Sikhism
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Sikhism
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)New religious movements are sometimes formed on the borders between two or more established religions. Voodoo (see Voodoo/Vodou/Vodun) is one example. Another is Sikhism. Now numbering some eight million people, it began early in the sixteenth century when its founder, Nanak (1469-1539), had a vision. Steeped in both Muslim and Hindu tradition, Nanak was a mystic poet who believed that God—the all-encompassing God who is called by many names and who is above all understanding—had appeared to him in a vision. "There is no Hindu," he told his followers. "There is no Muslim." Sikhs call God Sat Nam, the True or Absolute Name. It is not important, claimed Nanak, to use only this particular term. God doesn't care what name you use. But it is important to understand that God is not limited by what name we choose to employ. The repetition of Sat Nam is true devotion, equal to any Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca or any Hindu journey to Benares. Freedom is found in submission to Sat Nam.
This is the essence of Sikhism. It combines the mystical tradition of Hinduism, the absolute devotion of ritualistic worship of Brahman, "He who cannot be named," with the fierce Muslim loyalty and submission to the one, all-encompassing Allah, "the God." The name of the religion means "learner."
Nanak thought of himself as a guru, a teacher of the new faith. Nine more gurus were to follow him, and after the death of the tenth and last, the scriptures of Sikhism were composed. They are called the Holy Granth and comprise poems and writings of the ten gurus.
Those who believe in power, Sing of His power; Others chant of His gifts As His messages and emblems; Some sing of His greatness, And his gracious acts; Some sing of His wisdom Hard to understand; Some sing of Him as the fashioner of the body, Destroying what he has fashioned; Others praise Him for taking away life And restoring it anew. Some proclaim His Existence To be far, desperately far, from us; Others sing of Him As here and there a presence Meeting us face to face. To sing truly of the transcendent Lord Would exhaust all vocabularies, all human powers of expression, Myriads have sung of Him in innumerable strains. His gifts to us flow in such plenitude That man wearies of receiving what God bestows; Age on unending age, and lives on His bounty; Carefree, O Nanak, the Glorious Lord smiles.
Sikhism has no formal priesthood. Private worship at home in the morning and evening is encouraged. Worship services at the temple consist of hymns and prayers,
readings from the Holy Granth, sermons, and the sharing of a sort of communion rite at the end of worship and in dinners following the service. For five hundred years, Sikhs sat on the floor while they dined after worship as a physical testimony to equality. During the twentieth century, however, some Sikh temples began to introduce tables and chairs, prompting accusations of elitism from more traditional worshipers.
Sikhism can best be understood as a mainstream, monotheistic religion with a strong emphasis on ethical behavior, seeing itself as a religion that transcends sectarian traditions.
Sikhism
a religious reformist movement that later developed into a religion. Sikhism was founded in the Punjab as one of the bhakti sects by Guru Nanak (1469–1539). A monotheistic religion, it combines many tenets of Hinduism with elements —sometimes conflicting—of bhakti and Sufism. Sikhism finds its foundation in the concept of a single god or divine origin, who is expressed in all that exists. It asserts the equality of all people before god, regardless of caste or social position, and rejects both the elaborate ritual and the asceticism that mark external forms of worship. Early Sikhism reflected the ideology of urban merchant and artisan circles, which opposed the dominance of the feudal lords and the supremacy of Brahmanism.
Under Nanak’s successors, the Sikh sect developed a well-defined organization. Amar Das (1552–74), the third guru, made the power of the guru hereditary and founded the dynasty of spiritual rulers of the Sikhs. The fifth guru, Arjan (1581–1606), compiled the Granth, the Sikh holy book, which is kept in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikh religious center. The democratic nature of Sikhism enhanced its popularity among the peasants and artisans. The sharp deterioration of the lot of the peasant community in the second half of the 17th century resulted in a massive influx of Jats (peasants) into the Sikh sect, and the ideology of Sikhism became more clearly antifeudal in nature.
Under the tenth, and last, guru, Govind Singh (1675–1708), major reforms were carried out within the Sikh community. In 1699, Govind Singh called a general congress of Sikhs, at which he declared that the members constituted a community of equals (the Khalsa) and that a general assembly was the supreme organ of Sikhism. The hereditary authority of the gurus was abolished. Several practices were adopted to distinguish Sikhs from the rest of the Punjabi population. All Sikhs were required to wear a turban, long hair, and a beard and always to keep three steel objects—a sword, a comb, and a bracelet—on their persons. The honorific title singh (lion) was conferred on each Sikh. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Khalsa led the struggle of the peoples of the Punjab against the feudal lords and the empire of the Great Moguls. In 1765 the Sikhs created their own state.
The feudalization process within the Sikh community accelerated during the second half of the 18th century, and Sikhism lost the characteristics of an antifeudal democratic ideology. After two bitterly fought wars, the English annexed the Sikh state in 1849 (seeSIKH WARS).
Modern Sikhism is a religion with traditional dogmas. In India its practitioners constitute 1.8 percent of the population and primarily live in the state of Punjab. Class stratification and the exacerbation of social contradictions among Sikhs have resulted in the formation of various sects and political parties.
REFERENCES
Guru Nanak. Moscow, 1972.Kochnev, V. I. “Guru Govind Singkh—reformator sikkhizma.” In the collection Mifologiia i verovaniia narodov Vostochnoi i Iuzhnoi Azii. Moscow, 1973.
Macauliffe, M. A. The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings, and Authors, vols. 1–6. Oxford, 1909.
Ahluwalia, M. M. Kukas, the Freedom Fighters of the Punjab. Bombay, 1965.
Cunningham, J. A History Of the Sikhs. Delhi, 1966.
Singh, Gopal. Guru Nanak. New Delhi, 1967.
V. I. KOCHNEV