Sikhism

Founder
Guru Nanak Dev was the founder of Sikhism. He was born in 1469 to a Hindu family in a western Punjab village of Talwandi. As he was growing up, he questioned the Hindu's caste-based society and the Muslim's religious rituals. At age 16, he married Sulakhani and later had two sons. During his early years, he would meditate and sing the hymns in early mornings and late nights with his Muslim childhood friend Mardana. One day when he and Mardana went for a bath in Bain River, Nanak Dev disappeared in the water. "Guru Nanak was in holy communion with God. The Lord God revealed himself to Guru Nanak and enlightened him" (Singh Brar). After several days, he appeared and had found a new religion called Sikhism. Nanak Dev was 30 years old at this time. He later traveled throughout India to spread the message of God. Guru Nank Dev was succeeded by nine other Gurus (Hindi for "teacher").

Principles
"There is no Hindu, there is no Mussalman." (Kumar & Seiberer, p.33) This famous quote by Guru Nanak Dev set the foundation for Sikhism. Guru Nanak Dev disagreed with the Hindu's caste system and Muslim's ritualism. In Sikhism, he believed that, "There is only One God. He is the same God for all people of all religions" (Singh Brar). One foundation of Sikhism was to unite people of all types including social status and backgrounds. As quoted in The Sikhs of the Punjab, Sikhs "believe only in the merit of the person. A good person is one who works and shares " (Pettigrew, p.31).

Followers
Followers of Sikhism are known as Sikhs, Sanskrit for "disciples" or learners. Sikhs believe in the teaching of the ten Gurus. The tenth and last Gurus was Gobind Singh. He compiled hymns and writings of the Gurus in a holy book called Siri Guru Granth Sahib. The Sikhs must follow the teachings of this holy book. Furthermore, all male Sikhs carry a surname Singh (lion) and belong to the Khalsa (the pure). Khalsa is a Sikh nation (Pettigrew). A Sikh must observe and adhere to "the five K's: They must wear four symbols of the Sikh faith--soildier's shorts (kaccha), an iron bangle (kara), a steel sword (kirpan), and a comb (khanga)--and they must not cut their hair (kes)" (Microsoft Encarta).

Sikhism Today
Sikhism today is the fifth largest religion worldwide with around twenty million followers worldwide. Punjab is the religious center for the Sikhs. In a country mostly populated by Hindus, Punjab is the only state in India to obtain more Sikhs than Hindus with 62.95 % Sikhs and 34.46 % Hindus, according to the "Census of India in 1991" (Singh Jaijee, p.8). Ever since the establishment of Sikhism more than 500 years ago, the Sikhs have been involved in a number of conflicts including the Sikh War, the Nirankari-Sikh clash, Operation Blue Star, and the November Carnage. No website or book can cover all the unfortunate atrocities visited upon the Sikh community. Thus, for this site, we have chosen to focus on the recent atrocity, Operation Blue Star, to illustrate the type of religious persecutions inflicted upon the Sikhs.