World Religions TH 608

1. Chapter Seven
Sikhism

2. The Life of Nanak
• Starting in the tenth century, Muslims
invaded India
• The northwest section of India was
invaded most frequently
– Here, Islam had the most Indian converts
• Because Islam and Hinduism were
different in so many ways, there were
ongoing conflicts between the faiths
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The Life of Nanak
• Kabir is best known for bringing Hinduism
and Islam together
– By worshipping with his Hindu neighbors, the
Muslim Kabir taught that God is one
• The founder of Sikhism was Nanak, who
was born in the 1400s
– He was a dreamer and poet, who was distant
from daily pursuits

4. The Life of Nanak
• Nanak was more interested in religious
and artistic pursuits than in business or
practicality
– Nanak failed at the professions that he tried
– He eventually married and fathered two sons
• Nanak eventually left his family and
moved to Sultanpur to try his hand at
business again
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The Life of Nanak
• When he was thirty, Nanak received a
vision from God that changed his life
• God told Nanak that he was being singled
out as a prophet of the true religion
• The message of the new religion was
“There is no Muslim. There is no Hindu.”
• Nanak began to wander as a preacher
and wore mixed Hindu and Muslim clothes

6. The Life of Nanak
• Wherever Nanak went he sought to form
new Sikh communities
– Each of his followers became known as a
Sikh, which is a Punjab word for “disciple”
• After many years of preaching, Nanak
returned home to northwest India
• Once there, he preached and formed new
Sikh communities
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7. The Life of Nanak
• According to legend, as Nanak was dying,
each of his followers wanted to bury him
according to his own religious tradition
– Nanak directed the men to bring flowers to his
body and whoever had the freshest flowers
the following day could bury him
– The next day, Nanak’s body was gone
– The message was that even in death Nanak
sought to unify Hindus and Muslims
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The Teachings of Nanak
• Nanak sought to synthesize Islam and
Hinduism by taking elements of both
• God is one, and followers call him “The
True Name”
– The True Name is a creator of the universe
and human beings are his supreme creation
– Because of their primacy as beings, humans
can kill and eat animals
• Sikhs are among the few Indians who eat meat

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The Teachings of Nanak
• Nanak accepted the Hindu concept of
reincarnation, as well as the concept of
karma
• Nanak rejected the ceremonial practices
of both Hindus and Muslims
• Instead, Nanak taught a plain and simple
form of religion that distrusts ceremony
and ritual

10. The Teachings of Nanak
• Pacifism
– Nanak taught pacifism, or nonviolence
– In all of his travels, he never struck out in
violence, and he taught his disciples
nonviolence as well
– Contrary to Nanak’s teachings, later Sikhs
became known as the most militant of
warriors
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The Historical Development of
Sikhism
• After Nanak’s death, the Sikh movement
was taken over by Angad
– They were the first two of a series of ten gurus
who led the Sikhs until the eighteenth century
– While the term “guru” usually means teacher,
to the Sikhs it means “leader”
• The fifth guru, Arjan Dev, is remembered
for beginning the compilation of the Sikh
Scriptures, the Adi Granth

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The Historical Development of
Sikhism
• The Granth
– The Granth is a collection of hymns
– The majority of the hymns came from Nanak
– The remainder came from Kabir and other
gurus
– It is roughly three times the size of the Rig-
Veda and contain 3,384 hymns
• What does the Granth have in common
with Hindu and Muslim texts?

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Divisions within Sikhism
• Modern Sikhs are mainly found in India
• There are three main divisions amongst its
members:
– Udasis, Sahajdharis, and Singhs
• All three recognize the central teachings of
Nanak, accept the Granth as sacred
scripture, and accept the ten gurus as
inspired leaders of the faith

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Divisions within Sikhism
• Udasis
– This is basically an order of holy men who
follow principles similar to the Hindu, Jain,
and Buddhist ascetics
• Sahajdharis
– This sect is conservative and seems to have
stopped developing
• Singhs
– A corps of warriors started by Gobind Singh

15. Divisions within Sikhism
• Singhs
– Arjan is recognized for giving the Sikhs the
Granth but also a militant aspect in conflict
with Nanak’s pacifism
– The last Sikh guru was Gobind Singh, who
organized and prepared the Sikhs for self-
defense and war
– He developed an elite fighting force, the
Singhs (or lions) for that purpose
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Sikh Religious Life
• One joins the Sikhs by baptism instead of
simply being born into the faith
• Daily rituals for Sikhs include an early-
morning bath followed by the reading of
certain hymns and the recitation of prayers
• There is also a nighttime ritual of hymns
and prayers

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Sikh Religious Life
• Sikhs practice congregational worship in
temples called gurdwaras
• The central object of worship is a copy of
the scared Adi Granth
• There are no priests, so services are led
by a member of the community
• There are also no caste or gender
differentiations in worship

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Sikh Holy Days
• Because of its simplicity, Sikhism does not
have an elaborate series of holidays
– In northern India, Sikhs celebrate Holi and
Divali with their Hindu neighbors
– In June, Sikhs celebrate the martyrdom of
Guru Arjan, the complier of the Granth
– Sikhs also celebrate the birthdays of Nanak
and Arjan

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Sikhism Today
• Religion and Violence
– The lives of Sikhs have become more
precarious in India as they become a minority
group
• Sikhs lack the political strength of their Hindu and
Muslim neighbors
• As a result, some radical factions of Sikhism are
demanding that Punjab be declared an
independent Sikh nation
– All of this has sometimes led to violent conflict

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Sikhism Today
• In recent years, Americans and
Europeans have been attracted to Sikhism
for its simplicity and tolerance, as well as
for its emphasis on the equality of men
and women
• Because Indians living a Western life are
sometimes living in a more worldly
fashion, there can be conflicts between
faith and lifestyle