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Sikhism, also known as Sikhi is an Indian religion and philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of India around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups and stands at fifth-largest worldwide, with about 25–30 million adherents.
Sikhs are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a Dharmic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit word śiṣya, meaning ‘seeker’, 'disciple' or 'student'. According to Article I of Chapter 1 of the Sikh Rehat Maryada, the definition of Sikh is: Any human being who faithfully believes in
- One Immortal Being
- Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib
- The Guru Granth Sahib
- The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and
- The baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru
The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno‐religious sovereign state called Khalistan in the Punjab region. The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different groups; some suggest the entirety of the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab, while larger claims include Pakistani Punjab and other parts of North India such as Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Shimla and Lahore have been proposed as the capital of Khalistan.
Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth and last human Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs after his father Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed by Emperor Aurangzeb. His father was the ninth Sikh Guru. His four biological sons died during his lifetime – two in battle and two executed by the Mughal governor Wazir Khan.
Khalsa refers to both a community that considers Sikhism as its faith, as well as a special group of initiated Sikhs. The Khalsa tradition was initiated in 1699 by the Tenth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh. Its formation was a key event in the history of Sikhism. The founding of Khalsa is celebrated by Sikhs during the festival of Vaisakhi.
Mohyal Brahmins are an Indian sub-caste of Saraswat Brahmins from the Punjab region.
Hinduism and Sikhism are Indian religions. Hinduism has pre-historic origins, while Sikhism was founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. Both religions share many philosophical concepts such as karma, dharma, mukti, and maya although both religions have different interpretation of some of these concepts.
Anand Karaj is the Sikh marriage ceremony, meaning "Act towards happiness" or "Act towards happy life", that was introduced by Guru Amar Das. The four laavaan were composed by his successor, Guru Ram Das. Although the recitation of Guru Amar Das' stanzas in Sikh ceremonies is a historical and enduring tradition, the practice of circumabulating around the Guru Granth Sahib to conduct a marriage ceremony is a relatively recent innovation that supplanted the tradition of circumabulating around the sacred fire (havan) in the early twentieth century. The Anand ceremony was originally legalised in India through the passage of the Anand Marriage Act of 1909, but is now governed by the Sikh Reht Maryada that was issued by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).
Bhai Dayala, died 9 November 1675, also known as Bhai Dayal Das, was an early martyr of Sikhism. He was boiled alongside his Sikh companions Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das and the Ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur.
The Singh Sabha Movement, also known as the Singh Sabha Lehar, was a Sikh movement that began in Punjab in the 1870s in reaction to the proselytising activities of Christians, Hindu reform movements and Muslims. The movement was founded in an era when the Sikh Empire had been dissolved and annexed by the British, the Khalsa had lost its prestige, and mainstream Sikhs were rapidly converting to other religions. The movement's aims were to "propagate the true Sikh religion and restore Sikhism to its pristine glory; to write and distribute historical and religious books of Sikhs; and to propagate Gurmukhi Punjabi through magazines and media." The movement sought to reform Sikhism and bring back into the Sikh fold the apostates who had converted to other religions; as well as to interest the influential British officials in furthering the Sikh community. At the time of its founding, the Singh Sabha policy was to avoid criticism of other religions and political matters.
Punjabiyat means "Punjabiness" and is the language revitalization movement of Punjabi.
Sikhism prohibits idolatry, in accordance with mainstream Khalsa norms and the teachings of the Sikh Gurus, a position that has been accepted as orthodox.
William Hewat McLeod was a New Zealand scholar who helped establish Sikh Studies as a distinctive field.
Sikhism has often been criticised by non-Sikhs regarding its texts, practices, and societal norms, but Sikhs and other scholars argue that these criticisms are flawed and are based on a biased and poor understanding of the texts, especially of the multiple languages used in the Sikh scriptures. They also argue that most western scholars who attempted to interpret eastern religious texts were missionaries and could not overcome the bias they carried with them, irrespective of whether they were translating the Quran, Vedas, Puranas or the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak rejected ritualistic worship and encouraged belief in one true God, Waheguru. The veneration and bowing to the Guru Granth Sahib, has often been interpreted by western scholars as akin to idolatry, as observed by the Hindu faith, which defeats the ideology of Guru Nanak. Other scholars dismiss Sikhism as, either consciously or spontaneously, a syncretism of the Hindu Bhakti and Muslim Sufi movements.
Punjabi nationalism is an ideology which emphasizes that the Punjabis are one nation and promotes the cultural unity of Punjabis around the world. The demands of the Punjabi nationalist movement are linguistic, cultural, economic and political rights.
Sikh sects, denominations, traditions, movements, sub-traditions, also known as sampardai in the Punjabi language, are sub-traditions within Sikhism that believe in different approaches to practicing the religion. While all sampradas believe in the One Creator God typically rejecting both idol worship and caste systems. Different interpretations have emerged over time, some of which have a living teacher as the leader. The major historic traditions in Sikhism, states Harjot Oberoi, have included Udasi, Nirmala, Nanakpanthi, Khalsa, Sahajdhari, Namdhari Kuka, Nirankari and Sarvaria.
Khem Singh Bedi KCIE was a claimed direct descendant of Guru Nanak, a leader, and the founder of the Singh Sabha in 1873. It instituted many charitable causes for Sikhs, was a landowner and politician in the Punjab during the British Raj.
A dera is a type of socio-religious organization in northern India. Jacob Copeman defines the deras as "monasteries or the extended residential sites of religious leaders; frequently just glossed as sect".
Sanatan Sikh, a term and formulation coined by Harjot Oberoi, referred to Sikhs who formed a traditionalist faction during the Singh Sabha Movement in 1873.
Sikh Studies is a field of academia focused on the study of Sikhism. It is sometimes referred to as Sikhology with its academics called Sikhologists. It remains an understudied yet growing field of scholarly work.
References
- ↑ Harjot Oberoi (2002), The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition, University of Chicago Press
- ↑ TN Madan (1994). Fundamentalisms Observed. University of Chicago Press. pp. 605–606. ISBN 978-0-226-50878-8.
- ↑ Hew McLeod (1995). "Reviewed Work: The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition by Harjot Oberoi". Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. Brill Academic. 7 (1). JSTOR 23555533.
- ↑ Tony Ballantyne (2006). Between Colonialism and Diaspora: Sikh Cultural Formations in an Imperial World. Duke University Press. pp. 10, 36. ISBN 0-8223-8811-1.
- ↑ Surinder S. Jodhka (2001), Review: Looking Back at the Khalistan Movement: Some Recent Researches on Its Rise and Decline, Economic and Political Weekly, 36(16), pp. 1311-1318
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