individuals who fought the forces of evil that had acquired excessive power. Gobind Singh believed that the Mughals, through Emperor Aurangzeb, had tipped the scale too far toward evil and that he had been divinely appointed to restore the balance between good and evil. He also believed that drawing the sword was justified to rein in evil. Guru Angad

In 1539 Nanak died, having first appointed Guru Angad (1504–52) as his successor. Originally known as Lahina, Angad had been a worshipper of the Hindu goddess Durga. While leading a party to the holy site of Javalamukhi (a temple in a town of the same name in Himachal Pradesh state, India), he passed by Kartarpur and was instantly won over by the beauty of Nanak’s hymns. Thereafter the future Guru was completely loyal to his new master, and his behaviour persuaded Nanak that he would be a more suitable successor than either of the Guru’s two sons. A thoroughly obedient disciple, Angad made no innovations in Nanak’s teachings, and the period of his leadership was uneventful. Guru Amar Das

When Angad died, the title of Guru was passed to Amar Das (1479–1574), who was distinguished by his total loyalty to the second Guru. According to tradition, Amar Das was a Vaishnava who had spent his life looking for a Guru. While on a trip to the Ganges River, he decided to become a Sikh when he overheard the daughter of Angad singing a hymn by Nanak. Amar Das, who was 73 years old when he became Guru, assumed responsibility for the Panth at a time when it was settling down after the first flush of its early years. Many Sikhs had been born into the Panth, and the enthusiasm and excitement that characterized the religion under Nanak had dissipated. Believing that rituals were necessary to confirm the Sikhs in their faith, Amar Das ordered the digging of a sacred well (baoli), which he designated as a pilgrimage site; created three festival days (Baisakhi, Maghi, and Diwali); and compiled a scripture of sacred hymns, the so-called Goindval Pothis. In addition, because the Sikhs had spread throughout the Punjab, he established manjis (dioceses) to help spread the faith and better organize its adherents. Despite these changes, there was no weakening of the obligation to meditate on the nam. Guru Ram Das

Guru Ram Das (1534–81), the fourth Guru, was the son-in-law of Guru Amar Das. He is perhaps best known as the founder of the town of Amritsar (“Pool of Nectar”), which became the capital of the Sikh religion and the location of the Harmandir Sahib (later known as the Golden Temple), the chief house of worship in Sikhism. He also replaced the manjis with masands (vicars), who were charged with the care of defined sangats (congregations) and who at least once a year presented the Guru with reports on and gifts from the Sikh community. Particularly skilled in hymn singing, Guru Ram Das stressed the importance of this practice, which remains an important part of Sikh worship. A member of the Khatri caste and the Sodhi family, Ram Das appointed his son Arjan as his successor, and all subsequent Gurus were his direct descendants. Guru Arjan

Prithi Chand, the oldest brother of Guru Arjan (1563–1606), took a distinctly hostile view of his brother’s appointment and in retaliation attempted to poison Hargobind, Arjan’s only son. Prithi Chand and his followers also circulated hymns that they alleged were written by the earlier Gurus. This prompted Arjan to compile an authentic version of the hymns, which he did using Bhai Gurdas as his scribe and the Goindval Pothis as a guide. The resulting Adi Granth, in a supplemented version, became the Guru Granth Sahib. It remains the essential scripture of the faith, and Sikhs always show it profound respect and turn to it whenever they need guidance, comfort, or peace.

During Arjan’s lifetime the Panth steadily won converts, particularly among members of the Jat agrarian caste. The Mughal governor of the Punjab was concerned about the growth of the religion, and Emperor Jahāngīr was influenced by rumours concerning Arjan’s alleged support for Jahāngīr’s rebellious son Khusro. Guru Arjan was arrested and tortured to death by the Mughals. Before he died, however, he urged his son—Hargobind, the sixth Guru—always to carry arms. Guru Hargobind: A new direction for the Panth

The appointment of the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind (1595–1644), marks a transition from a strictly religious Panth to one that was both religious and temporal. Arjan’s command to his son was later termed miri/piri (“temporal authority”/“spiritual authority”). Hargobind was still the Guru, and as such he continued the pattern established by his five predecessors. He was, in other words, a pir, or spiritual leader, but he was also a mir, or chieftain of his people, responsible for protecting them against tyranny with force of arms. The new status of the Guru and the Panth was confirmed by the actions of Hargobind and came to be reflected in the architecture of Amritsar. Opposite the Harmandir Sahib, the symbol of piri, there is a building known as the Akal Takht, the symbol of miri. Thus, when Hargobind stood between the Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht and buckled on two swords, the message was clear: he possessed both spiritual and temporal authority.

Hargobind fought intermittently with Mughal forces in the Punjab. Following four such skirmishes, he withdrew from Amritsar and occupied Kiratpur in the foothills of the Shiwalik Hills. This was a much more suitable position because it was outside the territory directly controlled by the Mughal administration. There he remained until his death in 1644.

Before he died, the question of who should succeed him emerged. Although it was certain that the successor should be a descendant of his, it was far from clear which of his children or grandchildren should take his place. Hargobind had three wives who bore him six children. The eldest son, Gurditta, who was evidently his favourite for the position, had predeceased him, and none of the remaining five seemed suitable for the position. The older son of Gurditta, Dhir Mal, was rejected because, from his seat in Jalandhar district, he had formed an alliance with Emperor Shāh Jahān. This meant that the younger son of Gurditta, Har Rai, would become the seventh Guru. But Dhir Mal continued to make trouble for the orthodox Panth and attracted many Sikhs as his followers. He also claimed to possess the sacred scripture prepared by Guru Arjan and used it to buttress his claims to be the only legitimate Guru. Guru Har Rai

The period of Guru Har Rai (1630–61) was a relatively peaceful one. He withdrew from Kiratpur and moved farther back into the Shiwalik Hills, settling with a small retinue at Sirmur. From there he occasionally emerged onto the plains of the Punjab to visit and preach to the Sikhs. In this regard he was well served by several masands, who brought him news about the Sikhs and offerings of money to pay the expenses of the Panth.

The period of peace did not last, however. Guru Har Rai faced the same problems with the Mughals as Guru Arjan had. Aurangzeb, the successful contender for the Mughal throne, defeated his elder brother Dara Shikoh and established himself in Delhi. He then sent a message to Har Rai requiring him to deliver his son Ram Rai as a hostage for Har Rai’s reputed support of Dara Shikoh. Aurangzeb evidently wished to educate the future Guru in Mughal ways and to convert him into a supporter of the Mughal throne. In an episode that illustrated the success of this quest, Aurangzeb once asked Ram Rai to explain an apparently demeaning line in the Adi Granth, which claimed that earthenware pots were mitti musalaman ki, or formed from deceased Muslim bodies. Ram Rai replied that the words had been miscopied. The original text should have been mitti beiman ki, the dust that is formed from the bodies of faithless people. When this answer was reported to Har Rai, he declared his intention never to see Ram Rai again. Because he had committed the serious crime of altering the words of Guru Nanak, Ram Rai could never be the Guru, and the position passed instead to his younger brother, Hari Krishen, who inherited the title when he was only five years old. Guru Hari Krishen

Aurangzeb summoned Guru Hari Krishen (1656–64) to Delhi from the Shiwalik Hills. While in Delhi, Hari Krishen contracted smallpox, which proved fatal. Before he died, he uttered the words “Baba Bakale,” which indicated to his followers the identity of his successor, the baba (“old man”) who is in the village of Bakala. Hari Krishen meant to identify Tegh Bahadur, who dwelt in Bakala and was the son of Guru Hargobind by his second wife and the half brother of Guru Hari Krishen’s grandfather.

Sikhism: Gurudwara Bangla SahibThe Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, a Sikh house of worship dedicated to the eighth Sikh Guru, Hari Krishen, in Delhi.Ken Wieland (CC-BY-2.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Guru Tegh Bahadur

As soon as these words became known, many hopeful persons rushed to Bakala to claim the title. Sikh tradition records that Makhan Shah, a trader, had been caught by a violent storm at sea and in his distress vowed to give the Sikh Guru 501 gold mohurs (coins) if he should be spared. After the storm abated, the survivor traveled to the Punjab, and, learning that the Guru resided in Bakala, he proceeded there. He discovered that several people claimed the title following the death of Guru Hari Krishen. He decided to test them all, laying before each claimant two gold mohurs. Finally he reached Tegh Bahadur, who asked him for the remainder of what he had promised. Rushing up to the rooftop, Makhan Shah proclaimed that he had indeed found the true Guru.

The period of Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–75) is important for two reasons. The first is that several hymns that Tegh Bahadur wrote were added by Guru Gobind Singh to the collection originally made by Guru Arjan; the canon was then closed, and the Adi Granth has remained inviolable ever since. The second concerns the manner of Tegh Bahadur’s death. Sikh tradition maintains that he was arrested by Mughal authorities for having aided Kashmiri Brahmans against Mughal attempts to convert them to Islam. Offered the choice of conversion or death, he chose the latter and was immediately beheaded.

A Sikh who witnessed the execution spirited away Tegh Bahadur’s headless body and lodged it in his house outside Delhi. To cremate the body without raising suspicion, he burned the whole house. Meanwhile, three outcaste Sikhs secured the head of the Guru and carried it in secret up to Anandpur, a service which earned them and all their successors the right to be called Ranghreta Sikhs, an honoured group of outcaste followers of the Guru. Arriving in Anandpur, they produced the severed head amidst cries of great lamentation. Guru Gobind Singh and the founding of the Khalsa

Following the death of Tegh Bahadur, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the most important of all the Gurus with the exception of Guru Nanak, assumed leadership of the Sikhs. Gobind Rai, whose name was altered to Gobind Singh possibly at the time of the creation of the Khalsa, was born in Patna, the only child of Guru Tegh Bahadur. At the age of five he was brought to Anandpur and educated in Sanskrit and Persian and in the arts of poetry and warfare. His father’s execution in Delhi by Aurangzeb must have made a deep impression on the child. For several years after his succession as Guru, he continued his education in the Shiwalik Hills. He grew to manhood as the ruler of a small Shiwalik state, participating in various wars against other Shiwalik chieftains and demonstrating a particular delight in the sport of hunting.

According to Sikh tradition, on Baisakhi Day (the Indian New Year) late in the 17th century (the exact year is uncertain, though it was probably 1699), a fair was held at Anandpur, and all Sikhs were ordered to attend. The Guru remained concealed until the celebrations were at their height, when he suddenly appeared from a tent carrying a drawn sword and demanding the head of one of his loyal followers. At once the crowd became silent, wondering what had happened. The Guru repeated the command, and eventually Daya Singh volunteered and was taken behind a screen to be dispatched. Gobind Singh then reappeared, his sword dripping blood, and demanded a second victim. He too was escorted behind the screen, and again the sound of the sword could be heard. In this manner five loyal Sikhs agreed to die for their master. When he had apparently dispatched the fifth, the screen was removed, and all five were seen to be very much alive. At their feet lay five slaughtered goats. The five volunteers became the Panj Piare, the “Cherished Five,” who had proved that their loyalty was beyond question.

Guru Gobind Singh explained that he desired the Panj Piare to be the beginning of a new order, the Khalsa (“the Pure,” from the Persian khalisah, also meaning “pure”). The masands (many of whom had become quarrelsome or corrupt) would be eliminated, and all Sikhs, through their initiation into the Khalsa, would owe allegiance directly to the Guru. Gobind Singh then commenced the amrit sanskar (“nectar ceremony”), the service of initiation for the Panj Piare. When the rite was concluded, the Guru himself was initiated by the Panj Piare. The order was then opened to anyone wishing to join, and Sikh tradition reports that enormous crowds responded.

It should be noted that, contrary to the belief of many Sikhs, some central features of the present-day Khalsa did not exist in Gobind Singh’s time. For example, although the Guru required that those initiated into the Khalsa carry arms and never cut their hair (so that at least the men would never be able to deny their identity as Khalsa Sikhs), the wearing of the “Five Ks”—kes or kesh (uncut hair), kangha (comb), kachha (short trousers), kara (steel bracelet), and kirpan (ceremonial sword)—did not become an obligation of all Sikhs until the establishment of the Singh Sabha, a religious and educational reform movement of the late 19th and the early 20th century. The Sikh wedding ceremony, in which the bride and groom walk around the Guru Granth Sahib, is also a modern development, having replaced the essentially Hindu rite, in which the bride and groom walk around a sacred fire, by the Anand Marriage Act of 1909. The names Singh (“Lion”) for Sikh males and Kaur (“Princess”) for Sikh females, formerly adopted upon initiation into the Khalsa, are now bestowed to all Sikhs in a birth and naming ceremony (see below Rites and festivals). All of these changes have been incorporated into the Rahit, the Sikh code of belief and conduct, which reached nearly its final form in the early 20th century.

Guru Gobind Singh believed that the forces of good and evil in the world sometimes fall out of balance. When the forces of evil become too great, Akal Purakh intervenes in human history to correct the balance, using particular human individuals as his agents. In Gobind Singh’s time the forces of evil, represented by the Mughals under Aurangzeb, had gained the ascendance, and it was Gobind Singh’s task, he believed, to right the balance. In the service of this mission, the Sikhs were justified in drawing the sword. He expressed this conviction in Zafar-nama (“Epistle of Victory”), a letter that he addressed late in life to Augangzeb.

Soon after the creation of the Khalsa, the Guru was attacked by other Shiwalik chieftains in league with the Mughal governor of the town of Sirhind. In 1704 he was compelled to withdraw from Anandpur, losing two of his four sons in the battle that followed. The two remaining sons were taken prisoner and delivered to the governor of Sirhind, who cruelly executed them by bricking them up alive. The fate of these two children has remained an agonizing tale for Sikhs ever since.

From Anandpur Gobind Singh escaped to southern Punjab, where he inflicted a defeat on his pursuers at Muktsar. He then moved on to Damdama, remaining there until 1706 and, according to tradition, occupying himself with the final revision of the Adi Granth. When Aurangzeb died in 1707, Gobind Singh agreed to accompany Aurangzeb’s successor, Bahādur Shāh, to southern India. Arriving at Nanded on the banks of the Godavari River in 1708, he was assassinated by agents of the governor of Sirhind.

Guru Gobind Singh is without doubt the beau ideal of the Sikhs. Illustrations of him and of Guru Nanak are commonly found in Sikh homes. He is regarded as the supreme exemplar of all that a Sikh of the Khalsa (a Gursikh) should be. His bravery is admired, his nobility esteemed, his goodness profoundly revered. The duty of every Khalsa member, therefore, is to follow his path and to perform works that would be worthy of him. The 18th and 19th centuries

The most significant figure in Sikh history of the 18th century is Lacchman Dev, who was probably born in Punch in Kashmir and had become a Vaishnava ascetic known as Madho Das. He journeyed to the south and was in the vicinity of Nanded at the time of Guru Gobind Singh’s arrival. The two met shortly before the Guru’s death, and Madho Das was instantly converted to the Sikh faith and renamed Banda (“the Slave”). The Guru also conferred on him the title of Bahadur (“the Brave”); he has been known as Banda Bahadur ever since.

According to tradition, Banda Bahadur was commissioned by Gobind Singh to mount a campaign in the Punjab against the governor of Sirhind. A hukam-nama, or letter of command, from the Guru was entrusted to him certifying that he was the Guru’s servant and encouraging all Sikhs to join him. Arriving in the Punjab with a group of 25 Sikhs, Banda issued a call to join him, and, partly because the peasants were struggling against the excessive land tax of the Mughals, he had considerable success. The fact that he had been commissioned by the 10th Guru also counted for much. The process evidently took some time, and it was not until late 1709 that Banda and his army of peasants were able to mount an attack, sacking the towns of Samana and Sadhaura.

Banda then turned his attention to the town of Sirhind and its governor, who had bricked up the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh. For this and many other crimes, the Sikhs believed that he merited death. Banda’s army, fighting with great determination, attacked and overwhelmed Sirhind, and the governor was put to the sword. Thereafter much of the Punjab was plunged into turmoil, though Banda’s army clearly was the dominant force in the early years of the rebellion. Many of the peasants had rallied to Banda, and the Mughals were exceedingly hard-pressed to maintain control. Finally, after six years of fighting, Banda was cornered in the village of Gurdas Nangal, where he chose to construct a defense by flooding a surrounding canal. This proved to be a mistake, since the Mughals only had to wait until hunger drove Banda’s army to surrender. Banda was put in chains and carried to Delhi in a cage, and in June 1716 he was tortured and barbarously executed.

Although Banda is greatly admired by Sikhs for his bravery and his loyalty to the 10th Guru, he has never commanded the complete approval of the Panth. This is presumably because he introduced changes to the Khalsa, including a new greeting, “Fateh darshan” (“Facing victory!”), in place of the traditional “Fateh Vahi Guruji” (“Victory to the Guru!”). He also required his followers to be vegetarians and to wear red garments instead of the traditional blue. Those who accepted these changes were called Bandai Sikhs, while those opposed to them—led by Mata Sundari, one of Guru Gobind Singh’s widows—called themselves the Tat Khalsa (the “True” Khalsa or “Pure” Khalsa), which should not be confused with the Tat Khalsa segment of the Singh Sabha, discussed below.

After the execution of Banda, the Sikhs endured several decades of persecution by the Mughals, though there were occasional periods of peace. Only the Sikhs of the Khalsa—whose identity could be easily recognized by their uncut hair and flowing beards—were persecuted; other Sikhs were seldom affected. This period, nonetheless, is remembered by Sikhs as one of great suffering, accompanied by acts of great bravery by many Khalsa Sikhs in their struggle against the Mughal authorities in Lahore.

Beginning in 1747, the ruler of Afghanistan, Aḥmad Shāh Durrānī, led a series of nine invasions of the Punjab that eventually brought Mughal power in the region to an end. In rural areas, the Sikhs took advantage of the weakening of Mughal control to form several groups later known as misls or misals. Beginning as warrior bands, the emergent misls and their sardars (chieftains) gradually established their authority over quite extensive areas.

As Mughal power declined, the misls eventually faced the Afghan army of Aḥmad Shāh, with whom an important Sikh tradition is associated. After the Afghans occupied the Harmandir Sahib in 1757, Dip Singh, a member of the Shahid misl, pledged to free the shrine or die in the attempt. His small army was met by a much larger one several kilometres from Amritsar, and in the ensuing battle Dip Singh’s head was cut off. According to one version of events, the body of Dip Singh, holding the head in one hand, continued fighting, eventually dropping dead in the precincts of the Harmandir Sahib. Another account reports that the body fought its way to the outskirts of Amritsar and then hurled the head toward the Harmandir Sahib, the head landing very close to the shrine; the place where the head is believed to have landed is marked by a hexagonal stone.

By the end of Aḥmad Shāh’s invasions in 1769, the Punjab was largely in the hands of 12 misls, and, with the external threat removed, the misls turned to fighting between themselves. Eventually, one misldar (commander), Ranjit Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia misl (named after the town of Sukkarchak in what is now northeastern Punjab province, Pakistan), which included territories north and west of Lahore, won almost complete control of the Punjab. The lone exception was the Phulkian misl (so called after its founder, Phul, the disciple of Guru Har Rai) on the southeastern border of the Punjab, which survived because the English East India Company had reached the Sutlej River and Ranjit Singh recognized that he was not yet ready to fight the British army. For their part, the British recognized that Ranjit Singh was in the process of establishing a strong kingdom, and, for as long as it survived, they were content to have it as a buffer state between their territories and their ultimate objective, Afghanistan.

Sikhs remember Ranjit Singh with respect and affection as their greatest leader after the Gurus. He succeeded as Sukerchakia misldar when his father died in 1792. By 1799 he had entered Lahore, and in 1801 he proclaimed himself maharaja of the Punjab. He sheathed the two upper stories of the Harmandir Sahib in gold leaf, thereby converting it into what became known as the Golden Temple. Within the kingdom that replaced the misl system, Sikhs of the Khalsa received special consideration, but places were also found for Hindus and Muslims. The army was Ranjit Singh’s particular interest. His objective was to create an entirely new army on a Western model, and for this purpose he employed numerous Europeans, only the British being excepted. When his new army was ready to do battle, the city of Multan, the Vale of Kashmir, and the citadel of Peshawar were all added to the kingdom of the Punjab.

Notwithstanding his many accomplishments, Ranjit Singh failed to provide a firm financial footing for his government, nor was he interested in training a successor. When he died in 1839, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Kharak Singh, though effective authority was exercised by Kharak Singh’s son Nau Nihal Singh. Kharak Singh died in 1840 as a result of excessive opium consumption, and Nau Nihal Singh was killed by a falling arch on the day of his father’s funeral. The Punjab quickly descended into chaos, and, following two wars with the British, the state was annexed in 1849 to become a part of British India. After annexation, the British favoured the Sikhs for recruitment as soldiers, and many Sikhs made the British army their career.

For their loyalty to the British administration during the unsuccessful Indian Mutiny of 1857–58, the Sikhs were rewarded with grants of land and other privileges. Peace and prosperity within the Punjab made possible the founding of the first Singh Sabha, a religious and educational reform movement, in Amritsar in 1873. Its purpose was to demonstrate that Sikhs were not involved in the Indian Mutiny and to respond to signs of decay within the Panth, such as haircutting and tobacco smoking. Because the men who gathered in Amritsar were, for the most part, large landowners and persons of high status, the positions they adopted were generally conservative. In response a more radical branch of the Singh Sabha was established in Lahore in 1879. The Amritsar group came to be known as the Sanatan (“Traditional”) Sikhs, whereas the radical Lahore branch was known as the Tat Khalsa.

The differences between the two groups were considerable. The Sanatan Sikhs regarded themselves as part of the wider Hindu community (then the dominant view within the Panth), and they tolerated such things as idols in the Golden Temple. The Tat Khalsa, on the other hand, insisted that Sikhism was a distinct and independent faith. The pamphlet Ham Hindu Nahin (1898; “We Are Not Hindus”), by the Tat Khalsa writer Kahn Singh Nabha, provided an effective slogan for the movement. Other radical adherents, influenced by Western standards of scholarship, set out to revise and rationalize the rahit-namas (the manuals containing the Rahit), removing parts that were erroneous, inconsistent, or antiquated. Many prohibitions were eliminated, though tobacco and halal meat (flesh of an animal killed according to Muslim ritual) continued to be enjoined. Their work eventually resulted in a clear statement of the Five Ks, which has since been adopted by all orthodox Sikhs. Marriage was also reformed according to Tat Khalsa views.

The controversy between the Sanatan Sikhs and the Tat Khalsa Sikhs continued for some time, as other factions within the Singh Sabha lent their support to one group or the other. Most factions, however, supported the radical group, and, by the beginning of the 20th century, the dominance of the Tat Khalsa movement had become apparent. Eventually its victory was total, and, during the early decades of the 20th century, it converted the Panth to its distinctive way of thinking, so much so that the accepted contemporary understanding of the Sikh faith is the Tat Khalsa interpretation. The 20th century to the present

During the early 1920s the Akali movement, a semimilitary corps of volunteers raised to oppose the British government, disputed with the British over control of the larger gurdwaras" class="md-crosslink">gurdwaras (Punjabi: “doorways to the Guru”), the Sikh houses of worship, in the Punjab. This conflict led eventually to the adoption by the Legislative Council of the Punjab of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, whereby the principal gurdwaras were entrusted to Sikh control. The gurdwaras have been governed ever since by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (Supreme Committee of Temple Management), an elected body that is regarded by many Sikhs as the supreme authority within the Panth.

Akal Takht crowdA crowd of people in front of the Akal Takht, the chief centre of authority for Sikhism, in Amritsar, Punjab state, northwestern India.© lehic/Fotolia The Punjabi suba

During India’s struggle for independence, the Sikhs were on both sides of the conflict, many continuing to serve in the British military and others opposing the colonial government. The partition between India and Pakistan in 1947 produced deep dissatisfaction among the Sikhs, who saw the Punjab divided between the two new states. Almost all Sikhs in the western Punjab migrated to the portion retained by India. Having settled there, however, they soon felt that the government of the Indian National Congress lacked sympathy for them, a situation that was put right by the creation in 1966 of the Punjabi suba, or the Punjabi state, within the union of India. Because the boundaries of the Punjab were redrawn to embrace those whose first language was Punjabi, the Sikhs constituted a majority in the new state.

For four decades following partition, the Sikhs enjoyed growing prosperity, including greater educational opportunities. Tat Khalsa Sikhs had long emphasized female education at the primary and secondary levels; now stress was laid upon tertiary education for both sexes. Punjabi University in Patiala was opened in 1962 with strong Sikh support, followed by Guru Nanak University (now Guru Nanak Dev University) in Amritsar in 1969, founded to honour the quincentenary of the birth of Guru Nanak. (Another reason for the establishment of Guru Nanak University was that Punjabi University tended to favour the trading castes; Guru Nanak University, by contrast, favoured the Jats.)

The growth of the Punjab was interrupted in the mid-1980s by conflict between the central government and Sikh fundamentalists, who were demanding a separate Sikh nation-state. In an effort to reign in the principal Sikh political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Supreme Akali Party), the government unwisely enlisted the support of a young Sikh fundamentalist, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. In 1984 Bhindranwale and his armed followers occupied the Akal Takht in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. In response, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered a military assault on the complex, which proved much more difficult than had been anticipated and led to severe damage to some of the complex’s buildings (notably the Akal Takht, which subsequently was repaired). Later in the year, Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in retaliation for the assault. This in turn prompted a pogrom against the Sikhs, particularly in the Delhi area, and led to guerrilla warfare against the central government in Punjab that lasted until 1992. At the start of the 21st century, the demands of the fundamentalists still had not been met, but at least the Punjab was quiet. Meanwhile, the appointment of Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, as prime minister in 2004 was the source of great pride in the Sikh community. The Sikh diaspora

Until well into the modern era, most migrant Sikhs were traders who settled in India outside the Punjab or in neighbouring lands to the west. In the late 19th century, the posting of Sikh soldiers in the British army to stations in Malaya and Hong Kong prompted Sikh emigration to those territories, which eventually became jumping-off points for further migration to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, especially for those seeking temporary employment as unskilled labourers. Others Sikhs discovered opportunities along the west coast of North America, the first emigrants evidently arriving in 1903. Semiskilled artisans were also transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help in the building of railways. After World War II, Sikhs emigrated from both India and Pakistan, most going to the United Kingdom but many also headed for North America. Some of the Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972; most of them moved to the United Kingdom. In the early 21st century the Sikh population in that country was more than 300,000, and there are communities of 180,000 to 200,000 members each in the United States and Canada. Sikh practice The worship service

A Sikh gurdwara includes both the house of worship proper and its associated langar, or communal refectory. The Adi Granth must be present at the gurdwara, and all attending must enter with heads covered and feet bare. Sikhs show their reverence by bowing their foreheads to the floor before the sacred scripture. Worship consists largely of singing hymns from the scripture, and every service concludes with Ardas, a set prayer that is divided into three parts. The first part consists of a declaration of the virtues of all the Gurus, and the last part is a brief salutation to the divine name; neither part can be changed. The middle part of the Ardas is a list, in a generally agreed form, of the trials and the triumphs of the Khalsa, which are recited in clusters by a prayer leader. The congregation responds to each cluster with a fervent “Vahiguru,” which originally meant “Praise to the Guru” but is now accepted as the most common word for God. The conclusion of the service is followed by the distribution of karah prasad, a sacramental food that consists of equal parts of coarsely refined wheat flour, clarified butter, and raw sugar. The rejection of caste

The Adi Granth contains a forthright condemnation of caste, and consequently there is no toleration of caste in its presence (normally in a gurdwara). The Gurus denounced caste as holding no importance whatsoever for access to liberation. In the langar, therefore, everyone must sit in a straight line, neither ahead to lay claim to higher status nor behind to denote inferiority. Indeed, the distinctive Sikh langar originated as a protest against the caste system. Another signal of the Sikhs’ rejection of caste is the distribution of the karah prasad, which is prepared or donated by people of all castes.

In two areas of Sikh society, however, caste is still observed. Sikhs are normally expected to marry within their caste: Jat marries Jat, Khatri marries Khatri, and Dalit marries Dalit. In addition, Sikhs of some castes tend to establish gurdwaras intended for their caste only. Members of the Ramgarhia caste, for example, identify their gurdwaras in this way (particularly those established in the United Kingdom), as do members of the Dalit caste.

More than 60 percent of Sikhs belong to the Jat caste, which is a rural caste. The Khatri and Arora castes, both mercantile castes, form a very small minority, though they are influential within the Sikh community. Other castes represented among the Sikhs, in addition to the distinctive Sikh caste of Ramgarhias (artisans), are the Ahluwalias (formerly Kalals [brewers] who have raised their status considerably) and the two Dalit castes, known in Sikh terminology as the Mazhabis (the Chuhras) and the Ramdasias (the Chamars). Rites and festivals

Sikh Rahit Marayada, the manual that specifies the duties of Sikhs, names four rituals that qualify as rites of passage. The first is a birth and naming ceremony, held in a gurdwara when the mother is able to rise and bathe after giving birth. A hymn is selected at random from the Guru Granth Sahib, and a name beginning with the first letter of the hymn is chosen. Singh is added to the names of males and Kaur to females. A second rite is the anand karaj (“blissful union”), or marriage ceremony, which clearly distinguishes Sikhs from Hindus. The bride and groom are required to proceed four times around the Guru Granth Sahib to the singing of Guru Ram Das’s Suhi Chhant 2, which differs from the Hindu custom of circling a sacred fire. The third rite—regarded as the most important—is the amrit sanskar, the ceremony for initiation into the Khalsa. The fourth rite is the funeral ceremony. In all cases the distinction between Sikhs and Hindus is emphasized.

The initiation rite, as set down in Sikh Rahit Marayada, is conducted by six initiated Sikhs, five of whom conduct the actual rite while the sixth sits in attendance on the Guru Granth Sahib, which must be present on such occasions. The ritual involves pouring water into a large iron bowl and adding soluble sweets. This represents the amrit (“nectar”), which is stirred with a double-edged sword by one of the five Sikhs. After the recitation of certain works of the Gurus, which is followed by Ardas, the candidates for initiation drink five handfuls of amrit offered to them. Each time, the Sikh giving it to them cries, “Vahi Guruji ka Khalsa, Vahi Guruji ki fateh” (“Praise to the Guru’s Khalsa! Praise to the Guru’s victory!”). Amrit is sprinkled over the initiates’ hair and eyes five times, and they drink the remainder of the amrit from the same bowl. They repeat five times the Mul Mantra (the superscription at the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib), after which the Rahit is expounded to them by one of the five Sikhs. They are required to wear the Five Ks and to avoid four particular sins: cutting one’s hair, eating halal meat, having sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s spouse, and using tobacco. The Sikh who commits any of these cardinal sins must publicly confess and be reinitiated. Anyone who violates the Rahit and does not confess is branded a patit (apostate). If a candidate has not received a name from the Guru Granth Sahib, one is conferred. Finally, karah prasad is distributed, all taking it from the same dish.

Sikhism observes eight major festivals, as well as several others of lesser importance. Four of the main festivals are gurpurabs, or events commemorating important incidents in the lives of the Gurus, such as the birthdays of Nanak and Gobind Singh and the martyrdoms of Arjan and Tegh Bahadur. The remaining four are the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the New Year festival of Baisakhi, Diwali, and Hola Mahalla. Festivals are marked by processions in the streets and visits to gurdwaras, particularly to those associated with one of the Gurus or with some historical event. Speeches are commonly made to crowds of worshipers. Diwali, the Festival of Light, is observed by both Hindus and Sikhs; the Sikh celebration centres on the Golden Temple, which is illuminated for the occasion. For Sikhs, Diwali commemorates the release of Guru Hargobind from imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr in Gwalior. Hola Mahalla, which is held the day after the Hindu festival of Holi, was established by Gobind Singh as an alternative to the Hindu holiday. It was originally observed with displays of martial skills and mock battles and is now celebrated with military parades. Sikh literature The Adi Granth and the Dasam Granth

There are two granths, or volumes, that stand out above all others in the Sikh religion: the Adi Granth (“First Book”)—unquestionably the greater of the two—and the Dasam Granth (“Tenth Book”). The Adi Granth, as discussed above, is believed by Sikhs to be the abode of the eternal Guru, and for that reason it is known to all Sikhs as the Guru Granth Sahib—in full, the Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahibji (“The Most Revered Granth Which Is the Guru”). The Dasam Granth is controversial in the Panth because of questions concerning its authorship and composition. No such questions concern the Adi Granth. Carefully compiled by Guru Arjan in 1603–04, it numbers 1,430 pages in its contemporary printed edition. The focus of the Adi Granth is remembrance of the divine name, and there is little commentary on historical events, apart from some references to the life of Guru Arjan.

The Adi Granth is divided into three parts and organized in accordance with specific raga" class="md-crosslink">ragas, a series of five or more notes upon which a melody is based. The brief first section (pages 1–13) contains liturgical works. The lengthy second part of the Adi Granth is devoted to 31 ragas (pages 14–1353), and the third and final part is a short epilogue containing miscellaneous works (pages 1353–1430).

Consulting the Adi GranthA Sikh consulting the Adi Granth in the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), Amritsar, Punjab, northwestern India.Rupinder Khullar— Dinodia Photo/AGE fotostock

The Adi Granth opens with the Mul Mantra, the basic statement of belief: “There is one Supreme Being, the Eternal Reality. [This Supreme Being] is the Creator, without fear and devoid of enmity, immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace through the Guru.” The Mul Mantra is followed by the only work in the Adi Granth that is recited rather than sung—the supremely beautiful Japji of Guru Nanak, which devout Sikhs may recite following an early-morning bathe. The culmination of its 38 stanzas describes the ascent of the spirit through five stages, finally reaching the realm of truth. The nine hymns of the Sodar (“Gate”) collection are sung by devout Sikhs at sundown each day. Finally, there is the Kirtan Sohila, a group of five hymns sung immediately before retiring for the night. Hymns that are recorded in this liturgical section also appear elsewhere in the Adi Granth.

The middle section of the Adi Granth is subdivided according to raga, and each raga is further subdivided into smaller sections. First there are the chaupad, short hymns by the Gurus beginning with those by Guru Nanak. Second there are longer hymns called ashtapadi and then a variety of longer hymns termed chhant. Next come longer works by various Gurus (such as Arjan’s Sukhmani), followed by the distinctive Adi Granth form of the var. Finally, there is the Bhagat Bani, comprising works by Kabir and other Sants whose compositions Amar Das (who was responsible for the Goindval Pothis) and Arjan regarded as sound. The inclusion of Kabir testifies to the link joining the Gurus to the tradition of the sants, most of whom were Hindus—though two were Sufi Muslims (notably Farid), both of whom composed works that were regarded by Sikhs as entirely acceptable.

This intricate but generally consistent ordering of material was characteristic of other collections of scripture by religious groups in medieval and early modern India. Guru Arjan’s collection included works by the first five Gurus, but there was relatively little by Guru Angad. Works by Guru Tegh Bahadur were added later, and the Adi Granth was then complete.

The other major work of Sikh literature, the Dasam Granth, was, prior to the emergence of the Tat Khalsa, believed to be a work of Guru Gobind Singh, and accordingly Sikhs treated it as a part of the Guru Granth Sahib. Most modern Sikh scholars, however, agree that by far the largest part of it consists of the compositions of Gobind Singh’s followers and that many of these works would never have met with the Guru’s approval. This means that the great majority of works in the Dasam Granth cannot be regarded as a part of the Guru Granth Sahib.

According to tradition, the original version of the Dasam Granth was collected by the Guru’s faithful follower Mani Singh. Another version is believed to have been assembled by Dip Singh, and a third was compiled in Patna at the end of the 18th century. The three versions are substantially the same, and none of them contains the Zafar-Nama (“Epistle of Victory”), Guru Gobind Singh’s defiant message to Emperor Aurangzeb. In 1902 Sanatan Sikhs of the Amritsar Singh Sabha published an authorized version that included the Zafar-Nama and gave it the title Dasam Granth. The contemporary printed work amounts to 1,428 pages.

Compositions that are accepted as the work of Guru Gobind Singh include the Jap (“Repeat,” which should be distinguished from Guru Nanak’s Japji, “Chant”), Bachitar Natak (“Wondrous Drama”), Akal Ustati (“Praise to the Eternal One”), and Zafar-Nama. Together these works form only a small part of the Dasam Granth. The great bulk of the volume consists of a retelling of the Rama and Krishna legends and a lengthy series of diverting anecdotes, mainly tales about the scheming ways of women. Contents of this sort were altogether unacceptable to the Tat Khalsa, which consequently rejected the Dasam Granth. Periodically, however, questions concerning its authenticity are raised, mainly by Sikhs who believe that the original tradition must be correct. Devotional and other works

Apart from the Adi Granth and the Dasam Granth, the main works of Sikh literature can be divided into devotional works, janam-sakhis (writings on the life of Guru Nanak), rahit-namas (manuals containing the Rahit), gur-bilas (hagiographic works concerning the 6th and 10th Gurus that stress their roles as warriors), historical works, scriptural commentaries, the contribution of Vir Singh (1872–1957), and a brief anthology consisting largely of quotations from the Sikh scriptures.

The devotional works of Bhai Gurdas (1551–1637) and Nand Lal (1633–1715) are the only texts aside from the Granths that can be recited in the gurdwaras. Their compositions are more than just devotional, including social and historical commentary. This was particularly true of the works of Bhai Gurdas, whose 40 lengthy poems, composed in Punjabi, remain popular. Their popularity is vastly greater than that of his 556 brief poems in Braj, a language little read in the Panth today. The compositions of Nand Lal, who wrote in Persian, are also not well known to members of the Panth, because of the language barrier. Nand Lal joined the retinue of Guru Gobind Singh, adopting the pen name Goya (“Eloquent”). His works were greatly admired, and such was the respect accorded to him that three rahit-namas were mistakenly attributed to him.

The principal janam-sakhis are the Bala, the Puratan, the Miharban, and the influential works of Santokh Singh (1787–1853), which were published in the first half of the 19th century. Santokh Singh’s first contribution, completed in 1823, was Gur Nanak Prakash (“The Splendour of Guru Nanak”; also known as the Nanak Prakash), which treated the life of Guru Nanak and relied principally on the Bala tradition. In 1844 he published Gur Pratap Suray (“The Glorious Light of the Gurus”; widely known as the Suraj Prakash), which covered the lives of the remaining Gurus.

The earliest of the extant rahit-namas is the Nasihat-Nama (1718–19; “Manual of Instruction”), which was erroneously attributed to Nand Lal and wrongly titled the Tanakhah-Nama (“Manual of Penances”). A much longer work dating from the middle of the 18th century and bearing witness to its Brahmanic origins is the Chaupa Singh Rahit-Nama (“The Rahit Manual of Chaupa Singh”). Another lengthy rahit-nama from later in the same century is the Prem Sumarag (“The Path of Love”). The series of rahit-namas finally ended with the publication in 1950 by the Tat Khalsa of Sikh Rahit Marayada (“Sikh Custom Concerning the Rahit”), which was, unfortunately, little more than a pamphlet and poorly produced, though it remains an influential work in contemporary Sikhism.

The gur-bilas literature produced a style of hagiography that focused on the mighty deeds of the Gurus, particularly Hargobind and Gobind Singh. Unlike the janam-sakhis, the gur-bilas emphasized the destiny of the Gurus to fight against the forces of evil and their supreme courage in this struggle. The enemy against which they fought was, of course, the Mughal Empire. Some gur-bilas also attach great importance to the story of the goddess Devi as a preparation for the founding of the Khalsa. The tradition began with the writing of Bachitar Natak, which appears in the Dasam Granth. Later works include Sukkha Singh’s Gur-Bilas Dasvin Patshahi, Koer Singh’s Gur-Bilas Patshahi 10, and Sohan’s Gur-Bilas Chhevin Patshahi. All gur-bilas predate the rise of the Tat Khalsa and, apart from Bachitar Natak, have received little attention. Their general message is, however, firmly fixed in the modern traditions of the Sikhs.

Among the many works that record the history of the Panth, four are particularly important. The first is Sainapati’s Gur Sobha (1711; “Radiance of the Guru”), which provides a general account of Guru Gobind Singh’s life as well as a description of the founding of the Khalsa. A second work, Ratan Singh Bhangu’s Panth Prakash (later termed Prachin Panth Prakash to distinguish it from Gian Singh’s work of the same name), was composed in 1809 and completed in 1841; it is notable for its description and high praise of the Khalsa. The two remaining works are Gian Singh’s Panth Prakash and his lengthy Tavarikh Guru Khalsa, a labour finally concluded in 1919. These texts, however, cannot be described as works of history in the modern sense, and the works of Ratan Singh Bhangu and Gian Singh are similar to gur-bilas in their treatment of the heroic deeds of the warrior Gurus.

Several commentaries on the Adi Granth have appeared since the rise of the Tat Khalsa. The first, Faridkot Tika, was commissioned by Raja Bikram Singh of Faridkot in response to Ernest Trumpp’s translation into English of part of the Adi Granth, which Sikhs regarded as grievously insulting. Three volumes were issued during 1905–06, and a fourth volume followed some years later. This work failed to assume an important place among Sikh exegetical works. This, however, was not the fate of the four-volume Shabadarath Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, published between 1936 and 1941. Although published anonymously, it was mainly the work of Teja Singh. Vir Singh published seven volumes of commentary between 1958 and 1962 but left Santhya Sri Guru Granth Sahib unfinished. Another commentator, Sahib Singh, issued the 10-volume Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darapan between 1962 and 1964.

Among the most important and influential Sikh writers and theologians was Vir Singh, a leading member of the Tat Khalsa, who produced an extraordinary range of literary works in Punjabi prose and poetry. He first won wide popularity as a writer of novels such as Sundari (1943) and Vijay Singh (1899), which dealt with subjects such as the heroism and chivalry of the Sikhs in response to the oppression of Muslim rulers and the subservience of the Hindu masses. His novels also highlighted the excellence of the Sikh religion in comparison with all that surrounded it. Although his novels had lost their appeal by the early 21st century, they were eagerly read in their own time by a large number of Sikhs and set a useful example to other writers. Later in his career Vir Singh gave up writing novels and turned to scriptural commentary. He published a series of pamphlets through his Khalsa Tract Society and in his weekly newspaper (the Khalsa Samachar) and began work on his multivolume commentary on the Adi Granth. Meanwhile, he began to write poetry in Punjabi, including many short poems and also the longer Rana Surat Singh (1905) in blank verse. As always, the background was provided by the Sikh religion. He then turned to Sri Kalgidhar Chamatkar (1935), a life of Guru Gobind Singh, followed by Sri Guru Nanak Chamatkar (1936), and later he produced Sri Asht Gur Chamatkar (1951; “The Marvel of the Eight [Other] Gurus”), complete only as far as Guru Arjan.

A final work is the polemical treatise Ham Hindu Nahin (“We Are Not Hindus”) by Kahn Singh Nabha. First issued in 1898, it was the author’s answer to a publication by a Sanatan Sikh, Thakur Das, entitled Sikh Hindu Hain (“Sikhs Are Hindus”). Ham Hindu Nahin consists of a discussion between a Sikh and a Hindu and includes sacred Sikh texts on subjects such as the Vedas, gods and goddesses, and caste, among others. The title of the work became the slogan of the Tat Khalsa, and it remained in print throughout the 20th century. Sects and other groups Sects

In addition to the orthodox, there are several Sikh sects, four of which are particularly important. Two sects, the Nirankaris and the Nam-Dharis, or Kuka Sikhs, emerged in northwestern Punjab during the latter part of Ranjit Singh’s reign. The Nirankaris were members of trading castes and followers of Baba Dayal, who had preached a return to the doctrine of nam simaran. With the advent of the Tat Khalsa this goal was largely achieved, and today the Nirankaris differ from orthodox Sikhs only in their recognition of a continuing line of Gurus. The Nam-Dharis also recognize a continuing line, believing that Guru Gobind Singh did not die in Nander but lived in secret until he passed the title to Balak Singh. Under the second Nam-Dhari Guru, Ram Singh, the movement’s centre moved to Bhaini Sahib, where trouble with British authorities led to Ram Singh’s imprisonment in Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar). Almost all Nam-Dharis are from the carpenter caste, and most adult male Nam-Dharis are easily recognized by their white homespun turbans, which they tie horizontally across the forehead.

The third sect, the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, emerged during the early 20th century. The members of this group are distinguished by their divergent interpretation of one of the Five Ks. Instead of accepting the kes, or uncut hair, they maintain that the command really stands for keski, which means a small turban that is normally worn under the main turban. In this group, men and women must wear this variety of turban. The group is strict in its beliefs, attaching great importance to kirtan, or the singing of hymns, and frequently devoting the whole night to the exercise. Leadership of the sect is now largely in the hands of the trading castes, though it originally comprised followers of Randhir Singh, who was a Jat.

Another group that requires women to wear turbans is the Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere, founded in the United States in 1971 by Harbhajan Singh, who was always known as Yogi Bhajan. It is commonly known as the 3HO movement (Healthy Happy Holy Organization), though this is, strictly speaking, the name only of its educational branch. Most of its followers are white Americans who lay considerable emphasis on the discipline of meditation and who practice what they call kundalini Yoga. The Sikh Dharma’s relations with the orthodox Khalsa are distinctly mixed, with many other Sikhs questioning both its teachings and its economic activities. The group’s observance of the Rahit is, however, generally acknowledged to be of a very high order. Other groups

Sikhs can be grouped not only by their sect but also by their style of dress and by the strictness with which they observe the Rahit. Contrary to common belief, not all Sikhs wear uncut hair and turbans—two groups do, and two do not. Of these four groups, three have names to distinguish them; the fourth, though unnamed, is numerous and includes many Sikhs of the diaspora.

One group, the Kes-Dhari, is composed of Sikhs who wear the kes, uncut hair, required as one of the Five Ks, and includes all those whom the popular view regards as Sikhs. Not all Kes-Dharis wear all of the Five Ks, but they will at least wear the wrist ring (the kara), and the men will have beards and wear the Sikh turban. In some cases, beards may be surreptitiously trimmed, and, instead of wearing a standard kirpan (ceremonial sword), members may carry a tiny replica measuring barely one centimetre in length, which is fastened to the comb (kangha) that holds the hair in place under the turban. All males bear the name Singh and all females the name Kaur, and all accept the Rahit to a greater or lesser degree. Many are punctilious in their acceptance of it, obeying all the regulations laid down in Sikh Rahit Marayada. Others are rather less observant, though they are usually careful not to violate the Rahit while they are in the public gaze.

The Kes-Dhari Sikhs constitute a very substantial part of the Panth, especially in the Punjab, though their exact numbers there and in the rest of the world are impossible to determine. Although the vast majority of Kes-Dharis have not been initiated into the Khalsa, in practice they are regarded (and regard themselves) as Khalsa Sikhs.

A second group comprises those who have undertaken initiation. Because this involves amrit (“nectar”), these Sikhs are known as Amrit-Dhari Sikhs. They are also, of course, Kes-Dharis. Thus, all Amrit-Dharis are Kes-Dharis, though not all Kes-Dharis are Amrit-Dharis. Here too any estimate of numbers must rely on guesswork, but it is likely that Amrit-Dharis account for 15 to 18 percent of all Sikhs.

The Sahaj-Dharis are one of two groups of Sikhs that do not wear uncut hair. They also reject other injunctions of the Rahit, and they do not adopt typical Sikh personal names. Tat Khalsa scholars once believed that sahaj-dhari meant “slow-adopter” and was used to designate Sikhs who were on the path to full Khalsa membership. It is more probable, however, that the term is derived from Guru Nanak’s use of the word sahaj, meaning the ineffable bliss of the soul’s liberation.

Sahaj-Dhari Sikhism is based partly on caste, attracting many members of relatively high castes who do not observe the Rahit for fear of losing their high-caste status. Thus, the group includes many members of the trading castes but very few Jats, the agrarian caste that constitutes more than 60 percent of the Panth. It is impossible to determine the exact number of Sahaj-Dharis, partly because many families of the trading castes have only the eldest son initiated and leave the remainder of the family free to call themselves Sikh or Hindu.

The fourth category of Sikhs consists of those who have a traditional Kes-Dhari background but who cut their hair and wear distinctive turbans only when they attend a service in their gurdwaras. Although they do not always use their formal Khalsa names, they do use Singh or Kaur. This variety of Sikh is particularly common in countries outside India. There is still no widely accepted term for them, though they are frequently called Mona Sikhs, mona meaning “shaven.” This term, however, is unsuitable because it does not clearly distinguish this group of Sikhs from the Sahaj-Dharis and because it has pejorative overtones. Conclusion

The Sikhs understand their religion as the product of five pivotal events. The first was the teaching of Guru Nanak: his message of liberation through meditation on the divine name. The second was the arming of the Sikhs by Guru Hargobind. The third was Guru Gobind Singh’s founding of the Khalsa, its distinctive code to be observed by all who were initiated. At his death came the fourth event, the passing of the mystical Guru from its 10 human bearers to the Guru Granth Sahib. The final event took place early in the 20th century, when Sikhism underwent a profound reformation at the hands of the Tat Khalsa. Sikhs are universally proud of their distinct faith. William Hewat McLeod