The Golden Temple

The Sikh religion is centered in the northern Indian state of Punjab. This is the state in the west that was divided between India and Pakistan just as Bengal in the east was divided. The most important Gurdwara, or temple, of the Sikh religion is the Golden Temple, which is in the city of Amritsar near the border with Pakistan.

Sikhism began in the Fifteenth Century. The founder, and first Sikh Guru, was Nanak, who was from a Hindu family. One day Nanak was missing, and was presumed to have drowned. But he emerged with the famous words "There is no Hindu. There is no Moslem". Islam and Hinduism were polar opposite religions. This indicated that neither was entirely correct and that Nanak had found the correct route. This was the beginning of the Sikh religion.

Many people consider Sikhism as containing elements of both Islam and Hinduism. The belief is in one god, as in Islam, but the god is the "supreme truth". But it is a separate religion and not part of Islam or Hinduism.

The word Sikh means "disciple". Male Sikhs have five external elements, the most visible of which is the turban. Baptized male Sikhs take the name "Singh", which means lion. But not everyone named Singh is a Sikh. Everyone sharing the same name is a renunciation of the Hindu Caste System, in which a person's name indicates their caste.

There were ten Gurus of the Sikhs, with Nanak being the first. The Ninth Guru had been executed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The Tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, decreed in 1708 that thereafter the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Granth, would itself be the Guru.

Sikhism is a religion, and not an ethnic group. Sikhs may be of different ethnic groups. There is an ethnic group across northern India called the Jats. But not all Sikhs are Jats and not all Jats are Sikhs.

There are maybe 30 million Sikhs altogether, with many in Canada. Sikhs are sometimes in the news for separatism in India, the possibility of having their own country called Khalistan. But it seems to be more of an issue among Sikhs in Canada than those in India. Relations between India and Canada have sometimes suffered over Canada allegedly harboring Sikh separatists.

The Golden Temple is at the end of a peninsula in a square pool. It was first completed in 1589 and was not always golden. Image from Google Earth.

ALL OF THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE FROM GOOGLE STREET VIEW