Sikh. – A religious community, later also military and political, of northern India. Its founder, Nānak (1469–1538), born near Lahore in the Panjab, sought to unite Indians and Muslims into a single great community, abolishing castes and propagating a strictly monotheistic religion that repudiated Vedic polytheism and Brahmanical scriptures, the Vedas, replacing them with the Granth, “the Book,” the Bible of the Sikhs.
The Granth is written in an ancient Hindi dialect mixed with Panjabi and contains prayers and religious hymns by various authors, including Nānak himself, the first guru or spiritual master, and Arjun Dev (1581–1606), credited with compiling the sacred writings into a single volume later called the Ādi Granth, “First Book,” to distinguish it from a later collection. Along with abolishing priestly privileges, Nānak did away with all forms of Brahmanical worship, especially idolatry, in conformity with Islam, which forbids the veneration of images. Yet people need something concrete to love, and so they came to revere the sacred book, especially after Govind Singh (1675–1708), the tenth and last guru, declared the Ādi Granth to be the representative of God on earth. The Sikhs are the disciples (Sanskrit sikhya) of Nānak, now without political dominion but still of religious and social importance. Their dogmatics are rather confused. Nānak’s theism was a blend of pantheism, for it proved impossible to reconcile such diverse religious conceptions as the Muslim idea of God and that of Hinduism—Allah and Hari (Viṣṇu). Belief in the transmigration of souls (saṃsāra) is also shared by the Sikhs; Govind Singh claimed to be the reincarnation of Nānak. The respect for water, characteristic of Hinduism, continues to be observed, but the eating of animal flesh is permitted, even of domestic animals, provided they are killed without suffering, by a blow to the neck. Among the most important disciplinary rules to note is the prohibition of tobacco. Certain essential rites, such as the celebration of marriage and funeral honors, are preserved, but without the assistance of Brahmins. The marriage bond is now consecrated by the recitation of passages from the Ādi Granth and the circumambulation of the sacred book, which has replaced the circumambulation of the domestic fire.
The political history of the Sikhs may be briefly summarized as follows. In the 18th century the Sikhs became warriors out of necessity to defend themselves against the Mongols, who were invading the Panjab, where the Sikhs were settled and had their holy city, Amritsar. The first to take up arms against the Mughals was Guru Hargobind, but the military power of the Sikhs began with Govind Singh, the founder of the fraternity called Khālsā, “(property) of God.” Within the community, caste privileges were abolished. All members of the Khālsā were considered sons of Govind Singh and received the title of Singh, “lions,” meaning true warriors. In the 18th century the possessions of the Khālsā had become hereditary principalities; Ranjit Singh, the national hero of the Sikhs, united them under his sovereignty, conquered Kashmir, and ruled with the title of mahārājā over a territory stretching northwest to the Afghan frontier beyond Peshawar and southeast as far as the Sutlej. Out of prudence he had not crossed the river, but his son, Dhulīp Singh, yielding to the army’s lust for conquest, invaded the British protectorate beyond the Sutlej on December 11, 1845. The Sikhs were twice severely defeated, and their state was annexed to the British Empire in 1849. They are now a religious association with a central seat in Amritsar and branches throughout the Panjab. They maintain seminaries, schools, orphanages, and even a bank and a newspaper. According to the 1931 census, they number 4,300,000.