© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2010, 1 Chelsea Manor Studios, Flood.docx

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2010, 1 Chelsea Manor Studios,
Flood Street, London SW3 5SR
RST 29.1 (2010) 81–92 Religious Studies and
Theology (print) ISSN 0892-2922
doi:10.1558/rsth.v29i1.81 Religious Studies and
Theology (online) ISSN 1747-5414
Hinduism and the Global Village
K. R. SUNDARARAJAN
St. Bonaventure University
[email protected]
Abstract
As the world evolves into a “global village,” a community in
which people
of different religious persuasions, ethnic and cultural diversities
function-
ing together with common goals is being formed. However, this
movement
stretches the theological and traditional resources of adherents
of religions
whose doctrines have hitherto been silent on “believers versus
non-believ-
ers” or “insiders versus outsiders” relationships. Against this
backdrop, this
article examines the challenges that Hindus in diaspora-
communities face,
especially the inevitability of interacting with other members

outside the
Hindu faith. It is concluded that the notion of a “global village”
presents an
opportunity to explore the possible resources and dynamism of
the Hindu
tradition for a community living, where the community is
constituted of
members of diverse religious groups.
Keywords
Hinduism, global village, diaspora communities, identity,
Christian fundamentalism
Introduction
My purpose in this article is to look at a positive side of
globalization, the
notion of a “Global village,” which is still a theoretical
construct coming out
of the globalization process that has broken barriers of distance
and commu-
nication, and to look at the theological and traditional resources
of a religion
such as Hinduism, which has shaped the worldviews of a large
number of
people of Indian origin, to support such a community where
people of differ-
ent religious persuasions and ethnic and cultural diversities
function together
with common purposes and goals. One of the consequence of
globalization
RST v29i1.indb 81 10/12/2010 8:27:31 AM

82 Hinduism and the Global Village
© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2010
has been the emergence of “diaspora-communities” consisting
of people
from Asia, Africa, the Middle-East, and South America living in
Europe and
America, whereas in the “colonial modern period” these
diaspora-commu-
nities” of Indian origin were seen primarily in British colonial
countries in
Asia, Africa, and Caribbean regions. One consequence of
globalization is
that through improved communications the “diaspora-
communities” in the
modern world are able to reconnect themselves with their
“source communi-
ties” and authenticate their religious beliefs and practices
within a “traditional
framework.” This “reconnection” has interestingly enough given
rise to what
I would describe as “Hindu fundamentalism” in the Western
world.
This is however, different from the “Christian fundamentalism”
seen in
America. Hindu fundamentalism is more focused on removing
some of the
“Western misunderstandings” of Hinduism due to the
Orientalists and even
some contemporary scholars with definite “disciplinary biases”
in their study
of the Hindu tradition. The other side of globalization is the felt
need of these
diaspora groups to interact with the members of the majority

community often
at family, social and political levels, raising ultimately the
question as to how
far the Hindu tradition is “open” to “outsiders,” the non-Hindus
in terms of its
theology. This is the issue that is central to the title of my
paper.
Historically ancient India was a society marked by its
“tolerance to outsid-
ers.” India traded with Rome, Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece. It
has been said
that some the kings of South India employed Roman soldiers to
guard the
palaces and temple premises (Mookerji 1961, 29–30). India
which has been
dominated by Hindu culture has been hospitable to outside
religious groups.
For instance, the Zoroastrians, now called Parsis, have lived in
India for a
very long time with their arrival from Iran traced by some
historians to pre-
Christian times. The Christian missionaries seemed to have
arrived on the
Indian scene in the early Christian Era, and many Indian
Christians believe
that the apostle Thomas came to India for missionary work and
his tomb
near the modern city of Madras is still a pilgrimage site for
Indian Christians.
Again, India has had one of the earliest settlements of the
Jewish community
in Kerala though many of their descendents have left India after
the modern
state of Israel was formed (Basham 1954, 342–345). Islam in its
early stag-

es spread through trade, though in later stages through “Mogul
conquest.”
A classical Tamil work, Manimekalai, that belongs to the Early
Christian Era,
gives the image of a (South Indian) society where Hindus,
Buddhists and
Jains lived amicably with a degree of interaction.1 This is not to
deny the fact
1. For instance, in the Tamil classic of Sangam age,
Manimekalai, the heroine is advised
to study at Kanchipuram in South India the philosophical
systems of Veda, Visnu,
Ajivaka, Jaina Samkhya, Vaisesika and Lokayata. Some of these
are belong to the fold
of orthodox, Brahmanical Hindu tradition, and some belong to
what the Hindus
RST v29i1.indb 82 10/12/2010 8:27:32 AM
K. R. Sundararajan 83
that there were occasional conflicts between religious groups of
Indian origin.
Some sort of “theological hostility” to non-Hindu religions (of
India) could
be in the writings Hindu schools of philosophy (darsanas) where
Buddhism
and Jainism are branded as “atheistic traditions” (nastika), since
they reject
the scriptural authority of the Veda and of the Brahmanical
tradition. Fur-

thermore, these theological works, as a matter of convention,
first examine
and then reject the view points of their opponents (purvapaka)
before stating
their own doctrinal positions and establishing them (siddhanta).
However,
it is also true that Hindu philosophy/theology has been
influenced by Bud-
dhism and Jainism and some of their concepts have found their
way into
Hindu philosophical and theological formulations. For instance,
the central
concept in Sankara’s Vedanta philosophy, maya, illusion, is
believed to be of
Buddhist in origin, and this has led to Sankara being labeled a
“Buddhist in
disguise” (praccanabauddha) by his “Hindu opponents”
belonging to other
schools of Vedanta philosophy. Furthermore, the concept of
Ahimsa, non-
violence which is essentially Jaina in origin became central to
both to the
Hindu and Buddhists practices. Since the early times public
debates among
those holding differing view points have been common place in
India, and
the “debating tradition” minimally required that the opponent be
taken seri-
ously so that he could be defeated at the end. The success of
such debates was
often decided on logical and epistemological premises, but
rarely “miracles”
substantiated the validity of one’s viewpoints.
Outside the encounter with the Nastika traditions, the attitude of
Hin-

duism towards religions such as Christianity and Islam, which
entered the
Indian scene later, could at best be described as “peripheral
openness.” The
reason is that the Hindu, Brahmanical orthodoxy remained
largely indifferent
to the presence of these “outside” traditions, though more
dynamic interac-
tions were taking place at lower levels of the tradition.
Religious conversions
were taking place at the lower strata of Hindu society, and these
were largely
ignored at the higher levels of Hindu society, especially by
Brahmin theo-
logians and experts of the Vedic tradition. I wish to cite here
comments of
Al-Biruni, an Islamic scholar who visited India in the eleventh
century. He
consider as heretical, non- orthodox (nastika) systems. (see
K.A. Nilakantha Sastri, A
History of South India, 1963, 41–44). Even in the seventh
century AD, the Chinese
pilgrim Yuan Chaung saw the Hindus and Buddhists living in
harmony, though he
noted conflicts among the Buddhists themselves (Zimmer 1969,
510–511.) However,
there are also stories of conflict arising out of conversions and
counter conversions are
heard at this time.
Tirunavukarasu, one of the Nayanmars, is said to have
converted a South Indian ruler
by the name Mahendravarman to Saiva faith, who had earlier
been converted to Jaina
faith. (Sastri 1963, 423). Among the devotees of Visnu,

Tirumangaialvar is said to have
been a Jaina, Buddhist, and a Saiva before he became a
Vaisnava. (Sastri 1963, 46).
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writes:
We can only say that folly is an illness for which there is no
medicine, and
the Hindus believe that there is no country like theirs, no nation
like theirs,
no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like
theirs. They are
haughty, foolishly vain, self-conceited, and stolid. They are by
nature nig-
gardly in communicating that which they know, and they take
the greatest
possible care to withhold it from men of other caste among their
own people,
still much more, of course, from any foreigner. (cited in Ikranl
1964, 28)
I want to give an example for this attitude of indifference shown
by Brah-
manical tradition to “outside religions” by citing the case of
Vedanta Desika,
a renowned Vaisnava theologian who lived in the Tamil regions
of Southern
India in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. His personal life
was affected

by “Muslim intrusions” at that time into the city of Sri Rengam,
a strong
Vaisnava center, where he was living. At one stage, we are told
he was forced
to leave the city due to these intrusions, and when he felt that
his life was
in danger. For one who wrote very extensively and vehemently
against his
theological and philosophical opponents, we do not come across
a single men-
tion of Islam, nor a reference to these “foreign invaders” who
vitally affected
his day-to-day and religious life. Perhaps Vedanta Desika also
knew from the
biographies of Ramanuja, the founder of the Vaisnava school of
Vedanta,
known as Visistadvaita, that the temple at Tirunarayanapuram
which was
built at the initiative of Ramanuja, was destroyed by some of
the early Mus-
lim incursions in the twelfth century. While the historicity of
this episode is
questionable, as the episode may have been part of the sacred
history, these
narrations point at least minimally to the fact that the life of
South Indian
Vaisnavas in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries was in someway
affected by
the Muslims. Thus, if one reconstructs the religious history of
India from the
works of Brahmanical theologians, one would hardly detect the
presence of
Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Zoroastrians. One would,
however, gain the
impression that the Buddhists, Jains, and Carvaka were
theologically active

even in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when as a matter
of fact their
influence had declined considerably since the ninth and tenth
centuries (Sun-
dararajan 1986, 245).
The devotional movements in Northern India during the
thirteenth
through fifteenth centuries, which are outside the main stream
of tradition
of Brahmanical Hinduism, show some degree of openness to
these outside
traditions. A good example is Kabir, who, even though he was
born in a poor
Muslim family of weavers, directed his devotion towards Rama,
one of the
important Hindu deities. For Kabir, devotion is to be directed to
the divine
person whether one names this divine person, Rama, Krishna, or
Allah. Kabir
says:
RST v29i1.indb 84 10/12/2010 8:27:32 AM
Rama, Khuda, Sakti, Siva are one. Then to whom do the prayers
go? The
Vedas, the Puranas and the Quran are only different manners of
description.
Neither the Hindu nor the Turk, neither the Jain nor the Yogi is
cognizant of

the secret. (Husain 1957, 20)
In another context, he says:
Brother! From where have the two masters of the Universe
come? Tell me
who has invented the names of Allah, Ram, Keshav, Hari and
Hazarat What
is a Hindu?
What is a Turk? Both inhabit the same earth. One reads the
Veda, and the
other the Qu’ran and the Khutba. One is a Moulana and the
other a Pandit.
Earthen vessels have different names, although they are made
from the same
earth! (Husain 1957, 20)
In terms of popular piety, the Hindus have always venerated
holy persons
from other religious traditions, We could cite the following
examples: the
veneration of Muslim holy men (saints) in Nagore, the
veneration of Mary in
the Church at Vellangani, and the shrine of “Tullukanachiyar,”
meaning the
“Muslim consort of the Lord,” near Madurai, all pointers to
fruitful interac-
tion between Hinduism on the one side, Islam and Christianity
on the other.
In a Global Village one needs more than tolerance of others,
since common
endeavors between people of different faiths and cultures are
possible only if
they come to understand, appreciate, and cooperate with one
another.

In the early Vedic religion there are many prayers that highlight
the spirit
of religious tolerance. The most inspiring passage, which is
often cited by
modern Hindus and Hindu scholars, is a passage from the Rig
Veda, which
reads: “The seers call in many ways that which is
One...”(I.164.46, Pan-
ikkar 1977, 660). This has often been read as expressing the
Hindu attitude
towards other religions where the validity of all the religions
engaged in the
pursuit of a common goal is acknowledged. Here the paths are
parallel rather
than hierarchical. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa expresses the
same theme stat-
ing the essential identity of the great religions:
There are so many religions and so many paths to reach the
same goal. I have
practiced Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and in Hinduism again,
the ways
of different sects. I have found that it is the same God towards
whom all are
directing their steps, though along different paths.
The tank has several ghats. At one Hindus draw water and
called it jal. At an-
other Mohammedans draw water and called it pani; at a third
Christians draw
the same liquid and called it water. The substance is one though
the names
differ, and everyone is seeking the same thing. Every religion of
the world is
one such ghat. Go with a sincere and earnest heart by any of

these ghats and
you will reach the water of eternal bliss. But do not say that
your religion is
better than that of another. (Prabhavananda 1979, 341)
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Swami Prabhuvananda in his book, The Spiritual Heritage of
India makes the
following comments concerning the passage cited above from
the Rig Veda:
Casual visitors to this ancient land carry with them the
impression of an
elaborate polytheism. True it is that India has always had many
gods—but in
appearance only. In reality she had had but one god, though
with prodigal in-
ventiveness she has called him “by various names”—Indra,
Varuna, Hiranya-
garbha, Rama, Krsna, Siva. What does it matter? Whichever of
these or many
others the Hindu chooses for his adoration, that one becomes for
him God
himself, in whom exist all things, including, for the time being
all other gods.
It is because India has been so permeated with the spirit of
Ekam sat vipra
bahudha vadanti (“The seers call it in many ways that which is
One”) that she

has known relatively little of religious fanaticism, of religious
persecution, of
religious wars. Characteristically she has sought the truth in
every faith- even
in faiths not her own (1979, 34–35).
In another passage in the Rig Veda, God is stated to be the
“common Lord of
all” (IV. 32). A passage in Atharva Veda expresses a similar
sentiment:
May the Earth that bears people speaking in varied language
With various religious rites according to the places of abode,
Enrich me with wealth in a thousand streams.
Like a milch-cow that never fails. (xii.1.45, Bose 1960, 283).
If Varuna, we have sinned against the man who loves us, or
against a friend
or a comrade for ever, or a brother,
Or against a neighbor who is always with us or against a
stranger,
From that sin may Thou release us (IV.16.8).
A prayer in Yajur Veda expresses the theme of concern for
humankind.
May all beings look on me with the eye of a friend;
May I look on all beings with the eye of a friend;
May we look on one another with the eye of a friend (26.2).
The creation stories in the early Vedic writings seem to suggest
that all
human beings belong to the four major classes (varnas) that
characterizes
the Hindu society. This includes those who are outside the area
of Bharata-
varsa (India) also. The creation story in the famous “Hymns to

the Primor-
dial Person” (purusasukta) where the (self ) sacrifice of the
primordial person
produces humans belonging to the four classes (varnas)
undoubtedly refers
to humans in general. This is stated explicitly in the Visnu
Purana where it
is stated that the seven regions (continents) of the earth were
populated by
people who also belonged to the fourfold division of classes,
like those in
Jambudvipa, the continent in which Bharatavarsa (India) is
located (Dutt
1978, 122–127). In fact, the people in the “other” continents
are described
as having different colored skins, and their life is even
“superior” to those who
live in Jambudvipa, since unlike the latter they are not subject
to the cycle
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of four ages (yugas), from the age of perfection (krta yuga) to
the age of most
imperfection (kali).
There are four Yugas or ages in the Bharata-Varsha, O Great
Muni, namely
the Krita, the Treta, the Dwapara, and Kali—there is no such
cycle of ages in

any other land. (II.3, Dutt 1978,121)
Within Jambudvipa, however, the Visnu Purana hastens to add,
Bharatavarsa
is the best.
Bharata is the most excellent division of Jambudvipa; for this is
the land of
works, while the others are places of enjoyment. Perhaps in a
thousand births,
a living being obtains here that most excellent condition,
humanity, the
receptacle of virtue. The gods sing, “Happy are those beings,
who, when the
rewards of their merits have been exhausted in heaven, are,
after being gods,
again born as men in Bharata Varsa.” (Muir 1876, 495–496)
It should be noted that the term “humanity” (manusya) which is
used with
reference to the inhabitant’s of Bharatavarsa, also applies to
those residing
in other regions. Again, it is to be noted that all these continents
are said
to be descendents from the same “first family.” According to
Visnu Purana,
the whole earth consisting of seven regions separated from one
another by
oceans, was first populated by the family of Manu
Svayambhuva.
In the beginning and in the Treta Yuga the entire earth, the
seven continents
with their mountains, oceans and mines was inhabited, land by
land, by the
sons of Priyavrata, the grandsons Svayambhuva.

(Dimmitt and Buitenen 1998, 56–57).
Manu distributed the seven dvipas of which the earth is
composed, among
seven of his sons (Muir 1879, 489).
In Vayu Purana, it is even suggested, contrary to the above
story of creation
of four social classes, that in the first age (krta yuga), which is
the age of per-
fection, there was no distinction of social classes. According to
this version,
Manu establishes the social classes in treta vuga and not in krta
yuga.
The means of subsistence having been provided, Svayambhu
established divi-
sions among them according to their tendencies. Those who
were rapacious,
and destructive, he ordained to be Kshattriyas, protectors of
others. As many
men as attended on these, fearless, speaking truth and
propounding sacred
knowledge (Brahma) with exactness, (were made) brahmins.
Those others,
engaged in the work of slaughterer, who as cultivators
(kinasah), had been
destructive, and were active in connection with the ground,
were called Vai-
syas, husbandmen (kinasan), providers of subsistence. And he
designated as
Sudras those who grieved (sochantah), and ran (dravantah), who
were addict-
ed to menial tasks, inglorious and feeble. Brahma determined
the respective

functions and duties of all these persons. (Muir 1976, 97–98)
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I do not want to deny that there are some “sacred geographies”
where
outsiders are considered as “inferior” to those residing in
Bharatavarsa, for
they abandoned the four classes, they are called Mlechas. For
instance we
find in Manu: “Those tribes which are outside the classes
produced from
the mouth, arms and thighs and feet, (of Brahma, i.e. Brahmans,
Ksattriyas,
Vaisyas, and Sudras,) whether they speak the language of the
Mlechhas or the
ryas, are called Dasyus.” According to the commentator
Kulluka, these dasyus
are those who “by loss of sacred rites, and so forth, have
become outcastes
from pale of four castes, Brahmans, Kshattriyas, Vaishyas, and
Sudras” (Muir
1976, 482–483). Thus being outside the pale of four classes and
also by fail-
ing to observe the duties of the four classes (varnas), the
outsiders have indeed
become a sort of “fallen” humanity.
The philosophy of identity based on the notion of the all
pervasive Reality,

Brahman, is the core of the Upanisadic teachings which is fully
developed
in the Hindu philosophical/theological schools of Vedanta.
From a theo-
logical perspective, it is appropriate to claim that the Hindu
tradition has
been dominated by the notion of the “oneness” or “unity” of all
creation,
including all life forms. This is the same message that we find
in the Vedanta
schools; “oneness” denies the “real reality” of multiplicity in
Sankara’s Vedanta
(Advaita Vedanta), and preserves the unity of multiplicity of
Ramanuja’s school
(Visistadvaita). “Verily, this whole world is Brahman,” says
Chandogya
Upanisad (3.14.1). In Mundaka Upanisad: we find the following
statement:
“This is the truth. As from the blazing fire sparks of like form
issue forth by
the thousand, even so my friend, various beings issue from the
imperishable
and also return thither” (see Sarma 1961, 84). The same theme
is expressed
in the very first verse of Isavasya Upanisad, which reads: “All
this, whatso-
ever moves in this moving world is pervaded by God” (Sarma
1961, 31).
Based on this notion of non-dualityunity, the Upanisads
proceed also to
affirm that one’s own true self (atman) is none other than
Brahman, “That
Thou art” (tat tvam asi). In Chandogya Upanisad, a father tells
his son: “That
which is the finest essence—this whole world has that as its
soul. That is

Reality. That is Atman. That art thou, Svetaketu” (6.13.3). As
stated before,
both Ramanuja and Sankara basically echo the same theme of
unity. Hence,
I want to say that from the point of view of such “unitive
theology” there are
no theological grounds to draw distinctions or to discriminate
between one
person and another, between “insiders” and “outsiders.” This
basic vision of
the Upanisads runs counter to the notion of social hierarchy on
which the
Hindu social structure is explicitly built. There is an interesting
episode in the
life of Sankara which highlights this tension between the unitive
message of
the Upanisads and the discriminative and hierarchical nature of
the Hindu
social structure.
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One morning, Sankara was going to the temple of Lord
Visvanatha, accom-
panied by his disciples, after a bath in the sacred river. A
candala (untouch-
able) followed by dogs and with a pot of liquor in his hand
came near him.
Sankara asked the candala to get out of his way. The candela
enquired as to

which should go away, the body or the self. As for the body, it
is the same in
composition in the case of every person. As for the self, it is
one and all pervad-
ing. Sankara realized at once that this was no ordinary candala.
In fact, it was
the Lord Siva Himself that had come in the guise of an
untouchable. Sankara
prostrated before the Lord and sang a hymn in which he
declares that the one
who has realized non-duality is his master, be that one a
brahmin or candala.
(Mahadevan 1965, 92)
In the Vedanta school of Sankara, Advaita Vedanta, the world
of multiplic-
ity, difference, and social hierarchy are characteristic of a
“fallen” state (sam-
sara) that is to be transcended. This “fallen” world is
characterized by social
hierarchy and by notions of “insiders” and “outsiders.” The goal
of religious
life is to transcend the state of duality. The ideal person in this
school of
Vedanta, jivanmukta, is one who has attained this goal of
unitive experience,
a non-discriminative state of mind. Such an “ideal person”
looks at all things
and persons as equal, since every person and everything are
truly forms of a
single all pervasive reality, namely, Brahman.
We could now explore the social dimension and the Hindu
social values
expressed in the concept of dharma which guides the life of a

Hindu defin-
ing his/her duties and obligations. The hierarchical Hindu social
structure
and the unitive philosophy of the Upanisads and Vedanta are
interestingly
enough held together by a distinction drawn between the
samsara-state and
the moksa-state, state of bondage and the state of freedom
respectively. It is
the laws of dharma that regulates an individual’s life in the
samsara-state,
while one gives up the family and social sides of dharma as one
proceeds
towards the moksa-state by assuming a life of a renouncer
(sannyasi) and seek-
ing a life of total freedom.
The samsaric life is marked by social hierarchy and inequality
in the Hindu
tradition. The goal is not so much to reform the society, but to
transcend
social norms and values in the pursuit of one’s final freedom
(moksa). How-
ever, dharma in its noblest aspect involves the virtues of
friendship, and car-
ing for the well-being of all humankind and creatures. In the
dharma setup,
such tasks are placed on the shoulders of the householders
(grihastha), who
are in their second stage of life (asrama), after having
completed their first
stage of life as students involved in learning. A householder, in
the first place,
is required to support the family. Apart from this, there are
certain ritual and
social obligations for the householders including what is called

a “five-fold
obligation.” These are obligations to the ancestors, other living
creatures, fel-
low human beings, to the gods, and to the sages. Of these, the
obligation to
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the sages is fulfilled by learning, which is done in the first stage
of life as a stu-
dent. To the gods, one fulfils one’s obligations by worship and
sacrificial of-
ferings. To fellow human beings, by acts of charity. Manu, who
is considered
as the primary codifier of the dharmic rules and obligations,
says in one place
stressing charity that—he who prepares food for himself
(alone), eats nothing
but sin (Buhler 1964). Manu regards the reward for charitable
acts as, indeed,
Heaven (Buhler 1964, III.93). These acts of charity can be
directed, in princi-
ple to any one who is in need, and not necessarily to an
“insider.”
It is interesting to note how the essential qualities of a brahmin,
are
described. These are, “Freedom from anger, from exultation,
from covetous-
ness, from perplexity; from hypocrisy and hurtfulness;

truthfulness, silencing
slander, freedom from envy, self-denying liberality, extinction
of passions,
subjugation of senses, peace with all created beings,
peacefulness and con-
tentment (Sundararajan 1969, 45). Such a person of nobility is
indeed the
“ideal person” from the perspective of Hindu dharma, for whom
the focus of
concern is all humankind, and indeed all created beings. I wish
to cite a pas-
sage from Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s address on the occasion
of the formal
opening the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions:
India strove throughout her history for the freedom of spirit and
the union
of hearts. She does not destroy differences but discovers their
underlying af-
finities. India did not treat other peoples who came to settle as
aliens, did not
ridicule their customs as incongruous but recognized and
accepted them all.
She entered into the lives of others and assimilated elements
from outside.
When new ideas arise, old traditions are not discarded but
treated with re-
spect and introduced by way of interpretation. She did not crave
for uniform-
ity. There is a famous passage in the Atharva Veda which refers
to the earth
that bears various peoples, speaking different languages,
practicing different
religious rites according to their various places of abode and
nourishes them
all with milk with equal affection. (Radhakrishnan 1961, 24)

By way of conclusion, I should like to draw attention to an
aspect in the area
of religion. Though religions are historically “time-bound”—
beginning at a
particular period in history—their “traditions” continually
evolve, change,
and sometimes even disappear as they respond to the needs of
their follow-
ers. It is the newly emerging traditions that account for a living
religion. This
“openness” to deal with the emerging new situations and
challenges that its
community faces, is largely due to the richness of its scriptural
materials which
yield a variety of interpretations and thus support and justify
the discovery of
hitherto unknown aspects of the scripture. For this reason,
scriptures come to
be seen as “timeless,” as they provide for their community of
believers defini-
tive guidance in any age, past or future. Hence, part of my
attempt to study
the issue of the global village is to bring into focus the intrinsic
dynamism of
RST v29i1.indb 90 10/12/2010 8:27:32 AM
Hinduism which is indeed the most ancient “living” religion.
Again the ques-

tion that the global village raises as to how to live meaningfully
in a “global
world,” is an issue that is critical to Hinduism now since it had
traditionally
been one of the “non-evangelical” religions stressing “birth”
membership and
participation in the community life and to that extent lacked a
clearly formu-
lated theological statement on “believers versus non-believers”
and “insiders
versus outsiders.” This is in contrast to the “evangelical”
religions such as
Christianity and Islam which justified their evangelical efforts
on the basis of
their theology of non-believers and “outsiders.” This article by
stressing the
notion of “global village” has explored the possible resources of
the Hindu
tradition for a community—living, where the community is
constituted of
members of diverse religious groups. Again, global village is a
metaphor that
seems to elevate the vision of the Hindu tradition, traditionally
tied to social
practices based on social hierarchy and “insider-focus,” to look
at its theologi-
cal resources for living in a “common world” that the
globalization process is
increasingly presenting to us.
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RST v29i1.indb 92 10/12/2010 8:27:32 AM

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further
reproduction prohibited without permission.
Sikhism
Pashaura Singh
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices. Ed. Thomas
Riggs. Vol. 1: Religions and
Denominations. Detroit: Gale, 2006. p497-519.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale
Full Text:
Page 497
Sikhism
FOUNDED: c. 1499 C.E.
RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION:
0.3 percent
OVERVIEW
Sikhism originated in the Punjab region of northwestern India
five centuries ago. The founder, Guru
Nanak, lived from 1469 to 1539. Sikhism is a monotheistic faith
that stresses the ideal of achieving
spiritual liberation within a person's lifetime through meditation
on the divine name. It is also oriented
toward action, encouraging the dignity of regular labor as a part
of spiritual discipline. Family life and
socially responsible living are other important aspects of Sikh
teachings.

Sikhism is the youngest of the independent religions of India,
where its members make up about 2
percent of the country's 1 billion people. Most live in the Indian
state of Punjab. What makes Sikhs
significant in India is not their numbers but their contribution in
the political and economic spheres.
The global population of Sikhs is between 23 and 24 million.
Substantial communities of Sikhs have
been established in Southeast Asia, East Africa, the United
Kingdom, and North America through
successive waves of emigration. Beginning in the first decade of
the twentieth century, a quarter
million Sikhs settled in the United States. Observant male Sikhs
everywhere are recognized by their
beards and turbans, which are the very symbols of their faith.
HISTORY
Sikhism is rooted in a particular religious experience, piety, and
culture and is informed by the unique
inner revelation of its founder, Guru Nanak, who declared his
independence from other thought forms
of his day. Those who claimed to be his disciples were known
as sikhs, or "learners." Notwithstanding
the influences he absorbed from the contemporary religious
environment—particularly the devotional
tradition of the medieval sants, or "poet-saints," of North India,
with whom he shared certain
similarities—Guru Nanak established a foundation of teaching,
practice, and community from the
standpoint of his own religious ideals. Among the religious
figures of North India, he had an especially
strong sense of mission, compelling him to proclaim his
message for the benefit of his audience and

for the promotion of socially responsible living.
Nanak was born to an upper-caste professional Hindu family of
the village of Talwandi, present-day
Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. Much of the material concerning his
life comes from hagiographical
janam-sakhis (birth narratives). His life may be divided into
three distinct phases: his early
contemplative years, the enlightenment experience accompanied
by extensive travels, and a
foundational climax that resulted in the establishment of the
first Sikh community in the western
Punjab. A local Muslim nobleman employed the young Nanak as
a steward at Sultanpur Lodhi. Being
a professional accountant of the Khatri (warrior) caste, he
worked diligently at his job, but his mind
was deeply absorbed in spiritual concerns. Thus, it is not
surprising that he spent long hours of each
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morning and evening in meditation and devotional singing.
Early one morning, when he was bathing in
the Vein River, he disappeared without Page 498 | Top of
Article leaving a trace. Family members
gave him up for dead, but three days later he stepped out of the

water with cryptic words: "There is no
Hindu, there is no Muslim."
This statement, made during the declining years of the Lodhi
sultanate, must be understood in the
context of the religious culture of the medieval Punjab. The two
dominant religions of the region were
the Hindu tradition and Islam, both making conflicting truth
claims. To a society torn with conflict,
Nanak brought a vision of a common humanity and pointed the
way to look beyond external labels for
a deeper reality. After his threeday immersion in the waters—a
metaphor of dissolution,
transformation, and spiritual perfection—Nanak was ready to
proclaim a new vision for his audience.
In one of his own hymns in the Adi Granth, the Sikh scripture,
he proclaimed, "I was a minstrel out of
work, the Lord assigned me the task of singing the divine Word.
He summoned me to his court and
bestowed on me [the] robe of honoring him and singing his
praise. On me he bestowed the divine
nectar [amrit] in a cup, the nectar of his true and holy Name"
(Adi Granth, p. 150).
The hymn is intensely autobiographical, explicitly pointing out
Guru Nanak's own understanding of his
divine mission, and it marked the beginning of his ministry. He
was then 30 years of age, had been
married to Sulakhani for more than a decade, and was the father
of two young sons, Sri Chand and
Lakhmi Das. He set out on a series of journeys to both Hindu
and Muslim places of pilgrimage in India
and elsewhere. During his travels he came into contact with the
leaders of different religious
persuasions and tested the veracity of his own ideas in religious
dialogues.

At the end of his travels, in the 1520s, Guru Nanak purchased a
piece of land on the right bank of the
Ravi River in West Punjab and founded the village of Kartarpur
(Creator's Abode). There he lived for
the rest of his life as the "spiritual guide" of a newly emerging
religious community. His attractive
personality and teaching won him many disciples, who received
his message of liberation through
religious hymns of unique genius and notable beauty. They
began to use the hymns in devotional
singing (kirtan) as a part of congregational worship. Indeed, the
first Sikh families who gathered
around Guru Nanak in the early decades of the sixteenth century
formed the nucleus of a rudimentary
organization of Nanak-panth. (The word panth literally means
"path," but here it refers to those Sikhs
who followed Guru Nanak's path of liberation.)
KHANDA.
The Khanda is the universal symbol of the Sikh religion. The
double-edged sword in the middle
(also called a Khanda) symbolizes the divine power of the One,
Infinite, Omnipresent, Formless,
Fearless, Angerless, Omnipotent God. The circle is called the
Chakar and symbolizes the
perfection of God. The two swords that surround the Chakar
represent those worn by the sixth
Sikh Guru, Hargobind (1595–1644), symbolizing his spiritual
(piri) and temporal (miri) authorities.
Sikhs place an equal emphasis on spiritual aspirations and
obligations to society.
Guru Nanak prescribed the daily routine, along with agricultural

activity for sustenance, for the
Kartarpur community. He defined the ideal person as a
Gurmukh (one oriented toward the Guru), who
practiced the threefold discipline of "the divine Name, charity,
and purity" (nam-dan-ishnan). Indeed,
these three features—nam (relation with the divine), dan
(relation with the society), and ishnan
(relation with the self)—provided a balanced approach for the
development of the individual and the
society. They corresponded to the cognitive, the communal, and
the personal aspects of the evolving
Sikh identity. For Guru Nanak the true spiritual life required
that "one should live on what one has
earned through hard work and that one should share with others
the fruit of one's exertion" (Adi
Granth, p. 1,245). In addition, service (seva), self-respect (pati),
truthful living (sach achar), humility,
sweetness of the tongue, and taking only one's rightful share
(haq halal) were regarded as highly
prized ethical virtues in pursuit of liberation. At Kartarpur,
Guru Nanak gave practical expression to the
ideals that had matured during the period of his travels, and he
combined a life of disciplined
Page 499 | Top of Article
devotion with worldly activities set in the context of normal
family
life. As part of the Sikh liturgy, Guru Nanak's Japji
(Meditation) was recited in the early hours of the

morning, and So Dar (That Door) and Arti (Adoration) were
sung in the evening.
Guru Nanak's spiritual message found expression at Kartarpur
through key institutions: the sangat
(holy fellowship), in which all felt that they belonged to one
spiritual fraternity; the dharamsala, the
original form of the Sikh place of worship; and the
establishment of the langar, the dining convention
that required people of all castes to sit in status-free lines
(pangat) in order to share a common meal.
The institution of langar promoted a spirit of unity and mutual
belonging and struck at a major aspect
of caste, thereby advancing the process of defining a distinctive
Sikh identity. Finally, Guru Nanak
created the institution of the Guru, or preceptor, who became
the central authority in community life.
Before he died in 1539, Guru Nanak designated one of his
disciples, Lehna, as his successor by
renaming him Angad, meaning "my own limb." Thus, a lineage
was established, and a legitimate
succession was maintained intact from the appointment of Guru
Angad to the death of Guru Gobind
Singh (1666–1708), the 10th and last human Guru of the Sikhs.
The second Guru, Angad (1504–52), consolidated the nascent
Sikh Panth in the face of the challenge
offered by Guru Nanak's eldest son, Baba Sri Chand, the
founder of the ascetic Udasi sect. Guru
Angad further refined the Gurmukhi script for recording the
compilation of the Guru's hymns (bani).
The original Gurmukhi script was a systematization of two
types of business shorthand Guru Nanak
doubtless used professionally as a young man. This was an
emphatic rejection of the superiority of the
Devanagri and Arabic scripts (along with Sanskrit and the

Arabic and Persian languages) and of the
hegemonic authority they represented in the scholarly and
religious circles of the time. The use of the
Gurmukhi script added an element of demarcation and self-
identity to the Sikh tradition. In fact,
language became the single most important factor in the
preservation of Sikh culture and identity and
became the corner-stone of the religious distinctiveness that is
part and parcel of the Sikh cultural
heritage.
A major institutional development took place during the time of
the third Guru, Amar Das (1479–1574),
who introduced a variety of innovations to provide greater
cohesion and unity to the ever-growing Sikh
Panth. These included the establishment of the city of Goindval;
the biannual festivals of Divali and
Baisakhi, which provided an opportunity for the growing
community to get together and meet the Guru;
a missionary system (manji) for attracting new converts; and the
preparation of the Goindval pothis,
collections of the compositions of the Gurus and some of the
medieval poetsaints.
The fourth Guru, Ram Das (1534–81), founded the city of
Ramdaspur, where he constructed a large
pool for the purpose of bathing. It was named Amritsar,
meaning "the nectar of immortality." To build
an independent economic base, the Guru appointed deputies
(masands) to collect tithes and other
contributions from loyal Sikhs. In addition to a large body of
sacred verse, he composed the wedding
hymn (lavan) for the solemnization of a Sikh marriage. Indeed,
it was Guru Ram Das who explicitly

responded to the question "Who is a Sikh?" with the following
definition: "He who calls Page 501 |
Top of Article
himself Sikh, a follower of the true Guru, should meditate on
the divine Name after rising and bathing
and recite Japji from memory, thus driving away all evil deeds
and vices. As day unfolds he sings
gurbani [utterances of the Gurus]; sitting or rising he meditates
on the divine Name. He who repeats
the divine Name with every breath and bite is indeed a true Sikh
[gursikh] who gives pleasure to the
Guru" (Adi Granth, pp. 305–6). Thus, the liturgical
requirements of the reciting and singing of the
sacred word became part of the very definition of being a Sikh.
The most significant development was
related to the self-image of Sikhs, who perceived themselves as
unique and distinct from the other
religious communities of North India.
The period of the fifth Guru, Arjan (1563–1606), was marked by
a number of far-reaching institutional
developments. First, at Amritsar, he built the Harimandir, or
Darbar Sahib (later known as the Golden
Temple), which acquired prominence as the central place of
Sikh worship. Second, he compiled the
first canonical scripture, the Adi Granth (Original Book), in
1604. Third, Guru Arjan established the rule
of justice and humility (halemi raj) in the town of Ramdaspur,
where everyone lived in comfort (Adi
Granth, p. 74). He proclaimed, "The divine rule prevails in
Ramdaspur due to the grace of the Guru.
No tax [jizya] is levied, nor any fine; there is no collector of
taxes" (Adi Granth, pp. 430, 817). The
administration of the town was evidently in the hands of Guru
Arjan, although in a certain sense

Ramdaspur was an autonomous town within the context and the
framework of the Mughal rule of
Emperor Akbar. Fourth, by the end of the sixteenth century the
Sikh Panth had developed a strong
sense of independent identity, which is evident from Guru
Arjan's assertion "We are neither Hindu nor
Musalaman" (Adi Granth, p. 1,136).
Fifth, dissensions within the ranks of the Sikh Panth became the
source of serious conflict. A great
number of the Guru's compositions focus on the issue of dealing
with the problems created by
"slanderers" (nindak), who were rival claimants to the office of
the Guruship. The Udasis and the
Bhallas, the latter formed by Guru Amar Da'ss eldest son, Baba
Mohan, and his followers, had already
established parallel seats of authority Page 502 | Top of
Article
and had paved the way for competing views of Sikh identity.
The rivalry of these dissenters had been
heightened when Guru Arjan was designated for the throne of
Ram Das in preference to his eldest
brother, Prithi Chand, who even approached the local Mughal
administrators to claim the position of
his father. At some point Prithi Chand and his followers were
branded Minas (dissembling rogues).
Finally, the author of Dabistan-i-Mazahib ("The School of
Religions"), a mid-seventeenth-century work
in Persian, testifies that the number of Sikhs had rapidly
increased during Guru Arjan's period and that
"there were not many cities in the inhabited countries where

some Sikhs were not to be found." In fact,
the growing strength of the Sikh movement attracted the
unfavorable attention of the ruling authorities
because of the reaction of Muslim revivalists of the Naqshbandi
order in Mughal India. There is clear
evidence in the compositions of Guru Arjan that a series of
complaints were made against him to the
functionaries of the Mughal state, giving them an excuse to
watch the activities of the Sikhs. The
liberal policy of Emperor Akbar may have sheltered the Guru
and his followers for a time, but in May
1606, within eight months of Akbar's death, Guru Arjan, under
torture by the orders of the new
emperor, Jahangir, was executed. The Sikh community
perceived his death as the so-called first
martyrdom, which became a turning point in the history of the
Sikh tradition.
Indeed, a radical reshaping of the Sikh Panth took place after
Guru Arjan's martyrdom. The sixth
Guru, Hargobind (1595–1644), signaled the formal process
when he traditionally donned two swords,
symbolizing the spiritual (piri) as well as the temporal (miri)
investiture. He also built the Akal Takhat
(Throne of the Timeless One) facing the Darbar Sahib, which
represented the newly assumed role of
temporal authority. Under his direct leadership the Sikh Panth
took up arms in order to protect itself
from Mughal hostility. From the Sikh perspective this new
development was not taken at the cost of
abandoning the original spiritual base. Rather, it was meant to
achieve a balance between temporal
and spiritual concerns. A Sikh theologian of the period, Bhai
Gurdas, defended this martial response
as "hedging the orchard of the Sikh faith with [the] hardy and
thorny kikar tree." After four skirmishes

with Mughal troops, Guru Hargobind withdrew to the Shivalik
hills, and Kiratpur became the new
center of the mainline Sikh tradition. Amritsar fell into the
hands of the Minas, who established a
parallel line of Guruship with the support of the Mughal
authorities.
During the time of the seventh and eighth Gurus, Har Rai
(1630–61) and Har Krishan (1656–64), the
emphasis on armed conflict with the Mughal authorities
receded, but the Gurus held court and kept a
regular force of Sikh horsemen. During the period of the ninth
Guru, Tegh Bahadur (1621–75),
however, the increasing strength of the Sikh movement in rural
areas again attracted Mughal
attention. Guru Tegh Bahadur's ideas of a just society inspired a
spirit of fearlessness among his
followers: "He who holds none in fear, nor is afraid of anyone,
Nanak, acknowledge him alone as a
man of true wisdom" (Adi Granth, p. 1,427). Such ideas posed a
direct challenge to the increasingly
restrictive policies of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, who
reigned from 1658 to 1707. Not
surprisingly, Guru Tegh Bahadur was summoned to Delhi by the
orders of the emperor, and on his
refusal to embrace Islam he was publicly executed in Chandni
Chowk on 11 November 1675. The
Sikhs perceived his death as the second martyrdom, which
involved larger issues of human rights and
freedom of conscience.

Tradition holds that the Sikhs who were present at the scene of
Guru Tegh Bahadur's execution
shrank from recognition, concealing their identity for fear they
might suffer a similar fate. In order to
respond to this new situation, the 10th Guru, Gobind Singh,
resolved to impose on his followers an
outward form that would make them instantly recognizable. He
restructured the Sikh Panth and
instituted the Khalsa (pure), an order of loyal Sikhs bound by a
common identity and discipline. On
Baisakhi Day 1699 at Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh initiated
the first so-called Cherished Five (panj
piare), who formed the nucleus of the new order of the Khalsa.
The five volunteers who responded to
the Guru's call for loyalty, and who came from different castes
and regions of India, received the
initiation through a ceremony that involved sweetened water
(amrit) stirred with a two-edged sword
and sanctified by the recitation of five liturgical prayers.
Glossary
Adi Granth
Original Book; the primary Sikh scripture
Akal Purakh
Timeless One; God
amrit
divine nectar; sweetened water used in the initiation ceremony
of the Khalsa
dan
charity; a person's relation with society
granthi

reader of scripture and leader of rituals in the gurdwara
gurdwara
door of the Guru; house of worship
Gurmukh
a person oriented toward the Guru
Guru
spiritual preceptor, either a person or the mystical "voice" of
Akal Purakh
Guru Granth, or Guru Granth Sahib
the Adi Granth, or scripture, functioning as Guru
Guru Panth
the Sikh Panth, or community, functioning as Guru
hukam
divine order
ishnan
purity
janam-sakhi
birth narrative; a hagiographical biography
karah prashad
sanctified food, prepared in a large iron dish, or karahi
karma
influence of a person's past actions on his future lives
katha
a discourse on scripture in a gurdwara; homily
Kaur

female surname meaning Princess
Khalsa
order of "pure" Sikhs, established by Guru Gobind Singh in
1699
kirpan
sword
kirtan
devotional singing
langar
community dining
nam
the divine name
panth
path
pati
the core of a person, including self-respect
rahit
code
sangat
holy fellowship; a congregation
sansar
rebirth; transmigration
shabad

the divine word
sikh
learner
Sikh Panth
the Sikh community
Sikh Rahit Maryada
Sikh Code of Conduct
Singh
male surname meaning Lion
vak
divine command
From the perspective of ritual studies, three significant issues
were linked with the first amrit
ceremony. First, all who chose to join the order of the Khalsa
through the ceremony were understood
to have been "reborn" in the house of the Guru and thus to have
assumed a new identity. The male
members were given the surname Singh (Lion), and female
members were given the surname Kaur
(Princess), with the intention of creating a parallel system of
aristocratic titles in relation to the Rajput
hill chiefs of the surrounding areas of Anandpur. Second, the
Guru symbolically transferred his
spiritual authority to the Cherished Five when he him-self
received the nectar of the double-edged
sword from their hands and thus became a part of the Khalsa
Panth Page 504 | Top of Article and
subject to its collective will. In this way he not only paved the
way for the termination of a personal

Guruship but also abolished the institution of the masands,
which was becoming increasingly
disruptive. Several of the masands had refused to forward
collections to the Guru, creating
factionalism in the Sikh Panth. In addition, Guru Gobind Singh
removed the threat posed by the
competing seats of authority when he declared that the Khalsa
should have no dealings with the
followers of Prithi Chand (Minas), Dhir Mal (Guru Har Rai's
elder brother, who established his seat at
Kartarpur, Jalandhar), and Ram Rai (Guru Har Krishan's elder
brother, who established his seat at
Dehra Dun). Finally, Guru Gobind Singh delivered the nucleus
of the Sikh Rahit Maryada (Code of
Conduct) at the inauguration of the Khalsa. By sanctifying the
hair with amrit, he made it "the official
seal of the Guru," and the cutting of bodily hair was thus
strictly prohibited. The Guru further imposed
a rigorous ban on smoking. He made the most visible symbols
of external identity, the so-called five
Ks, mandatory for the Khalsa, as explained below under
SACRED SYMBOLS.
The inauguration of the Khalsa was the culmination of the
canonical period in the development of
Sikhism. Guru Gobind Singh also closed the Sikh canon by
adding a collection of the works of his
father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, to the original compilation of the
Adi Granth. Before he died in 1708, he
terminated the line of personal Gurus, and he installed the Adi
Granth as the eternal Guru for Sikhs.
Thereafter, the authority of the Guru was invested together in
the scripture (Guru Granth) and in the
corporate community (Guru Panth). Sikhism thus evolved in

response to four main elements. The first
of these was the ideology based on the religious and cultural
innovations of Guru Nanak and his nine
successors. The second was the rural base of Punjabi society.
During the period of Guru Arjan the
founding of the villages of Taran Taran, Sri Hargobindpur, and
Kartarpur in rural areas saw large
numbers of converts from the local Jat peasantry. It may have
been the militant traditions of the Jats
that brought the Sikh Panth into increasing conflict with Mughal
authorities, a conflict that shaped the
future direction of the movement. The third factor was the
conflict created within the Sikh community
by dissidents, which originally worked to counter and then,
paradoxically, to enhance the process of
the crystallization of the Sikh tradition. The fourth element was
the period of Punjabi history from the
sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, in which the Sikh Panth
evolved in tension with the Mughal
authorities. All four elements combined to produce the mutual
interaction between ideology and
environment that came to characterize the historical
development of Sikhism.
CENTRAL DOCTRINES
The nature of ultimate reality in Sikh doctrine is succinctly
expressed in the Mul Mantar (seed
formula), the preamble to the Sikh scripture. The basic
theological statement reads as follows: "There
is one Supreme Being ['1' Oankar], the Eternal Reality, the
Creator, without fear and devoid of enmity,
immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace
through the Guru. The Eternal One, from the
beginning, through all time, present now, the Everlasting
Reality" (Adi Granth, p. 1). The numeral "1"

at the beginning of the original Punjabi text represents the unity
of Akal Purakh (the Timeless One, or
God), a concept that Guru Nanak interpreted in monotheistic
terms. It affirms that Akal Purakh is one
without a second, the source as well as the goal of all that
exists. As the creator and sustainer of the
universe, he lovingly watches over it. He is the source of love
and grace and responds to the devotion
of his humblest followers. Paradoxically, he is both
transcendent (nirguna, "without attributes") and
immanent (saguna, "with attributes"). Only in personal
experience can he be truly known. Despite the
stress laid on nirguna discourse within the Sikh tradition, which
directs the devotee to worship a
nonincarnate, universal God, in Sikh doctrine God is partially
embodied in the divine name (nam) and
in the collective words (bani) and in the person of the Guru and
the saints.
With regard to the creation of the world, there is Guru Nanak's
cosmology hymn in Maru Raga (Adi
Granth, pp. 1035–36). He maintained that the universe "comes
into being by the divine order" (Adi
Granth, p. 1). Guru Nanak said further, "From the True One
came air and from air came water; from
water he created the three worlds and infused in every heart his
own light" (Adi Granth, p. 19). He
employed the well-known Indic ideas of creation through the
five basic elements of air, water, ether,
fire, and earth: "The Eternal One created nights, the days of the
week, and the seasons of the year.
With them came wind and water, fire and the regions
established below. Amidst them all was set the
earth, wherein the Maker meditates. Wondrous the creatures
there created, boundless variety,
countless their names. All must be judged for the deeds they

perform, by a Page 505 | Top of Article
faultless judge in a perfect court" (Adi Granth, p. 7). As the
creation of Akal Purakh, the physical
universe is real but subject to constant change. For Guru Nanak
the world was divinely inspired. It is a
place that provides human beings with an opportunity to
perform their duty and to achieve union with
Akal Purakh. Thus, actions performed in earthly existence are
important, for "all of us carry the fruits
of our deeds" (Adi Granth, p. 4).
The notions of karma (actions) and sansar (rebirth, or
transmigration) are fundamental to all religious
traditions originating in India. Karma is popularly understood in
Indian thought as the principle of
cause and effect. The principle is logical and inexorable, but
karma is also understood as a
predisposition that safeguards the notion of free choice. In Sikh
doctrine, however, the notion of karma
underwent a radical change. For the Gurus the law of karma was
not inexorable. In the context of the
Guru Nanak's theology, karma is subject to the higher principle
of the "divine order" (hukam). The
divine order is an "all-embracing principle" that is the sum total
of all divinely instituted laws in the
cosmos. It is a revelation of the divine nature. Indeed, the law
of karma is replaced by Akal Purakh's
hukam, which is no longer an impersonal causal phenomenon
but falls within the sphere of Akal
Purakh's omnipotence and justice: "The divine name can wash
away millions of sins in a moment"
(Adi Granth, p. 1,283). In fact, the primacy of divine grace over
the law of karma is always maintained

in Sikh teachings, and divine grace even breaks the chain of
adverse karma.
Guru Nanak employed the following key terms to describe the
nature of divine revelation in its
totality:nam (the divine name), shabad (divine word), and guru
(divine preceptor). The nam reflects the
manifestation of the divine presence everywhere, yet because of
their haumai, or self-centeredness,
humans fail to perceive it. The Punjabi term haumai (I, I)
signifies the powerful impulse to succumb to
personal gratification, so that a person is separated from Akal
Purakh and thus continues to suffer
within the cycle of rebirth (sansar). Akal Purakh, however,
looks graciously upon the suffering of
people. He reveals himself through the Guru by uttering the
shabad (divine word) that communicates
a sufficient understanding of the nam (divine name) to those
who are able to hear it. The shabad is the
actual "utterance," and in "hearing" it one awakens to the reality
of the divine name, immanent in all
that lies around and within.
The Adi Granth
The Adi Granth, the principal scripture of the Sikhs, has played
a unique role as Guru, or
preceptor, in the personal piety, liturgy, and corporate life of
the Sikh Panth, or community. It has
provided a framework for the shaping of the Sikh Panth and has
been a decisive factor in giving
Sikhs a distinctive identity. The Adi Granth occupies a central
position in all Sikh ceremonies,
and the experience of hearing it read has provided the Sikh
tradition with a sense of the living
presence of the divine Guru. The daily process of "seeking the
divine command" by opening the

scripture at random inspires Sikhs throughout the world and
confirms the function of the
scripture as Guru, known as Guru Granth Sahib. Indeed, the
Guru Granth Sahib has given Sikhs
a sacred focus for reflection and for discovering the meaning of
life. It has functioned as a
supratextual source of authority within the Sikh tradition. Thus,
the ultimate authority within the
Sikh Panth for a wide range of personal and public conduct lies
in the Guru Granth Sahib. In a
certain sense Sikhs have taken their conception of sacred
scripture further than the People of
the Book such as Jews and Muslims.
The institution of the Guru carries spiritual authority in the Sikh
tradition. In most Indian religious
traditions the term guru stands for a human teacher who
communicates divine knowledge and
provides his disciples with a cognitive map for liberation. In
Sikhism, however, its meaning has
evolved into a cluster of doctrines over a period of time. There
are four focal points of spiritual
authority, each acknowledged within the Sikh tradition as Guru:
(1) doctrine of eternal Guru, (2)
doctrine of personal Guru, (3) doctrine of Guru Granth, and (4)
doctrine of Guru Panth. First, Guru
Nanak used the term in three basic senses: the Guru is Akal
Purakh; the Guru is the voice of Akal
Purakh; and the Guru is the word, the truth, of Akal Purakh. To
experience the eternal Guru is to
experience divine guidance. Guru Nanak himself acknowledged
Akal Purakh as his Guru: "He who is
the infinite, supreme God is the Guru whom Nanak has met"
(Adi Granth, p. 599). In Sikh usage,
Page 506 | Top of Article therefore, the Guru is the voice of
Akal Purakh, mystically uttered within the

human heart, mind, and soul (man).
Second, the personal Guru functions as the channel through
whom the voice of Akal Purakh becomes
audible. Nanak became the embodiment of the eternal Guru only
when he received the divine word
and conveyed it to his disciples. The same spirit manifested
itself successively in those who followed.
In fact, Guru Nanak by-passed the claims of his own son Sri
Chand, disqualified by his ascetic ideals,
in favor of a more worthy disciple. Guru Angad followed the
example of his master when he chose the
elderly disciple Amar Das in preference to his own sons. By the
time of the third Guru, however, the
hereditary pattern asserted itself when Amar Das designated as
his successor his son-in-law, Ram
Das, who, in turn, was followed by his youngest son, Arjan, the
direct ancestor of all later Gurus.
Nevertheless, the succession in each case went to the most
suitable candidate, not automatically from
father to eldest son. In Sikh doctrine a theory of spiritual
succession was advanced in the form of "the
unity of Guruship," in which there was no difference between
the founder and the successors. Thus,
all represented one and the same light (jot), just as a single
flame can ignite a series of torches. The
same principle is illustrated in the Adi Granth by the fact that
the six Gurus contributing to the Sikh
scripture signed their compositions "Nanak," each being
identified by the code word Mahala (King)
and the appropriate number. Thus, the compositions labeled
Mahala 1 (M 1) are by Guru Nanak, and
those labeled M 2, M 3, M 4, M 5, and M 9 are by Guru Angad,

Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru
Arjan, and Guru Tegh Bahadur, respectively.
Third, in Sikh usage the Adi Granth is normally referred to as
the Guru Granth Sahib, which implies a
confession of faith in the scripture as Guru. As such, the Guru
Granth Sahib carries the same status
and authority as did the 10 personal Gurus, from Guru Nanak
through Guru Gobind Singh, and it
must, therefore, be viewed as the source of ultimate authority
within the Sikh Panth. In actual practice
Guru Granth Sahib performs the role of Guru in the personal
piety and corporate identity of the Sikh
community. It has become the symbol of ultimate sanctity for
the Sikh Panth, and it is treated with the
most profound respect when it is installed ceremonially in a
gurdwara (Guru's house), the Sikh place
of worship.
Finally, the key phrase Guru Panth is normally employed in two
senses: first, as the Panth of the Guru,
referring to the Sikh community in general; and second, as the
Panth as the Guru, pointing specifically
to the Sikh community's role as a Guru. This doctrine fully
developed from the earlier idea that "the
Guru is mystically present in the congregation." At the
inauguration of the Khalsa in 1699, Guru
Gobind Singh symbolically transferred his authority to the
Cherished Five when he received initiation
from their hands. Sainapati, the near contemporary author of
Gur Sobha (1711), recorded that Guru
Gobind Singh designated the Khalsa as the collective
embodiment of his divine mandate: "Upon the
Khalsa which I have created I shall bestow the succession. The
Khalsa is my physical form and I am
one with the Khalsa. To all eternity I am manifest in the Khalsa.

Those whose hearts are purged of
falsehood will be known as the true Khalsa; and the Khalsa,
freed from error and illusion, will be my
true Guru." Thus, the elite corps of the Khalsa has always
claimed to speak authoritatively on behalf of
the whole Sikh Panth, although at times non-Khalsa Sikhs
interpret the doctrine of Guru Panth as
conferring authority on a community more broadly defined. As a
practical matter, consensus within the
community of Sikhs is achieved by following democratic
traditions.
In order to achieve a state of spiritual liberation (jivan mukati)
within one's lifetime, one must transcend
the unregenerate condition created by the influence of haumai.
In fact, haumai is the source of the five
evil impulses traditionally known as lust (kam), anger (krodh),
covetousness (lobh), attachment to
worldly things (moh), and pride (hankar). Under the influence
of haumai a person becomes self-willed
(manmukh), one who is so attached to his passions for worldly
pleasures that he forgets the divine
name and wastes his entire life in evil and suffering. This
unregenerate condition can be transcended
by means of the strictly interior discipline of nam-simaran, or
"remembering the divine Name." This
three-fold process ranges from the repetition of a sacred word,
usually Vahiguru (praise to the eternal
Guru), through the devotional singing of hymns with the
congregation, to sophisticated meditation on
the nature of Akal Purakh. The first and the third levels of this
practice involve private devotions, while
the second refers to a corporate activity. On the whole the
discipline of nam-simaran is designed to
bring a person into harmony with the divine order (hukam). The
person thus gains the experience of

ever growing wonder (vismad) in spiritual Page 507 | Top of
Article life, and he achieves the ultimate
condition of blissful equanimity (sahaj) when the spirit ascends
to the "realm of Truth" (sach khand),
the fifth and the last of the spiritual stages, in which the soul
finds mystical union with Akal Purakh, or
God.
The primacy of divine grace over personal effort is fundamental
to Guru Nanak's theology. There is,
however, neither fatalism nor any kind of passive acceptance of
a predestined future in his view of life.
He proclaimed, "With your own hands carve out your own
destiny" (Adi Granth, p. 474). Indeed,
personal effort in the form of good actions has a place in Guru
Nanak's view of life. His idea of "divine
free choice," on the one hand, and his emphasis on a "life of
activism" based on human freedom, on
the other, reflect his ability to hold in tension seemingly
opposed elements. Guru Nanak explicitly saw
this balancing of opposed tendencies, which avoids rigid
predestination theories and yet enables
people to see their own free will as a part of Akal Purakh, as
allowing Sikhs the opportunity to create
their own destinies, a feature stereotypically associated with
Sikh enterprise throughout the world.
MORAL CODE OF CONDUCT
In his role as what the sociologist Max Weber called an "ethical
prophet," Guru Nanak called for a
decisive break with existing formulations and laid the
foundations of a new, rational model of
normative behavior based on divine authority. Throughout his

writings he conceived of his work as
divinely commissioned, and he demanded the obedience of his
audience as an ethical duty. In fact,
Guru Nanak repeatedly proclaimed that the realization of the
divine truth depended upon the conduct
of the seeker. At the beginning of his Japji (Meditation), he
raised the fundamental question "How is
Truth to be attained, how the veil of falsehood torn aside?" He
then responded, "Nanak, thus it is
written: submit to the divine order [hukam], walk in its ways"
(Adi Granth, p. 1). Truth obviously is not
obtained by intellectual effort or cunning but only by personal
commitment. To know truth one must
live in it.
The salient features of Sikh ethics are as follows. First, the Sikh
ethical structure stands on the firm
rock of a "living faith" in Akal Purakh. Accordingly, an action
is right or an ideal is good if it contributes
toward the love of Akal Purakh. Second, the seeker of the
divine truth must live an ethical life. An
immoral person is neither worthy of being called a true seeker
nor capable of attaining the spiritual
goal of life. Any dichotomy between spiritual development and
moral conduct is not approved in Sikh
ethics. In this context Guru Nanak explicitly said, "Truth is the
highest virtue, but higher still is truthful
living" (Adi Granth, p. 62). Indeed, truthful conduct (sach
achar) is at the heart of Sikh ethics.
Third, the central focus in the Sikh moral scheme involves the
cultivation of virtues such as wisdom,
contentment, justice, humility, truthfulness, temperance, love,
forgiveness, charity, purity, and fear of
Akal Purakh. Guru Nanak remarked, "Sweetness and humility
are the essence of all virtues" (Adi

Granth, p. 470). These virtues not only enrich the personal lives
of individuals, but they also promote
socially responsible living. The Gurus laid great stress on the
need to earn one's living through honest
means. In particular, living by alms or begging is strongly
rejected. Emphasizing hard work and
sharing, Sikh ethics forbids withdrawal from social
participation. Fourth, the Gurus offered their own
vision of the cultivation of egalitarian ideals in social relations.
Such ideals are based on the principle
of social equality, gender equality, and human brotherhood.
Thus, it is not surprising that any kind of
discrimination based on caste or gender is expressly rejected in
Sikh ethics.
Fifth, the key element of religious living is to render service
(seva) to others in the form of mutual help
and voluntary work. The real importance of seva lies in sharing
one's resources of "body, mind, and
wealth" (tan-man-dhan) with others. This is an expression
toward fellow beings of what one feels
toward Akal Purakh. The service must be rendered without the
desire for self-glorification, and, in
addition, self-giving service must be done without setting
oneself up as a judge of other people. The
Ardas (Petition, or Sikh Prayer) holds in high esteem the quality
of "seeing but not judging" (anadith
karana). Social bonds are often damaged beyond redemption
when people, irrespective of their own
limitations, unconscionably judge others. The Sikh Gurus
emphasized the need to destroy this root of
social strife and enmity through self-giving service.
Finally, in Guru Nanak's view all human actions presuppose the
functioning of divine grace. Thus, one
must continue to perform good actions at all stages of spiritual

development to prevent a "fall from
grace" and to set an example for others. Sikhism stresses the
dignity of regular labor as a part of
spiritual discipline. This is summed up in the following triple
commandment: engage in honest labor
(kirat karani) for a living, adore the divine name (nam japana),
and share the fruit of labor Page 508 |
Top of Article with others (vand chhakana). The formula
stresses both the centrality of meditative
worship and the necessity of righteous living in the world. The
Sikh Gurus placed great emphasis on a
spirit of optimism (charhdi kala) in the face of adverse
circumstances. They stressed the ideals of
moderate living and disciplined worldliness in contrast to the
ideals of asceticism and self-
mortification. In this context Guru Nanak proclaimed, "As the
lotus in the pool and the water fowl in the
stream remain dry; so a person should live, untouched by the
world. One should meditate on the
Name of the Supreme Lord" (Adi Granth, p. 938).
SACRED BOOKS
The Adi Granth (Original Book) is the primary scripture of the
Sikhs. It contains the works of the first 5
and 9th Sikh Gurus, 4 bards (Satta, Balvand, Sundar, and
Mardana), 11 Bhatts (panegyrists
associated with the Sikh court), and 15 Bhagats (devotees such
as Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, Shaikh
Farid, and other medieval poets of Sant, Sufi, and Bhakti
origin). The standard version contains a total
of 1,430 pages, and each page is identical. The text of the Adi
Granth is divided into three major

sections. The introductory section includes three liturgical
prayers. The middle section, which contains
the bulk of the material, is divided into 31 major ragas, or
Indian musical patterns. The final section
includes an epilogue consisting of miscellaneous works that
could not be accommodated in the middle
section.
The second sacred collection, the Dasam Granth (Book of the
10th Guru), is attributed to the 10th
Guru, Gobind Singh, but it must have extended beyond his time
to include the writings of others as
well. Mani Singh, who died in 1734, compiled the collection
early in the eighteenth century. Its modern
standard version of 1,428 pages consists of four major types of
compositions: devotional texts,
autobiographical works, miscellaneous writings, and a
collection of mythical narratives and popular
anecdotes.
The works of two early Sikhs, Bhai Gurdas (1551–1636) and
Bhai Nand Lal Goya (c. 1633–1713),
make up the third category of sacred literature. Along with the
sacred compositions of the Gurus, their
works are approved in the official manual of the Sikh Rahit
Maryada (Sikh Code of Conduct) for
singing in the gurdwaras.
The last category of Sikh literature includes three distinct
genres: the janam-sakhis (birth narratives),
the rahit-namas (manuals of code of conduct), and the gurbilas
(pleasure of the Guru) literature. The
janam-sakhis are hagiographical accounts of Guru Nanak's life
produced by the Sikh community in the
seventeenth century. The rahit-namas provide rare insight into
the evolving nature of the Khalsa code

in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The gur-bilas mainly
focuses on the mighty deeds of two
warrior Gurus, Guru Hargobind and, particularly, Guru Gobind
Singh.
SACRED SYMBOLS
All Sikhs initiated into the order of the Khalsa must observe the
Sikh Rahit Maryada (Sikh Code of
Conduct) as enunciated by Guru Gobind Singh and subsequently
elaborated. The most significant
part of the code is the enjoinder to wear five visible symbols of
identity, known from their Punjabi
names as the five Ks (panj kakke). These are unshorn hair (kes),
symbolizing spirituality and
saintliness; a wooden comb (kangha), signifying order and
discipline in life; a sword (kirpan),
symbolizing divine grace, dignity, and courage; a steel "wrist-
ring" (kara), signifying responsibility and
allegiance to the Guru; and a pair of short breeches (kachh),
symbolizing moral restraint. Among
Sikhs the five Ks are outer symbols of the divine word,
implying a direct correlation between bani
(divine utterance) and bana (Khalsa dress). The five Ks, along
with a turban for male Sikhs, symbolize
that the Khalsa Sikhs, while reciting prayers, are dressed in the
word of God. Their minds are thus
purified and inspired, and their bodies are girded to do battle
with the day's temptations. In addition,
Khalsa Sikhs are prohibited from the four cardinal sins (char
kurahit): "cutting the hair, using tobacco,
committing adultery, and eating meat that has not come from an
animal killed with a single blow."

EARLY AND MODERN LEADERS
During the eighteenth century the Khalsa Sikhs were largely
occupied in fighting the armies of
Mughals and Afghan invaders, until Sikhs emerged victorious
with the establishment of rule in the
Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who reigned from 1799 to
1839. This brought settled conditions
for the Sikh community, and territorial expansion attracted
people of different cultural and religious
backgrounds into the fold of Sikhism. The contemporary
appearance of the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar
owes much to the munificent patronage of the maharaja. He
patronized scribes, who made beautiful
copies of the standard version of the Sikh scripture that were
sent as gifts to the Sikh takhats (thrones)
and other major historical gurdwaras. Maharaja Ranjit Singh's
rule was marked by religious diversity
within the Sikh Panth.
The loss of the Sikh kingdom to British India in 1849 created a
new situation for the Sikh Panth. In
fact, the modern religious and cultural transformation within the
Sikh tradition took place during the
colonial period at the initiatives of the Singh Sabha (Society of
the Singhs). This reform movement
began in 1873 at Amritsar under the leadership of four
prominent Sikhs: Sardar Thakur Singh
Sandhanvalia (1837–87), Baba Khem Singh Bedi (1832–1905),
Kanvar Bikrama Singh (1835–87) of
Kapurthala, and Giani Gian Singh (1824–84) of Amritsar. The
principal objective of the Singh Sabha
reformers was to reaffirm the distinctiveness of Sikh identity in

the face of the twin threats posed by
the casual reversion to Hindu practices during Sikh rule and the
explicit challenges from actively
proselytizing religious movements such as Christian
missionaries and the Arya Samaj (Society of the
Aryas). The Tat Khalsa (Pure Khalsa), the dominant wing of the
Singh Sabha movement, succeeded
in eradicating all forms of religious diversity by the end of the
nineteenth century and established
norms of religious orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The reformers
were largely successful in making the
Khalsa ideal the orthodox form of Sikhism, and they
systematized and clarified the Khalsa tradition to
make Sikhism consistent and effective for propagation. Indeed,
the Tat Khalsa ideal of Sikh identity,
which was forged in the colonial crucible, was both old and
new.
Further, in the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 the Tat Khalsa
reformers secured legal recognition of a
distinctive ritual for Sikh weddings, and they reestablished
direct Khalsa control of the major historical
gurdwaras, many of which had fallen over the years into the
hands of corrupt Mahants (Custodians)
supported by the British. Inspired by the Tat Khalsa ideal, the
Akali movement of the 1920s eventually
secured British assent to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925. The
immediate effect of the act was to
make available to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee (SGPC; Chief Management
Committee of Sikh Shrines) the enormous political and
economic benefits that came from control of
the gurdwaras. In 1950, after a consensus was reached within
the Sikh community, the standard
manual, entitled Sikh Rahit Maryada, was published under the
auspices of the SGPC. The manual

has ever since been regarded as an authoritative statement of
Sikh doctrine and behavior.
Master Tara Singh (1885–1967), a president of the SGPC, was
the dominant figure on the Sikh
political scene for the middle third of the twentieth century.
Later Gurcharan Singh Tohra (born in
1924) held the office of the president of the SGPC for more
than two decades. The first woman ever to
become president of the SGPC was Bibi Jagir Kaur, who held
the office in1999–2000. Parallel to the
SGPC, the Akali Dal (Army of the Followers of the Timeless
One) has functioned as a Sikh political
party. Two saintly figures, Sant Fateh Singh (1911–72) and Sant
Harchand Singh Longowal (1932–
85), were among the prominent leaders of the Akali Dal. After
the 1984 assault by Indian government
troops on the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar, how-ever, the Akali Dal
was divided into several factions, with
Parkash Singh Badal becoming the leader of the dominant
group.
MAJOR THEOLOGIANS AND AUTHORS
The first acknowledged Sikh theologian was Bhai Gurdas
(1551–1636), whom Guru Arjan chose to act
as his assistant during the final recording of the Adi Granth. He
was a poet of rare insight whose
works are generally regarded as the "key to the Guru Granth
Sahib." The most influential among his
writings are 39 lengthy vars (ballads) that provide extensive
commentaries on the teachings of the
Gurus. Throughout his works Bhai Gurdas deals with essential
doctrines taught by the Gurus

(gurmat): the unity of Guruship, the Sikh way of life, Sikh
morality, holy fellowship, the ideal Sikh who
has turned toward the Guru (gurmukh), and so on.
Santokh Singh (1788–1843) was the most prominent of all Sikh
hagiographers. He earned
considerable popularity owing to the fact that he covered the
complete range of the Guru's lives in Braj
Bhasha, which consists of 51,820 verses. His magnum opus,
Suraj Prakash, is frequently used in Sikh
discourses (katha) in the gurdwaras. Kahn Singh Nabha (1861–
1938) was a renowned scholar of Tat
Khalsa ideals. His Mahan Kosh (1930), an encyclopedia of Sikh
literature, is a permanent monument
to his unmatched industry and erudition. The name of Max
Arthur Macauliffe (1837–1913) is deeply
revered in the Sikh Panth. A British civil servant assigned to
Punjab, he rose to be a deputy
commissioner in 1882 and a divisional judge in 1884.
Meanwhile, he studied the literature of the
Sikhs, and in 1893 he resigned his position to devote his time
exclusively to the writing of the six-
volume The Sikh Religion (1909), containing the lives of the 10
Gurus and of the poet-saints (bhagats)
of the Adi Granth, together with extensive translations of their
works. Bhai Vir Singh (1872–1957), a
celebrated poet, scholar, and exegete, Page 510 | Top of
Article was the leading intellectual of the
Singh Sabha movement and has continued to command
considerable respect for his many literary
works. Bhai Jodh Singh (1882–1981) was a patriarchal figure
for many years in the field of Sikh
theology, and his Gurmat Niranay (1932) offers a systematic
statement of Sikh doctrines.
Ganda Singh (1900–87) was a doyen of Sikh history whose

critical works became influential in
northern India. Harbans Singh (1921–98), a distinguished inter-
preter of Sikh history and tradition,
edited the four-volume The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (1992–
98), thus offering a valuable contribution
in the area of Sikh studies. Khushwant Singh (born in 1915) has
made his mark as a Sikh journalist,
and his classic two-volume A History of the Sikhs, originally
published in 1963 and published in India
in 1977, is widely acclaimed. J.S. Grewal (born in 1927) is
considered to be the father of the field of
modern Sikh and Punjab studies. As a leading Western scholar
of Sikh religion and history, W.H.
McLeod (born in 1932) has single-handedly introduced,
nourished, and advanced the field of Sikh
studies. His works have been received with much enthusiasm
and global critical acclaim, and on a
number of occasions he has represented the Sikhs and Sikhism
to both academic and popular
audiences in the English-speaking world. The credit for
exporting Sikhism to the West, however, goes
to Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (born in 1929), popularly known as
Yogi Bhajan, who founded the Sikh
Dharma movement in the United States in 1971. The movement,
which is best known as 3HO
(Healthy Happy Holy Organization), claims several thousand
Western adherents scattered over some
17 countries.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Sikhism is strictly a lay organization, which makes the issue of
religious authority within the Panth a
complex one. The Sikh Panth recognizes no priesthood, and
there is no centralized "church" or
attendant religious hierarchy. At the inauguration of the Khalsa

on Baisakhi Day 1699, Guru Gobind
Singh chose five Sikhs (panj piare, the "Cherished Five") of
proven loyalty to receive the first initiation
of the double-edged sword and then to administer it to the Guru
himself and to others. He thus
symbolically trans-ferred his authority to the Cherished Five,
who became responsible for conducting
initiation ceremonies. According to well-established tradition,
Guru Gobind Singh conferred his
spiritual authority upon the scripture (Guru Granth) and the
community (Guru Panth) together when he
died in 1708. Since then the twin doctrines of Guru Granth and
Guru Panth have successfully
provided cohesive ideals for the evolution of the Sikh
community.
In 1925 the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
(SGPC; Chief Management Committee of
Sikh Shrines) came into being as an elected body to manage
shrines in the Punjab. As a democratic
institution, it eventually became the authoritative voice of the
Sikh community in religious and political
affairs. In order to maintain its control over the large Sikh
community, it invokes the authority of the
Akal Takhat in Amritsar, which is the seat of religious and
temporal authority among Sikhs. The Akal
Takhat may issue edicts (hukam-namas) that provide guidance
or clarification on any aspect of Sikh
doctrine or practice. It may punish any person charged with a
violation of religious discipline or with
activity "prejudicial" to Sikh interests and unity, and it may
place on record individuals who have
performed outstanding service or made sacrifices for the sake of
the Sikh cause.

The gurdwaras in the Sikh diaspora have their own managing
committees. Each congregation
(sangat) is a democratic community. Because there are no
priests or ordained ministers, lay people
actively participate in the various functions of a gurdwara on a
voluntary basis. Each gurdwara,
however, has an official granthi, or "reader" of the Sikh
scriptures, who is responsible for conducting
its routine rituals. As with other Sikh institutions, gurdwaras
play a central role in community life by
making it more religiously and culturally homogenous. They
offer a wide variety of educational and
cultural programs, such as the teaching and perpetuation of the
Punjabi language and of Sikh music
and songs among new generations. Some gurdwaras operate a
Sikh version of a Sunday school,
where children are given formal instruction in the tenets of
Sikhism, while others support Sikh
charitable and political causes.
HOUSES OF WORSHIP AND HOLY PLACES
The Sikh house of worship is the gurdwara, which literally
means "the door of the Guru." In fact, a
gurdwara is any place that houses the Guru Granth Sahib. The
preeminent gurdwara of the Sikhs is
the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar, which is constructed in the center
of a pool of particular sanctity. A
gurdwara generally has an impressive white dome constructed
on the model of the architecture of the
Darbar Sahib. The presence of a public gurdwara is signaled by
a triangular saffron Khalsa flag
(nishan sahib) flying above it.

There are five major historic gurdwaras in India, each of which
fulfills a special role in the Sikh Panth.
These are the takhats (thrones) that play a temporal role in
addition to the spiritual functions of all
gurdwaras. Akal Takhat is the supreme seat of temporal
authority of the Sikh faith, and from its
balcony all matters of vital importance to the Panth as a whole
are promulgated. The remaining four
takhats are associated with the life of Guru Gobind Singh. They
are Sri Harmandir Ji in Patna, marking
his birthplace; Kesgarh in Anandpur Sahib, birthplace of the
Khalsa; Sri Damdama Sahib in the village
of Talvandi Sabo, where Guru Gobind Singh rested following
his withdrawal to southern Punjab in
1706; and Sri Hazur Sahib in Nander, where he died in 1708.
These holy places attract Sikh pilgrims
from throughout the world.
WHAT IS SACRED?
As the creation of Akal Purakh, all life is sacred in Sikhism.
First, human birth is sacred because it is
the epitome of creation: "All other creation is subject to you, [O
man/woman!], you reign supreme on
this earth" (Adi Granth, p. 374). Indeed, human life provides an
individual with the opportunity to
remember the divine name and ultimately to join with the
Supreme Being. Second, all of the five
elements of creation are sacred because they sustain life: "Air is
the Guru, water the Father and earth
the mighty Mother of all. Day and night are the caring
guardians, fondly nurturing all creation" (Adi
Granth, p. 8). The protection of the environment is, therefore,
an act of sacred duty in Sikhism. Third,
all historical places associated with the lives of the 10 Gurus

are sacred. Similarly, the Guru's writings,
their weapons, and other articles associated with them are
sacred relics preserved by the Sikh
community. Finally, bathing in the pool of the "nectar of
immortality" at the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar is
regarded as a sacred activity, since it offers an opportunity to
the individual to listen to the continuous
singing of the Guru's hymns. Thus, through spiritual cleansing
one washes away one's sins.
Major Subgroups of Sikhs
Among the 23–24 million Sikhs in the world, only
approximately 15–20 percent are Amrit-dharis
(Initiated), those who follow the orthodox form of Khalsa (pure)
Sikhism. A large majority (about
70 percent) of Sikhs, however, are Kes-dharis—that is, those
who "retain their hair" and thus
maintain a visible identity. Although they have not gone
through the Khalsa initiation ceremony,
these Sikhs follow most of the Khalsa rahit (code).
The number of Sikhs who have shorn their hair, and are thus
less conspicuous, is quite large in
North America and in the United Kingdom. Popularly known as
Mona (Clean-Shaven) Sikhs,
they retain a Khalsa affiliation by using the surnames Singh and
Kaur. These Sikhs are also
called Ichha-dharis because, although they "desire" to keep their
hair, they cut it under
compulsion. They are sometimes confused with Sahaj-dhari
(Gradualist) Sikhs, those who have
never accepted the Khalsa discipline. Although Sahaj-dhari
Sikhs practice nam-simaran

(remembering the divine Name) and follow the teachings of the
Adi Granth, the Sikh scripture,
they do not observe the Khalsa rahit and, in particular, cut their
hair. The number of Sahaj-dharis
declined during the last few decades of the twentieth century,
but they have not disappeared
completely from the Sikh Panth.
Finally, there are those who violate the Khalsa rahit after
initiation by cutting their hair. These
lapsed Amrit-dharis, who are known as Patit, or Bikh-dhari
(Apostate), Sikhs, are found largely in
the diaspora.
HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
The most important day in the Sikh calendar is Baisakhi
(Vaisakhi) Day, which usually falls on 13 April.
It is celebrated as the birthday of the community, since on this
day in 1699 Guru Gobind Singh
inaugurated the Khalsa. Following a solar calendar, it is
celebrated as New Year's Day in India, and
Punjabis celebrate it as a grain harvest festival. Sikhs also
celebrate the festival of lights, Divali, to
mark the release of Guru Hargobind, who was imprisoned under
the Mughal emperor Jahangir. The
Darbar Sahib in Amritsar is illuminated for the occasion. The
date of Divali varies according to the
Indian lunar calendar, but it generally falls during October.
Hindus celebrate with the theme of material
wealth. It was the third Guru, Amar Das, who originally
introduced the celebration of these two
seasonal festivals to the Sikh Panth. Guru Gobind Singh added
the observance of Hola Mahalla, the
Page 512 | Top of Article day after the Hindu festival of Holi
(March/April), for the purpose of military

exercises and organized athletic and literary contests. In
addition, the anniversaries associated with
the births and deaths of the Gurus are marked by the "unbroken
reading" (akhand path) of the Sikh
scripture by a relay of readers in approximately 48 hours. Such
occasions are called Gurpurbs
(holidays associated with the Gurus). In particular, the
birthdays of Guru Nanak (usually in November)
and Guru Gobind Singh (December/January) and the martyrdom
days of Guru Arjan (May/June) and
Guru Tegh Bahadur (November/December) are celebrated
throughout the world.
MODE OF DRESS
Sikh women in India often wear salwars, pajama-like trousers,
with a long tunic called a kameez over
them. This is regarded as a regional dress of the Punjab. The
trousers and tunics are comfortable and
functional in the rural Punjabi villages, where more than 70
percent of the Sikh population is
concentrated. In addition, the sari has become popular among
urban Sikh women. It is worn with a full
blouse that covers the midriff, so that the injunction warning
against "wearing clothes which cause
pain to the body or breed lustful thoughts" (Adi Granth, p. 16)
is obeyed. To cover their heads, Sikh
women wear a muslin scarf (dupatta/chunni).
In villages Sikh men normally wear tight-legged pajama-like
trousers with long shirts that hang on the
outside. In towns and cities, however, most men wear Western-
style trousers and suits, with shirts

buttoned at the collar and occasionally a tie. Indeed, Western
dress has influenced Sikh men more
than women. The Sikh granthis, gianis (traditional scholars),
and sants (saints) normally wear white
dress that consists of a turban, a long outer shirt (cholara),
tight-fitting trousers (reb pajama), a sash
(kamar-kasa), and an undergarment (kachh), as well as a sword
(kirpan) with a belt running diagonally
over the right shoulder. These five garments are part of Khalsa
dress (bana).
The turban has a particular prominence in Sikh dress. Most
Sikhs normally wear turbans of three
colors—deep blue, white, and saffron—all of which have
religious significance. For Khalsa Sikhs the
significance of deep blue lies in the "highest ideals of
character" (nili siahi kada karani) and in the
"deepest urges in the life of spirituality" (Adi Granth, p. 16),
since the blue sky stands for the highest
horizon and the blue ocean stands for the depth. The color white
stands for purity, while saffron
represents the spirit of sacrifice in Sikh mores. Sikhs may wear
a turban of any color, however, to
match their clothes. They commonly wear a peaked turban to
cover their long hair, unshorn out of
respect for its original, God-given form.
DIETARY PRACTICES
The Adi Granth does not prescribe dietary rules, although it lays
emphasis on "consuming only those
foods which do not cause pain in the body or breed evil
thoughts in the mind" (Adi Granth, p. 16).
Most Punjabi Sikhs have a diet of simple vegetables and milk
products. One favorite is a diet of corn
bread and mustard greens (makki di roti and sag) with

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