SIKH. – A community that was at first religious and later also military and political, in northern India. Nának (1469–1538), its founder, born near Lahore, in the Panjab, set out to unite Indians and Muslims in a single, great community, abolishing the castes and disseminating a rigorously monotheistic religion that repudiated Vedic polytheism and the Brahmanical sacred writings, the Vedas, in place of which it substituted the Granth, “the Book,” the Bible of the S.
The Granth is written in an ancient Hindi dialect, mixed with Panjabi, and contains prayers and religious hymns by various authors, including Nának himself, the first guru or spiritual master, and Arjun Dev (1581–1606), presumed compiler of the sacred writings into a volume later called Adigranth, “First Book,” to distinguish it from another, later anthology. Along with priestly privileges, Nának had abolished all forms of Brahmanical worship, and especially idolatry, in conformity with Islam, which prohibits the worship of images. But the people need to love something concrete and therefore made the sacred book an object of their veneration, especially after Govind Singh (1675–1708), the tenth and last guru, proclaimed the Adigranth to be God’s representative on earth. The S. are Nának’s “disciples” (Sanskrit s'iyāz), today deprived of political dominion, but not of religious and social importance. Their dogma is rather confused. Nának’s theism was mixed with pantheism, since it had not been possible to uni-
unify religious conceptions as different as the Muslim idea of God and that of Hinduism, Allah and Hari (Vishu). Belief in the transmigration of souls (samsāra) is also common among the S.; Govind Singh claimed to be the reincarnation of Nának. Respect for the cow, characteristic of Hinduism, continues to be observed, but it is permissible to eat the meat of animals, even domestic ones, provided that they are killed without causing them suffering, with a blow to the nape of the neck. Among the most important disciplinary rules to be recalled is the prohibition of tobacco. Certain essential rites, such as the celebration of marriage and funeral honors, are preserved, but without the assistance of the Brahmins. The marriage bond is now consecrated through the recitation of passages from the Adigranth and circumambulation of the Sacred Book, which has replaced that of the domestic fire.
The political history of the S. may be briefly summarized as follows. The S. became warriors in the eighteenth century out of necessity, in defense against the Mongols, invaders of the Panjab, where the S. were settled and had their holy city, Amritsar. The first to take up arms against the Mughals was the guru Hargobind, but the military power of the S. began with Govind Singh, the founder of the association 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,” that is, true warriors. In the eighteenth century the possessions of the Khālsā had become hereditary principalities; Ranjit Singh, the national hero of the S., united them under his sovereignty, conquered Kasmir, and reigned with the title of mohārā over a territory extending northwest as far as the Afghan frontier, beyond Peshawar, and southeast as far as the Sutlej. Out of prudence he had not crossed the river, but his son, Dhulip Singh, yielding to the army’s desire for conquest, invaded the British protectorate beyond the Sutlej on 11 December 1845. The S. were decisively defeated on two occasions, 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 have seminaries, schools, orphanages, and even a bank and a newspaper. They numbered 4,300,000 according to the 1931 census.
Ferdinando Belloni Filippi