The Religion of the Sikhs: Chapter I. The Sikh Gurus | Internet Sacred Text Archive

Sikhism
Wisdom of the East

THE

RELIGION OF THE SIKHS

CHAPTER I

THE SIKH GURUS

The Religion of the Sikhs is one of the most interesting at present existing in India, possibly indeed in the whole world. Being of comparatively late origin, it has not, until lately, received the attention of students, but both in its history and its theology it will well repay study. It is a pure, lofty monotheism, which sprang out of an attempt to reform and to simplify Muhammadanism and Hinduism, and which, though failing in this attempt, succeeded in binding together, like Judaism of old, a whole race in a new bond of religious zeal. The Sikhs 1 became a nation by reason of their faith,—and a fine nation of stalwart soldiers.

There is a tendency at the present day to reckon the Sikhs as a reformed sect of the Hindus; and this has become a matter for controversy among the Indians themselves. The word Hinduism is undoubtedly capable of a very wide application., but it is questionable whether it should be held to include the Sikhs in view of the fact that the pure teaching of the Gurus 1 assumed a critical attitude towards the three cardinal pillars of Hinduism, the priesthood, the caste system, 2 and the Vedas. 3 A reading of the Granth strongly suggests that Sikhism should be regarded as a new and separate world-religion, rather than as a reformed sect of the Hindus. The founder of the religion, Nānak, was on the one hand the spiritual descendant of monotheistic reformers within Hinduism, but on the other, Muhammadan influences caused him to break away very much more from the older faith, and to admit much that might be directly traced to the followers of the Prophet. The subsequent enmity of the

[paragraph continues] Muhammadans, and the consequent development of martial tendencies on the part of the Sikhs, can only be understood in the light of history, and for that reason we will consider briefly the lives of the Sikh Gurus, before going further into the question of doctrine.