The Religion of the Sikhs
The Religion of the Sikhs: Chapter I. The Sikh Gurus

14:2 Women and Sudras were held to be beyond the pale of religion. In the Institutes of Gautam it is ordered that, if a p. 16 Sudra hear the Vedas, his ears must be stopped with war or molten lead; if he read the Vedas, his tongue must be cut out; if he possess the Vedas, the penalty is death.

16:1 A similar story is told of the renowned Indian saint, Kabīr.

18:1 Fifteen reformers are represented altogether. They are: Jaidev, Nāmdev, Trilochan, Parmānand, Sadhna, Beni, Rāmānand, Dhanna, Pīpa, Sāīn, Kabīr, Rāv Dās, Sûr Dās, Farid, and Bhīkan. The two last are Muhammadan saints.

21:1 It was the custom of each Guru, when appointing his successor, to send for five paise, or farthings, and a cocoanut. and offer these, afterwards doing homage and circumambulating the new Guru.

23:1 The Sikh Religion, Max A. Macauliffe, vol. IV.

24:1 See note page 21.

24:2 Gobind Rāi—afterwards Gobind Singh—sent his father a couplet while in prison, which was afterwards included with the hymns of the ninth Guru in the Granth Sāhib.

25:1 Many Sikhs do not take this baptism. Those who adopt Gobind Singh's system in full are known as Singhs (lions), those who reject it as Sahijdharis (livers at ease). The former are all warriors, the latter traders or agriculturists.

27:1 From the Arabia Khālis, "pure."

29:1 This prophecy was fulfilled in 1762, when Ahmad Shah marched against the Sikhs, and blew up the Golden Temple.

31:1 The Sikh Religion, Max A. Macauliffe, vol. v.

34:1 See note, page 25. Besides the two main Envisions of Sikhs there are certain minor sects which include several orders of ascetics. Very many shades of opinion are held among the members of these various bodies, some of their views being almost indistinguishable from ordinary Hinduism.

Next: Chapter II. The Religious Origins of Sikhism——Hindu Monotheism and Connection with Islām

Sikhism

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