Sikhism

Over 27 million Sikhs follow a revealed, distinct, and unique religion born five centuries ago in the Punjab region of northern India. Between 1469 and 1708, ten Gurus preached a simple message of truth, devotion to God, and universal equality.

Sikhism rejects idol worship, the caste system, ritualism, and asceticism. It recognizes equality between both genders and all religions, prohibits the intake of intoxicants, and encourages an honest, truthful living. Sikhs have their own Holy Scripture, The Guru Granth Sahib, written, composed, and compiled by the Sikh Gurus themselves. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji serves as the ultimate source of spiritual guidance for Sikhs.
Members of the Sikh community are mainly concentrated in their homeland, Punjab; however, substantial Sikh populations exist throughout the rest of India and the world.

Male members of the Sikh religion use the name, Singh (lion), as their middle or last name, while females use the name, Kaur (princess). Sikhs tend to be industrious and pioneering; this accounts for their general success wherever they live and settle. The hard-working nature of the Sikhs is derived from their religion, which can be best characterized as a faith of unlimited optimism.

The founder of the Sikh tradition, Guru Nanak, was born in the region of Punjab, South Asia, in 1469 CE. He lived a life of spirituality, service, and honesty, and the disciples who began to follow his teachings came to be known as Sikhs. The Sikh community grew under the guidance of ten religious leaders — gurus — the last of whom passed away in 1708 CE. The authority of the community today rests with two entities — the Sikh scriptural text known as the Guru Granth Sahib, and the community of initiated Sikhs, known as the Guru Khalsa Panth.

The Sikh scripture is referred to as the Guru Granth Sahib and holds ultimate authority within the Sikh tradition. The text was compiled by the Gurus themselves and contains their musical writings. The Gurus also incorporated writings from other spiritually elevated figures who lived in South Asia and shared a similar outlook. The themes of the scriptural compositions have largely to do with the nature of divine experience and the steps one can take to achieve it.  The entirety of the text is written in verse poetry, and a vast majority of it is set to music.

Sikhs consider the Guru Granth Sahib to be a revealed text, and it plays a central role in Sikh devotional and ceremonial life. The scripture, which is relatively large in size, is the centerpiece of Sikh worship spaces. The gurdwara is modeled after an imperial court in early modern South Asia, which helps remind worshipers of its sovereign and authoritative status. The Guru Granth Sahib is placed on a throne, and a volunteer attends to it. All Sikh life-ceremonies incorporate the scripture in some way as well. For example, at a Sikh wedding, the bride and groom walk around the Guru Granth Sahib multiple times in order to, among other things, illustrate symbolically the centrality of the teachings within their own lives.

Each of the ten Sikh Gurus worked to nurture the Sikh community, and over time, the community underwent its own growth of responsibility. It went from bearing a small amount of influence during the time of Guru Nanak to being consulted by the Sikh Gurus in major decision-making moments. The community’s influence culminated in 1699 CE, when Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, called on all Sikhs to gather in the city of Anandpur on Vaisakhi, the day that traditionally marked the celebration of the harvest festival.

It was on this occasion that the community of initiates was formally institutionalized and given authority. This community, which would come to be known as Guru Khalsa Panth, provided an official structure for those individuals committed to the Sikh way of life. One demonstrates this commitment by accepting initiation (amrit) and adopting a few of the basic practices that have come to be articulated in the Sikh code of conduct (Rehat Maryada). The prescriptions in this document call on initiated Sikhs to, among other things, engage in daily prayers and wear five articles of faith.

Since the formative moments of the tradition, Sikhs have maintained a physical identity that makes them stand out in public, even in the context of South Asia. This identity includes five articles of faith — kesh (unshorn hair), kanga (small comb), kara (steel bracelet), kirpan (religious article resembling a knife), and kachera (soldier-shorts) — and distinguishes someone who has formally committed to the values of the faith by accepting initiation.

While many have attempted to attribute a specific function to each article of faith, these understandings do not capture the connections that Sikhs have with these articles. Perhaps the best analogy (though admittedly an imperfect one) is that of a wedding ring: one cannot reduce the significance of a wedding ring to its instrumental value; rather, one cherishes the wedding ring because it is a gift of love from one’s partner. Similarly, Sikhs cherish their articles of faith primarily because they see them as a gift from their beloved Guru. Trying to understand these articles on the basis of their function is missing the point.

Perhaps the most visible aspect of the Sikh identity is the turban, which can be worn by men and women alike. The turban was historically worn by royalty in South Asia, and the Gurus adopted this practice as a way of asserting the sovereignty and equality of all people. For a Sikh, wearing a turban asserts a public commitment to maintaining the values and ethics of the tradition, including service, compassion, and honesty.