Sikhism

Sikhism

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sikhism, a religion that emerged in the Punjab region of India in the fifteenth century, can be said to be the cultural product of the collision between Hinduism and Islam. As such, it combines elements of Islam, such as monotheism and iconoclasm, with certain features of Hinduism, such as the doctrines of reincarnation, karma, and nirvána. While Sikhism is often regarded as a syncretic religion, this interpretation is offensive to Sikhs, who regard their religion as a direct and separate revelation. Crucial to the distinctive character of Sikhism, however, was the rejection of the caste system and its associated rituals and legal apparatus by the Sikh Gurus, or teachers.

Sikhism was founded by Guru Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji (1469-1539), who was born at Talwandi, a village that is now known as Nankana Sahib, near Lahore in Pakistan. Leaving home to gain religious knowledge, Nanak is said to have encountered Kabir (1440-1518), a saintly figure who was revered by the followers of many religious traditions. Nanak promoted religious tolerance and the equality of women. His most famous saying was: “There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.” Nanak undertook four extensive journeys around and beyond India, spreading his teaching in Bengal and Assam, in Shri Lanka via Tamil Nadu, in the north toward Kashmir, Ladakh, and Tibet, and finally toward Baghdad and Mecca.

As a system of religious philosophy, Sikhism was traditionally known as the Gurmat (the teachings of the gurus) or Sikh dharma. There were ten Gurus who led the community from the time of Nanaka until 1708. These Gurus came from the Khatri jati, a mercantile caste. The term Sikhism comes from the Sanskrit root sisya, signifying a “disciple” or “student.” Sikhs, who now number over twenty-three million adherents around the world, are predominantly inhabitants of the Punjab, where they represent 65 percent of the population. In practical terms, Sikhs are distinguished by the custom in which baptized Sikhs wear the panj kakke (the Five Ks): uncut hair, a small comb, a metal bracelet, a short sword, and a special undergarment. Sikhs served in the British army between 1870 and 1947, and many of them settled outside the Punjab after they were discharged. Thus, there is now a large Sikh diaspora.

Nanak emphasized personal devotion to and intimate faith in God. The principal belief is faith in Vahiguru, or God, who is conceived without gender as a single, personal, and transcendental creator God. Vahiguru is omnipresent and can be comprehended by the “heart” of the true disciple, who achieves religious enlightenment through meditation. The chief obstacles to knowledge and salvation are human attachment to worldly pursuits and interests that determine human involvement in the endless cycle of birth and death, or samsara. This collection of beliefs about sin, responsibility, rebirth and release can be referred to as the dharma-karma-samsara system that Sikhism shares with other religions of the Indian subcontinent. The pursuit of material interests is an illusion, or maya, which is evident in the Five Evils of egoism, anger, greed, attachment, and lust. These evils can only be avoided by intense meditation and verbal repetition of the name of God. In terms of its social teaching, in addition to rejecting caste, Nanak taught that Sikhs should respect the rights of all creatures, especially of human beings. Sikh teaching also underlines egalitarianism, charity, and the sharing of resources.

There are two sources of scriptural authority in Sikhism: the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dasam Granth. The Guru Granth Singh may be referred to as the Adi Granth, or the First Volume. The Adi Granth is the scriptural version created by Arjun Dev in 1604, while the Guru Granth Sahib is the final version produced by Gobind Singh. These teachings take the form of hymns arranged into thirty-one ragas (musical forms) in which they were originally composed. These hymns were originally written in many different languages, and there are both Sanskrit and Arabic portions. The Granth is regarded as the living embodiment of the eleven teachers, and great respect is required in reading them, such as covering the head with a turban or piece of cloth.

Under the guruship of Nanaka, Sikhism was an informal collection of followers, but it eventually came to have a political identity. Guru Ram Das (1534-1581) created the city of Ramdaspur, subsequently known as Amritsar. Guru Arjun Dev (1563-1606) built the Golden Temple (Harimandir Sahib), which was completed in 1601, and prepared the sacred text of the Adi Granth. As a result of conflicts with the Mughal authorities, the Sikhs founded the Khalsa (brotherhood and sisterhood of followers who join the community at puberty by undertaking certain rituals) in 1699 to provide for the defense of the community or Panth. As the Sikh community developed a military and political organization, Sikhism became a considerable force in medieval India.

With the death of Banda (Guru Tegh) Bahadur (1621-1675), the ninth Guru of the Sikh faith, the misls, a confederation of Sikh warrior bands, was formed. Toward the end of the Mughal Empire (1526-1858), a Sikh kingdom arose under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with a capital in Lahore and outer boundaries from the Khyber Pass to China. Eventually, this kingdom (1799-1849) came under British control after the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845-1846 and 1848-1849).

The partition of India occurred in 1947, and the Sikhs suffered greatly from the resulting violence. Millions were forced to leave their ancestral homeland in the West Punjab. Although the Sikhs eventually prospered, there has been a movement ( Damdami Taksal ), led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (1947-1984), to create an independent state of Khalistan. This movement led to clashes with the government and communal violence. Bhindranwale was killed in June 1984 in the Golden Temple during a clash with the Indian army. In retaliation, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguard in October 1984.

The attempt to remove Bhindranwale was known as Operation Blue Star in the Indian army, but for Sikhs it represented a desecration of the sacred Golden Temple and the Sikh community. As a result of the military attack, Bhindranwale acquired the status of a martyr, and following Indira Gandhi’s assassination there was further communal killing of Sikhs. The consequence of these conflicts was to reinforce the sense of Sikh identity, but also to stimulate the exodus of Sikhs to Europe, North America and East Africa, thereby augmenting the already large Sikh diaspora.

SEE ALSO Gandhi, Indira; Hinduism; Islam, Shia and Sunni; Monotheism; Reincarnation; Religion; Secession; Supreme Being

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cole, W. Owen. 1984. Sikhism. In A Handbook of Living Religions, ed. John R. Hinnells, 237–255. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, U.K.: Penguin.

Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2001. The Making of Sikh Scripture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Singh, Khushwant 2006. The Illustrated History of the Sikhs. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Smart, Ninian 1989. The World’s Religions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bryan S. Turner