Sikh American Dalip Singh Saund Congress Brawley Ca Vintage 1956 Original Photo
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SIKH AMERICAN DALIP SINGH SAUND CONGRESS BRAWLEY CA VINTAGE 1956 ORIGINAL PHOTO. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL 8X10 INCH PHOTO FROM 1956 DEPICTING DALIP SINGH SAUND WHO BECAME THE FIRST PERSON OD ASIAN DESCENT ELECTED CTO SERVE AS A UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE . Dalip Singh Saund was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th District of California from January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1963In November 1956, D. S. Saund, who everyone simply called “Judge,” became the first person of Asian descent elected to serve as a United States Representative. He was a tireless champion of his southern California district and the farmers who called it home. But his unique backstory—born in India, naturalized U.S. citizen, successful businessman, county judge—also catapulted him to the international stage. During his career in the House of Representatives, at the height of the Cold War, Saund became something of a transcendent politician who had the singular ability to engage audiences abroad. Although he frequently confronted discrimination during his life in the United States, Saund maintained his belief in the promises of American democracy.
In November 1956, D. S. Saund, who everyone simply called “Judge,” became the first person of Asian descent elected to serve as a United States Representative. He was a tireless champion of his southern California district and the farmers who called it home. But his unique backstory—born in India, naturalized U.S. citizen, successful businessman, county judge—also catapulted him to the international stage. During his career in the House of Representatives, at the height of the Cold War, Saund became something of a transcendent politician who had the singular ability to engage audiences abroad. Although he frequently confronted discrimination during his life in the United States, Saund maintained his belief in the promises of American democracy. Dalip Singh Saund was born on September 20, 1899, and raised in Chhajjalwaddi in the far-northern province of Punjab, India, which at the time was a British colony. Saund’s father worked as a construction contractor for the government and died when Saund was only a boy. His parents had lived through the period of British colonialism and neither had attended school, but education was a cornerstone of Saund’s life. His father and uncles saved enough money to open a one-room schoolhouse about a half mile from where Saund lived. At the age of eight, his parents sent him to boarding school 16 miles away in the city of Amritsar near the border with modern day Pakistan.1 While in college at the University of Punjab, Saund supported the movement for an independent India led by Mohandas Gandhi.2 Along with his informal lessons in nonviolence and civil disobedience, Saund majored in mathematics, graduated with a BS degree in 1919, and moved to America to further his education. While he waited for his passport, Saund worked to expand his childhood school, planted trees along the roads throughout his village, and helped establish two community banks.3 During World War I, Saund read the speeches of President Woodrow Wilson in the news and later discovered the writings of Abraham Lincoln, especially the moving words of the Gettysburg Address.4 “Lincoln,” Saund later wrote, “changed the entire course of my life.”5 Saund had planned to spend no more than a few years in America learning the fruit-canning business before returning home.6 His trip west took him from Bombay to England and from England to Ellis Island, New York, where he arrived on September 27, 1920. “You are now a free man in a free country,” one of the immigration officers told him.7 Saund made his way west and enrolled in the University of California’s agricultural school and mathematics department as well.8 Berkeley, California, was not the most welcoming of places for Indian and Asian students, and “outside of the university atmosphere,” he later remembered, “it was made quite evident that people from Asia—Japanese, Chinese, and Hindus—were not wanted.”9 Saund, however, became involved with the local community and then earned MA and PhD degrees in mathematics in 1924. After he finished his studies, Saund’s family informed him that the Indian government had been keeping tabs on his “anti-British utterances in America.” Saund decided to stay in California and later authored My Mother India, a book about his experiences at home and a critique of British imperialism.10 He moved south to California’s Imperial Valley, where a number of other Indians had settled.11 His first job, he said, was as “foreman of a cottonpicking gang at a ranch belonging to some Indian friends.” Saund saved money and quickly went into the business of growing lettuce. The lettuce market tanked, however, and it was a while before he recouped his losses.12 In 1928 Saund married Marian Kosa, the daughter of a close friend and a future teacher in the Los Angeles school system. Together they had three children: Dalip Jr., who served in the Korean War as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and two daughters, Julie and Ellie, who both attended the University of California, Los Angeles.13 Initially, Saund’s young family settled on a ranch in Westmorland, California, a dry, windy, and hot region of the state just a few miles south of the Salton Sea. The area specialized in sending melons to market before anywhere else, but the Depression hit the local economy hard. Fruit rotted in the field, and harvest work disappeared.14 Saund came out of the economic collapse relatively unscathed because he grew and baled alfalfa hay and had direct access to Los Angeles.15 Saund owned his own farming equipment, but because California law prevented people of Asian descent from owning or leasing land at the time, a friend in the valley had to put the contracts in his own name.16 As the economy rebounded, Saund stumbled for a spell and plunged into debt. Against advice from friends and business associates, he refused to declare bankruptcy and decided to work his way out of the hole “slowly but surely.” “That decision to follow the dictates of my own heart was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he wrote years later.17 After 20 years of farming, Saund opened his own fertilizer business around 1953, commuting a total of nearly 1,000 miles a week between his home near Los Angeles, where his wife taught and where they raised their children, and his business, headquartered in Westmorland.18 Saund closely followed politics during his time in the west, studying the issues of the 1924 and 1928 presidential contests. “By 1932,” he wrote in his memoirs, “I had positively and definitely become a Democrat by outlook and conviction.”19 During the 1930s, his home county received a number of benefits from federal New Deal programs created to help struggling farmers and people out of work.20 When he was not farming, Saund was a popular speaker in the valley and addressed local groups nearly every week.21 He learned how to think and speak in the moment, unscripted, during his involvement with the Toastmasters Club.22 Saund’s political activities could go only so far, however, because, at the time, federal law prevented him from becoming a U.S. citizen. In the 1940s, he helped organize efforts to open citizenship to people of Indian descent living in the States. He worked long hours to build support, and, eventually, Congress passed a bill allowing Indian immigrants to pursue naturalization.23 Saund became a U.S. citizen three and a half years later on December 16, 1949.24 Saund was elected to the Imperial County Democratic Central Committee in the summer of 1950 and ran for a judgeship in November. He claimed to know every voter in the district and campaigned door-to-door, building momentum. He won, but a higher court vacated his election after it became clear that Saund had not been a U.S. citizen for a full year at the time of his victory.25 Two years later, Saund ran again, and in the buildup to the 1952 judicial election, he faced a barrage of discrimination. Voters, and even old friends, told Saund that they liked him well enough but could never bring themselves to “go for a Hindu judge.”26 As the election heated up, Saund adamantly refused to go negative, his message being, “I am not running against anybody; all I’m asking for is a job, and it’s up to you to judge whether I deserve your support or not.”27 “Doc, tell us, if you’re elected, will you furnish the turbans or will we have to buy them ourselves in order to come into your court?” someone later asked him in the middle of a restaurant. “My friend,” Saund responded, “you know me as a tolerant man. I don’t care what a man has on the top of his head. All I’m interested in is what he’s got inside.”28 On Election Day, Saund won by 13 votes.29 During his four-year judgeship, Saund worked to institute stiff sentencing that helped clean up blighted areas of Westmorland.30 He earned the reputation as a firstrate legal mind, going head to head with more practiced attorneys.31 Saund’s judgeship became a huge part of his identity and served as a springboard to national office. When he ran for the House, he ran as “Judge Saund.”32 In 1954 Saund won election as the head of the Democratic Central Committee for Imperial County. Democrats lost the congressional election that year but made a stronger showing than most political experts expected, encouraging local party officials to go all in for the next race in 1956.33 Saund had met a number of political kingmakers, and by the next fall, California Democrats began pledging support for Saund—whom they reportedly called “the peacemaker”—if he ever decided to run for Congress. It did not take long. By October 1955, Saund resolved to campaign for a seat in the House from California’s 29th District. He knew half of the district well (Imperial County), but anticipated a struggle in neighboring Riverside County. A handful of party leaders from both counties ended up giving him their backing a month later.34 When the incumbent Congressman, Republican John Phillips, announced his retirement from the House, six Republicans and two Democrats—Saund included—jumped into the race by early 1956.35 Saund’s congressional district was created after the 1940 Census, and voters there had elected a Republican to the House ever since. By 1955, however, Democrats had a slight edge in voter registration.36 Geographically it was huge—larger “than Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Delaware combined,” according to the New York Times—and bordered by Nevada to the east, Mexico to the south, and Los Angeles to the west.37 From a population standpoint, it was one of California’s smaller districts, with a total of 233,021 people in 1950; it grew to 378,296 by 1960.38 Saund’s main opponent in the Democratic primary was a lawyer from nearby Riverside County named Carl Kegley. The race began cordially until Kegley filed legal action to disqualify Saund, arguing the Judge had not been a U.S. citizen long enough to serve in the House.39 Undismayed, Saund saw it as an opportunity. “When he filed suit against me,” Saund remembered a few years later, “it became front-page, headline news in all the Riverside and Imperial County papers. Even if I could have afforded it, I couldn’t have bought that kind of publicity.”40 Saund remained confident in his eligibility throughout the fight, pointing out that, if he won the election, he would take office in January 1957, making him a citizen for just over seven years, as required by the Constitution.41 He stayed on message and refused to attack his opponent, eventually winning the primary by more than 9,000 votes.42 Going into the general election, Saund played catch-up to his Republican opponent, Jacqueline Cochran Odlum. A decorated Army pilot known for her work as the head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, Odlum owned a successful cosmetics company and had long been a supporter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.43 Because of the unique backgrounds of the two leading candidates, the race attracted national attention. “A woman’s ‘smoldering hope’ and the success story of an East Indian immigrant are converging into what is likely to be one of the most colorful Congressional contests of 1956,” reported the New York Times. “Seldom if ever has the American melting pot cooked up a spicier election dish than the contest now simmering in California’s 29th Congressional District,” read another article in the Los Angeles Times.44 Throughout the campaign, Odlum reportedly outspent Saund many times over.45 Saund, however, used a grassroots approach, holding a series of free community barbeques.46 His phalanx of supporters, including members of his own family, campaigned door-to-door while registering voters.47 His wife, Marian, and their college-aged daughter, Ellie, spent summer vacation canvassing Riverside, and Saund’s son and daughter-in-law came home often to help. “We didn’t have time to stop and count how many precincts,” Marian said. “We just worked.”48 House Majority Whip Carl Albert of Oklahoma also campaigned for Saund in California, and Harold Cooley of North Carolina wired his support.49 Saund’s ethnicity and religious beliefs were a constant issue in the race. The Associated Press reminded readers that Saund was “a Sikh Hindu born in India” with “darkhued” skin before noting that he had been “thoroughly Americanized after 36 years here.”50 Saund bought airtime in Southern California to introduce himself to voters throughout the district.51 But as the New York Times told its readers two weeks before the election, Saund ran up against “considerable racial sensitivity in the area.”52 Years later, Odlum still believed that Saund was, as she said, “a card-toting Communist.”53 Ultimately, the issues seemed to outweigh everything else. As a farmer who had once struggled to pull himself out of debt, Saund believed in the necessity of farm subsidies, while Odlum, who also ran her own ranch, took a more conditional approach.54 Odlum touted her connections in Washington, while Saund promised to work hard and used his personal history as proof of his commitment to the district.55 A few years after the election, Saund criticized the idea of campaigning on political connections writing, “My view was that any congressman who expected to get favors from the big boys in Washington got them only by voting the way the big boys wanted him to vote, not the way the interests of his district would lead him to vote.”56 During a last-minute debate broadcast a week before the election, Saund pointed out that his political beliefs as a Democrat were often more in line with the popular Republican presidential administration of Dwight Eisenhower than Odlum’s own stances as the actual GOP candidate.57 Saund built on that momentum going into Election Day. When the dust settled, he won, taking 54,989 votes, or roughly 52 percent.58 Saund credited his victory to his stance on local issues, especially his commitment to small-scale farmers and small businesses.59 With his election, Saund became the first Asian American ever to enjoy full voting rights in Congress (he served as a U.S. Representative whose powers were not circumscribed like those of the Delegates and Resident Commissioners who had preceded him).60 “Californians have not always been hospitable to aliens—and especially to aliens of Asian origin,” the Washington Post’s editorial board observed. “In this election they ignored ancestry and considered the individual.”61 “He’s growed cotton. He’s growed lettuce and beets. He’s worked in hay and he’s worked for wages. And he won’t let any smart aleck lawyers trick him,” a district farmer told the culture magazine Coronet. “That’s why we sent him to Washington.”62 For the duration of his House career, Saund faced modest competition back home. He won re-election handily in 1958, taking 62 percent of the vote and crushing his Republican opponent, John Babbage, by almost 26,000 votes.63 In 1960, although he said he was “running scared,” Saund coasted to victory over Republican Charles H. Jameson.64 Saund, the New York Times wrote shortly after his first election, “is a stocky, dynamic, perpetually grinning man whose walnut skin threatened to handicap him in a raceconscious section where there was some informal school segregation until a couple of years ago. This evidently was more than offset by his manifest dedication to American ideals and by his articulateness—he speaks in a highpitched, urgent tone, with just a faint alien accent. He looks like an average business man or schoolteacher, and with his serviceable ‘border Spanish’ has occasionally been mistaken for one of the Mexican-Americans numerous in the district.”65 Saund’s ethnicity may have been an issue in the election, but the Congressman-elect did not want it to influence his service in the House. Saund wanted his committee assignments to reflect his district’s interests rather than his personal history and told the press he would like a seat on something other than the Foreign Affairs Committee. “I am not so much concerned with India,” he said about a month before the start of the new Congress. “I am concerned with my district right here in California.” He wanted to see better farm supports. He wanted the Air Force to build a new base in his district, and he wanted a nuclear power plant built in the “big spaces” outside the valley. “I would prefer to be on the Agriculture and the Armed Services Committee,” he had said in late November.66 On the eve of the new Congress, at least one report had Saund pushing for a seat on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.67 Saund arrived in Washington on December 17 to look for a home and start organizing his congressional office.68 He was already something of a national star and, in his first term, Democratic leaders placed him on the Committee on Foreign Affairs despite his earlier reluctance. Saund called the appointment a “high honor,” and he remained on the committee for his entire House career. Foreign Affairs was one of the most powerful committees in the House during the Cold War, making it a major coup for a novice lawmaker. In the 86th and 87th Congresses (1959–1963), Saund also served on the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.69 His national profile aside, Saund tried to stay out of the spotlight as much as he could in order to learn how the House worked—a difficult problem when television cameras from CBS followed him around on Opening Day. He and his wife ate breakfast in the House cafeteria every morning before he went up to his office to answer mail from his constituents.70 Saund helped veterans and their families access benefits and worked to secure millions in funding for the March Air Force Base and the Naval Auxiliary Air Station and additional money for the Corona Naval Ordinance Laboratory. He collaborated with committee chairmen to fund flood control projects, won funding for irrigation efforts on American Indian land, opened new post offices in his fast-growing district, built new roads, improved airports in the Imperial Valley, and assisted scientists developing new strains of cotton. He worked to protect the Bracero farm labor program, in which immigrants from Mexico took jobs in America’s agricultural sector as part of a guest-worker program. And he helped to settle claims Riverside County had against the federal government for repairs to a regional airport.71 Saund was a fierce supporter of the 1957 Civil Rights bill. The Judge used his own story to advocate its passage, pointing out that, although being born in India did not prevent him from becoming a Member, being born black in Mississippi would have. “No amount of sophistry or legal argument can deny the fact that in 13 counties in 1 State in the United States of America in the year 1957, not one Negro is a registered voter. Let us remove those difficulties, my friends.”72 Midway through his first term, Saund fulfilled a campaign promise by flying home to India for the first time in almost 40 years. When he first floated the idea in the days after the 1956 election, Saund billed the trip as a “goodwill” visit sponsored by the State Department to clear up “misunderstanding between the people of the United States and India.”73 India had more or less stayed out of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but Saund planned to stress America’s “freedom of opportunity.”74 “Look,” he wanted to tell the world, “here I am, a living example of American democracy in practice.”75 It was not until a year later that Saund returned to India as a representative of the Foreign Affairs Committee, “a one-man subcommittee,” as the Judge called himself.76 Saund was quick to acknowledge that racism still existed in the United States, but he hoped to use his personal story to undercut what he called “the Communist lie that racial prejudice against Asians is rampant in America.”77 Saund, his wife, and their daughter arrived in Calcutta, India, on November 25, 1957, and spent three weeks touring the country. He touted his assignment to the Foreign Affairs Committee as a reflection of America’s genuine desire to reach out to the world. More than anything, wrote one reporter, Saund’s trip “helped to create a new realization among thinking Indians that they have friends in the United States sincerely devoted to advancing the cause of India.”78 Saund also addressed a joint session of the Parliament of India, speaking honestly about America’s failings, but quickly pointing out the steps the United States was taking to correct its wrongs.79 During his two-and-a-half-month world tour, Saund visited a host of other locations : “Japan, Hong Kong, South Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, India, Pakistan, Israel … Rome, Paris, and London,” selling American ideals and encouraging cultural exchange.80 Eight months after he returned, Saund told the House that the people he met abroad wanted “freedom and the American way of life. Yet we—a Nation of supersalesman [sic], are failing to sell our way of life.”81 The needs of Saund’s constituents remained at the forefront of his legislative agenda during the 86th Congress.82 His bill to protect the date industry in the valley was perhaps his most hard-fought victory in the House. Date growers from his district had been running up against cheaper imports, and to protect the domestic crop, Saund introduced a bill to subject foreign-grown dates and walnuts to a quality inspection. Although the government already had similar programs for a host of other produce,a number of cabinet departments opposed Saund’s bill, as did the large commercial industries that relied on the cheap fruit. The House Agriculture Committee reported Saund’s bill favorably, but the Rules Committee sat on it, unwilling to bring it to the floor. In late August 1960, Democratic leadership suspended the rules and allowed for a vote. His bill easily cleared the House but failed to become law.83 Using his position on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Saund also helped negotiate a deal between the city of Palm Springs and the residents of the nearby Agua Caliente Reservation. Saund brokered the agreement using two bills (H.R. 8587 and H.R. 6672), whereby existing reservation land would be divided among its residents in a process called “equalization.” The holders of tribal lands could then lease their parcels to the city for a period of 99 years in order to meet commercial lending regulations. “This will make possible the development of valuable Indian property, the expansion of business in Palm Springs and the acquisition of the airport by the city,” Saund said.84 Saund continued to secure funding for flood control in the valley, new infrastructure projects and post offices, and improvements to the military installments in his district. Although he supported the Bracero Program, Saund called for tighter restrictions and criticized the ranchers who exploited the program in order to maximize profit. “American citizens are entitled to jobs on American farms before any imported labor is authorized,” he said.85 Saund maintained his support for Congress’s civil rights legislation and voted in favor of pensions, health insurance for senior citizens, and insurance for the unemployed. On an international scale, Saund wanted to spend less money on military aid and more on cultural exchanges and infrastructure projects in the developing world.86 For one thing, Saund wanted to see America’s huge agricultural surpluses put to use overseas. “A hungry world,” he wrote, “would receive the bounty of American farms with much more gratitude than they do the tons of obsolete military hardware under the Mutual Security Program.”87 Even into the next Congress, Saund remained critical of the federal government’s overseas spending. “We must admit,” he said, “that our efforts to promote democracy and build strong free societies in many of the underdeveloped countries of the world through massive expenditures of U.S. funds have been, to say the least, not successful.”88 In defiance of the John F. Kennedy administration, Saund pushed Congress to more closely monitor its foreign investments. In particular, he wanted to ensure that whatever money America gave to the world actually made it to the farmers and rural villagers who needed it the most. “That has been our mistake all along,” he said during debate on the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. “We have been identified with the ruling classes. We have been coddling kings and dictators and protecting the status quo. The status quo for the masses of people in many lands means hunger, pestilence, and ignorance.… And we then wonder why the poor people of the underdeveloped areas of the world do not appreciate the help of Uncle Sam.”89 Early in the 87th Congress, Saund was named vice chairman of a large congressional delegation participating in the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group. With the goal of strengthening ties between legislators of the two countries, four topics dominated the docket : “foreign investments, foreign trade, border affairs, and cultural exchange.”90 Saund, whose district stretched for miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, first submitted the resolution creating the legislative roundtable in 1959, and it became law a year later.91 He chaired the committee on border affairs at the conference, where the two countries discussed immigration, the Bracero Program, and customs duties.92 In the end, Saund considered the cross-border sitdown a huge success.93 On a flight from Los Angeles to DC on May 1, 1962, the Judge suffered a stroke and was immediately moved to a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Saund’s family and doctors kept his condition under tight secrecy. His wife reportedly brought work to his hospital room every day while his staff maintained business at his office on the Hill. Saund nevertheless went on to win the party primary a month after his health crisis, and in September his campaign announced he would stand for re-election in the general contest.94 On Election Day, however, Saund, who had been unable to campaign himself, lost to Republican Patrick M. Martin, taking only 44 percent of the vote.95 Saund remained in the Bethesda hospital for the next month until he was well enough to travel. Doctors moved him to a medical facility in San Diego and then, in January 1963, moved him to one closer to home in Los Angeles, where he made “slow but good” improvement.96 After suffering a second stroke 10 years later, Saund died at his home in Hollywood, California, on April 22, 1973.97 The House was in recess when Saund died, but when it gathered again, Members held a memorial service for the Judge in the Capitol and eulogized him on the floor. Colleagues called him “a classic American success story,” a “pioneer,” and “a gentleman in the best sense of the word.”98 Some said the House was a better place because of his service, which had paved the way for “those generations from and interested in Asian nations.”99 “To chronicle all his legislative achievements and personal successes during his lifetime could not begin to pay Dalip Saund the justice and honor he deserves,” Majority Leader Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts said. “Those of us who knew and admired him in the House, remember him as a man of boundless energy, personal integrity, and strong convictions—consistently and tirelessly fighting for the right of ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ for all Americans.”100 Dalip Singh Saund (September 20, 1899 – April 22, 1973) was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th District of California from January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1963. He was the first Asian American, the first Indian American and the first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to the United States Congress. Contents 1 Biography 2 Publications authored 3 See also 4 References and notes 5 External links Biography Photo of Dalip Singh Saund. Born in Chhajulwadi, Amritsar district, Punjab Province, British India (now Chhajjalwaddi, Punjab, India), to an Indian Punjabi Sikh family, he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Punjab in 1919. He immigrated to the United States (via Ellis Island) originally to study agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the university, he obtained a master's degree (1922) and a PhD (1924), both in mathematics. His studies were sponsored by Stockton Gurdwara in Stockton, California as he lived in the gurdwara-owned Guru Nanak Khalsa Hostel. Stockton Gurdwara was "the first permanent Sikh American settlement and gurdwara in the United States."[1] He thereafter remained in the United States, becoming a successful farmer. He married Marian Kosa in 1928. They had three children.[2] In 1930, Saund was commissioned by the Khalsa Diwan Society based in California. to write a book called “My Mother India" which was written in support of the Indian independence movement. Saund wrote that his book was intended to “answer various questions that commonly arise in the minds of the American people regarding the cultural and political problems of India.” His book addressed India's caste system as one of those questions and "pleaded for the civil rights of the downtrodden in India as he compared caste in India to racism in America and elsewhere."[3] Later, he campaigned to allow people of South Asian descent to become naturalized citizens. After the Luce-Celler Act was passed in 1946, he applied for naturalization and became an American citizen in 1949. He ran for election in 1950 as a Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland township, California, and won the election, but his election was thrown out as he had been a citizen for less than a year. He later ran again for the same post and won.[4] In November 1955, he announced his campaign to run for the House of Representatives as a Democrat and won an election for an open seat against a famous Republican aviator, Jacqueline Cochran. He was re-elected twice, becoming the first Sikh American, the first Asian American, the first Indian American and first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to Congress. Dalip Singh Saund in the Oval Office on February 14, 1961 On May 1, 1962, Saund suffered a severe stroke on an airplane flight which left him unable to speak or walk without assistance. Though unable to campaign, he won the June Democratic primary (running in the newly numbered 38th district) but was defeated for reelection in the November general election by Republican Patrick M. Martin by a 56% to 44% margin.[5] Following his defeat, his condition slightly improved allowing him to be moved from a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland to California. He had a second stroke about 10 years later and died on April 22, 1973 at his Hollywood home.[5] The world took note when in 1956 Dalip Singh Saund, native of India, was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 29th California District, which then comprised Riverside and Imperial counties. He was the first Asian to be elected to the Congress. There's no telling how far Saund might have risen in public life if he hadn't suffered a disabling stroke early in his campaign for a fourth term. He remained an invalid until he died in 1973. Earned Mathematics Degree Saund was born in 1899 in a village called Chhajulwadi, Punjab Province, lndia, to an uneducated but industrious and successtul family with a background of Sikh reformism and activism he went through a local school which in the absence of public schools. was financed by his father and uncles. 1-3 graduated from the University of the Punjab in Amritsar, earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Like many others of his status Saund was inspired by British promises of independence for India to follow World War I and was chagrined when that promise was abandoned. He was inspired by the writings of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt He was favorably impressed by the preachments of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the great Hindu exponent of non-violent struggle for independence. The young Saund persuaded his family to support him in a plan to study food canning in America with the intention of returning and starting an Indian canning industry. "l assured my family," he wrote in a 1960 book entitled Congressman From India, "that I would study in the United States for at least two and not more than three years and would then return home." At the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied at first in the College of Agriculture, he lived in a clubhouse maintained by a Sikh temple group in Stockton--evidence that there was already a complement of refugees and visitors from India to California, most of them having arrived during World War I as agricultural laborers. Stockton was the political and intellectual center of the colony. Imperial Valley was one of its concentration areas. The Hindustani Association of America was active in Berkeley. After two years, young Saund was elected as its national president. "AII of us," he wrote later, "were ardent nationalists and we never passed up an opportunity to expound on India's rights." Here he learned at least one lesson in tactics. A political science professor was invited to speak. "First," wrote Saund, "I delivered a half-hour talk on the right of India to independence and the inequities of English rule. He floored me with questions that I couldn't promptly answer." From such defeats smart politicians learn. By the time he had launched his career in American politics, Saund was usually in possession of more relevant facts than were his opponents. He spent summers working for canneries, for McNeill, McNeill and Libby and for California Packing Corporation (Del Monte), in Sacramento and Emeryville. According to his own later recollection, he was highly rated as a management prospect in canning but downgraded because he expressed a consuming interest in Indian liberation. Added Master's and Doctorate In addition to technical studies in the College of Agriculture, Saund took courses in mathematics, his major field at Amritsar. The upshot was that, on invitation, he switched to that field, eaming both a master's and a doctor's degree. The doctorate was granted in May 1924. Having over-stayed his intended time limit, he later wrote: "Even though life for me did not seem very easy, it had become impossible to think of life separated from the United States... The only way Indians in California could make a living at that time was to join with others who had settled in various parts of the state as farmers." Although his later account didn't say so, it seems likely that he changed courses and spent the necessary time to earn a doctorate in hope of a teaching career. He did mention offers from two universities in India but he was evidently determined to stay in the U.S. at all costs. It was a year after receiving the doctorate that he resorted to farming. Probably Saund had long been in touch with Hindus in Imperial Valley some of whom, despite menial beginnings, had become wealthy farmers. One of them offered him a summer job as foreman of a cotton-picking crew. "And so," he wrote, "in the summer of 1925 I decided to go to the Southern California desert valley and make my living as a farmer. " He went still wearing a turban but there he launched his political career among the dominant Anglo society. As foreman of the cotton-picking crew, Saund earned a percentage of the amounts paid to the pickers. "By the end of the season," he wrote, "I had managed to save quite a sum. I borrowed a little more from my friends and ventured into the growing of lettuce. The crop that year was outstanding in quantity and quality, but because lettuce had been profitable in recent years the crop was over planted and the price was low. He suffered a loss (but lettuce would again be profitable, to him and to others). 'I had not heard of Saund until his political campaign in Riverside County was well under way, in 1956, but I was doubly interested because of family background. My maternal grandparents and a host of uncles, aunts and cousins were living or had lived in Imperial Valley. Aubrey Lee, then my brotherin law, later recalled Saund's role in and around Westmorland in the late 1920s: Typical Hindu "He was a typical Hindu at the time, with his turban on, and he dressed with his robe. He was farming maybe two miles north and maybe two miles west of Westmorland. At that time he was raising alfalfa. We called him the wild Indian because he came tearing by in that old Ford of his...Later on, when he was in the Lions Club and getting into politics he said he was going to be the first Hindu congressman in the United States. He had a purpose. "It was about 1937 when I organized a Current Events Club. Saund was a member. It was strictly liberal people, most of them being Democrats " Of the local forum organizations, Saund remembered most fondly the Toastmasters' Club of Brawley, where the purpose was not only mutual self enlightenment on current issues but practice in speech-making itself. It was one of a chain of such clubs. He became it’s district governor, visiting member clubs in Imperial and San Diego counties and becoming further acquainted and further skilled. If he was irrigating on Toastmaster nights he would "...take my dress suit in my car to the field with me. At 6 o'clock I would change into my suit, set my water for three hours, go to the meeting, come back to the field, change to my work clothes and go on with my irrigating." A real American hero out of Horatio Alger, Jr.! Strive and Succeed! Saund often spent time in Los Angeles, especially in libraries and sometimes in speech-making. Early in his Imperial Valley years he wrote the first of his two books, titled My Mother India. It was a response to one by Katherine Mayo titled Mother India, a negative version of the sordid and poverty-ridden aspects of Indian society. As a result of a talk he gave at the Unitarian Church of Los Angeles he met the Kosa family, immigrants from Czechoslovakia: Mr. and Mrs. Emil Kosa Sr., Emil Kosa Jr. and Marian. Both Kosa men were artists. Marian was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Saund became a close friend of the family and in 1928 he married Marian Kosa. She gave up her UCLA career (temporarily, it developed) and joined him in Westmorland. She shared his life in politics and political activity. She became active in women's organizations including, in time, the Parent-Teachers Association. She and Dalip were active tennis players on the courts at the Westmorland school. Within the family she was given (and retains today) the nickname of "Maize" in consequence of a time when she stood guard with a noisemaking gun to frighten birds from their crop of milo maize. Dalip Jr., first of their three children, was born in 1930, followed by lulie and Ellie. Discrimination Surfaces While Saund had considerable acceptance, he also had rejections. One recollection from the Valley is that of Enoch Gullett, my uncle by marriage, who had arrived in Imperial Valley in 1901, the year of first irrigation there. He was an associate of Saund in the Westmorland Chamber of Commerce. They and others of that organization went together to the Grand Canyon for a meeting. According to Gullett's daughter, Geraldine Plumb, Saund was denied admittance to the hotel where they had made reservations. Both he and Gullett slept in an automobile. In 1991 I asked Marian Saund if she recalled that incident. She said he hadn't mentioned it but she did recall a similar incident in Stockton. He was scheduled to speak at a meeting there. She registered in a hotel for herself, Saund and their son, then their only child. When Saund arrived after the meeting he wasn't admitted. All three left. The family life of the Saunds was altered by what was described as Marian Saund's allergy for the pollen of Bermuda grass. On account of the allergy, as she explained it to me in 1991, she and the three children moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and took up residence in their old neighborhood. The family reassembled frequently in Los Angeles or Riverside. Effie Lee, my sister, and her then husband, Aubrey Lee, had played tennis with the Saunds and mingled with them socially. She recalled: "Marian told me that she hadn't realized what the prejudice could be and that the children wouldn't be accepted. It was commonly understood that the allergy was expedient and that the treatment of the children in the Westmorland schools was the real reason they moved to Los Angeles. " Geraldine Plumb agreed and so did her father, Enoch Gullett. At age 90 his recollections were tape recorded. Asked about the treatment of the Saund children, he replied: "Well, they first went over to the Mexican school and they were asked if they could speak English." Here Gullett laughed, presumably at the thought that they couldn't speak English, and continued, "You know that's the thing that ran Mrs. Saund up to Los Angeles." Theoretically there was no "Mexican school" in Westmorland. Harding School, in the minority-poverty neighborhood, was nominally intended to give special attention to children who didn't speak English but, in fact, it was a school for minorities including Blacks who spoke only English. In Los Angeles Marian Saund returned to UCLA, earned a bachelor's degree and teaching credential and taught in the Los Angeles schools. Although my relatives in the Valley had known Saund for some time, I first met him in Riverside early in 1956 during his first campaign in our county seat. "So you're from Westmorland," I said to him. "I have an uncle there, Frank Lyall. " I didn't know that Frank had been justice of peace and that Saund had defeated him for reelection. "Oh, Frank Lyall," he replied. "Great friend of mine. Fine man. " When next I saw Frank, who was a Ieading Westmorland business man, he was incensed that Saund had professed to be his friend. He considered Saund a shady business man, explaining that he had welshed on a contract for sheep to graze on his alfalfa, making a conflicting lease with another sheep man and taking money from both. “ Frank's wife, Manha Lyall, may have contributed to Marian Saund's decision to move to Los Angeles. My mother, Effie Lyall Patterson, visited the Valley and later said to me: "...so I asked Manha, “Well, what kind of person is Mrs. Saund?” and she said, '”Why Effie, she's as nice a person as you'd ever hope to find. She's attractive; she's educated. But her children are half breeds, and we just couldn't invite her to the book club.'" Although Marian Saund had belonged to two book clubs, in Brawley and Westmorland, there was another, which was considered the "senior" book club of Westmorland. Martha Lyall belonged to it. Saund always accented the positive, claiming that his election and his career were demonstrations of American democracy in action. He never complained of, or even mentioned, discriminatory treatment against himself, much less made an issue of it. In 1991 I asked Aubrey Lee and his second wife, Eileen Kirkpatrick Lee, about Frank Lyall's contention that Saund had welshed on a contract. Eileen Lee had been Frank's bookkeeper. Both assumed that the accusation was probably true but, said Aubrey: "A lot of farmers--this was during the depression and a farmer needed to plant his alfalfa and he didn't have any money to buy seed. So a sheep man, wanting to feed his sheep, would advance the money. They brought the sheep down from Montana and Wyoming in late September or early October...and then the farmer would sell the feed to someone he didn't owe money to. " Naturalization Prohibited Saund campaigned for an end to the restrictions prohibiting the naturalization of India natives as U.S. citizens. His campaign organization became the India Association of America with Saund as it’s national head. It became successful in 1946 when the bill was signed by President Harry Truman.(link to Record for posterity/Setting thescene/Luce-cellar act.) One of the earliest applicants under the revised law was Saund hirnself. He took the oath as a citizen on December 16, 1949. In 1950 he ran for justice of peace for Westmorland Township. He won in the balloting but a lawsuit by Westmorland business men resulted in a count decision voiding the election on the ground that he hadn't been a citizen for the required year. (He was a citizen by the beginning of the term for which he was elected.) The Imperial County Supervisors appointed Frank Lyall to the position. In 1959 Saund ran again and defeated Lyall by a narrow margin. Incidentally, Aubrey Lee confessed that in spite of considering himself a friend of Saund he had helped finance the lawsuit that set aside Saund's first election. "I let them pressure me," he said of the other business men involved. Saund was no ordinary justice of peace. He refused to go along with the longtime tradition of allowing the existence of a notorious Westmorland red light district. Instead of routine fines functioning as license fees, he routinely decreed jail sentences for prostitutes. He suspended the sentences if it appeared they were discouraged from returning. Since they came mostly from Mexicali, across the border, he encouraged the Border Patrol to raid the houses and charge the prostitutes with vagrancy. He gave the stiffest sentence, a fine of $l,000.00 and a year in the county jail, to the "vice queen" of the town. Her husband, on the same charge, skipped bail and fled. Within Saund's time the red light district had disappeared. Through the State Judicial Council Saund was assigned to preside over justice courts in El Centro and Brawley when judges there were ill. By 1951 Saund was chairman of the Imperial County Democratic Central Comrnittee, in which capacity he had a close-hand experience with campaigning for Congress. The Democratic candidate in the 29th District was Bruce Shangle of Blythe, Riverside County. Saund managed the Imperial County pan of the campaign. It was good exercise in a losing cause. John Phillips, Republican, of Banning in Riverside County, had been the district's Congressman for many years, his reelection becoming almost routine. He won in 1954, but in the following year announced that he wouldn't be a candidate in 1956. By that time Saund was well known in Imperial County for four major activities. He was an active Democratic politician. He was Westmorland justice of peace and commonly referred to as Judge Saund. He was a major farmer and he also had a distributorship for chemical fertilizer, a business that was said to have grossed $250,000 per year. In November, 1955, he announced his campaign for election to Congress by responding to the endorsement of a gathering of Democratic activists, meeting in Indio, Riverside County. In preparation for the campaign the Saunds rented an apartment in Riverside. All of them, including Fred Fisher, Julie's husband, and Dorothy Saund, wife of Dalip Jr., took part in intensive house-to-house canvassing. The opponent in the Democratic Party was Karl Kegley, previously an unsuccessful candidate for state attorney-general with the support of one of the series of inflationary pension plans for the elderly. He laid heavy stress on Saund's foreign-born status and on the fact that Saund had been sued by several creditors. Having been ardent in praising American democracy since his arrival in 1920, Saund apparently had no difficulty on the "foreigner" charge. He explained the lawsuits as the result of major loss during a bad farming year. It had happened to other Valley farmers at the time, some of whom solved the problem by bankruptcy. He had declined to take that route and eventually had paid off the creditors. Saund easily won the Democratic primary, enhancing the interest in his unusual candidacy, well beyond California's borders. The Republican primary winner, Jacqueline Cochran Odlum, had been , operator of a beauty salon in Chicago and was now a noted aviator and wife of Floyd Odlum, financier and organizer of General Dynamics Corporation. The Odlums lived in Coachella Valley, Riverside County. She had won the primary by a rightwing attack on her leading opponent, Fred Eldridge of Corona, concentrating especially on Eldridge's association with the World Federalists, a movement looking toward world govemment. Eldridge declined to endorse Odlum for the November election. This, plus the fact that Phillips had not run again, might well have accounted for Saund's margin of victory. Odlum, too, stressed Saund's foreign-born status and charged that he would be a setback to the district for lack of support for the Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower. She herself, as she emphasized, was personally acquainted with the president. During a broadcast debate, Saund pointed out that on several issues, including immigration law and the soil bank program, he supported Eisenhower's position while she opposed it. He stressed his support for farm subsidies. She campaigned by airplane. He and his campaign party traveled by automobile. He won by a majority of 3,300 votes out of about 115,000. That thoroughly confirmed him as an international celebrity. One consequence of his unusual status and of his knowledge of foreign affairs was his appointment to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, highly unusual for a freshman Congressman. Throughout his nearly six years as an active Congressman, Saund espoused what might be called a liberal agenda, but certainly not liberalism in extreme. He summarized his position in his book Congressman from India, published in 1960 during his second term. He advocated "adequate national defense," explaining in not very specific terms, "I firmly believe in a balanced budget, but we should never subordinate the security of the United States for any budgetary considerations. " He wrote that international Communism was spending far more than the U.S. on its effort to convert the world to its position and urged the U.S. government to spend more. He championed free enterprise, saying that the country's strength lies in the fact that Americans throughout history "have enjoyed equality of opportunity. " The small business man, he wrote, "is the backbone of our business community. " In his summary, and twice earlier in the book, Saund stressed the need for a "fair shake" for the farmer, explaining that they comprised 13 percent of the population and received only six percent of the national income. For an agricultural constituency, that position was virtually required. He supported the 160-acre limit, per land owner, for federally subsidized irrigation (a limit that has since been increased to 957 acres although in fact that limit is being evaded)., He was diligent in service to people and organizations asking solutions for their problems, including flood control and the search for supplemental water for Southern California. He said he supported civil rights legislation "with all the power at my command. Triumph Over Prejudice In short, Saund made a case for himself as a working Congressman, representing constituents efficiently. He was, in fact, a successful Congress man, staying within supportable ideological boundaries and working diligently. But the best remembered aspect of his career was his remarkable triumph in spite of prejudice against foreign born, especially against those with dark complexions and against non-Caucasians, dark or light. He did it by hard work and evangelism, constantly turning the other cheek. He did it with charisma. His ideological positions and his charisma were best demonstrated when in 1957, he visited many of the Far Eastern countries including his native India and was acclaimed everywhere. He went as an official emissary of the House of Representatives, accompanied by Mrs. Saund and their daughter Ellie. They stopped in Tokyo and in Riverside's sister city, Sendai. They visited Taiwan, where Saund expressed approval of that state's program, which was initiated in opposition to the Communist government on the Chinese mainland. They visited Saigon where he was critical of waste he observed in U.S.financed contracts. U.S. military involvement hadn't begun in Vietnam, but U.S. financial and political involvement was manifest. Saund wrote that "...you can not win minds and hearts by propping up dictators. " (At the time the U.S. was propping up President Ngo Dinh Diem.) They visited Indonesia where the flamboyant left-wing dictator Sukarno was in power. Saund cautiously observed that Sukarno "was an intense, dedicated nationalist, the kind of man who wanted power and enjoyed exercising it. " He also noted impatience among students and concluded that "...we should do everything possible to help guide that temper into truly democratic channels. " He reacted with similar caution to problems he observed in Singapore and the Philippines. The euphoria was unlimited when he reached his native India. He was cheered by throngs and entertained by the high and mighty in Calcutta, New Delhi and Bombay. The most animated outpouring of enthusiastic people was in Amritsar, where he had graduated from the University of the Punjab, and in Chhajalwadi, his birthplace. Saund's reelections in 1958 and 1960 were by majorities of more than 60 percent. Felled By Stroke He was beginning his campaign for a fourth term when, in May, 1962, he suffered a severe stroke while in an airplane approaching Washington. His family and staff minimized his disability and insisted that he would resume active political life. Despite his absence from public view he won the Democratic Party nomination, but hints of his real condition became widespread. At March Air Force Base Hospital, a Congressional delegation visited him and disclosed that he couldn't stand or speak. The fact was widely reported to the voting public. Pat Minor Martin, the Republican nominee, was elected. Marian Saund, diligent, able and devoted, resumed her teaching career with the Los Angeles schools. With part-time help she cared for her husband during the last, helpless, decade of his life. Eventually he was able to walk with the aid of a walker, but he never regained his speech. He died on April 22, 1973. The Saund children did well in school and as adults. Dalip Saund Jr. graduated from California Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering and then earned a doctorate in anthropology at UCLA. He served as a lieutenant in the Korean War. He was killed in a (civilian) sport flying accident. The daughters, Julie Fisher and Ellie Ford, both became teachers after graduation from UCLA. All three have children and grandchildren. Marian Saund lives in San Diego with daughter Julie and son-in-law Dr. Frederick Fisher. SOURCES This account grows out of conversations I had with Dalip and Marian Saund during his initial campaign for Congress in 1956 and during his subsequent Congressional service. However, all the statements attributed to him, whether quoted directly or indirectly, are taken from his book, Congressman From India, published by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1960. The Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress (1774-1989) confirms the major milestones of his life. The files of the Riverside Press, Riverside Enterprise, and The Press-Enterprise contain many accounts that have been helpful on re-reading. However, the comments of Dalip and Marian Saund in times of their prominence and even current comments of Marian Saund tell only of one aspect of the way they were accepted, and rejected, by their neighbors in Westmorland. Their purpose, no doubt, was to speak only good of their neighbors but it's necessary to discount their giving Marian's allergy as the sole reason she and the children moved to Los Angeles in 1942, where they lived until Dalip and Marian Saund became residents of Washington. The apparent real story, or a major part of it, was the Westmorland mistreatment of the Saund children, especially in school. For this I have relied on the recollections of my relatives-who lived in Westmorland or visited there-- Aubrey Lee, Eileen Kirkpatrick Lee, Effie Patterson Lee, Geraldine Gullett Plumb, Enoch Gullett and Effie Lyall Pauerson. As sources of an antagonistic local view of Dalip Saund there were two other relatives of mine, Frank and Martha Lyall Born near Amritsar, India in 1899, Dalip Singh Saund was an unlikely future candidate for national office when he came to the United States in 1920 to study food preservation at the University of California, Berkeley. But in 1956 Saund, whose career would span the vocations of mathematician, farmer, author, activist and judge, became the first Indian-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the first – and so far only – Sikh member of Congress. Sikhism is a monotheistic faith that was founded in the historic Punjab region of modern-day India and Pakistan. Based on the teachings of the early 16th-century prophet Guru Nanak and his successors, Sikhism teaches belief in reincarnation, equality among all human beings and the virtues of charity, selflessness and detachment from material possessions. In his 1960 autobiography, Congressman from India, Saund wrote that “my religion teaches me that love and service to fellow men are the road to earthly bliss and spiritual salvation.” Although Saund removed his turban, a Sikh symbol of religious devotion, soon after he immigrated to the U.S., he remained connected with the Sikh organization in central California that had provided housing for him upon his arrival at Berkeley. The group later commissioned Saund to write My Mother India, a 1930 critique of a then-sensational book, Mother India, which disparaged Indian self-rule. Saund soon became a familiar figure on the local lecture circuit, speaking to California civic organizations and churches about such topics as the work of Mahatma Gandhi and the fight for Indian independence from Britain. In the 1940s, Saund helped launch a successful effort to convince the U.S. Congress to pass the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which granted naturalization rights to Indian immigrants (then sometimes referred to as “Hindus”). After becoming a citizen himself, Saund was elected to a local judgeship in 1952 and then to the U.S. House in 1956. Saund served almost three full terms in Congress before suffering a debilitating stroke in 1962. He died in 1973. "Triumph and Tragedy of Dalip Saund" Written by Tom Patterson Published originally in California Historian in June 1992 (The author is a columnist and Riverside Historical Society Member.) Mr. and Mrs. Saund Mr. and Mrs. Saund The world took note when in 1956 Dalip Singh Saund, native of India, was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 29th California District, which then comprised Riverside and Imperial counties. He was the first Asian to be elected to the Congress. There's no telling how far Saund might have risen in public life if he hadn't suffered a disabling stroke early in his campaign for a fourth term. He remained an invalid until he died in 1973. Earned Mathematics Degree Saund was born in 1899 in a village called Chhajulwadi, Punjab Province, India, to an uneducated but industrious and successful family with a background of Sikh reformism and activism. He went through a local school which, in the absence of public schools, was financed by his father and uncles. He graduated from the University of the Punjab in Amritsar, earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Like many others of his status, Saund was inspired by British promises of independence for India to follow World War I and was chagrined when that promise was abandoned. He was inspired by the writings of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. He was favorably impressed by the preachments of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the great Hindu exponent of non-violent struggle for independence. The young Saund persuaded his family to support him in a plan to study food canning in America, with the intention of returning and starting an Indian canning industry. Dalip Saund Dalip Saund "I assured my family," he wrote in a 1960 autobiography entitled Congressman From India, "that I would study in the United States for at least two and not more than three years and would then return home." At the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied at first in the College of Agriculture, he lived in a clubhouse maintained by a Sikh temple group in Stockton — evidence that there was already a complement of refugees and visitors from India to California, most of them having arrived during World War I as agricultural laborers. On January 3, 1957 Dalip Singh Saund is sworn in as the congressional representative of California’s 29th district. Known to many as “Judge,” and also nicknamed “the Peacemaker,” he is the first Asian, first Indian American, first Sikh and first follower of a non-Abrahamic religion to be elected to the United States Congress. Born and raised in Punjab while India was under British rule, Saund attended the University of Punjab and was active in the independence movement led by Mohandas Gandhi. He enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley in 1920, earning a PhD in mathematics four years later. He married and moved to a ranch in Westmoreland, California, getting a friend to sign the deed for him in order to circumvent a state law that prohibited Asians from owning land. His time as a farmer, witnessing the struggles of his neighbors during the Great Depression, made him a fan of the New Deal and a lifelong Democrat. Saund organized in favor of allowing Indians to become naturalized American citizens, which Congress finally approved in 1946. Three years later, Saund became a citizen, and the following year he ran for a judgeship. Despite facing persistent racism—one reporter asked him if he would supply turbans to all those who entered his court—he won by 13 votes. In 1956, Saund ran for his home district’s open congressional seat. Despite a legal challenge from his Democratic primary opponent, who unsuccessfully argued that Saund had not been a citizen long enough to serve in Congress, Saund won the nomination and defeated famous female aviator Jacqueline Cochran Odlum for the seat. He credited his victory to the connections he had made in the district, particularly to small farmers and small business owners. He served three terms in Congress, where he became known as a champion of small farmers and civil rights legislation and worked to improve the United States’ relations with Mexico as well as his native India Sikhism (/ˈsɪkɪzəm/) or Sikhi (Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖੀ Sikkhī, [ˈsɪkhiː], from ਸਿੱਖ, Sikh, 'disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner')[i] is an religion that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent[ii] around the end of the 15th century CE.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Sikhism is one of the youngest of the major religions and the world's sixth-largest organized religion,[7] with about 25–30 million Sikhs as of the early 21st century.[8][9] However, according to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore) Sahajdhari or non-khalsa Nanakpanthi Sikhs across the world who also believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib.[10][11][12] Symbol of Sikhism Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru (1469–1539),[13] and of the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. The tenth guru, Gobind Singh (1666–1708), named the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as his successor, bringing to a close the line of human gurus and establishing the scripture as the last eternal 11th living guru, a religious spiritual/life guide for Sikhs.[14][15][16] Guru Nanak taught that living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is above metaphysical truth, and that the ideal man "establishes union with God, knows His Will, and carries out that Will".[17] Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru (1606–1644), established the concept of mutual co-existence of the miri ('political'/'temporal') and piri ('spiritual') realms.[18] The Sikh scripture opens with the Mul Mantar (ਮੂਲ ਮੰਤਰ), fundamental prayer about ik onkar (ੴ, 'One God').[19][20] The core beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the Guru Granth Sahib, include faith and meditation on the name of the one creator; divine unity and equality of all humankind; engaging in seva ('selfless service'); striving for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all; and honest conduct and livelihood while living a householder's life.[21][22][23] Following this standard, Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute Truth.[iii][24] Sikhism emphasizes simran (ਸਿਮਰਨ, meditation and remembrance of the teachings of Gurus),[25] which can be expressed musically through kirtan, or internally through naam japna ('meditation on His name') as a means to feel God's presence. It teaches followers to transform the "Five Thieves" (i.e. lust, rage, greed, attachment, and ego).[26] The religion developed and evolved in times of religious persecution, gaining converts from both Hinduism and Islam.[27] Mughal rulers of India tortured and executed two of the Sikh gurus—Guru Arjan (1563–1605) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675)—after they refused to convert to Islam.[28][29][30][31][32] The persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 as an order to protect the freedom of conscience and religion,[28][33] with members expressing the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī ('saint-soldier').[34][35] Contents 1 Terminology 2 Philosophy and teachings 2.1 Concept of God 2.2 Worldly Illusion 2.3 Timeless Truth 2.4 Liberation 2.5 Power and Devotion (Miri and Piri) 2.6 Singing and Music 2.7 Remembrance of the Divine Name 2.8 Service and Action 2.9 Justice and Equality 2.10 Ten Gurus and Authority 3 Scripture 3.1 Adi Granth 3.2 Guru Granth Sahib 3.2.1 Compilation 3.2.2 Language and script 3.2.3 Teachings 3.2.4 As guru 3.2.5 Relation to Hinduism and Islam 3.3 Dasam Granth 3.4 Janamsakhis 4 Observances 4.1 Sikh festivals/events 4.2 Ceremonies and customs 4.3 Initiation and the Khalsa 5 History 5.1 Historical influences 5.2 Growth of Sikhism 5.3 Political advancement 5.3.1 Sikh confederacy and the rise of the Khalsa 5.3.2 Singh Sabha movement 5.3.3 Partition of India 5.3.4 Khalistan 6 Sikh people 6.1 Sikh sects 6.2 Sikh castes 6.3 Sikh diaspora 7 Prohibitions in Sikhism 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Terminology The majority of Sikh scriptures were originally written in the alphabet of Gurmukhī, a script standardised by Guru Angad out of Laṇḍā scripts historically used in present-day Pakistan and North India.[36][37] Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs, meaning 'students' or 'disciples' of the Guru. The anglicised word Sikhism derives from the Punjabi verb Sikhi, which connotes the "temporal path of learning" and is rooted in the word sikhana ('to learn').[38][39] Philosophy and teachings Main article: Ik Onkar A Sikh can be defined as any human being who faithfully believes in:[40] i. One Formless Being ii. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, iii. The Guru Granth Sahib, iv. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus. Sikhism is classified as an Indian religion along with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.[iv][v][41] The basis of Sikhism lies in the teachings of Guru Nanak and his successors. Sikh ethics emphasize the congruence between spiritual development and everyday moral conduct. Its founder Guru Nanak summarized this perspective as: "Truth is the highest virtue, but higher still is truthful living."[42]:234 Sikhism lays emphasis on Ėk nūr te sab jag upjiā, 'From the one light, the entire universe welled up.'[citation needed] Concept of God Some sources call Sikhism a monotheistic religion,[43][44] while others call it a monistic and panentheistic religion.[6][3][4] According to Nesbitt (2005), English renderings of Sikhism as a monotheistic religion "tend misleadingly to reinforce a Semitic understanding of monotheism, rather than Guru Nanak's mystical awareness of the one that is expressed through the many. However, what is not in doubt is the emphasis on 'one'."[2] In Sikhism, the overall concept of God is Waheguru ('wondrous Teacher') considered to be nirankar ('shapeless'), akal ('timeless'), karta purakh ('the creator'), and agam agochar ('incomprehensible and invisible').[45] In a literal sense, God has no gender in Sikhism, though metaphorically, God is presented as masculine and God's power as feminine. For example, God is repeatedly referred to by the name akaal purkh ('beyond time and space') and nirankar ('without form') by the tenth guru Guru Gobind Singh Ji, but he also refers to God as his father, and God's creative power as his mother. Similarly, another example is that the scripture and eternal guru, the Guru Granth Sahib says that all humans are soul-brides who long to unite with their husband Lord.[46] In addition, the gurus also wrote in the Guru Granth Sahib that there are many worlds on which the transcendental God has created life.[47] The Sikh scripture begins with God as ik onkar (ੴ), the 'formless one',[20][42]:227 understood in the Sikh tradition as monotheistic unity of God.[48] Ik onkar (sometimes capitalized) is more loosely rendered 'the one supreme reality', 'the one creator', 'the all-pervading spirit', and other ways of expressing a diffused but unified and singular sense of God and creation.[49] The traditional Mul Mantar goes from ik onkar until Nanak hosee bhee sach.[clarification needed] The opening line of the Guru Granth Sahib and each subsequent raga, mentions ik onkar:[50] ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥ ikk ōankār sat(i)-nām(u) karatā purakh(u) nirabha'u niravair(u) akāl(a) mūrat(i) ajūnī saibhan gur(a) prasād(i). "There is one supreme being, the eternal reality, the creator, without fear and devoid of enmity, immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace through the true Guru." —Guru Granth Sahib (17th c.), p. 1 Worldly Illusion Māyā, defined as a temporary illusion or "unreality", is one of the core deviations from the pursuit of God and salvation: where worldly attractions give only illusory temporary satisfaction and pain that distracts from the process of the devotion of God. However, Nanak emphasised māyā as not a reference to the unreality of the world, but of its values. In Sikhism, the influences of ego, anger, greed, attachment, and lust, known as the pānj chor ('five thieves'), are believed to be particularly distracting and hurtful. Sikhs believe the world is currently in a state of kali yuga ('age of darkness') because the world is led astray by the love of and attachment to maya.[51] The fate of people vulnerable to the five thieves, is separation from God, and the situation may be remedied only after intensive and relentless devotion.[52] Timeless Truth An Akali-Nihang Sikh Warrior at Harmandir Sahib, also called the Golden Temple According to Guru Nanak, the supreme purpose of human life is to reconnect with Akal ('The Timeless One'), however, egotism is the biggest barrier in making this connection. Using the Guru's teaching remembrance of nām (the divine Name of the Lord)[53][54] leads to the end of egotism. Guru Nanak designated the word Guru ('teacher')[55] to mean the voice of "the spirit": the source of knowledge and the guide to salvation.[56] As ik onkar is universally immanent, Guru is indistinguishable from Akal and are one and the same.[57] One connects with Guru only with accumulation of selfless search of truth.[58] Ultimately the seeker realises that it is the consciousness within the body which is the seeker/follower of the Word that is the true Guru. The human body is just a means to achieve the reunion with Truth.[57] Once truth starts to shine in a person's heart, the essence of current and past holy books of all religions is understood by the person.[59] Liberation Guru Nanak's teachings are founded not on a final destination of heaven or hell, but on a spiritual union with the Akal, which results in salvation or jivanmukti ('enlightenment/liberation within one's lifetime'),[60] a concept also found in Hinduism.[61] Guru Gobind Singh makes it clear that human birth is obtained with great fortune, therefore one needs to be able to make the most of this life.[62] Sikhs accept reincarnation and karma concepts found in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism, but do not necessarily infer a metaphysical soteriology akin to those found in those other religions.[clarification needed][62][63][64] However, in Sikhism, both karma and liberation "is modified by the concept of God's grace" (nadar, mehar, kirpa, karam, etc.).[61] Guru Nanak states that "the body takes birth because of karma, but salvation is attained through grace."[65] To get closer to God, Sikhs: avoid the evils of maya; keep the everlasting truth in mind; practice shabad kirtan (musical recitation of hymns); meditate on naam; and serve humanity. Sikhs believe that being in the company of the satsang (association with sat, 'true', people) or sadh sangat is one of the key ways to achieve liberation from the cycles of reincarnation.[66] Power and Devotion (Miri and Piri) See also: Bhakti Sikhism was influenced by the Bhakti movement,[vi][vii][viii] but it was not simply an extension of Bhakti.[67] Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and the founder of Sikhism, was a Bhakti saint.[68] He taught that the most important form of worship is Bhakti (devotion to Bhagvan).[69] Guru Arjan, in the Sukhmani Sahib, recommended the true religion is one of loving devotion to God.[70][71] The Guru Granth Sahib includes suggestions on how a Sikh should perform constant Bhakti.[69][72][73] Some scholars call Sikhism a Bhakti sect of Indian traditions,[74][75] adding that it emphasises "nirguni Bhakti," i.e. loving devotion to a divine without qualities or physical form.[75]:1–3[76][77] While Western scholarship generally places Sikhism as arising primarily within a Hindu Bhakti movement milieu while recognizing some Sufi Islamic influences,[78][79]:3, 42–3 some Indian Sikh scholars disagree and state that Sikhism transcended the environment it emerged from. The basis of the latter analysis is that Bhakti traditions did not clearly disassociate from Vedic texts and their cosmologies and metaphysical worldview, while the Sikh tradition clearly did disassociate from the Vedic tradition.[67] Some Sikh sects outside the Punjab region of India, such as those found in Maharashtra and Bihar, practice aarti (the ceremonial use of lamps) during Bhakti observances in a Sikh gurdwara.[80][81] But, most Sikh gurdwaras forbid aarti during their Bhakti practices.[79]:201 While emphasizing Bhakti, the Sikh gurus also taught that the spiritual life and secular householder life are intertwined, and not separate. This logically follows from the panentheistic nature of Sikh philosophy.[82] In Sikh worldview, the everyday world is part of the Infinite Reality, increased spiritual awareness leads to increased and vibrant participation in the everyday world.[83] Guru Nanak described living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" as being higher than the metaphysical truth.[84] The 6th Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind, after Guru Arjan martyrdom and faced with oppression by the Islamic Mughal Empire, affirmed the philosophy that the political/temporal (Miri) and spiritual (Piri) realms are mutually coexistent.[85][86] According to the 9th Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, the ideal Sikh should have both Shakti (power that resides in the temporal), and Bhakti (spiritual meditative qualities). This was developed into the concept of the "saint soldier" by the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh.[86] The concept of man as elaborated by Guru Nanak refines and negates the "monotheistic concept of self/God", and "monotheism becomes almost redundant in the movement and crossings of love."[87] The goal of man, taught the Sikh gurus, is to end all dualities of "self and other, I and not-I", attain the "attendant balance of separation-fusion, self-other, action-inaction, attachment-detachment, in the course of daily life".[87] Singing and Music Sikhs refer to the hymns of the gurus as Gurbani ('Guru's word'). Shabad Kirtan is the singing of Gurbani. The entire verses of Guru Granth Sahib are written in a form of poetry and rhyme to be recited in thirty-one Ragas of the Classical Indian Music as specified. However, the exponents of these are rarely to be found amongst the Sikhs who are conversant with all the Ragas in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak started the Shabad Kirtan tradition and taught that listening to kirtan is a powerful way to achieve tranquility while meditating; Singing of the glories of the Supreme Timeless One (God) with devotion is the most effective way to come in communion with the Supreme Timeless One.[88] The three morning prayers for Sikhs consist of Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, and Tav-Prasad Savaiye.[89] Baptised Sikhs (Amritdharis) rise early and meditate, then recite all the Five Banis of Nitnem, before breakfast. Remembrance of the Divine Name A key practice by Sikhs is remembrance[54] of the Naam (divine name) Waheguru.[53] This contemplation is done through Nām Japna (repetition of the divine name) or Naam Simran (remembrance of the divine Name through recitation).[54][90] The verbal repetition of the name of God or a sacred syllable has been an ancient established practice in religious traditions in India, however, Sikhism developed Naam-simran as an important Bhakti practice.[91][92][93] Guru Nanak's ideal is the total exposure of one's being to the divine Name and a total conforming to Dharma or the "Divine Order". Nanak described the result of the disciplined application of nām simraṇ as a "growing towards and into God" through a gradual process of five stages. The last of these is Sach Khaṇḍ (The Realm of Truth) – the final union of the spirit with God.[56] Service and Action Further information: Seva (Indian religions) § Seva in Sikhism The Sikh gurus taught that by constantly remembering the divine name (naam simran) and through selfless service (sēvā) the devotee overcomes egotism (Haumai). This, it states, is the primary root of five evil impulses and the cycle of birth and death.[94][95] Service in Sikhism takes three forms: Tan (physical service, i.e. labor), Man (mental service, such as dedicating your heart for service of others), and Dhan (material service, including financial support).[96] Sikhism stresses kirat karō: that is "honest work". Sikh teachings also stress the concept of sharing, or vaṇḍ chakkō, giving to the needy for the benefit of the community.[97] Justice and Equality Sikhism regards God as the true king, the king of all kings, the one who dispenses justice through the law of karma, a retributive model and divine grace.[98][34][35] The term for justice in the Sikh tradition is niau.[98] It is related to the term dharam which in Sikhism connotes 'moral order' and righteousness (derived from but become distinct from the etymologically related Hindu concept of dharma).[98] According to the Tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh, states Pashaura Singh (a professor of Sikh studies), "one must first try all the peaceful means of negotiation in the pursuit of justice" and if these fail then it is legitimate to "draw the sword in defense of righteousness".[99] Sikhism considers "an attack on dharam is an attack on justice, on righteousness, and on the moral order generally" and the dharam "must be defended at all costs".[100] The divine name is its antidote for pain and vices. Forgiveness is taught as a virtue in Sikhism, yet it also teaches its faithful to shun those with evil intentions and to pick up the sword to fight injustice and religious persecution.[101] Sikhism does not differentiate religious obligations by gender. God in Sikhism has no gender, and the Sikh scripture does not discriminate against women, nor bar them from any roles.[102] Women in Sikhism have been in positions of leadership, including leading in wars and issued orders or hukamnamas.[103][102][104] Ten Gurus and Authority Main article: Sikh gurus A rare Tanjore-style painting from the late 19th century depicting the ten Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana The term Guru comes from the Sanskrit gurū, meaning teacher, enlightener, guide, or mentor. The traditions and philosophy of Sikhism were established by ten Gurus from 1469 to 1708.[105][106] Each Guru added to and reinforced the message taught by the previous, resulting in the creation of the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak was the first Guru and appointed a disciple as successor. Guru Gobind Singh was the final Guru in human form. Before his death, Guru Gobind Singh decreed in 1708, that the Gurū Granth Sāhib would be the final and perpetual Guru of the Sikhs.[16] Guru Nanak stated that his Guru is God who is the same from the beginning of time to the end of time.[107] Nanak said to be a God's slave and servant, but maintained that he was only a guide and teacher.[108][109] Nanak stated that the human Guru is mortal, who is to be respected and loved but not worshipped.[108] When Guru, or SatGuru (The true Guru) is used in Gurbani it is often referring to the highest expression of truthfulness.[110] Guru Angad succeeded Guru Nanak. Later, an important phase in the development of Sikhism came with the third successor, Guru Amar Das. Guru Nanak's teachings emphasised the pursuit of salvation; Guru Amar Das began building a cohesive community of followers with initiatives such as sanctioning distinctive ceremonies for birth, marriage, and death. Amar Das also established the manji (comparable to a diocese) system of clerical supervision.[56] Guru Amar Das's successor and son-in-law Guru Ram Das founded the city of Amritsar, which is home of the Harimandir Sahib and regarded widely as the holiest city for all Sikhs. Guru Arjan was arrested by Mughal authorities who were suspicious and hostile to the religious community he was developing.[111] His persecution and death inspired his successors to promote a military and political organization of Sikh communities to defend themselves against the attacks of Mughal forces. The interior of the Akal Takht The Sikh gurus established a mechanism which allowed the Sikh religion to react as a community to changing circumstances. The sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, was responsible for the creation of the concept of Akal Takht (throne of the timeless one), which serves as the supreme decision-making centre of Sikhism and sits opposite the Harmandir Sahib. The Akal Takht is located in the city of Amritsar. The leader is appointed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Pabandhak Committee (SPGC). The Sarbat Ḵẖālsā (a representative portion of the Khalsa Panth) historically gathers at the Akal Takht on special festivals such as Vaisakhi or Hola Mohalla and when there is a need to discuss matters that affect the entire Sikh nation. A gurmatā (literally, 'guru's intention') is an order passed by the Sarbat Ḵẖālsā in the presence of the Gurū Granth Sāhib. A gurmatā may only be passed on a subject that affects the fundamental principles of Sikh religion; it is binding upon all Sikhs.[112] The term hukamnāmā (literally, 'edict' or 'royal order') is often used interchangeably with the term gurmatā. However, a hukamnāmā formally refers to a hymn from the Gurū Granth Sāhib which is given order to Sikhs. Graph showing Life Spans and Guruship Spans of Sikh Gurus Approximate Life Spans and Guruship Spans of the 10 Sikh Gurus The word guru in Sikhism also refers to Akal Purkh (God), and God and guru can sometimes be synonymous in Gurbani (Sikh writings).[105][113] Scripture There is one primary scripture for the Sikhs: the Gurū Granth Sāhib. It is sometimes synonymously referred to as the Ādi Granth.[114] Chronologically, however, the Ādi Granth – literally, 'First Volume' – refers to the version of the scripture created by Guru Arjan in 1604.[115] The Gurū Granth Sāhib is the final expanded version of the scripture compiled by Guru Gobind Singh.[114][116] While the Guru Granth Sahib is an unquestioned scripture in Sikhism, another important religious text, the Dasam Granth, does not enjoy universal consensus, but is considered a secondary scripture by many Sikhs.[114] Adi Granth Main article: Ādi Granth The Ādi Granth was compiled primarily by Bhai Gurdas under the supervision of Guru Arjan between the years 1603 and 1604.[117] It is written in the Gurmukhī script, which is a descendant of the Laṇḍā script used in the Punjab at that time.[118] The Gurmukhī script was standardised by Guru Angad, the second guru of the Sikhs, for use in the Sikh scriptures and is thought to have been influenced by the Śāradā and Devanāgarī scripts. An authoritative scripture was created to protect the integrity of hymns and teachings of the Sikh Gurus, and thirteen Hindu and two Muslim bhagats of the Bhakti movement sant tradition in medieval India.[119] The thirteen Hindu bhagats whose teachings were entered into the text included Ramananda, Namdev, Pipa, Ravidas, Beni, Bhikhan, Dhanna, Jaidev, Parmanand, Sadhana, Sain, Sur, Trilochan, while the two Muslim bhagats were Kabir and Sufi saint Farid.[120][121][122][123] However, the bhagats in context often spoke of transcending their religious labels, Kabir often attributed to being a Muslim states in the Adi Granth, "I am not Hindu nor Muslim."[124] The Gurus following on this message taught that different methods of devotion are for the same infinite God.[125] Guru Granth Sahib Gurū Granth Sāhib – the primary scripture of Sikhism Main article: Gurū Granth Sāhib The Guru Granth Sahib is the holy scripture of the Sikhs, and is regarded as the living Guru. Compilation The Guru Granth started as a volume of Guru Nanak's poetic compositions. Prior to his death, he passed on his volume to Guru Angad (Guru 1539–1551). The final version of the Gurū Granth Sāhib was compiled by Guru Gobind Singh in 1678. It consists of the original Ādi Granth with the addition of Guru Tegh Bahadur's hymns. The predominant bulk of Guru Granth Sahib is compositions by seven Sikh Gurus – Guru Nanak, Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. It also contains the traditions and teachings of thirteen Hindu Bhakti movement sants (saints) such as Ramananda, Namdev among others, and two Muslim saints namely Kabir and the Sufi Sheikh Farid.[120][56] The text comprises 6,000 śabads (line compositions),[114] which are poetically rendered and set to rhythmic ancient north Indian classical music.[126] The bulk of the scripture is classified into sixty rāgas, with each Granth rāga subdivided according to length and author. The hymns in the scripture are arranged primarily by the rāgas in which they are read.[114] Language and script Mul Mantar written by Guru Har Rai, showing the Ik Onkar at top. The main language used in the scripture is known as Sant Bhāṣā, a language related to both Punjabi and Hindi and used extensively across medieval northern India by proponents of popular devotional religion (bhakti).[127] The text is printed in Gurumukhi script, believed to have been developed by Guru Angad,[114] but it shares the Indo-European roots found in numerous regional languages of India.[128] Teachings A group of Sikh musicians at the Golden Temple complex The vision in the Guru Granth Sahib, states Torkel Brekke, is a society based on divine justice without oppression of any kind.[129] The Granth begins with the Mūl Mantra, an iconic verse which received Guru Nanak directly from Akal Purakh (God). The traditional Mul Mantar goes from Ik Oankar until Nanak Hosee Bhee Sach. One God exists, truth by name, creative power, without fear, without enmity, timeless form, unborn, self-existent, by the Guru's grace.[130] (Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥, romanized: Ika ōaṅkāra sati nāmu karatā purakhu nirabha'u niravairu akāla mūrati ajūnī saibhaṅ gura prasādi) As guru The Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji, named the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as his successor, terminating the line of human Gurus and making the scripture the literal embodiment of the eternal, impersonal Guru, where Gods/Gurus word serves as the spiritual guide for Sikhs.[14][15][16][131] All Sikhs are commanded to take the Granth as Guru (Punjabi: ਸੱਬ ਸਿੱਖਣ ਕੋ ਹੁਕਮ ਹੈ ਗੁਰੂ ਮਾਨਯੋ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ।, romanized: Sabb sikkhaṇ kō hukam hai gurū mānyō granth) The Guru Granth Sahib is installed in Sikh Gurdwara (temple); many Sikhs bow or prostrate before it on entering the temple. The Guru Granth Sahib is installed every morning and put to bed at night in many Gurdwaras.[132] The Granth is revered as eternal gurbānī and the spiritual authority.[133] The copies of the Guru Granth Sahib are not regarded as material objects, but as living subjects which are alive.[134] According to Myrvold, the Sikh scripture is treated with respect like a living person, in a manner similar to the Gospel in early Christian worship. Old copies of the Sikh scripture are not thrown away, rather funerary services are performed.[134] In India the Guru Granth Sahib is even officially recognised by the Supreme Court of India as a judicial person which can receive donations and own land.[134] Yet, some Sikhs also warn that, without true comprehension of the text, veneration for the text can lead to bibliolatry, with the concrete form of the teachings becoming the object of worship instead of the teachings themselves.[134] Relation to Hinduism and Islam Main articles: Sikhism and Hinduism and Islam and Sikhism The Sikh scriptures use Hindu terminology, with references to the Vedas, and the names of gods and goddesses in Hindu bhakti movement traditions, such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Rama, Krishna, but not to worship.[129][135][self-published source][136] It also refers to the spiritual concepts in Hinduism (Ishvara, Bhagavan, Brahman) and the concept of God in Islam (Allah) to assert that these are just "alternate names for the Almighty One".[137] While the Guru Granth Sahib acknowledges the Vedas, Puranas and Qur'an,[138] it does not imply a syncretic bridge between Hinduism and Islam,[139] but emphasises focusing on nitnem banis like Japu (repeating mantra of the divine Name of God – Waheguru), instead of Muslim practices such as circumcision or praying on a carpet, or Hindu rituals such as wearing thread.[140] Dasam Granth The Dasam Granth is a Sikh scripture which contains texts attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, including his autobiography Bachittar Natak. The major narrative in the text is on Chaubis Avtar (24 Avatars of Hindu god Vishnu), Rudra, Brahma, the Hindu warrior goddess Chandi and a story of Rama in Bachittar Natak.[141] Main article: Dasam Granth The Dasam Granth is a scripture of Sikhs which contains texts attributed to the Guru Gobind Singh. The Dasam Granth is important to a great number of Sikhs, however it does not have the same authority as the Guru Granth Sahib. Some compositions of the Dasam Granth like Jaap Sahib, (Amrit Savaiye), and Benti Chaupai are part of the daily prayers (Nitnem) for Sikhs.[142] The first verse of the ardās prayer is from Chandi di Var. The Dasam Granth is largely versions of Hindu mythology from the Puranas, secular stories from a variety of sources called Charitro Pakhyan – tales to protect careless men from perils of lust.[143][144] Five versions of Dasam Granth exist, and the authenticity of the Dasam Granth has in modern times become one of the most debated topics within Sikhism. The text played a significant role in Sikh history, but in modern times parts of the text have seen antipathy and discussion among Sikhs.[141] Janamsakhis Main article: Janamsākhīs The Janamsākhīs (literally birth stories), are writings which profess to be biographies of Guru Nanak. Although not scripture in the strictest sense, they provide a hagiographic look at Guru Nanak's life and the early start of Sikhism. There are several – often contradictory and sometimes unreliable – Janamsākhīs and they are not held in the same regard as other sources of scriptural knowledge. Observances The Darbar Sahib of a Gurdwara Observant Sikhs adhere to long-standing practices and traditions to strengthen and express their faith. The daily recitation of the divine name of God VaheGuru and from a memory of specific passages from the Gurū Granth Sāhib, like the Japu (or Japjī, literally chant) hymns is recommended immediately after rising and bathing. Baptized Sikhs recite the five-morning prayers, the evening and night prayer. Family customs include both reading passages from the scripture and attending the gurudwara (also gurduārā, meaning the doorway to God; sometimes transliterated as Gurudwara). There are many gurdwaras prominently constructed and maintained across India, as well as in almost every nation where Sikhs reside. Gurdwaras are open to all, regardless of religion, background, caste, or race. Worship in a gurdwara consists chiefly of the singing of passages from the scripture. Sikhs will commonly enter the gurdwara, touch the ground before the holy scripture with their foreheads. The recitation of the eighteenth century ardās is also customary for attending Sikhs. The ardās recalls past sufferings and glories of the community, invoking divine grace for all humanity.[145] The gurdwara is also the location for the historic Sikh practice of "Langar" or the community meal. All gurdwaras are open to anyone of any faith for a free meal, always vegetarian.[146] People eat together, and the kitchen is maintained and serviced by Sikh community volunteers.[147] Sikh festivals/events Guru Amar Das chose festivals for celebration by Sikhs like Vaisakhi, wherein he asked Sikhs to assemble and share the festivities as a community.[148][149] Vaisakhi is one of the most important festivals of Sikhs, while other significant festivals commemorate the birth, lives of the Gurus and Sikh martyrs. Historically, these festivals have been based on the moon calendar Bikrami calendar.[150] In 2003, the SGPC, the Sikh organisation in charge of upkeep of the historical gurdwaras of Punjab, adopted Nanakshahi calendar.[150] The new calendar is highly controversial among Sikhs and is not universally accepted. Sikh festivals include the following: Vaisakhi which includes Parades and Nagar Kirtan and occurs on 13 April or 14 April. Sikhs celebrate it because on this day, which fell on 30 March 1699, the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, inaugurated the Khalsa, the 11th body of Guru Granth Sahib and leader of Sikhs until eternity. Nagar Kirtan involves the processional singing of holy hymns throughout a community. While practiced at any time, it is customary in the month of Visakhi (or Vaisakhi). Traditionally, the procession is led by the saffron-robed Panj Piare (the five beloved of the Guru), who are followed by the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy Sikh scripture, which is placed on a float. Nagar Kirtan crowd listening to Kirtan at Yuba City, California. Band Chor Diwas has been another important Sikh festival in its history.[151] In recent years, instead of Diwali, the post-2003 calendar released by SGPC has named it the Bandi Chhor divas.[152] Sikhs celebrate Guru Hargobind's release from the Gwalior Fort, with several innocent Raja kings who were also imprisoned by Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1619. This day continues to be commemorated on the same day of Hindu festival of Diwali, with lights, fireworks and festivities. Hola Mohalla is a tradition started by Guru Gobind Singh. It starts the day after Sikhs celebrate Holi,[153] sometimes referred to as Hola.[154] Guru Gobind Singh modified Holi with a three-day Hola Mohalla extension festival of martial arts. The extension started the day after the Holi festival in Anandpur Sahib, where Sikh soldiers would train in mock battles, compete in horsemanship, athletics, archery and military exercises.[155][156] Gurpurbs are celebrations or commemorations based on the lives of the Sikh Gurus. They tend to be either birthdays or celebrations of Sikh martyrdom. All ten Gurus have Gurpurbs on the Nanakshahi calendar, but it is Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh who have a gurpurb that is widely celebrated in Gurdwaras and Sikh homes. The martyrdoms are also known as a Shaheedi Gurpurbs, which mark the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur. Ceremonies and customs Sikh wedding Sikh funeral procession, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh Khalsa Sikhs have also supported and helped develop major pilgrimage traditions to sacred sites such as Harmandir Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patna Sahib, Hazur Nanded Sahib, Hemkund Sahib and others.[157] Sikh pilgrims and Sikhs of other sects customarily consider these as holy and a part of their Tirath.[158] The Hola Mohalla around the festival of Holi, for example, is a ceremonial and customary gathering every year in Anandpur Sahib attracting over 100,000 Sikhs.[159][160] Major Sikh temples feature a sarovar where some Sikhs take a customary dip. Some take home the sacred water of the tank particularly for sick friends and relatives,[161][162] believing that the waters of such sacred sites have restorative powers and the ability to purify one's karma.[163][ix][161] The various Gurus of Sikhism have had different approaches to pilgrimage.[164] Upon a child's birth, the Guru Granth Sahib is opened at a random point and the child is named using the first letter on the top left hand corner of the left page. All boys are given the last name Singh, and all girls are given the last name Kaur (this was once a title which was conferred on an individual upon joining the Khalsa).[165] The Sikh marriage ritual includes the anand kāraj ceremony.[166][167] The marriage ceremony is performed in front of the Guru Granth Sahib by a baptized Khalsa, Granthi of the Gurdwara.[168][169] The tradition of circling the Guru Granth Sahib and Anand Karaj among Khalsa is practised since the fourth Guru, Guru Ram Das. Its official recognition and adoption came in 1909, during the Singh Sabha Movement.[169] Upon death, the body of a Sikh is usually cremated. If this is not possible, any respectful means of disposing the body may be employed. The kīrtan sōhilā and ardās prayers are performed during the funeral ceremony (known as antim sanskār).[170] Initiation and the Khalsa Khalsa (meaning "pure and sovereign") is the collective name given by Guru Gobind Singh to those Sikhs who have been fully initiated by taking part in a ceremony called ammrit sañcār (nectar ceremony).[171] During this ceremony, sweetened water is stirred with a double-edged sword while liturgical prayers are sung; it is offered to the initiating Sikh, who ritually drinks it.[171] Many Sikhs are not formally and fully initiated, as they do not undergo this ceremony, but do adhere to some components of Sikhism and identify as Sikhs. The initiated Sikh, who is believed to be reborn, is referred to as Amritdhari or Khalsa Sikh, while those who are not initiated or baptised are referred to as Kesdhari or Sahajdhari Sikhs.[171][172] The first time that this ceremony took place was on Vaisakhi, which fell on 30 March 1699 at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab.[171] It was on that occasion that Gobind Singh baptised the Pañj Piārē – the five beloved ones, who in turn baptised Guru Gobind Singh himself. To males who initiated, the last name Singh, meaning "lion", was given, while the last name Kaur, meaning "princess", was given to baptised Sikh females.[171] Baptised Sikhs wear five items, called the Five Ks (in Punjabi known as pañj kakkē or pañj kakār), at all times. The five items are: kēs (uncut hair), kaṅghā (small wooden comb), kaṛā (circular steel or iron bracelet), kirpān (sword/dagger), and kacchera (special undergarment).[171] The Five Ks have both practical and symbolic purposes.[173] History Main article: History of Sikhism Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, was born in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talwandī, now called Nankana Sahib (in present-day Pakistan).[174] His parents were Punjabi Khatri Hindus.[175][176] According to the hagiography Puratan Janamsakhi composed more than two centuries after his death and probably based on oral tradition,[177] Nanak as a boy was fascinated by religion and spiritual matters, spending time with wandering ascetics and holy men.[178] His friend was Mardana, a Muslim. Together they would sing devotional songs all night in front of the public, and bathe in the river in the morning. One day, at the usual bath, Nanak went missing and his family feared he had drowned. Three days later he returned home, and declared: "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim" ("nā kōi hindū nā kōi musalmān"). Thereafter, Nanak started preaching his ideas that form the tenets of Sikhism. In 1526, Guru Nanak at age 50, started a small commune in Kartarpur and his disciples came to be known as Sikhs.[178] Although the exact account of his itinerary is disputed, hagiographic accounts state he made five major journeys, spanning thousands of miles: the first tour being east towards Bengal and Assam; the second south towards Andhra and Tamil Nadu; the third north to Kashmir, Ladakh, and Mount Sumeru[179] in Tibet; and the fourth to Baghdad.[180] In his last and final tour, he returned to the banks of the Ravi River to end his days.[181] There are two competing theories on Guru Nanak's teachings.[182] One, according to Cole and Sambhi, is based on hagiographical Janamsakhis,[183] and states that Nanak's teachings and Sikhism were a revelation from God, and not a social protest movement nor any attempt to reconcile Hinduism and Islam in the 15th century.[184] The other states that Nanak was a guru. According to Singha, "Sikhism does not subscribe to the theory of incarnation or the concept of prophethood. But it has a pivotal concept of Guru. He is not an incarnation of God, not even a prophet. He is an illumined soul."[185] The second theory continues that hagiographical Janamsakhis were not written by Nanak, but by later followers without regard for historical accuracy, and contain numerous legends and myths created to show respect for Nanak.[186] The term revelation, clarify Cole and Sambhi, in Sikhism is not limited to the teachings of Nanak, but is extended to all Sikh gurus, as well as the words of past, present and future men and women, who possess divine knowledge intuitively through meditation. The Sikh revelations include the words of non-Sikh bhagats, some who lived and died before the birth of Nanak, and whose teachings are part of the Sikh scriptures.[187] The Adi Granth and successive Sikh gurus repeatedly emphasised, states Mandair, that Sikhism is "not about hearing voices from God, but it is about changing the nature of the human mind, and anyone can achieve direct experience and spiritual perfection at any time".[182] Historical influences The roots of the Sikh tradition are, states Louis Fenech, perhaps in the Sant-tradition of India whose ideology grew to become the Bhakti tradition.[vii] Furthermore, adds Fenech:[188] Few Sikhs would mention these Indic texts and ideologies in the same breadth as the Sikh tradition, let alone trace elements of their tradition to this chronological and ideological point, despite the fact that the Indic mythology permeates the Sikh sacred canon, the Guru Granth Sahib, and the secondary canon, the Dasam Granth ... and adds delicate nuance and substance to the sacred symbolic universe of the Sikhs of today and of their past ancestors. The development of Sikhism was influenced by the Bhakti movement;[vi][vii][viii] and Vaishnava Hinduism.[189] however, Sikhism was not simply an extension of the Bhakti movement.[67][190] Sikhism developed while the region was being ruled by the Mughal Empire. Two of the Sikh Gurus, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, refused to convert to Islam and were tortured and executed by the Mughal rulers.[28][191] The Islamic era persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa, as an order for freedom of conscience and religion.[28][192][33] A Sikh is expected to embody the qualities of a "Sant-Sipāhī" – a saint-soldier.[34][35] Growth of Sikhism Guru Nanak explaining Sikh teachings to Sadhus After its inception, Sikhism grew as it gained converts among Hindus and Muslims in the Punjab region.[27][193][194][195] In 1539, Guru Nanak chose his disciple Lahiṇā as a successor to the Guruship rather than either of his sons. Lahiṇā was named Guru Angad and became the second Guru of the Sikhs.[196][197] Nanak conferred his choice at the town of Kartarpur on the banks of the river Ravi. Sri Chand, Guru Nanak's son was also a religious man, and continued his own commune of Sikhs. His followers came to be known as the Udasi Sikhs, the first parallel sect of Sikhism that formed in Sikh history.[198] The Udasis believe that the Guruship should have gone to Sri Chand, since he was a man of pious habits in addition to being Nanak's son.[198] Guru Angad, before joining Guru Nanak's commune, worked as a pujari (priest) and religious teacher centered around Hindu goddess Durga.[197][199] On Nanak's advice, Guru Angad moved from Kartarpur to Khadur, where his wife Khivi and children were living, until he was able to bridge the divide between his followers and the Udasis. Guru Angad continued the work started by Guru Nanak and is widely credited for standardising the Gurmukhī script as used in the sacred scripture of the Sikhs.[199] Guru Amar Das became the third Sikh Guru in 1552 at the age of 73. He adhered to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism for much of his life, before joining the commune of Guru Angad.[200][201] Goindval became an important centre for Sikhism during the Guruship of Guru Amar Das. He was a reformer, and discouraged veiling of women's faces (a Muslim custom) as well as sati (a Hindu custom).[202][203] He encouraged the Kshatriya people to fight in order to protect people and for the sake of justice, stating this is Dharma.[204] Guru Amar Das started the tradition of appointing manji (zones of religious administration with an appointed chief called sangatias),[200] introduced the dasvandh ("the tenth" of income) system of revenue collection in the name of Guru and as pooled community religious resource,[205] and the famed langar tradition of Sikhism where anyone, without discrimination of any kind, could get a free meal in a communal seating. The collection of revenue from Sikhs through regional appointees helped Sikhism grow.[200][206] Guru Amar Das named his disciple and son-in-law Jēṭhā as the next Guru, who came to be known as Guru Ram Das. The new Guru faced hostilities from the sons of Guru Amar Das and therefore shifted his official base to lands identified by Guru Amar Das as Guru-ka-Chak.[207] He moved his commune of Sikhs there and the place then was called Ramdaspur, after him. This city grew and later became Amritsar – the holiest city of Sikhism.[208] Guru Ram Das expanded the manji organization for clerical appointments in Sikh temples, and for revenue collections to theologically and economically support the Sikh movement.[207] In 1581, Guru Arjan – youngest son of Guru Ram Das, became the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. The choice of successor, as throughout most of the history of Sikh Guru successions, led to disputes and internal divisions among the Sikhs.[209] The elder son of Guru Ram Das named Prithi Chand is remembered in the Sikh tradition as vehemently opposing Guru Arjan, creating a faction Sikh community which the Sikhs following Guru Arjan called as Minas (literally, "scoundrels").[210][211] Guru Arjan is remembered in the Sikh for many things. He built the first Harimandir Sahib (later to become the Golden Temple). He was a poet and created the first edition of Sikh sacred text known as the Ādi Granth (literally "the first book") and included the writings of the first five Gurus and other enlightened 13 Hindu and 2 Muslim Sufi saints. In 1606, he was tortured and killed by the Mughal emperor Jahangir,[212] for refusing to convert to Islam.[213][28][214] His martyrdom is considered a watershed event in the history of Sikhism.[28][215] Political advancement After the martyrdom of Guru Arjan, his son Guru Hargobind at age eleven became the sixth Guru of the Sikhs, and Sikhism dramatically evolved to become a political movement in addition to being religious.[216] Guru Hargobind carried two swords, calling one spiritual and the other for temporal purpose (known as mīrī and pīrī in Sikhism).[217][self-published source] According to the Sikh tradition, Guru Arjan asked his son Hargobind to start a military tradition to protect the Sikh people and always keep himself surrounded by armed Sikhs. The building of an armed Sikh militia began with Guru Hargobind.[216] Guru Hargobind was soon arrested by the Mughals and kept in jail in Gwalior. It is unclear how many years he served in prison, with different texts stating it to be between 2 and 12.[218] He married three women, built a fort to defend Ramdaspur and created a formal court called Akal Takht, now the highest Khalsa Sikh religious authority.[219] In 1644, Guru Hargobind named his grandson Har Rai as the Guru. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan attempted political means to undermine the Sikh tradition, by dividing and influencing the succession.[220] The Mughal ruler gave land grants to Dhir Mal, a grandson of Guru Hargobind living in Kartarpur, and attempted to encourage Sikhs to recognise Dhir Mal as the rightful successor to Guru Hargobind.[220] Dhir Mal issued statements in favour of the Mughal state, and critical of his grandfather Guru Arjan. Guru Hargobind rejected Dhir Mal, the latter refused to give up the original version of the Adi Granth he had, and the Sikh community was divided.[220] Guru Har Rai is famed to have met Dara Shikoh during a time Dara Shikoh and his younger brother Aurangzeb were in a bitter succession fight. Aurangzeb summoned Guru Har Rai, who refused to go and sent his elder son Ram Rai instead.[221] The emperor found a verse in the Sikh scripture insulting to Muslims, and Ram Rai agreed it was a mistake then changed it. Ram Rai thus pleased Aurangzeb, but displeased Guru Har Rai who excommunicated his elder son. He nominated his younger son Guru Har Krishan to succeed him in 1661. Aurangzeb responded by granting Ram Rai a jagir (land grant). Ram Rai founded a town there and enjoyed Aurangzeb's patronage; the town came to be known as Dehradun, after Dehra referring to Ram Rai's shrine. Sikhs who followed Ram Rai came to be known as Ramraiya Sikhs.[221][222] However, according to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore)[223] Guru Har Krishan became the eighth Guru at the age of five, and died of smallpox before reaching the age of eight. No hymns composed by these three Gurus are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.[224] Guru Tegh Bahadur, the uncle of Guru Har Krishan, became Guru in 1665. Tegh Bahadur resisted the forced conversions of Kashmiri Pandits[225] and non-Muslims[226] to Islam, and was publicly beheaded in 1675 on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi for refusing to convert to Islam.[227][228] His beheading traumatized the Sikhs. His body was cremated in Delhi, the head was carried secretively by Sikhs and cremated in Anandpur. He was succeeded by his son, Gobind Rai, who militarised his followers by creating the Khalsa in 1699, and baptising the Pañj Piārē.[229] From then on, he was known as Guru Gobind Singh, and Sikh identity was redefined into a political force resisting religious persecution.[230] Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi. The long window under the marble platform is the location where Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed by the Mughals. Artistic rendering of the execution of Bhai Mati Das by the Mughals. This image is from a Sikh Ajaibghar near the towns of Mohali and Sirhind in Punjab, India. Sikh confederacy and the rise of the Khalsa Sculpture at Mehdiana Sahib of the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716 by the Mughals. Some bodyguards of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the Sikh capital, Lahore, Punjab. Guru Gobind Singh inaugurated the Khalsa (the collective body of all initiated Sikhs) as the Sikh temporal authority in the year 1699. It created a community that combines its spiritual purpose and goals with political and military duties.[231][16][127] Shortly before his death, Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed the Gurū Granth Sāhib (the Sikh Holy Scripture) to be the ultimate spiritual authority for the Sikhs.[232] The Sikh Khalsa's rise to power began in the 17th century during a time of growing militancy against Mughal rule. The creation of a Sikh Empire began when Guru Gobind Singh sent a Sikh general, Banda Singh Bahadur, to fight the Mughal rulers of India[233][self-published source] and those who had committed atrocities against Pir Buddhu Shah. Banda Singh advanced his army towards the main Muslim Mughal city of Sirhind and, following the instructions of the Guru, punished all the culprits. Soon after the invasion of Sirhind, while resting in his chamber after the Rehras prayer Guru Gobind Singh was stabbed by a Pathan assassin hired by Mughals. Gobind Singh killed the attacker with his sword. Though a European surgeon stitched the Guru's wound, the wound re-opened as the Guru tugged at a hard strong bow after a few days, causing profuse bleeding that led to Gobind Singh's death. After the Guru's death, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur became the commander-in-chief of the Khalsa.[234] He organised the civilian rebellion and abolished or halted the Zamindari system in time he was active and gave the farmers proprietorship of their own land.[235] Banda Singh was executed by the emperor Farrukh Siyar after refusing the offer of a pardon if he converted to Islam. The confederacy of Sikh warrior bands known as misls emerged, but these fought between themselves. Ranjit Singh achieved a series of military victories and created a Sikh Empire in 1799. The Sikh empire had its capital in Lahore, spread over almost 200,000 square miles (520,000 square kilometres) comprising what is now northwestern Indian subcontinent. The Sikh Empire entered into a treaty with the colonial British powers, with each side recognizing Sutlej River as the line of control and agreeing not to invade the other side.[236] Ranjit Singh's most lasting legacy was the restoration and expansion of the Harmandir Sahib, most revered Gurudwara of the Sikhs, with marble and gold, from which the popular name of the "Golden Temple" is derived.[237] After the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, the Sikh Empire fell into disorder. Ranjit Singh had failed to establish a lasting structure for Sikh government or stable succession, and the Sikh Empire rapidly declined after his death. Factions divided the Sikhs, and led to Anglo-Sikh wars. The British easily defeated the confused and demoralised Khalsa forces, then disbanded them into destitution.[238] The youngest son of Ranjit Singh, named Duleep Singh, ultimately succeeded, but he was arrested and exiled after the defeat of Sikh Khalsa.[239] Singh Sabha movement Main article: Singh Sabha Movement The Singh Sabha movement, a movement to revitalize Sikhism, also saw the resurgence of the Khalsa after their defeat by the British in the Anglo-Sikh wars,[240] and the subsequent decline and corruption of Sikh institutions during colonial rule, and the proselytization of other faith groups in the Punjab.[241][242] It was started in the 1870s, and after a period of interfactional rivalry, united under the Tat Khalsa to reinvigorate Sikh practice and institutions.[243] The last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Duleep Singh, converted to Christianity in 1853, a controversial but influential event in Sikh history. Along with his conversion, and after Sikh Empire had been dissolved and the region made a part of the colonial British Empire, proselytising activities of Christians, Brahmo Samajis, Arya Samaj, Muslim Anjuman-i-Islamia and Ahmadiyah sought to convert the Sikhs in northwestern Indian subcontinent into their respective faiths.[241][242] These developments launched the Singh Sabha Movement.[241][242] The first meeting of the movement was in the Golden Temple, Amritsar in 1873, and it was largely launched by the Sanatan Sikhs, Gianis, priests, and granthis.[244] Shortly thereafter, Nihang Sikhs began influencing the movement, followed by a sustained campaign by the Tat Khalsa, which had quickly gained dominance by the early 1880s.[243][245] The movement became a struggle between Sanatan Sikhs and Tat Khalsa in defining and interpreting Sikhism.[246][247][248] Sanatan Sikhs led by Khem Singh Bedi – who claimed to be a direct descendant of Guru Nanak, Avtar Singh Vahiria and others supported a more inclusive approach which considered Sikhism as a reformed tradition of Hinduism, while Tat Khalsa campaigned for an exclusive approach to the Sikh identity, disagreeing with Sanatan Sikhs and seeking to modernize Sikhism.[248][245][249] The Sikh Sabha movement expanded in north and northwest Indian subcontinent, leading to more than 100 Singh Sabhas.[248][246] By the early decades of the 20th century, the influence of Tat Khalsa increased in interpreting the nature of Sikhism and their control over the Sikh Gurdwaras.[248][246][245] The Tat Khalsa banished Brahmanical practices including the use of the yagna fire,[250][251] replaced by the Anand Karaj marriage ceremony in accordance with Sikh scripture, and the idols and the images of Sikh Gurus from the Golden Temple in 1905, traditions which had taken root during the administration of the mahants during the 1800s.[252] They undertook a sustained campaign to standardize how Sikh Gurdwaras looked and ran, while looking to Sikh scriptures and the early Sikh tradition[253] to purify the Sikh identity.[254] The spiritual successors of the Singh Sabha include the Akali movement of the 1920s, as well as the modern-day Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a gurdwara administration body, and the Akali Dal political party.[255] Partition of India Sikhs participated and contributed to the decades-long Indian independence movement from the colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century. Ultimately when the British Empire recognized independent India, the land was partitioned into Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan (East and West) in 1947. This event, states Banga, was a watershed event in Sikh history.[256][257] The Sikhs had historically lived in northwestern region of Indian subcontinent on both sides of the partition line ("Radcliffe Line"). According to Banga and other scholars, the Sikhs had strongly opposed the Muslim League demands and saw it as "perpetuation of Muslim domination" and anti-Sikh policies in what just a hundred years before was a part of the Sikh Empire. As such, Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as inviting possible persecution; the Sikhs largely thus strongly opposed the partition of India.[258] During the discussions with the colonial authorities, Tara Singh emerged as an important leader who campaigned to prevent the partition of colonial India and for the recognition of Sikhs as the third community.[256] When partition was announced, the newly created line divided the Sikh population into two halves. Along with the Hindus, the Sikhs suffered organized violence and riots against them in West Pakistan, and Sikhs moved en masse to the Indian side leaving behind their property and the sacred places of Sikhism.[259] This reprisals on Sikhs were not one sided, because as Sikhs entered the Indian side, the Muslims in East Punjab experienced reprisals and they moved to West Pakistan.[256][260] Before the partition, Sikhs constituted about 15% of the population in West Punjab that became a part of Pakistan, the majority being Muslims (55%). The Sikhs were the economic elite and wealthiest in West Punjab, with them having the largest representation in West Punjab's aristocracy, nearly 700 Gurdwaras and 400 educational institutions that served the interests of the Sikhs.[261] Prior to the partition, there were a series of disputes between the majority Muslims and minority Sikhs, such as on the matters of jhatka versus halal meat, the disputed ownership of Gurdwara Sahidganj in Lahore which Muslims sought as a mosque and Sikhs as a Gurdwara, and the insistence of the provincial Muslim government in switching from Indian Gurmukhi script to Arabic-Persian Nastaliq script in schools.[256] During and after the Simla Conference in June 1945, headed by Lord Wavell, the Sikh leaders initially expressed their desire to be recognized as the third party, but ultimately relegated their demands and sought a United India where Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims would live together, under a Swiss style constitution. The Muslim League rejected this approach, demanding that entire Punjab should be granted to Pakistan.[262] The Sikh leaders then sought the partition instead, and Congress Working Committee passed a resolution in support of partitioning Punjab and Bengal.[262][260] Sikh Light Infantry personnel march past during the Republic day parade in New Delhi, India Between March and August 1947, a series of riots, arson, plunder of Sikh and property, assassination of Sikh leaders, and killings in Jhelum districts, Rawalpindi, Attock and other places made Tara Singh call the situation in Punjab as "civil war", while Lord Mountbatten stated "civil war preparations were going on".[259] The riots had triggered the early waves of migration in April, with some 20,000 people leaving northwest Punjab and moving to Patiala.[263][257] In Rawalpindi, 40,000 people became homeless. The Sikh leaders made desperate petitions, but all religious communities were suffering in the political turmoil. Sikhs, states Banga, were "only 4 million out of a total of 28 million in Punjab, and 6 million out of nearly 400 million in India; they did not constitute the majority, not even in a single district".[263][264] When the partition line was formally announced in August 1947, the violence was unprecedented, with Sikhs being one of the most affected religious community both in terms of deaths, as well as property loss, injury, trauma and disruption.[265][260] Sikhs and Muslims were both victims and perpetrators of retaliatory violence against each other. Estimates range between 200,000 and 2 million deaths of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims.[265][260] There were numerous rapes of and mass suicides by Sikh women, they being taken captives, their rescues and above all a mass exodus of Sikhs from newly created Pakistan into newly independent India. The partition created the "largest foot convoy of refugees recorded in [human] history, stretching over 100 kilometer long", states Banga, with nearly 300,000 people consisting of mostly "distraught, suffering, injured and angry Sikhs". Sikh and Hindu refugees from Pakistan flooded into India, Muslim refugees from India flooded into Pakistan, each into their new homeland.[265][264] Khalistan Sikhs in London protesting against the Indian government In 1940, a few Sikhs such as the victims of Komagata Maru in Canada proposed the idea of Khalistan as a buffer state between an independent India and what would become Pakistan.[261] These leaders, however, were largely ignored.[256][257] The early 1980s witnessed some Sikh groups seeking an independent nation named Khalistan carved out from India and Pakistan. The Golden Temple and Akal Takht were occupied by various militant groups in 1982. These included the Dharam Yudh Morcha led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Babbar Khalsa, the AISSF and the National Council of Khalistan.[266] Between 1982 and 1983, there were Anandpur Resolution demand-related terrorist attacks against civilians in parts of India.[267] By late 1983, the Bhindranwale led group had begun to build bunkers and observations posts in and around the Golden Temple, with militants involved in weapons training.[266] In June 1984, the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi ordered Indian Army to begin Operation Blue Star against the militants.[266] The fierce engagement took place in the precincts of Darbar Sahib and resulted in many deaths, including Bhindranwale, the destruction of the Sikh Reference Library, which was considered a national treasure that contained over a thousand rare manuscripts,[268] and destroyed Akal Takht. Numerous soldiers, civilians and militants died in the cross fire. Within days of the Operation Bluestar, some 2,000 Sikh soldiers in India mutinied and attempted to reach Amritsar to liberate the Golden Temple.[266] Within six months, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards Satwant and Beant Singh assassinated her. The assassination triggered the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.[267] According to Donald Horowitz, while anti-Sikh riots led to much damage and deaths, many serious provocations by militants also failed to trigger ethnic violence in many cases throughout the 1980s. The Sikhs and their neighbors, for most part, ignored attempts to provoke riots and communal strife.[267] Sikh people Main article: Sikh Sikhs in India[269] State/UT Percentage Punjab 58% Chandigarh 13.1% Haryana 4.9% Delhi 3.4% Uttarakhand 2.3% Jammu and Kashmir 1.9% Rajasthan 1.3% Himachal Pradesh 1.2% Estimates state that Sikhism has some 25-30 million followers worldwide.[viii][270] But however according to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore) Sahajdhari or non-khalsa Nanakpanthi Sikhs across the world who also believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib.[10][11][12] According to Pew Research, a religion demographics and research group in Washington DC, "more than nine-in-ten Sikhs are in India, but there are also sizable Sikh communities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada."[271] Within India, the Sikh population is found in every state and union territory, but it is predominantly found in the northwestern and northern states. Only in the state of Punjab do Sikhs constitute a majority (58% of the total, per 2011 census).[269] The states and union territories of India where Sikhs constitute more than 1.5% of its population are Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir.[269] Forming 4.7% of the total population, the western Canadian province of British Columbia is home to over 200,000 Sikhs and is the only province (or similar major subnational division) in the world outside India with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the population.[272][273] Sikhism was founded in northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent in what is now Pakistan. Some of the Gurus were born near Lahore and in other parts of Pakistan. Prior to 1947, in British India, millions of Sikhs lived in what later became Pakistan. During the partition, Sikhs and Hindus left the newly created Muslim-majority Pakistan and mostly moved to Hindu-majority India — with some moving to Muslim-majority Afghanistan[274]) — while numerous Muslims in India moved to Pakistan.[275][276] According to 2017 news reports, only about 20,000 Sikhs remain in Pakistan, and their population is dwindling (0.01% of the country's estimated 200 million population).[277][278] Sikh sects Main article: Sects of Sikhism Sikh sects are sub-traditions within Sikhism that believe in an alternate lineage of gurus, or have a different interpretation of the Sikh scriptures, or believe in following a living guru, or hold other concepts that differ from the orthodox Khalsa Sikhs.[279][280] The major historic sects of Sikhism have included Udasi, Nirmala, Nanakpanthi, Khalsa, Sahajdhari, Namdhari Kuka, Nirankari, and Sarvaria.[281] Namdhari Sikhs, also called the Kuka Sikhs are a sect of Sikhism known for their crisp white dress and horizontal pagari (turban).[282][168] Above: Namdhari singer and musicians. The early Sikh sects were Udasis and Minas founded by Sri Chand – the elder son of Guru Nanak, and Prithi Chand – the elder son of Guru Ram Das respectively, in parallel to the official succession of the Sikh Gurus. Later on Ramraiya sect grew in Dehradun with the patronage of Aurangzeb.[283] Many splintered Sikh communities formed during the Mughal Empire era. Some of these sects were financially and administratively supported by the Mughal rulers in the hopes of gaining a more favorable and compliant citizenry.[280][283] After the collapse of Mughal Empire, and particularly during the rule of Ranjit Singh, Udasi Sikhs protected Sikh shrines, preserved the Sikh scripture and rebuilt those that were desecrated or destroyed during the Muslim–Sikh wars. However, Udasi Sikhs kept idols and images inside these Sikh temples.[198][284] In the 19th century, Namdharis and Nirankaris sects were formed in Sikhism, seeking to reform and return to what each believed was the pure form of Sikhism.[248][246][247] All these sects differ from Khalsa orthodox Sikhs in their beliefs and practices, such as continuing to solemnize their weddings around fire and being strictly vegetarian.[282][168] Many accept the concept of living Gurus such as Guru Baba Dyal Singh. The Nirankari sect, though unorthodox, was influential in shaping the views of Tat Khalsa and the contemporary-era Sikh beliefs and practices.[285][286] Another significant Sikh sect of the 19th century was the Radhasoami movement in Punjab led by Baba Shiv Dyal.[287] Other contemporary era Sikhs sects include the 3HO, formed in 1971, which exists outside India, particularly in North America and Europe.[287][288][289] Sikh castes Nagar Kirtan in Bangalore According to Surinder Jodhka, the state of Punjab with a Sikh majority has the "largest proportion of scheduled caste population in India". Although decried by Sikhism, Sikhs have practiced a caste system. The system, along with untouchability, has been more common in rural parts of Punjab. The landowning dominant Sikh castes, states Jodhka, "have not shed all their prejudices against the lower castes or dalits; while dalits would be allowed entry into the village gurdwaras they would not be permitted to cook or serve langar." The Sikh dalits of Punjab have tried to build their own gurdwara, other local level institutions and sought better material circumstances and dignity. According to Jodhka, due to economic mobility in contemporary Punjab, castes no longer mean an inherited occupation, nor are work relations tied to a single location.[290] In 1953, the government of India acceded to the demands of the Sikh leader, Master Tara Singh, to include Sikh dalit castes in the list of scheduled castes.[291] In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[291] Over 60% of Sikhs belong to the Jat caste, which is an agrarian caste. Despite being very small in numbers, the mercantile Khatri and Arora castes wield considerable influence within the Sikh community. Other common Sikh castes include Sainis, Ramgarhias (artisans), Ahluwalias (formerly brewers), Kambojs (rural caste), Labanas, Kumhars and the two Dalit castes, known in Sikh terminology as the Mazhabis (the Chuhras) and the Ravidasias (the Chamars).[292] Sikh diaspora Further information: Sikhism in India, Sikh diaspora, and Sikhism by country Sikhs celebrating Vaisakhi in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Sikhism is the fourth-largest amongst the medium-sized world religions, and one of the youngest.[293][294][295] Worldwide, there are 30 million Sikhs, which makes up 0.4% of the world's population. Approximately 75% of Sikhs live in Punjab, where they constitute over 60% of the state's population. Large communities of Sikhs migrate to the neighboring states such as Indian State of Haryana which is home to the second largest Sikh population in India with 1.1 million Sikhs as per 2001 census, and large immigrant communities of Sikhs can be found across India. However, Sikhs only comprise about 2% of the Indian population.[296] Sikh migration to Canada began in the 19th century and led to the creation of significant Sikh communities, predominantly in South Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia, and Brampton, Ontario. Today temples, newspapers, radio stations, and markets cater to these large, multi-generational Indo-Canadian groups. Sikh festivals such as Vaisakhi and Bandi Chhor are celebrated in those Canadian cities by the largest groups of followers in the world outside the Punjab. Sikhs also migrated to East Africa, West Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. These communities developed as Sikhs migrated out of Punjab to fill in gaps in imperial labour markets.[297] In the early twentieth century a significant community began to take shape on the west coast of the United States. Smaller populations of Sikhs are found within many countries in Western Europe, Pakistan, Mauritius, Malaysia, Philippines, Fiji, Nepal, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Singapore, United States, and many other countries. Prohibitions in Sikhism Further information: Prohibitions in Sikhism and Diet in Sikhism Some major prohibitions include: Hair removal - Cutting or removing hair from any body part is strictly forbidden including shaving or trimming facial and nostril hairs for both Amritdhari (formally baptized) and Keshdhari (non-baptized and practicing) Sikhs. Intoxication: Consumption of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other intoxicants is not allowed for Amritdhari Sikhs and Keshdhari Sikhs. Drugs and tobacco are forbidden for all.[298][299][300] Cannabis is generally prohibited, but ritually consumed in edible form by some Sikhs.[301][302] Gambling:- Gambling, also called jooa in traditional Indian languages,[clarification needed] be it in any form like lottery, roulette, poker, American or British bingo, is prohibited in some codes of conduct, such as the Sikh Rehat Maryada. Hereditary priest - Sikhism does not have priests, as they were abolished by Guru Gobind Singh (the 10th Guru of Sikhism).[303] The only position he left was a Granthi to look after the Guru Granth Sahib; any Sikh is free to become Granthi or read from the Guru Granth Sahib.[303] Adultery-[298][299][304][305] See also Mai Bhago Five Virtues Hari Singh Nalwa Indian religions Bebe Nanaki Turban training centre Women in the Guru Granth Sahib Notes Sikhs (/siːk/ or /sɪk/; Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ, sikkh, [sɪkkʰ]) are people associated with Sikhism, a monotheistic religion originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak.[30] The term Sikh has its origin in the word śiṣya (शिष्य), meaning 'disciple' or 'student'.[31][32] Male Sikhs generally have Singh ('lion') as their middle or last name, though not all Singhs are necessarily Sikhs; likewise, female Sikhs have Kaur ('princess') as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the Khanḍe-kī-Pahul ('baptism by Khanda') which is an initiation ceremony known as Amrit are from the day of their initiation known as Khalsa Amritdhari Sikhs, and they must at all times have on their bodies five Ks: kesh, uncut hair, which is kept covered usually by a dastār, also known as a turban; kara, an iron or steel bracelet; kirpan, a dagger-like sword tucked into a gatra strap or a kamal kasar belt; kachera, a cotton undergarment; and kanga, a small wooden comb. The Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent has been the historic homeland of the Sikhs, having even been ruled by the Sikhs for significant parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the Punjab state in northwest India has a majority Sikh population, and sizeable communities of Sikhs exist around the world. Many countries, such as the United Kingdom, recognize Sikhs as a designated religion on their censuses,[33] and, as of 2020, Sikhs are considered as a separate ethnic group in the United States.[34] Contents 1 History 1.1 British rule in India 1.2 Partition and post-Partition 2 Culture and religious observations 2.1 Daily routine 2.2 Five Ks 2.3 Music and instruments 3 Demographics 3.1 Migration 3.2 Castes 3.3 3HO 3.4 Diaspora 4 Agriculture 5 Sikhs in modern history 6 In the Indian and British armies 7 Sikh nationalism and the Khalistan movement 8 Art and culture 8.1 Painting 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 11.1 Citations 11.2 Sources 12 Further reading 13 External links History Main article: History of Sikhism Gurdwara Janam Asthan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, was born to Mehta Kalu and Mata Tripta in the village of Talwandi, present-day Nankana Sahib, near Lahore.[35] Throughout his life, Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer. However, Sikh political history may be said to begin in 1606 with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev.[36] Religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699, when the Guru initiated five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare ("beloved five") to form a collective body of initiated Sikhs, known as the Khalsa ("pure").[37] During the rule of the Mughal Empire in India (1556–1707), several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities, including Sikhs.[38] The Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule.[citation needed] The Samadhi of Emperor Ranjit Singh in Lahore, Pakistan The Golden Temple Metal helmet in a museum A Sikh Khalsa Army sowar's battle helmet After defeating the Afghans and Mughals, sovereign states called Misls were formed under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Confederacy of these states would be unified and transformed into the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bahadur. This era would be characterised by religious tolerance and pluralism, including Christians, Muslims, and Hindus in positions of power. Its secular administration implemented military, economic, and governmental reforms. The empire is considered the zenith of political Sikhism,[39] encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh, and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army in the northwest Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. British rule in India Sikh armour and weapons After the annexation of the Sikh kingdom by the British, the British Army began recruiting significant numbers of Sikhs and Punjabis.[citation needed] During the 1857 Indian mutiny, the Sikhs stayed loyal to the British, resulting in heavy recruitment from Punjab to the British Indian Army for the next 90 years of the British Raj in colonial India.[40] The distinct turban that differentiates a Sikh from other turban wearers is a relic of the rules of the British Indian Army.[41] The British colonial rule saw the emergence of many reform movements in India, including Punjab, such as the formation of the First and Second Singh Sabha in 1873 and 1879 respectively. The Sikh leaders of the Singh Sabha worked to offer a clear definition of Sikh identity and tried to purify Sikh belief and practice.[42] The later years of British colonial rule saw the emergence of the Akali movement to bring reform in the gurdwaras during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, which placed all the historical Sikh shrines in India under the control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.[43] Partition and post-Partition At the time of the Indian independence movement, the Sikh ruler of the Kapurthala State fought to oppose the partition of India and advocated for a united, secular country.[44] Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as inviting possible persecution; the Sikhs largely thus strongly fought against the partition of India.[45] The months leading up to the 1947 partition of India were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims.[46] This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab to the east (modern India), mirroring a simultaneous religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab to the west (modern Pakistan).[47] The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in independent India,[48] with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjabi state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence.[49] The modern Punjab state carved out of the former East Punjab province now has a population in which the majority of the people follow Sikhism; the people in the areas of what is now Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, both of which were included in the East Punjab province, mostly follow Hinduism. In 1966, on the first of November, Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Punjab and Haryana. Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale triggered violence in Punjab, resulting in then-prime minister Indira Gandhi ordering an operation to remove Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star. This would subsequently lead to Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.[50] Her assassination would be followed by an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity.[51] During the day of Vaisakhi in 1999, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the anniversary. Likewise, on 9 April 1999 Indian president K. R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa as well.[52] In 2004, Manmohan Singh became the first Sikh Prime Minister of India, and the first Sikh Head of government in the world. Culture and religious observations According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada ('code of conduct'), a Sikh is:[53] Any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; eleven gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the 6 Gurus, 15 bhagats, 11 bhatts, 4 Gursikhs and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru. Daily routine From the Guru Granth Sahib:[54] One who calls themself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, he is to chant the Name of the Lord, "Har, Har." All sins, misdeeds, and negativity shall be then erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, he is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, he is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food and – that GurSikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that GurSikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that GurSikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it. — Fourth Mehl (Guru Ram Das), Guru Granth Sahib, p. 305 Five Ks Main articles: The Five Ks, Khalsa, and Sahajdhari Wooden comb, iron bracelet and curved, gold-coloured dagger Kanga, Kara and Kirpan: three of the five Sikh articles of faith The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized (Amritdhari) Sikhs are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on Waheguru, and never bowing to tyranny.[55] The five symbols are: Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a dastar Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a dastar to always also keep one's hair clean and well-groomed. Kachera: Cotton undergarments, worn by both sexes; the kachera is a symbol of chastity, also historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Kara: An iron bracelet, a symbol of eternity, strength, and a constant reminder of the strength of will to keep hands away from any kind of unethical practices. Kirpan: An iron sword/dagger in different sizes. In the UK, Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in Punjab, they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length. Kirpan is only a weapon of defense, used to serve humanity and to be used against oppression. Music and instruments Woman in yellow scarf bowing an instrument Woman playing the dilruba Main article: Sikh music The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments, including the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori, and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged by Guru Hargobind. The rebab was played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were introduced to Sikh devotional music by Guru Arjan. The taus (Persian for "peacock") was designed by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds. The dilruba was designed by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabad in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as raags. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet. When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit nagara ("victory drum") to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the Singhs were on their way. Demographics Main article: Sikh diaspora Yellow bar graph India's Sikh population and their percentage of the total population Sikhs number about 25-30 million worldwide and out of that, nearly 22-28 million, lives in India which represent about (73.3%-93.3%) of the world's Sikh population.[56][57][58][59][60] About 76% of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, forming the majority (about two-thirds) of the population.[61] Also, According to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore) Sahajdhari or non-khalsa Nanakpanthis across the world who also believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib.[62][63][64] There is no data available for specific number of Guru Nanak followers country-wise till now, but however they have been estimated to be around 140 million in India, nearly 8 lakhs in Pakistan and of the order of 150 million throughout the world.[65][66][67] Karnail Singh Panjoli, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, says that there are several communities within the term ‘Nanakpanthis’ too. Apart from Sindhi Hindus, “There are groups like Sikhligarh, Vanjaarey, Nirmaley, Lubaney, Johri, Satnamiye, Udaasiyas, Punjabi Hindus etc who call themselves Nanakpanthis despite being Hindus. They along with Bhagavad gita follow Nanak and Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Within India, they are spread across states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana among others,”.[68] Substantial communities of Sikhs live in the Indian states or union territories of Chandigarh where they form 13.11% of the population, Haryana (over 1.2 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.[69] Another substantial community of Sikhs exists within the Canadian province of British Columbia, numbering 0.2 million or 5% of the total population; outside India, it is the only province or state in the world with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the populace.[70][71] Migration Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab.[47] The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire.[47] During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972.[72] Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. Due to this, Canada is the country, other than India, that has the highest number of Sikhs in proportion to the population in the world at 1.4 per cent of Canada's total population.[73] Coloured world map Map showing world Sikh population areas and historical migration patterns (2004 estimate)[74] After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sikhs from what would become the Punjab of Pakistan migrated to India as well as to Afghanistan in fear of persecution. Afghanistan was home to hundreds of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus as of the 1970s, but due to the wars in Afghanistan by the 2010s the vast majority of Afghan Sikhs had migrated to India, Pakistan or the west.[75][76][77] Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK becoming "virtually impossible since the late 1970s," migration patterns evolved to continental Europe.[78] Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration,[79] with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters.[80] Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools, and horticulture.[81] Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7% per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths, and conversions. Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001).[82] The Sikh population has the lowest gender balance in India, with only 903 women per 1,000 men according to the 2011 Indian census.[83] It is estimated that world's Sikh population is 30 million in 2020, and will reach 42 million by 2050 and will increase up to 62 million by 2100, given the expected growth rate of 1.7% per year and adding at least 400,000 followers annually.[84][82] Castes Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. Caste is still practiced in the Sikh community, despite Guru Nanak's calls for treating everyone equally in Sri Granth Sahib.[85][note 1] As such, Sikhs comprise a number of sub-ethnic groups. Along with Guru Nanak, other Sikh Gurus had also denounced the hierarchy of the caste system, however, they all belonged to the same caste, the Khatris.[89] Most Sikhs belong to the Jat ( Jatt), traditionally agrarian in occupation.[90] Despite being very small in numbers, the Khatri and Arora (kshatriyas) castes also wield considerable influence within the Sikh community. Other common Sikh castes include Ahluwalias (brewers), Kambojs or Kambos (rural caste), Ramgarhias (artisans), Brahman(Mohyal)Rajputs (kshatriyas), Sainis (kshatriyas/agrarian), Rai Sikh (rural caste), Labanas (merchants), and Kumhars, as well as the two Dalit castes known in Sikh terminology as the Mazhabi and the Ravidasias.[91] Some Sikhs belonging to the landowning dominant castes have especially not shed all their prejudices against the Dalits. While Dalits would be allowed entry into the village gurdwaras but in some gurdwaras they would not be permitted to cook or serve langar (communal meal). Therefore, wherever they could mobilize resources, the Sikh Dalits of Punjab have tried to construct their own gurdwara and other local level institutions in order to attain a certain degree of cultural autonomy.[85] In 1953, Sikh leader and activist, Master Tara Singh, succeeded in persuading the Indian government to include Sikh castes of the converted untouchables in the list of scheduled castes.[92] In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[92] Other castes (over 1,000 members) include the Arain, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba (cotton farmers), Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kumhar, Lohar, Mahtam, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Ramgarhia, Sansi, Sudh, Tarkhan, and Kashyap. 3HO The 3HO organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism.[93] In 1998, an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as gora (ਗੋਰਾ, 'white') Sikhs,[94] were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Diaspora Large, ornate white building against a blue sky A Sikh temple, Nanaksar Gurudwara, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa,[95] the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.[96] There was a large Sikh immigration to Canada. While Sikhs were temporarily disenfranchised several decades ago, currently 17 of the 338 Canadian legislators are Sikhs, which is disproportionately higher than their share of the total Canadian population.[97] Large group of Sikh men and women on a city street Sikhs in Toronto celebrating Vaisakhi, which marks the new year the birth of the Khalsa for the Sikhs As Sikhs wear turbans and keep beards (among other physical similarities to Middle Eastern men), Sikh men in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim, Arabic, and/or Afghan since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War.[98][99] Several days after the 9/11 attacks, Sikh-American gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered in Arizona by a man who took Sodhi to be a member of al-Qaeda, marking the first recorded hate-crime in America motivated by 9/11. CNN would go on to suggest an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the US and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.[98][99] In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations exist. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the US and Canada. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, and UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82%) of any religious community.[100] UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest religious group in the UK (after the Jewish community), with a median total household wealth of GB£229,000.[101] In May 2019, the UK government exempted "Kirpan" from the list of banned knives. The U.K. government has passed an amendment by which Sikhs in the country will be allowed to carry kirpans and use it during religious and cultural functions. The bill had been amended late last year to ensure that it would not impact the right of the British Sikh community to possess and supply kirpans, or religious swords.[102][103] Similarly, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.[104] Agriculture Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 per cent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture.[105] Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 per cent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector.[106] According to the Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat and Kamboj or Kamboh, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial."[107] However, Indian physicist Vandana Shiva[108] wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth. Sikhs in modern history Main article: List of Sikhs Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist, academic, and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The first Sikh in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. In the United States, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, was born and raised as a Sikh, but converted to Christianity after her marriage. She still actively attends both Sikh and Christian services.[109] Notable Sikhs in science include nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill, who worked on the Manhattan Project[citation needed]; fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany; and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh. In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based JASPAL[110] were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs.[111] Apollo Tyres is headed by Onkar Singh Kanwar. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings,[112] into total assets of almost US$1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. Mastercard CEO was a Sikh named Ajaypal Singh Banga In sports, Sikhs include England cricketer Monty Panesar; former 400-metre runner Milkha Singh; his son, professional golfer Jeev Milkha Singh; Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh; former Indian hockey team captains Sandeep Singh, Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr.; former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi; Harbhajan Singh, India's most successful off spin cricket bowler; Yuvraj Singh, World Cup winning allrounder; Maninder Singh, World Cup winning off spinner; and Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Indian cricketer-turned-politician. Sikhs in Bollywood, in the arts in general, include poet and lyricist Rajkavi Inderjeet Singh Tulsi; Gulzar; Jagjit Singh; Dharmendra; Sunny Deol; writer Khushwant Singh; actresses Neetu Singh, Simran Judge, Poonam Dhillon, Mahi Gill, Esha Deol, Parminder Nagra, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral; and directors Gurinder Chadha and Parminder Gill. Sikhs in Punjabi Music industry include Gurdas Maan, Diljit Dosanjh, Kuldeep Manak and Babu Singh Maan. Postcard of marching Sikhs with rifles French postcard depicting the arrival of the 15th Sikh Regiment in France during World War I; the bilingual postcard reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten the German hooligans" See caption Japanese soldiers shooting blindfolded Sikh prisoners In the Indian and British armies Main article: Sikhs in the British Indian Army According to a 1994 estimate, Punjabis (Sikhs and non-Sikhs) comprised 10 to 15% of all ranks in the Indian Army. The Indian government does not release religious or ethnic origins of the military personnel, but a 1991 report by Tim McGirk estimated that 20% of Indian Army officers were Sikhs.[113] Together with the Gurkhas recruited from Nepal, the Maratha Light Infantry from Maharashtra and the Jat Regiment, the Sikhs are one of the few communities to have exclusive regiments in the Indian Army.[113] The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army,[114] with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses,[115] 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross),[116] 15 Theatre Honours, 5 COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 5 Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras, and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh.[117] Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.[118] Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[119] By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 per cent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses (VC) were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record.[115] In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates[120] on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace.[121] Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial. During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.[122] Sikh nationalism and the Khalistan movement The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistān ("The Land of the Khalsa") in the Punjab region of South Asia to serve as a homeland for Sikhs.[123] The territorial definition of the proposed country Khalistan consists of both the Punjab, India, along with Punjab, Pakistan, and includes parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.[124][125][126] Khalistan movement began as an expatriate venture.[127] In 1971, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in an advertisement published in the New York Times by an expat [Jagjit Singh Chohan].[128] By proclaiming the formation of Khalistan he was able to collect millions of dollars from the Sikh diaspora.[129] On 12 April 1980 he declared the formation of "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur Sahib.[130] He declared himself as the President of the council, and named Balbir Singh Sandhu as its Secretary General. In May 1980, Chohan traveled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Balbir Singh Sandhu in Amritsar, where he began releasing stamps and currency of Khalistan. The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried by the Akali Dal, headed by the Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal, as a political stunt by the Congress(I) party of Indira Gandhi.[131] Sikhs in London protesting against Indian government actions With the financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora, the movement flourished in Indian state of Punjab, which has a Sikh-majority population and reached its zenith in the late 1970s and 1980s when the secessionist movement caused large scale violence among the local population. Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab.[132] In July 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harchand Singh Longowal had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in Golden Temple Complex, Akal Thakt.[133][134] Bhindranwale later on made the sacred temple complex an armoury and headquarters.[135] In the violent events leading up to the Operation Blue Star since the inception of Akali Dharm Yudh Morcha, the militants had killed 165 Hindus and Nirankaris, even 39 Sikhs opposed to Bhindranwale were killed. The total number of deaths was 410 in violent incidents and riots while 1,180 people were injured.[136] Casualty figures for the Army were 83 dead and 249 injured.[137] According to the official estimate presented by the Indian government, 1592 were apprehended and there were 493 combined militant and civilian casualties.[138] The attack took place on a gurpurb, and thousands of pilgrims had arrived from across the country to observe the anniversary of Guru Arjan's martyrdom. The Indian government alleges the militants used pilgrims as human shields, hence the high civilian casualties. However, independent sources have confirmed that Indian forces allowed thousands of pilgrims into the complex before the attack, and then did not let any of them leave once the raid began.[139] 8 months later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her 2 Sikh body guards in retaliation for Operation Bluestar. In the immediate aftermath, thousands of Sikh civilians were killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In June 1985, Air India Flight 182 was bombed by Babbar Khalsa, a pro-Khalistani terrorist organization.[140] In January 1986, the Golden Temple was occupied by militants belonging to All India Sikh Students Federation and Damdami Taksal.[141] On 26 January 1986, a gathering known as the Sarbat Khalsa (a de facto parliament) passed a resolution (gurmattā) favouring the creation of Khalistan. Subsequently, a number of rebel militant groups in favour of Khalistan waged a major insurgency against the government of India. Indian security forces suppressed the insurgency in the early 1990s, but Sikh political groups such as the Khalsa Raj Party and SAD (A) continued to pursue an independent Khalistan through non-violent means.[142][143][144] Pro-Khalistan organisations such as Dal Khalsa (International) are also active outside India, supported by a section of the Sikh diaspora.[145] In the 1990s the insurgency petered out,[146] and the movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on separatists, divisions among the Sikhs and loss of support from the Sikh population.[147] However, various pro-Khalistan groups, both political and militant, remain committed to the separatist movement. There are claims of funding from Sikhs outside India to attract young people into militant groups.[148] Art and culture Main articles: Sikh art and culture and Punjabi culture Intricate design Opaque watercolour-on-paper Nakashi art; about 1880, by an unknown artist from Lahore or Amritsar, and used to decorate the walls of Harmandir Sahib Large building on the water Darbar Sahib, circa 1870 Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). Punjab has been called India's melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak's creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".[149] The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".[150] During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries,[151] the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.[152] The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places), and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters, and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar. Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts—except for the relics of the Gurus—have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor. Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon that can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen.[153] The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra, and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (The Singh Twins)[154] is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in Punjab. Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").[155] Painting Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars. The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.
Page 1 of 4 Congressman from India: The Remarkable Story of Dalip Singh Saund What we would like is not to be considered foreigners or strangers at all, but to be accepted by Americans as friends. . . . We would like to be merely members of the family and not feel we are strangers or foreigners. D.S. Saund In 1956, Dalip Singh Saund, a lettuce farmer in Imperial Valley and local judge, originally from India, ran against Jacqueline Cochran Odlum, a world famous aviator, winner of many aviation prizes, leader of women aviators during World War II, and wife of a multimillionaire, for Congress from the 29th District of California. And he won by 3,300 votes—the first Indian and Asian to be elected to the United States Congress. He narrates his eventful life in his autobiography Congressman from India (1960), which offers a fascinating account of post-War California on the edge of dramatic transformation and just before the great migrations from Asia and other parts of the world. Saund was born in Amritsar, India, in 1899 during the British Raj, received his undergraduate education in India. After graduating from the University of Punjab (A.B., 1919), he came to the United States in 1920 to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1922 receiving M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He settled down as a lettuce farmer in the Imperial Valley of California in 1930 and became a citizen of the United States in 1949. Elected as a judge of the Justice Court, Westmorland Judicial District, Imperial County, he served from 1952-1957. He was elected as a Democrat Congressman to the Eighty-fifth, Eighty-sixth, and Eighty-seventh Congresses (January 3, 1957-January 3, 1963). His life, public service, and achievements are a remarkable chapter in the richly varied history of this global village called California and provide a fascinating insight into the ongoing narrative of diversity, assimilation, and coexistence that informs the very fiber of California culture and society. In the last several decades, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the Chinese and Japanese immigrants in California—understandably so. Stories like that of Saund reveal that Indians from India have also played an important role in the development of California and have enriched the life of the state but have not received the same attention. Such a study is therefore necessary and timely. This research project is only the first step towards a more detailed and comprehensive study of the role and contributions of Indians in California. In this project, I will focus only on the life and career of Dalip Singh Saund. Page 2 of 4 For this project, I propose to study Saund’s autobiography, the Congressional Record, local newspapers, and histories of southern California to learn about his life and achievements and about the relationships among some of the prominent ethnic groups during Saund’s professional and public life. This research will lead to the following tangible and specific results: 1. A unit on the role of Indians in the culture of California in the Literature of California course (English 9) that I regularly teach. 2. Revision of the unit on Indians in American culture in the Asian American Literature course (English 41), the next time I offer the course. 3. A database of Indian-Americans, like Saund, who have played a significant role in the culture of California. This database will be the foundation of a website on Indian-Americans in California that I plan to create for students and the general public. This research project will proceed according to the following schedule. Winter 2018: Objective 1: Overview and Review Activity 1: Re-read Saund’s autobiography and compile a working bibliography of primary and secondary sources, including Karen Leonard’s Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican Americans (1992) and Jayasri Majumdar Hart’s Roots in the Sand (2000). Spring 2018: Objective 2: Study Saund’s life—professional and public. (FebruaryApril) Activity 2.1: Take detailed notes from his autobiography; websites, such as www.saund.org and www.pbs.org/roots in the sand. Activity 2.2: Read and take additional notes about his career as a judge and his congressional campaign and career in newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, and in historical records of southern California available at the Huntington Library and in the public records of the city of Westmorland, CA. Objective 3: More study of the historical context and preparation of a lesson plan (April-May) Activity 3.1: Continuing to read histories of some of the ethnic groups of southern California. Activity 3.2: Preparation of a one or two-week unit on Saund and Asian Indians in southern California for use in my Literature of California course (English 9). Page 3 of 4 Activity 3.3 (June-July): Preparation of presentations on this subject to professional organizations (local and statewide) and the report to be submitted to the Sabbaticals and Fellowships Committee. Revision of the unit on Indians in the Asian American Literature course (English 41). Fall 2018-: Compiling the database of Indian-Americans who have played a significant role and beginning work on the creation of the website. 2. Benefits to Students: I regularly teach a course in Literature of California that transfers to UC, CSU, and other colleges. A historical survey of the literature of California from indigenous beginnings to the 1970s, the course does pay attention to the various ethnic groups who have made significant contributions to California culture, especially in the decades before and after World War II. Thus, this study will be directly relevant to the curriculum and will open a fascinating window into a relatively neglected area of California culture. In addition, my study of primary and archival materials will provide interesting lessons about research methodology for my students in English 1, which I also regularly teach. As a result, this research will satisfy the following three ILOs: The students will acquire the self-confidence and self-discipline to pursue their intellectual curiosities with integrity in both their personal and professional lives. Obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to access, evaluate, and interpret ideas, images, and information critically in order to communicate effectively, reach conclusions, and solve problems. Respect the inter-relatedness of the global environment, engage with diverse peoples, and acknowledge the significance of their daily actions relative to broader issues and events 3. Sharing the research with the SMC community: I plan to present my findings and share the story of Dalip Singh Saund with students and colleagues in a lecture during the Activity Hour on a Tuesday or Thursday in Fall 2018 or Spring 2019. I am also willing to visit any classes to discuss my research if any of my colleagues would like me to. Thus, the project is consistent with one of the Supporting Goals of the institution: Innovative and Responsive Academic Environment Page 4 of 4 Continuously develop curricular programs, learning strategies, and services to meet the evolving needs of students and the community. 4. Documenting and disseminating the research: I would like to present my research in talks to professional organizations (local and statewide) as well as to community groups organized by local public libraries. In addition, I hope to write a short article on Saund for popular magazines, such as Los Angeles Magazine. An important goal is to compile a database of significant Indian-Americans in California, such as Dalip Singh Saund and Bhagat Singh Thind, and create a website to make information about their role in and contributions to California history and culture available to students and the general public. On September 27, 2014, an estimated crowd of 19,000 Indian Americans filled Madison Square Garden in New York City.1 The crowd that assembled were not necessarily NBA fans of the New York Knicks or NHL afficionados of the New York Rangers. Instead, they arrived at the venue for a political event very much out of the ordinary – an address by the then Indian Prime Ministerelect, Narendra Modi. Old and young, Indian-born and U.S. born, the crowd had travelled from all corners of the nation to hear the new Indian Prime Minister speak. Also, among those gathered to see Modi were Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and the Democratic senators from New Jersey, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, but also the then Indian American Republican Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley and numerous other members of Congress from both sides of the political divide. In India itself, news networks also beamed live coverage of Modi’s speech in Hindi from a revolving platform to Indians across the country from Punjab in the north to Kerala in the south. 2 Admittedly a surreal event, Modi’s address in New York City did not just reflect the growing visibility of Indian Americans in the United States. Indeed, Modi’s appearance also highlighted the increasing importance of Indian Americans as a political constituency in U.S. society. Indian Americans constitute less than one percent of the U.S. population, yet the median annual income of Indian-headed households is more than twice that of the U.S. median. Seventy-six percent of Indian immigrants in the country aged twenty-five or older possess at least a bachelor’s degree thus making the immigrant community one of the most educated and affluent in the nation.3 Given Californian Democrat Kamala Harris’s status as the U.S. Vice-President-Elect and the not so distant Bobby Jindal and Haley governorships of two of the nation’s most conservative Southern states, Indian Americans have therefore emerged onto the U.S. political scene as a powerful transnational force. Rudyard Kipling once remarked: “[e]ast is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” 4 Yet Modi’s raucous address drawing on politicians, rhetoric and themes from both East and West clearly proved the famed British novelist and poet wrong. Bhadrajee S. Hewage is affiliated with Princeton University’s Department of History and the Programs in African Studies, Latin American Studies, and South Asian Studies. He will become a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford pursuing a DPhil in History in 2021 following his graduation. 1 “At Madison Square Garden, Chants, Cheers and Roars for Modi,” The New York Times, September 28, 2014. 2 Sangay K. Mishra, Desis Divided: The Political Lives of South Asian Americans (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016), 1. 3 “Indian immigrants make it obvious that the American dream is alive and well,” The Washington Post, August 24, 2015. 4 “The Ballad of East and West” (1889) featured in Rudyard Kipling, Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940), 234-38. 1 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 However, the political potential and visibility of Indian Americans within the United States was not always like this. Indeed, when Judge Dalip Singh Saund became the Democratic Representative for California’s 29th district in 1956, he became the first Asian American and first member from a non-Abrahamic faith ever elected to Congress. In an electoral district which had never before sent a Democrat to Congress, Saund won thanks to a margin of roughly 3,000 votes from a total of 110,000 cast.5 The stature of his Republican opponent Jacqueline Cochran Odlum made Saund’s stunning electoral victory all the more impressive. A world-renowned aviatrix, Odlum had won numerous prizes for her feats, had marshalled female fliers during the Second World War, and had married the multi-millionaire financier, Floyd Odlum. As reporter Richard Dyer MacCann noted: “[s]elf-made woman vs. naturalized Sikh – certainly this has never happened before in American politics.”6 Furthermore, Odlum was a Caucasian. Four years earlier, Saund had achieved prominence through winning the Justice of the Peace election in his hometown of Westmorland in California’s Imperial County by a mere thirteen votes.7 Again, the incumbent whom Saund defeated was Caucasian. More than half a century before the appearance of Indian American politicians such as Harris, Haley, or Jindal on the national U.S. political scene, Saund’s electoral successes were as remarkable as they were improbable. One of seven children born to illiterate parents in 1899, Saund’s journey to the upper echelons of U.S. political power certainly deserves further examination. Indeed, how did Saund’s Indian heritage feature in his successful journey to Congress in 1956? Using material from Saund’s memoir and media coverage of Saund’s campaigns, I will explain in this paper how Saund managed to achieve electoral success despite his status as a naturalized U.S. citizen of Indian origin. I argue that his outward appearance as an amenable, educated, and canny politician who embodied U.S. values helped Saund achieve political success despite the significant obstacle posed by his Indian heritage. Given national attitudes towards immigration at the time Saund arrived in the United States, his later successes are even more remarkable. Saund’s story was certainly not one of the standard rags-to-riches lore. While his parents may have been illiterate, they were well-off agriculturalists from Amritsar in the Punjab and were able to provide for Saund’s U.S. education.8 Yet Saund arrived for graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley a mere three years after the nation had passed the 1917 Immigration Act. Creating a “Pacific Barred Zone,” the Act severely restricted the admission of Asians to the United States and further declared individuals of Asian descent ineligible for U.S. citizenship. Historian David Gerber notes how “frustrated efforts at piecemeal proscription of Asian immigration and citizenship” finally resulted in the 1917 Act which 5 Dalip S. Saund, Congressman from India (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1960), 98. 6 “Democracy Seen in Action,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 16, 1956. 7 Saund, Congressman from India, 83. 8 “First India Native Goes to Congress,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 11, 1956. 2 Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship, Vol. 5 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 2 https://newprairiepress.org/crossingborders/vol5/iss1/2 DOI: 10.4148/2373-0978.1093 “declar[ed] all of Asia, exclusive of the Philippines… ‘the barred Asiatic zone,’ from which immigration must cease completely.”9 Indian demographer Sripati Chandrasekhar highlighted the two ways in which the 1917 Act especially affected those of Indian descent. He claimed firstly that “the United States Government, having discriminated against two important countries, China and Japan, did not wish these countries to feel that they had been singled out for discrimination, and so they added India and the rest [other Asian nations] for fairness!” According to Chandrasekhar, the second justification involved Britain’s relationship with the U.S. since there was the concern that “any national of [Britain’s] colonial empire in Asia, and particularly the educated and articulate Indians, if admitted to the U.S. would certainly carry-on propaganda against British rule.”10 Despite the tough immigration rhetoric in the years which preceded his arrival in the U.S., Saund had nevertheless developed an affectionate fascination with the United States while still in India. Scholar Rajni Srikanth writes that “Asian Americans have a more urgent reason to exhibit interest in their ancestral nations, however: they never know when their membership in the United States will be called into question.”11 Yet for Saund, the primary interest was never in his ancestral country of India but rather in his adopted U.S. homeland. He admitted that he had first developed his own notions of who constituted and American and what constituted American values while still a college student in the Punjab. He wrote: “I must confess as late as 1917, when I was a junior in college, despite my interest in political affairs, my knowledge of the United States of America was next to nothing.”12 Yet this began to change when the U.S. entered the First World War. Following U.S. attempts to create a League of Nations in the aftermath of the conflict, Saund started reading the speeches of President Woodrow Wilson in Indian newspapers. He noted how “[Wilson’s] inspiring ideas and ideals – ‘make the world safe for democracy’, ‘the war to end war,’ and ‘self-determination for all peoples’ – appealed to my young heart.”13 Through his engagement with Wilson’s oratory, Saund further became acquainted with the words of Abraham Lincoln. The discovery of Lincoln and his role in U.S. history changed the direction of Saund’s life. He remarked: “Lincoln changed the entire course of my life.” He added: “[d]efiant of the wishes of my parents, who wanted me to join the service of the British Government in India, I said to myself and to them, I must go to the United States of America, come what may.”14 9 David A. Gerber, American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 32. The Philippines remained a U.S. possession until 1946 following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War of 1898. 10 Sripati Chandrasekhar, From India to America: A Brief History of Immigration, Problems of Discrimination, Admission and Assimilation (La Jolla, California: Population Review Publications, 1982), 18. 11 Rajini Srikanth, The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), 51. 12 Saund, Congressman from India, 31. 13 Ibid. 14 Saund, Congressman from India, 31. 3 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 Coming to Berkeley in 1920 to study viticulture, Saund quickly saw how erroneously the U.S. viewed India and those of Indian descent and so he started the process of adapting to what he believed the U.S. wanted of new arrivals like him. Author Vivek Bald noted that “[t]oday, when we think of U.S. fads and fashions for India, we tend to focus on the recent mass popularity of yoga and Bollywood films or on narratives of self-discovery in the East such as Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling Eat, Pray Love.” Yet Bald notes that “[i]t is largely forgotten that at the turn of the twentieth century the United States was in the grips of a craze over India and ‘the Orient’ that was, in some ways, larger and more pervasive than anything that has occurred since.”15 Indeed, Saund himself observed that “[i]n those days the picture of India which most of the American people carried in their minds had little basis in reality…It was a confused jumble of yogis, snake charmers, and maharajas.”16 Yet, despite the romantic depictions and imaginations of India, Saud knew that prejudice against Asians was intense, and that those of Asian descent were unwelcome. He realized that to become accepted in U.S. society, he needed to act and behave as a “true American.” He wrote: “I vowed to myself that if I was going to acquire any of the characteristics of the American people, one of the most important ones would be to learn to be a good sport.”17 Only then, he believed, would others in the U.S. come to accept him as an American who happened to be of Indian descent rather an Indian who happened to reside in the United States. Once on the path to becoming an American “good sport,” Saund still had one formidable obstacle to overcome. Finishing his graduate degrees at Berkeley, Saund became intimately familiar with U.S. life. Yet he had not managed to achieve U.S. citizenship. As a non-citizen, Saund faced the same problems experienced by countless other South Asians who had immigrated to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Journalist Kathryn Schulz describes the similar citizenship struggle of Pathan tamale seller Zarif Khan who had his U.S. citizenship revoked a mere four months after obtaining it in 1926 on the realization that he had fallen foul of the 1917 Act.18 Saund himself lamented: “I had married an American [Caucasian] girl, and was the father of three American children …. I was making America my home.” He continued: “thus it was only natural that I felt very uncomfortable not being able to become a citizen of the United States.”19 In fact, it was only after the U.S. had come to terms with the efforts of non-citizen minority communities to the U.S. effort during the Second World War did citizenship restrictions change. Only July 2, 1946, President Truman eventually passed the Immigration Act of 1946 which, according to Chandrasekhar, for the first time authorized “the admission into the United States 15 Vivek Bald, Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2013), 16. [Emphasis original]. 16 Saund, Congressman from India, 40. 17 Ibid., 41. 18 “Citizen Khan,” The New Yorker, June 2016. Khan finally regained his citizenship twenty-eight years later in 1954. 19 Saund, Congressman from India, 72. 4 Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship, Vol. 5 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 2 https://newprairiepress.org/crossingborders/vol5/iss1/2 DOI: 10.4148/2373-0978.1093 of persons or races indigenous to India…to make them racially eligible for naturalization and other purposes.”20 Following the passing of the 1946 Act, as many as 3,000 Indians who had been resident in the United States became U.S. citizens.21 Indeed, Saund finally became a U.S. citizen himself three years after the passing of this Act and twenty-nine years after he first arrived in the United States. 22 Receiving his doctorate in Mathematics from Berkeley, Saund had moved to the town of Westmorland in California’s Imperial County. Marrying Marian Kosa, the daughter of a Los Angeles painter of Czech origin, Saund began raising alfalfa and sugar beet in the Imperial Valley.23 There, the Justice of the Peace, who happened to be a close friend, drew Saund into local Democratic Party affairs. Having fulfilled U.S. citizenship residency requirements and become wealthy through his agricultural enterprises, Saund contested this judicial post following the death of his friend in 1952. Here began Saund’s first electoral battle and the first time where his Indian heritage was seriously called into question. He remembered an exchange he had with a friend who advised him against becoming the town’s Justice of the Peace. To emphasize his point, Saund’s friend informed him: “[w]ell you’re kind of an American I suppose, but I can trace my own origin to a family that came over on the Mayflower.”24 Another resident attacked him asking “Doc, tell us, if you’re elected, will you furnish the turbans or will we have to buy them ourselves in order to come into your court?”25 Another town dweller remarked: “I agree that Saund would make a good judge, but I just can’t go for a Hindu for a judge.” While that particular Westmorland resident did not vote for him, Saund later learned that ten younger members of his family did.26 The traces of the prejudice and discrimination that had fuelled the implementation of the 1917 Act remained among the older generation, but Saund noticed how they were largely absent among those from the younger generation. For the latter, Saund’s actions and good works in the town community held much more weight than his ethnic or racial origins. Saund noted how in the run-up to the election, he had worked in support of Community Chest drives and the Boy Scouts and had also acted as the chairman of the March for Dimes for two years. He further described how he had been appointed as the chairman of a drive to complete a swimming pool for the town. While covering his Congressional race four years later, several media outlets noted how he had successfully helped the town to dispel its associations with gambling and prostitution.27 His reputation as an educated man had also begun to precede him with the townsfolk affectionately referring to him as “Doc.” His responses to racists such as “I don’t care what a 20 Chandrasekhar, From India to America, 22. 21 “Hindu Is Trying to Ground Jackie Cochran at The Polls,” The Courier-Journal, May 9, 1956. 22 Saund, Congressman from India, 76. 23 “Jackie Cochran Vies for Votes with a Hindu,” Detroit Free Press, May 6, 1956. 24 Saund, Congressman from India, 80. [Emphasis original]. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid. 27 “A Sikh in Congress: Dalip Singh Saund,” The New York Times, November 10, 1956; “Jackie Cochran Vies for Votes with a Hindu,” Detroit Free Press, May 6, 1956. 5 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 man has on top of his head …. All I’m interested in is what he’s got inside it”, all helped his personality and charm appeal to voters rather than his Indian heritage.28 Saund’s decision to contest the 1956 Congressional election for California’s 29th district again played host to discussions regarding his Indian background. In the district’s Democratic primary, Saund’s opponent repeatedly racially attacked him yet Saund refused to acknowledge the assaults against his character. He wrote: “I had positively and definitely made up my mind to present myself as a candidate for the high office of congressman on my own merits and not say a word against my opponent.” He added: “I thus never felt the need nor the desire to answer his charges.” His Democratic challenger Carl Kegley even unsuccessfully took Saund to court in his belief that Saund did not meet the citizenship requirements to run for the seat.29 Saund trusted that the district’s constituents would judge his candidacy based on his work as Westmoreland’s Justice of the Peace rather than his Asian or immigrant background. Securing the Democratic nomination, he noted that the results “have confirmed my faith in the good sense and fair play on the part of the American people.”30 Yet, defeating Kegley did not make the seat race any easier. Following the retirement of the district’s seven-term Republican congressman John Phillips, Saund indeed faced an uphill, often race-based battle to secure the seat. Campaigning against Odlum, Saund noted: “[e]very effort was made to make it appear that I was an Indian, not an American …. In newspaper ads I was not called D.S. Saund, but Dalip Singh in big letters and Saund in small letters.”31 Furthermore, Odlum, a personal friend of President Eisenhower, had a wellfinanced campaign. Saund had struggled to find any rich supporters for his cause. Despite lacking in financial clout, he nevertheless managed a campaign built on strong volunteer support and ingenuity. Priced out of buying commercial billboards, his campaign furnished their own homemade plywood billboards. Scores of volunteers canvassed the towns and cities in the district for Saund. Family members campaigning on his behalf also worked wonders for Saund with many constituents deciding to vote for him after meeting them. Furthermore, campaigning in a largely agricultural and conservative rural district, Saund advocated for federal aid for farmers, regional water rights and higher pay for the armed forces.32 This hard work coupled with his own farming background helped Saund reap benefits which overcame his campaign’s financial struggles. Saund had always tried to deflect attention away from his Indian heritage. Yet he eventually realized that his ethnic and racial background could be used as an instrument to definitively prove his assimilation into U.S. society. Scholar Seema Sohi writes that “[t]he experiences of Indian workers, intellectuals, and students as they moved across the globe …. [enabled them] to see themselves not simply as migrants seeking economic opportunity.” 33 Sohi argues that many of 28 Saund, Congressman from India, 80-82. 29 “Appellate Court Refuses to Act in Election Case,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1956. 30 “Aviatrix and Hindi Win Nominations,” The Hartford Courant, June 7, 1956. 31 Saund, Congressman from India, 101-102. 32 “First India Native Goes to Congress,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 11, 1956. 33 Seema Sohi, Echoes of Mutiny: Race, Surveillance, and Indian Anticolonialism In North America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 16. 6 Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship, Vol. 5 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 2 https://newprairiepress.org/crossingborders/vol5/iss1/2 DOI: 10.4148/2373-0978.1093 these Indians actively became involved “as politicized workers” who were determined to make their own impact on the political systems in the nations to which they migrated. Saund certainly declared himself first and foremost to be working for the best interests of his constituents. He remembered how Odlum dragged Indian Prime Minister Nehru into the election by claiming that he was a Communist-sympathizer and “would certainly like to have a man from India elected to the Congress of the United States.”34 According to Saund, he replied to her that: “I was presenting myself to the people of the 29th Congressional District as an American candidate for Congress and not as anyone owing allegiance to any foreign country.”35 Saund further promised to his constituents that if he were to be elected, one of the first items on his agenda would be to travel to India and the Middle East to showcase the wonders of U.S. democracy. 36 Once there, he pledged to appear before the appeal and claim: “[y]ou have been listening to the insidious propaganda of the Communists that there is prejudice and discrimination in the United States against your people.” Saund believed that his election would prove to ordinary Asians that he was a “living example of American democracy in action” as would be “elected by the free vote of the people in a very conservative district of the state of California to membership in the most powerful legislative body on earth.”37 For Saund, his Indian heritage thus had the potential to function not just as a marker of his national and racial origins but also as a reminder of the distance he had covered on his path to assimilation in U.S. society. Saund’s vigorous campaign paid off. Narrowly defeating Odlum, he took office as the Democratic congressman from California’s 29th district in January 1957. Authors Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur, and Nirvikar Singh wrote that “[h]aving worked as a farmer in the Imperial Valley, [Saund] understood the daily lives of his neighbours.” 38 Covering the elections, The Minneapolis Morning Tribune noted how “Saund appears to be on first name terms with half the people in Imperial County …. Because of his dark skin, he has a natural appeal to the region’s Negroes, Mexicans, Japanese, and Hindus” who together formed around three percent of the total electorate.39 Marrying the daughter of Czech immigrants and serving in local civic organizations, Saund had also formed several bonds with the majority of the Caucasians in his town and California county. He had managed to use his Indian heritage to highlight how despite his foreign origins, he remained committed to improving the lives and welfare of those in the country where he became a naturalized citizen. His candidacy as a hard-working, personable, and educated Democrat in a Republican stronghold appeared to matter much more than his Indian national origins. 34 Saund, Congressman from India, 108. 35 Ibid. 36 “Jackie Cochran Vies for Votes with a Hindu,” Detroit Free Press, May 6, 1956. 37 Saund, Congressman from India, 108-110. 38 Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur, and Nirvikar Singh, The Other One Percent: Indians In America (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016), 20. 39 “Hindu Battles Woman Flier in California Congress Race,” The Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 6, 1956. 7 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 Despite Saund’s election to Congress in 1956, his victory did not immediately pave the way for other Indian Americans to join Congress. Indeed, it would be another forty-eight years before Bobby Jindal took his place in Congress as a Representative from Louisiana. Like Saund, Jindal again had to overcome obstacles based on his ethnic and racial origins to appeal to his electorate. Jindal had converted from his family’s Hinduism to Roman Catholicism, but even religious conversion did not prevent him from facing questions over his “Americanness.”40 However, in recent years, Indian American politicians have become more comfortable in publicly embracing their various ethnic and religious origins. Today, both Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Pramila Jayapal play a key role in fostering dialogue between India and the U.S. through the Congressional India Caucus, and Vice-President-Elect Harris has even publicly cooked Indian food with Indian American celebrity Mindy Kaling while out on the campaign trail.41 Saund may have broken ground in becoming the first Indian American Congressman, but it is only now that the wider American public can begin to see and indeed appreciate the national role of Indian American politicians in representing them. Indeed, the raucous welcome afforded to Modi at a packed-out Madison Square Garden in 2014 highlights the important position of Indian Americans in U.S. political life today. Referencing his heritage, Saund was correct when he lamented: “I have found it impossible to malign or belittle my opponents.”42 Almost half a century before Indian Americans began playing a larger role in U.S. politics, Saund was able to legitimize himself as a regular U.S. citizen who simply happened to come from an Indian background due to his work as a determined politician with an established track record in his community. One of the statements of Abraham Lincoln that most appealed to Saund was his advice: “[b]e satisfied with skim milk if you cannot get cream.”43 Saund certainly was forced to live with skim milk on several occasions throughout his life, yet he had managed to find it both sweet and nourishing. Kipling may have remarked that East could never meet West. Through his journey from Punjab to California and Washington, Saund decisively proved him wrong. 40 “Must Sikhs, Hindus convert to get elected,” Na Sikhs (singular Sikh: /sɪk/ (like "sick") or /siːk/ (like "seek"); Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ, sikkh [sɪkkʰ]; Devanagari: सिख) are an ethnoreligious group[74] who adhere to Sikhi or Sikhism,[75] a Dharmic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak.[76] The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit word śiṣya (शिष्य), meaning 'disciple' or 'student'.[77][78][79] Male Sikhs generally have Singh ('lion') as their last name, though not all Singhs are necessarily Sikhs; likewise, female Sikhs have Kaur ('princess') as their last name. These unique last names were given by the Gurus to allow Sikhs to stand out and also as an act of defiance to India's caste system, which the Gurus were always against. Sikhs strongly believe in the idea of sarbat da bhala (welfare of all) and are often seen on the frontline to provide humanitarian aid across the world. Sikhs who have undergone the Amrit Sanchar ('baptism by Khanda'), an initiation ceremony, are known as Khalsa from the day of their initiation, and they must at all times have on their bodies the five Ks: kesh, uncut hair usually kept covered by a dastār, also known as a turban; kara, an iron or steel bracelet; kirpan, a dagger-like sword tucked into a gatra strap or a kamar kasa waistband; kachera, a cotton undergarment; and kanga, a small wooden comb. Tarn Taran Sahib - The World's Largest Sarovar (sacred pool) The Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent has been the historic homeland of the Sikhs, having even been ruled by the Sikhs for significant parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, Canada has the largest national Sikh proportion (2.1%) in the world,[13] while the Punjab state in India has the largest Sikh proportion (58%) amongst all administrative divisions in the world. Many countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, recognize Sikhs as a designated religion on their censuses,[80] and, as of 2020, Sikhs are considered as a separate ethnic group in the United States.[81] The UK also considers Sikhs to be an ethno-religious people, as a direct result of the Mandla v Dowell-Lee case in 1982.[82][83] History Main article: History of Sikhism Gurdwara Janam Asthan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, was born in a Khatri family to Mehta Kalu and Mata Tripta in the village of Talwandi, present-day Nankana Sahib, near Lahore.[84] Throughout his life, Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer. However, Sikh political history may be said to begin in 1606, with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev.[85] Religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699, when the Guru initiated five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare ("beloved five"), to form a collective body of initiated Sikhs, known as the Khalsa ("pure").[86] The early followers of Guru Nanak were Khatris, but later a large number of Jats joined the faith.[87] Khatris and Brahmins opposed "the demand that the Sikhs set aside the distinctive customs of their castes and families, including the older rituals."[88] Pashaura Singh analyzed references made within the 11th ballad of the Varan of Bhai Gurdas to form a picture of the caste-makeup of the early Sikh community.[89] At the time of the writing the Vaar, the early Sikh community was composed of various castes and backgrounds, such as:[89] Khatris (particularly the Sehgal, Ohri, Uppal, Julka, Bhalla, Passi, Khullar, Vohra, Vij, Kapur, Chaddha, Behl, Kohli, Marwah, Mehra, Soni, Jhanjhi, Sodhi, Beri, Nanda, Wadhawan, Tulli, and Puri gotras)[89] Brahmins (such as the Bhardwaj gotra)[89] Jats (particularly the Randhawa, Khehra, Dhillon, and Pannu gotras)[89] Tarkhans ('carpenters')[89] Lohars ('blacksmiths')[89] Nais ('barbers')[89] Chhimbas ('cotton-printers')[89] Machhis ('water-carriers')[89] Dhobis ('washermen')[89] Kumhars ('potters')[89] Telis ('oil pressers")[89] masons[89] goldsmiths[89] Outcastes (such as Chandals)[89] Muslims[89] The early Sikhs varied widely in their occupations and position in society's hierarchy: some were rich merchants (Seths and Sarrafs), others were heads of villages (Chowdhury), some were labourers, others were enslaved, whilst others still were artisans, craftsmen, shopkeepers, or simple peasants.[89] The Sikh Empire at its greatest extent During the rule of the Mughal Empire in India, two Sikh gurus were martyred. (Guru Arjan was martyred on suspicion of helping in betrayal of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb)[90] As the Sikh faith grew, the Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule.[citation needed] The Samadhi of Emperor Ranjit Singh in Lahore, Pakistan The Golden Temple Metal helmet in a museum A Sikh Khalsa Army sowar's battle helmet Max Arthur Macauliffe (1841-1913), a senior British administrator who was posted to India during the British rule of Punjab, converted to Sikhism in the 1860s After defeating the Afghans and Mughals, sovereign states called Misls were formed under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Confederacy of these states was unified and transformed into the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. This era was characterised by religious tolerance and pluralism, including Christians, Muslims, and Hindus in positions of power. Its secular administration implemented military, economic, and governmental reforms. The empire is considered the zenith of political Sikhism,[91] encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh, and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army in the North-West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. British rule in India Sikh armour and weapons “Sikh Sardar”, photograph by John McCosh taken in circa 1848-49 After the annexation of the Sikh/Punjabi kingdom by the British, the British Army began recruiting significant numbers of Sikhs and Punjabis.[citation needed] During the 1857 Indian mutiny, the Sikhs stayed loyal to the British, resulting in heavy recruitment from Punjab to the British Indian Army for the next 90 years of the British Raj in colonial India.[92] The distinct turban that differentiates a Sikh from other turban wearers is a relic of the rules of the British Indian Army.[93] The British colonial rule saw the emergence of many reform movements in India, including Punjab, such as the formation of the First and Second Singh Sabha in 1873 and 1879 respectively. The Sikh leaders of the Singh Sabha worked to offer a clear definition of Sikh identity and tried to purify Sikh belief and practice.[94] The later years of British colonial rule saw the emergence of the Akali movement to bring reform in the gurdwaras during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, which placed all the historical Sikh shrines in India under the control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.[95] Partition and post-Partition At the time of the Indian independence movement, the Sikh ruler of the Kapurthala State fought to oppose the partition of India and advocated for a united, secular country.[96] Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as inviting possible persecution, with Akali Dal instead favouring an undivided Azad Punjab as an independent Sikh State or Khalistan, having passed the Sikh State Resolution in 1946. The Sikhs therefore strongly fought against the partition of Punjab.[97] The months leading up to the 1947 partition of Punjab were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims.[98] This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab to the east (modern India), mirroring a simultaneous religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab to the west (modern Pakistan).[99] Following partition, the Government of India had begun to redraw states corresponding to demographic and linguistic boundaries. However, this was not effective in the northern part of the country,[100] as the government reconsidered redrawing states in the north. [101] While states across the country were extensively redrawn on linguistic lines at the behest of linguistic groups, the only languages not considered for statehood were Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu. [102] Leading to the launch of the Punjabi Suba movement and the presentation for a Punjabi Suba as a policy in April 1948 by Master Tara Singh. Also, on 26 January 1950 Sikh representatives refused to sign the Indian constitution. As Sikhs were recognized as Hindus and Sikhs were not provided with scheduled castes concessions given to Hindu scheduled castes. The Punjab Suba experienced heavy government crackdown with the Congress Government arresting as many as 21,000 people. Attempted negotiations with Congress-led the agitation to be adjourned twice, though Jawaharlal Nehru continued to reject the demand.[103][104] On 4 July 1955, government police forces, led by DIG Ashwini Kumar,[105] forced entry into the Golden Temple premises and heavy-handedly arrested protestors and took them into custody, along with the head granthis of the Akal Takht and Golden Temple, volunteer protestors, and even cooks of the temple's langar.[106] The Guru Ram Das Serai and Shiromani Akali Dal offices were also raided, and batons used and tear gas and shells were fired to disperse the protestors gathered on the periphery of the temple, damaging the periphery and Sarovar, or pool, of the temple.[106][107] The government stopped volunteers on the way to the Golden Temple, and troops were ordered to flag-march through the bazaars and streets surrounding the site.[107] Over 200 protestors were killed, thousands arrested,[107] and thousands, including women and children, were injured. The Congress government agreed to the Punjab Suba in 1966 after protests and recommendation of the States Reorganisation Commission.[108] The state of East Punjab was later split into the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana and current day Punjab.[109] However, there was a growing alienation between Punjabi Sikh and Hindu populations. The latter of which reported Hindi rather than Punjabi as their primary language. The result was that Punjabi-speaking areas were left out of the new state and given to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh[110] resulting in the state of Punjab to be roughly 35,000 square miles smaller than the Punjabi-speaking areas based on pre-1947 census figures. Moreover, the 1966 reorganization left Sikhs highly dissatisfied, with the capital Chandigarh being made into a shared a union territory and the capital of Punjab and Haryana. In the late 1960s, the Green Revolution in India was first introduced in Punjab as part of a development program issued by international donor agencies and the Government of India.[111] While, Green Revolution in Punjab had several positive impacts, the introduction of the mechanised agricultural techniques led to uneven distribution of wealth. The industrial development was not done at the same pace as agricultural development, the Indian government had been reluctant to set up heavy industries in Punjab due to its status as a high-risk border state with Pakistan.[112] The rapid increase in the higher education opportunities without an adequate rise in the jobs resulted in the increase in the unemployment of educated youth.[108] In 1973 as a result, of unaddressed grievances and increasing inequality the Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.[113] The resolution included both religious and political issues. It asked for recognising Sikhism as a religion, it also demanded the devolution of power from the Central to state governments.[108] The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government as a secessionist document. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.[114] After unsuccessful negotiations the Dharam Yuddh Morcha ("righteous campaign")[115] was launched on 4 August 1982,[citation needed] by the Akali Dal in partnership with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, with its stated aim being the fulfillment of a set of devolutionary objectives based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.[115] Indian police responded to protestors with high-handed police methods creating state repression affecting a very large segment of Punjab's population. Police brutality resulted in retaliatory violence from a section of the Sikh population, widening the scope of the conflict by the use of violence of the state on its own people. [116] A "state of chaos and repressive police methods" combined to create "a mood of overwhelming anger and resentment in the Sikh masses against the authorities". Leading to Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale gaining prominence and demands of independence gain currency, even amongst moderates and Sikh intellectuals.[116] In 1982 and early 1983, extrajudicial killings by the police of orthodox Sikh youth in rural areas in Punjab provoked reprisals.[117] Over 190 Sikhs had been killed in the first 19 months of the protest movement.[118] In May 1984, a Grain Roko morcha was planned and to be initiated on 3 June[119] with protestors practising civil disobedience by refusing to pay land revenue, water or electricity bills, and blocking the flow of grain out of Punjab. Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi launched Operation Blue Star on 1 June prior to the Grain Roko morcha in order to remove Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple. This subsequently lead to Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.[120] Her assassination was followed by government-sponsored pogroms against Sikh communities across India and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. These events triggered an Insurgency in Punjab which would consume Punjab until the early 1990s. During the day of Vaisakhi in 1999, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the anniversary. Likewise, on 9 April 1999, Indian president K. R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa as well.[121] Culture and religious observations According to Article I of Chapter 1 of the Sikh Rehat Maryada ('code of conduct'), the definition of Sikh is:[122] Any human being who faithfully believes in i. One Immortal Being, ii. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, iii. The Guru Granth Sahib, iv. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and v. the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh. Daily routine From the Guru Granth Sahib:[123] One who calls themself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, he is to chant the Name of the Lord, "Har, Har." All sins, misdeeds, and negativity shall be then erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, he is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, he is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food and – that GurSikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that GurSikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that GurSikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it. — Fourth Mehl (Guru Ram Das), Guru Granth Sahib, p. 305 The Sikh Rahit Maryada (Code of Conduct) clearly states that baptized Amritdhari Khalsa Sikhs must recite or listen to the recitation of Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, the 10 Sawayyas, Sodar Rehraas, and Sohila.[124][125] Every Sikh is also supposed take the Hukam (divine order) from the Guru Granth Sahib after awakening in the ambrosial hours of the morning (three hours before the dawn) before eating.[126] In his 52 Hukams, Guru Gobind Singh orders his followers to arise during Amritvela (early morning) and to recite the late evening prayer "Sohila" and the verse "Pavan guru pani pita..." before sleeping. Five Ks Main articles: The Five Ks, Khalsa, and Sahajdhari Wooden comb, iron bracelet and curved, gold-coloured dagger Kanga, Kara and Kirpan: three of the five Sikh articles of faith The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized (Amritdhari) Sikhs are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on Waheguru, and never bowing to tyranny.[127] The five symbols are: Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a turban. Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a turban to always also keep one's hair clean and well-groomed. Kachera: Cotton undergarments, worn by both sexes; the kachera is a symbol of chastity, and also a symbol of cleanliness. It is also historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility and comfort when compared to a dhoti. Kara: An iron bracelet, a symbol of eternity, strength, and a constant reminder of the strength of will to keep hands away from any kind of unethical practices. Kirpan: An iron blade in different sizes. In the UK, Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in Punjab, they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length. Kirpan is only a weapon of defense and religious protection, used to serve humanity and to be used against oppression. Music and instruments Woman in yellow scarf bowing an instrument Woman playing the dilruba Main article: Sikh music The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments, including the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori, and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged by Guru Hargobind. The rebab was played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were introduced to Sikh devotional music by Guru Arjan. The taus (Persian for "peacock") was designed by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds. The dilruba was designed by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabad in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as raags. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet. When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit nagara ("victory drum") to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the Singhs were on their way. Demographics Main articles: Sikhism by country and Punjabi Sikhs Global map of Sikh population (estimated 2023) Sikhs number about 26-30 million worldwide, of whom 24–28 million live in India, which thus represents around 90 percent of the total Sikh population.[128][129][130][131][132][133] About 76 percent of all Indian Sikhs live in the northern Indian state of Punjab, forming a majority of about 58 per cent of the state's population, roughly around 16 million.[134][135] Substantial communities of Sikhs live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana, where they number around 1.2 million and form 4.91 percent of the population, Rajasthan (872,000 or 1.27 percent of the population), Uttar Pradesh (643,000, 0.32 percent), Delhi (570,000, 3.4 percent), Uttarakhand (236,000, 2.34 percent), Jammu and Kashmir (234,000, 1.87 percent), Chandigarh (138,000, 13.11 percent) and Himachal Pradesh (86,000, 1.16 percent). Canada is home to the largest national Sikh proportion (2.1 percent of the total population) in the world.[13] A substantial community of Sikhs exist in the western province of British Columbia, numbering nearly 300,000 persons and forming approximately 5.9 percent of the total population. This represents the third-largest Sikh proportion amongst all global administrative divisions, behind only Punjab and Chandigarh in India. Furthermore, British Columbia,[136] Manitoba, and Yukon hold the distinction of being three of the only four administrative divisions in the world with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the population.[139] Census Data and Official Statistics As a religious minority, Sikhs have fought long and hard to get official status and to be counted in many countries across the world. Through the efforts of Sikh organisations and communities in their respective countries, there is now readily available population data on Sikhs as part of the census or official statistics in the following territories: Census Data / Official Statistics: Territory Latest Data Punjab 16,004,754 2011[140] India (Rest of India) 4,828,362 Canada 771,790 2021[141] England 520,092 2021[142] Australia 210,400 2021[143] New Zealand 40,908 2018[144] Singapore 12,051 2020[145] Thailand 11,124 2010[146] Norway 4,318 2021[147] Wales 4,048 2021[142] Fiji 2,577 2007[148] Ireland 2,183 2022[149] Nepal 1,496 2021[150] Northern Ireland 389 2021[151] Scotland Pending 2022 Pakistan Pending 2023 2011-2021 Change in Sikh % Note: Official statistics do not count unregistered arrivals or those who have not completed the census or surveys. However, they do provide for a much more accurate depiction of Sikh communities as opposed to estimates from various Sikh organisations whose estimates can vary vastly with no statistically valuable source. Thus, official statistics and census data is highly important and Sikh communities continue to push for census inclusion in many countries where they are still not counted. Migration Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab, which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many also to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972.[152] Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sikhs from what would become the Punjab of Pakistan migrated to India as well as to Afghanistan due to fear of persecution. Afghanistan was home to hundreds of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus as of the 1970s, but due to the wars in Afghanistan in the 2010s, the vast majority of Afghan Sikhs had migrated to India, Pakistan or the west.[153][154][155] Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK becoming "virtually impossible since the late 1970s," migration patterns evolved to continental Europe.[156] Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration,[157] with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters.[158] Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools, and horticulture.[159] Growth A group of Sikh people Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7% per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths, and conversions. Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001) and it have further declined to just 8.4 per cent in 2011 census report.[160][161] Sikhs in the world have the lowest fertility rate of 1.6 children per women as per (2019–20) estimation research.[162][163] The Sikh population has the lowest gender balance in India, with only 903 women per 1,000 men according to the 2011 Indian census.[164] The estimated world's Sikh population was over 30 million in 2020, and it will reach 42 million by 2050. It is expected to increase up to 62 million by 2100, given that the anticipated growth rate of 1.7% per year and adding at least 400,000 followers annually.[165][161] Since the Sikh growth rate dropped from 1.7% (16.9% in 1991 to 2001 estimate) to 0.84%(8.4% in 2001-2011) in 2011 report,hence based on their growth rate,their population will increase 196,316(0.84% based on 2011 figures) per year and will reach 36 million in 2050,it expected to reach 52 million in 2100 given that the anticipated growth rate of 0.84% and adding at least 200,000 followers annually..[166][167] Sikhism is the fastest growing religion in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The growth is mainly contributed by the immigration of Indian Sikhs there over the decades. Sikhism is fourth-largest religion in Canada, fifth-largest religion in Australia and New Zealand. The decadal growth of Sikhs is more in those countries as compared to the decadal growth of Sikh population in India, thus making them the fastest-growing religion there.[168][13][169][170] Canada has the highest proportion of Sikhs in the globe, which stands at 2.12% as of 2021,[13] as compared to India which stands at 1.72% as of 2011 respectively.[171] Castes Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. Caste may still be practiced by some Sikhs, despite Guru Nanak's calls for treating everyone equally in Sri Granth Sahib.[172][c] Along with Guru Nanak, other Sikh gurus had also denounced the hierarchy of the caste system, however, they all belonged to the same caste, the Khatris.[176] Most Sikhs belong to the Jat (Jatt), traditionally agrarian in occupation.[177] Despite being very small in numbers, the Khatri and Arora (Moneylenders) castes also wield considerable influence within the Sikh community. Other common Sikh castes include Ahluwalias (brewers), Kambojs or Kambos (rural caste), Ramgarhias (artisans), Brahmins (Priestly class), Rajputs (kshatriyas), Sainis (agrarian), Rai Sikh (rural caste), Labanas (merchants), Kumhars, Mazhabi and the Ramdasia/Ravidasias(Chamar).[178] Some Sikhs, especially those belonging to the landowning dominant castes, have not shed all their prejudices against the Dalits. While Dalits were allowed entry into the village gurdwaras, in some gurdwaras, they were not be permitted to cook or serve langar (communal meal). Therefore, wherever they could mobilize resources, the Sikh Dalits of Punjab have tried to construct their own gurdwara and other local level institutions in order to attain a certain degree of cultural autonomy.[172] In 1953, Sikh leader and activist Master Tara Singh succeeded in persuading the Indian government to include Sikh castes of the converted untouchables in the list of scheduled castes.[179] In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[179] Other castes (over 1,000 members) include the Arain, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba (cotton farmers), Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kumhar, Lohar, Mahtam, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Ramgharia, Sansi, Sudh, Tarkhan and Kashyap[citation needed] Karnail Singh Panjoli, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, says that there are several communities within the term Nanakpanthis too. Apart from Sindhi Hindus, "There are groups like Sikhligarh, Vanjaarey, Nirmaley, Lubaney, Johri, Satnamiye, Udaasiyas, Punjabi Hindus, etc. who call themselves Nanakpanthis despite being Hindus.[180] Diaspora As Sikhs wear turbans and keep beards, Sikh men in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim, Arabic, and/or Afghan since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War.[181][182] Several days after the 9/11 attacks, Sikh-American gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered in Arizona by a man who took Sodhi to be a member of al-Qaeda, marking the first recorded hate-crime in America motivated by 9/11. CNN would go on to suggest an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the US and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.[181][182] In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations exist. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in the UK, and UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82%) of any religious community.[183] UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest religious group in the UK (after the Jewish community), with a median total household wealth of £229,000.[184] In May 2019, the UK government exempted "Kirpan" from the list of banned knives. The U.K. government passed an amendment by which Sikhs in the country would be allowed to carry kirpans and use them during religious and cultural functions. The bill was amended to ensure that it would not impact the right of the British Sikh community to possess and supply kirpans, or religious swords.[185][186] Similarly, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials in 2010.[187] Agriculture Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 per cent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture.[188] Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 per cent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector.[189] According to the Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat and Kamboj or Kamboh, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial."[190] However, Indian physicist Vandana Shiva[191] wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science (i.e. the green revolution) on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth. Sikhs in modern history Main article: List of Sikhs Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist, academic, and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The first and only Sikh and non-Hindu in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. Notable Sikhs in science include nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill, fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany; and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh. In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based JASPAL[192] were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs.[193] Apollo Tyres is headed by Onkar Singh Kanwar. In Singapore, Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings,[194] into assets totalling almost US$1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. Mastercard's CEO was a Sikh named Ajaypal Singh Banga. In sports, Sikhs include England cricketer Monty Panesar; former 400-metre runner Milkha Singh; his son, professional golfer Jeev Milkha Singh; Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh; former Indian hockey team captains Sandeep Singh, Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr.; former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi; Harbhajan Singh, India's most successful off spin cricket bowler; Yuvraj Singh, World Cup winning allrounder; Maninder Singh, World Cup winning off spinner; and Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Indian cricketer-turned-politician. Sikhs in Bollywood, in the arts in general, include poet and lyricist Rajkavi Inderjeet Singh Tulsi; Gulzar; Jagjit Singh; Dharmendra; Sunny Deol; writer Khushwant Singh; actresses Neetu Singh, Simran Judge, Poonam Dhillon, Mahi Gill, Esha Deol, Parminder Nagra, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral; and directors Gurinder Chadha and Parminder Gill. Sikhs in Punjabi Music industry include Sidhu Moosewala, Diljit Dosanjh, Babu Singh Maan, Surjit Bindrakhia, Ammy Virk, Karan Aujla, Jazzy B, Miss Pooja. In the Indian and British armies Main article: Sikhs in the British Indian Army According to a 1994 estimate, Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus comprised 10 to 15% of all ranks in the Indian Army. The Indian government does not release religious or ethnic origins of a military personnel, but a 1991 report by Tim McGirk estimated that 20% of Indian Army officers were Sikhs.[195] Together with the Gurkhas recruited from Nepal, the Maratha Light Infantry from Maharashtra and the Jat Regiment, the Sikhs are one of the few communities to have exclusive regiments in the Indian Army.[195] The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses,[196] 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross),[197] 15 Theatre Honours, 5 COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 5 Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras, and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh.[198] Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.[199] Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[200] By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 per cent of the force). Until 1945, fourteen Victoria Crosses (VC) were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record.[196] In 2002, the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates[201] on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace.[202] Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial. During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq, receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.[203] Sikhs in the First World War, marching with their scripture, Guru Granth Sahib Sikhs in the First World War, marching with their scripture, Guru Granth Sahib Postcard of marching Sikhs with rifles French postcard depicting the arrival of the 15th Sikh Regiment in France during World War I; the bilingual postcard reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten the German hooligans" Indian Sikh soldiers in the Italian campaign Indian Sikh soldiers in the Italian campaign Sikh soldier with captured Swastika flag of Nazi Germany Sikh soldier with captured Swastika flag of Nazi Germany See caption Japanese soldiers shooting blindfolded Sikh prisoners in World War II Khalistan movement Sikhs in London protesting against Indian government actions The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistān ("The Land of the Khalsa") in the Punjab region of South Asia to serve as a homeland for Sikhs.[204] The territorial definition of the proposed country Khalistan consists of both the Punjab, India, along with Punjab, Pakistan, and includes parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.[205][206][207] Khalistan movement began as an expatriate venture.[208] In 1971, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in an advertisement published in the New York Times by an expat (Jagjit Singh Chohan).[209] By proclaiming the formation of Khalistan, he was able to collect millions of dollars from the Sikh diaspora.[210] On 12 April 1980, he declared the formation of the "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur Sahib.[211] He declared himself as the President of the council, and named Balbir Singh Sandhu as its Secretary General. In May 1980, Chohan traveled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Balbir Singh Sandhu in Amritsar, where he began releasing stamps and currency of Khalistan. The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried as a political stunt by the Congress(I) party of Indira Gandhi by the Akali Dal, headed by the Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal.[212] The movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab following Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms. As proponents were able to generate funding from a grieving diaspora. In June 1985, Air India Flight 182 was bombed by Babbar Khalsa, a pro-Khalistani terrorist organization.[213] In January 1986, the Golden Temple was occupied by militants belonging to All India Sikh Students Federation and Damdami Taksal.[214] On 26 January 1986, a gathering known as the Sarbat Khalsa (a de facto parliament) passed a resolution (gurmattā) favouring the creation of Khalistan. Subsequently, a number of rebel militant groups in favour of Khalistan waged a major insurgency against the government of India. Indian security forces suppressed the insurgency in the early 1990s, but Sikh political groups such as the Khalsa Raj Party and SAD (A) continued to pursue an independent Khalistan through non-violent means.[215][216][217] Pro-Khalistan organisations such as Dal Khalsa (International) are also active outside India, supported by a section of the Sikh diaspora.[218] In the 1990s, the insurgency abated,[219] and the movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on separatists, divisions among the Sikhs and loss of support from the Sikh population.[220] However, various pro-Khalistan groups, both political and militant, remain committed to the separatist movement. There are claims of funding from Sikhs outside India to attract young people into militant groups.[221] There have also been multiple claims that the movement is motivated and supported by the Pakistan's external intelligence agency, the ISI.[222][223] Art and culture Main articles: Sikh art and culture and Punjabi culture Intricate design Opaque watercolour-on-paper Nakashi art; about 1880, by an unknown artist from Lahore or Amritsar, and used to decorate the walls of Harmandir Sahib Large building on the water Darbar Sahib, circa 1870 Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). Punjab has been called India's melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak's creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".[224] The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an ethnic minority" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".[225] During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries,[226] the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.[227] The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places), and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters, and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar. Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts—except for the relics of the Gurus—have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor. Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon that can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen.[228] The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra, and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (The Singh Twins)[229] is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in Punjab. Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").[230] Painting Painting of Guru Nanak with companions, Bhai Mardana and Bhai Bala, in debate with the Siddhs Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813, the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars. The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting. Shrines There is an old Sikh shrine called 'Prachin Guru Nanak Math', which lies at a small hill, just next to Bishnumati bridge at Balaju. Guru Nanak is said to have visited Nepal during his third Udasi while returning from Mount Kailash in Tibet. Nanak is said to have stayed at Balaju and Thapathali in Kathmandu. The Nanak Math shrine at Balaju is managed by the Guru-Ji and the Udasin Akardha, a sect developed by Guru Nanak's son, Sri Chandra.[231][232] See also History of Punjab Ganga Sagar (urn) Jat Sikh List of British Sikhs Mazhabi Sikh Sects of Sikhism Sikhism by country Sikhism in India Turban training centre Indian Sikhs number approximately 21 million people and account for 1.7% of India's population as of 2011, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. The majority of the nation's Sikhs live in the northern state of Punjab, which is the only Sikh-majority administrative division in the world. India is home to the majority of the global Sikh population, and also has the second-largest Sikh proportion in the world, behind Canada. History Main article: History of Sikhism Partition Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, strongly opposed the partition of India, viewing the possibility of the creation of Pakistan as inviting persecution.[4] Demography The Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Population India's Sikh population stands at 20.8 million, which is only 1.72% of the country's total population. Out of approximately 25-30 million Sikhs in the world, the majority of them, 20.8-22 million, live in India that is about (83.2%-84.1%) of the world's Sikh population.[5][6] Sikhs have a fertility rate of 1.6 in India, which is the lowest in the nation as per as according to year 2019-21 estimation.[7] Half a million Sikhs have made Canada their home, and though they constitute 1.4% of the total population, they have had a notable impact on Canadian society and national politics.[8] Out of the total Sikhs in India, 77% are concentrated in state of Punjab. Sikhism is the dominant religion in Punjab, India, where it is followed by 16 million constituting 57.7% of the population, the only Indian state where Sikhism is the majority faith. By 2050, according to Pew research center based on growth rate of current Sikh population between (2001-2011), India will have 30,012,386 Sikhs by half-century which will be more than that of any country including the west.[9] National and ethnic origins Although Punjabi Sikhs form the majority of the Sikh population, the Sikh community is varied and includes people who speak the Pashto language, the Brahui language, the Telugu language, Marathi language, Assamese language, Hindi language, Sindhi language, Bengali language and many more. The many communities following Sikhism is detailed below. Afghan Sikhs Main article: Sikhism in Afghanistan The Sikhs of Afghanistan are primarily Punjabi merchants and immigrants.[10][11] They speak the Punjabi language within themselves but are usually fluent in Dari and occasionally Pashto as well.[12] Bengali Sikhs Sikhism in the Bengal region dates back to 1504 but has declined after the partition.[13] Sikhism first emerged in Bengal when Guru Nanak visited Bengal in 1504 and established a number of Gurdwaras.[14] By the early 18th century, there were a few Sikhs living in the region of Bengal.[15] One famous Sikh who lived during this time period was Omichand, a local Khatri Sikh banker and landlord who participate in the conspiracy against Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah with the East India Company.[15][16] The Flemish artist Frans Baltazard Solvyns arrived in Calcutta in 1791 and observed many Sikhs, whom one could differentiate from the rest of the land's inhabitants by their garbs and traditions.[15] He etched depictions of a Khalsa Sikh and a Nanakpanthi, which was published in 1799.[15] Gurdwara Nanak Shahi is the principal Sikh Gurdwara (prayer hall) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located at the campus of the University of Dhaka and considered to be the biggest of the 7 Gurdwaras in the country. After the Partition of India, the Sikh community left for India.[14] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War, Indian Sikh soldiers helped renovate the Gurdwaras left in Bangladesh.[citation needed] Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji visited Dhaka. There is another Sikh temple known as the Gurudwara Sangat Tola. Many Sikhs also used to visit a well at the ruins of Jafarabad which they believed has waters with curative powers.[17] There was a presence of Sikhism in Sylhet Division after Guru Nanak's visit in 1508. Kahn Singh Nabha has stated that in memory of Nanak's visit, Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet was established.[citation needed] This Gurdwara was visited twice by Tegh Bahadur and many hukamnamas were issued to this temple by Guru Gobind Singh. In 1897, the gurdwara fell down after the earthquake. Nearly all the Sikhs of Sylhet in the early 18th century were found in North Cachar where they used to work for the Assam Bengal Railway.[18] There are around 1 lakh Bengali people who follow Sikhism as their religion in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.[19] Assamese Sikhs The presence of Sikhism has been existing in Assam[20] for over 200 years. The community traces its origins to the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who took his army to Assam and put some influence of the religion towards the locals. According to the 2001 census, there were 22,519 Sikhs in Assam,[21] out of which 4,000 are Assamese Sikhs.[19] Assamese Sikhs follow the Sikh religion and celebrate Sikh festivals as they also celebrate cultural festivals such as Magh Bihu and wear traditional Assamese dress. Their language is the Assamese language.[19][22] Agrahari Sikhs Agrahari Sikh is a Sikh community found in Bihar and Jharkhand. Agrahari Sikhs, also known as Bihari Sikhs, have existed for centuries in Bihar and Jharkhand.[23] Bihari Sikhs share their culture with the local Bihari community. The men generally wear the local dhoti and women wear the Sari. They also celebrate Hindu festivals such as the Chath festival.[24] Dakhni Sikhs Dakhni Sikhs are from the Deccan Plateau in India located within the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.[25] The traditional dress of women is the sari. The native language of Dakhni Sikhs is the Telugu language.[26] Kashmiri Sikhs Ethnic Kashmiri Sikhs speak the Kashmiri language and observe Kashmiri culture. They trace their religious heritage to the influence of Sikh soldiers who settled in Kashmir under the Maharaja Ranjit Singh rule in 1819. However, the soldiers permanently settled in Kashmir.[27] Punjabi Sikhs Punjabi Sikhs are the native Sikhs of undivided Punjab region who speaks the Punjabi language as their mother tongue and practice Punjabi culture. Their traditional dress includes the Punjabi Salwar Suit, Punjabi Tamba and Kurta, Punjabi juti and Patiala salwar. In addition to the Sikh festivals using the Nanakshahi calendar, Punjabi Sikhs observe traditional Punjabi festivals using the Punjabi calendar. Sindhi Sikhs Main article: Sindhis in India See also: Sikhism in Pakistan In addition to celebrating Sikh festivals, Sindhi Sikhs celebrate cultural festivals such as Cheti Chand, the Sindhi new year. Sindhi Sikhs speak the Sindhi language. Most of the Sindhi Hindus are Nanak Panthis who believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and regularly go to guru dwara and most of the Marriage also takes place in Gurudwara.[28] South Indian Sikhs There are Sikh communities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra who converted to Sikhism centuries ago. The Sikhs comprise Banjara and Satnami. The process of blending the religion into southern India for the Sikligars began at the time of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who came to the Deccan and died in 1708 at Nanded (Maharashtra). It all came by the Sikligars as they came to southern India as expert arms-making camp followers of the tenth Guru. Sikligar is a compound of the Persian words `saiqal` and `gar` meaning a polisher of metal.[25] The traditional occupation of the Sikligars is crafting kitchen implements. Banjaras are a nomadic tribe who traditionally travelled with merchandise and are found across a large swathe of northern India, as well as in the south. Sikh Banjaras too travelled with armies of the past supplying them with provisions.[25] Geographical distribution Sikhs as percentage of total population in different districts of India, 2011 Census Indian Sikhs by state and union territory State/U.T. 2011 Indian Census[29] Pop. % Punjab 16,004,754 57.69% Haryana 1,243,752 4.91% Rajasthan 872,930 1.27% Uttar Pradesh 643,500 0.32% Delhi 570,581 3.4% Uttarakhand 236,340 2.34% Jammu and Kashmir 232,585 1.9% Maharashtra 223,247 0.2% Madhya Pradesh 151,412 0.21% Chandigarh 138,329 13.11% Himachal Pradesh 79,896 1.16% Jharkhand 71,422 0.22% Chhattisgarh 70,036 0.27% West Bengal 63,523 0.07% Gujarat 58,246 0.1% Telangana 30,340 0.09% Karnataka 28,773 0.05% Bihar 23,779 0.02% Odisha 21,991 0.05% Assam 20,672 0.07% Tamil Nadu 14,601 0.02% Andhra Pradesh 9,904 0.02% Kerala 3,814 0.01% Arunachal Pradesh 3,287 0.24% Meghalaya 3,045 0.1% Ladakh 2,263 0.83% Nagaland 1,890 0.1% Sikkim 1,868 0.31% Manipur 1,527 0.05% Goa 1,473 0.1% Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1,286 0.34% Tripura 1,070 0.03% Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 389 0.07% Puducherry 297 0.02% Mizoram 286 0.03% Lakshadweep 8 0.01% India 20,833,116 1.72% Notable Indian Sikhs Main article: List of Sikhs Though Sikhs are a minority in India, the community occupies a significant place in the country. The former Chief Justice of India, Jagdish Singh Khehar, and the former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh[30] are Sikh, as is former President of India Gyani Zail Singh. Almost every council of ministers in India has included Sikh representatives. Sikhs are also conspicuous in the Indian army, primarily because of their history as defenders of righteousness, they formed the sword arm of the British empire. The Late Indian officer with a 5 star rank, Arjan Singh, is a Sikh. Sikhs have also led the Indian army through JJ Singh and the Indian Air Force was led by Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh. Sikhs have been prominent in Indian sports, with the Indian individual gold medalist in Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, being a Sikh. Similarly they occupy important official positions, like Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia;[31] governor Surjit Singh Barnala. Sikhs are also known for entrepreneurial business in India. Milkha Singh, also known as The Flying Sikh, is a former Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. One reason for visibility of Sikhs in the Indian spectrum is the disproportionate role played by the Sikh community during the Indian freedom struggle, with Bhagat Singh remaining a youth icon to Indian youth.[32] See also flag India portal List of famous Sikhs Religion in India Cochin Sikhs Sikhism Sikhism in Pakistan Sikh culture The Sikhs are adherents to Sikhism, the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with around 25 million adherents.[1] Sikh History is around 500 years and in that time the Sikhs have developed unique expressions of art and culture which are influenced by their faith and synthesize traditions from many other cultures depending on the locality of the adherents of the religion. Sikhism is the only religion that originated in the Punjab region with all other religions coming from outside Punjab (with the possible exception of Punjabi Hinduism since the oldest Hindu scripture – the Rig Veda – was composed in the Punjab region. Some other religions, like Jainism, may also claim to have originated in Punjab since Jain symbolism has been found among artifacts of the Indus Valley Civilization). All the Sikh gurus, many saints, and many of the martyrs in Sikh history were from Punjab and from the Punjabi people (as well as other parts of the Indian Subcontinent). Punjabi culture and Sikhism are mistakenly considered inseparably intertwined. "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, strictly not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhism has seldom sought converts, most Sikhs share strong ethno-religious ties, therefore it is a common stereotype that all Sikhs share the same ethnicity. Many countries, such as the U.K., therefore misconcievingly recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses.[2] The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikhs included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".[3] Cultural societies of the Sikhs True-colour photograph - ‘Group of Tibetans at the “Golden Temple” of the Sikhs’, 15 January 1914 There is a common misconception that all Sikhs belong to the Punjab region. The religion's birthplace of Punjab itself has been called "India’s melting pot",[4] and many other parts of Northern India due to the heavy influence of invading cultures, such as Mughal and Persian, that mirrors the confluence of rivers from which the region gets its name(from Persian, "panj" پنج meaning "five" and "-āb" آب meaning water thus meaning land of the five waters). Thus, Sikh culture is to a large extent a result of groups of various cultures uniting together, thus forming a unique one. Sikhism has forged a unique form of architecture which Bhatti describes as being "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" such that Sikh architecture "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".[5] The keynote of Sikh architecture is the Gurdwara which is the personification of the "melting pot" of Indian cultures, full of Mughal, Aryan and Persian influences. The reign of the Sikh Empire was the single biggest catalyst in the creation of a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Maharajah Ranjit Singh patronising the building of forts, palaces, bungs (residential places), colleges, etc. that can be said to be of the Sikh Style. The "jewel in the crown" of the Sikh Style is the Harmandir Sahib. Sikh culture and identity are heavily influenced by militaristic motifs, with Khanda being the most obvious; thus it is no surprise that the majority of Sikh artifacts, independent of the relics of the Gurus, have a military theme. This motif is again evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vasakhi which feature marching and practicing displays of valor, respectively. The art, culture, identity, and society of the Sikhs have been merged with the different localities and ethnicities of different Sikhs into categories such as 'Agrahari Sikhs', 'Dakhni Sikhs' and 'Assamese Sikhs'; however there has emerged a niche cultural phenomenon that can be described as 'Political Sikh'. The art of prominent diaspora Sikhs such as Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra,[6] and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (The Singh Twins),[7] is partly informed by their Sikh spirituality and influence. Culture of Sikh communities Dusenbery (2014) states that Punjabi Sikhs form the majority of the Sikh population. He notes that "some Sindhis and other South Asians have been affiliated at the margins as Nanakpanthis (‘followers of Nanak’s path’) or Sehajdhari (‘slow adopter’) Sikhs" but in the main, "the Sikh Panth has remained largely a Punjabi affair".[8] However, the Sikh community is varied and includes people who speak the Pashto language, the Sindhi language, the Telugu language and many more. The many communities following Sikhism are detailed below. Afghani Sikhs Main article: Sikhism in Afghanistan The Sikhs of Afghanistan have a unique culture which has elements of the culture of Afghanistan. Tatla (2014) states that there were 3,000 Sikhs in Afghanistan in his book The Sikh Diaspora which was published in 2014.[9] American Sikhs Main article: Sikhism in the United States Yogi Bhajan is credited with raising awareness of Sikhism amongst the non-Asian community of the United States of America. This community is known as the white Sikh community which practices Sikhism and maintains a distinct culture.[10] Assamese Sikhs See also: Sikhism_in_India § Assamese_Sikhs The presence of Sikhism has existed in Assam[11] for over 200 years. The community traces its origins to the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who took his army to Assam and put some influence of the religion towards the locals. According to the 2001 census, there were 22,519 Sikhs in Assam,[12] out of which 4,000 are Assamese Sikhs.[13] Assamese Sikhs follow the Sikh religion and celebrate Sikh festivals. They also celebrate cultural festivals such as Magh Bihu and wear traditional Assamese dress. Their language is the Assamese language.[13][14] Agrahari Sikhs Main article: Agrahari Sikh Agrahari Sikh is a Sikh community found in eastern India including the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. Agrahari Sikhs, also known as Bihari Sikhs, have existed for centuries in Bihar and Jharkhand.[15] Bihari Sikhs share their culture with the local Bihari community. The men generally wear the local dhoti and women wear the sari. They also celebrate cultural festivals such as the Chath festival.[16] Dakhni Sikhs See also: Sikhism_in_India § South_Indian_Sikhs Painting depicting the wedding of Guru Nanak from a 19th century illustrated manuscript of the Janamsakhi from Maharashtra Dakhni Sikhs are from the Deccan Plateau in India located within the states of Maharashtra, Telegana and Andhra Pradesh.[17] The traditional dress of women is the sari. The native languages of Dakhni Sikhs include Marathi and Telugu.[18] Kashmiri Sikhs Ethnic Kashmiri Sikhs speak the Kashmiri language and observe Kashmiri culture. They trace their religious heritage to the influence of Sikh soldiers who settled in Kashmir under Maharaja Ranjit Singh's rule in 1819. However, the soldiers permanently settled in Kashmir.[19] Punjabi Sikhs Main article: Punjabi Sikhs See also: Punjabis, Sikhism in Pakistan, and Religion in Punjab Punjabi Sikhs follow the Punjabi culture. Their traditional dress includes the Punjabi Salwar Suit, Punjabi Tamba and Kurta, Punjabi juti and Patiala salwar. In addition to the Sikh festivals using the Nanakshahi calendar, Punjabi Sikhs observe traditional Punjabi festivals using the Punjabi calendar. Sindhi Sikhs Main article: Sindhis in India See also: Sikhism in Pakistan In addition to celebrating Sikh festivals, Sindhi Sikhs celebrate cultural festivals such as Cheti Chand, the Sindhi new year. Sindhi Sikhs speak the Sindhi language. Khalsa Sikhs historically had a stronghold in Kandhra, Khairpur during the reign of the Talpur Mirs (1775–1955).[20] However, most Sikhs in Sindh are followers of the Udasi, Sewapanthi, and Nanakpanthi sects.[21][22] Only around 8,000–10,000 people in present-day Sindh are mainstream, orthodox Khalsa Sikh. The vast majority belong to the aforementioned sects whom may practice varying degrees of religious kinship and syncretism with Hinduism and Sufism.[23][24][25][26] Udasis are generally concentrated in northern Sindh whilst Nanakpanthis can be found throughout the region except in areas of the Rajasthani cultural sphere (Dhatki-speaking areas) who practice a more mainstream, non-syncretic, and differentiated form of Hinduism.[27] Nanakpanth and Udasipanth are different sects of Sikhism, with a major difference being that Udasis adopt a life-hood of celibacy whilst Nanakpanthis freely marry and bear children.[22] Another Sikh sect, the Jagiasi, who claim to have been founded by the younger son of Guru Nanak named Lakhmi Das, were also historically prevalent in Sindh, especially during the period of Baba Gurupat, who was a descendant of Guru Nanak.[28][29][30][31] Baba Gurupat conducted missionary works in Sindh and founded many Jagiasu tikanas (seats; a term for a place of worship in many Sikh sects) in the region, specifically in Khairpur, Hyderabad, Halani, and Kandyaro.[28][29][30][31] Sindhis may have been converting to Sikhism ever since the time of Guru Nanak, who traveled to the region.[32] Janamsakhi literature narrate that Guru Nanak traveled to Shikarpur, possibly as far as Sukkur.[32] Sindhi women learnt the Gurmukhi script in-order to understand the Guru Granth Sahib.[32] A lot of converts to Sikhism came from the Amil caste.[32] The Chief Khalsa Diwan sent out orthodox Sikh missionaries to Sindh in the 1930s to preach towards Sehajdharis (literally "slow adopters"), which dominated the landscape of Sikhism in Sindh.[32] The result was the number of Keshdhari (those who keep uncut hair) Sikhs recorded increasing from 1,000 in the 1901 census to over 39,000 in the 1941 census.[32] Sant Thahriya Singh was a prominent Sindhi Sikh saint of the 20th century, and many gurdwaras are constructed in his name in the region.[32] South Indian Sikhs See also: Sikhism_in_India § South_Indian_Sikhs Tanjore-style painting of a Sikh couple from South India, circa 1805 There are Sikh communities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra who converted to Sikhism centuries ago. The Sikhs comprise Banjara and Satnami. The process of blending the religion into southern India for the Sikligars began at the time of the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who came to the Deccan and died in 1708 at Nanded (Maharashtra). It all came by the Sikligars as they came to southern India as expert arms-making camp followers of the tenth Guru. Sikligar is a compound of the Persian words `saiqal` and `gar` meaning a polisher of metal.[17] The traditional occupation of the Sikligars is crafting kitchen implements. Banjaras are a nomadic tribe who traditionally travelled with merchandise and are found across a large swathe of northern India, as well as in the south. Sikh Banjaras too travelled with armies of the past supplying them with provisions.[17] Gallery A frontispiece to the Dasam Granth. A frontispiece to the Dasam Granth. The Bardari of Ranjit Singh, built in the Hazuri Bagh. The Bardari of Ranjit Singh, built in the Hazuri Bagh. Gateway of the Ram Bagh, North-East of Amritsar; built by Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Gateway of the Ram Bagh, North-East of Amritsar; built by Maharajah Ranjit Singh. A Sikh helmet from the late 18th century. Note the adaptation on the helmet's crown to allow for a Sikh's uncut hair. A Sikh helmet from the late 18th century. Note the adaptation on the helmet's crown to allow for a Sikh's uncut hair. One of the gates at the Sikh temple called Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, in Delhi. One of the gates at the Sikh temple called Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, in Delhi. Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (autograph or signature) of Guru Gobind Singh. Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (autograph or signature) of Guru Gobind Singh. Detail from Gurdwara Baba Atal. Detail from Gurdwara Baba Atal. A Opaque Watercolour on paper copy of Nakashi 1880c A Opaque Watercolour on paper copy of Nakashi 1880c Harmandir Sahib or the Golden Temple, Amritsar, India. Harmandir Sahib or the Golden Temple, Amritsar, India. Interior of the Akal Takht. Interior of the Akal Takht. Painting of the durbar of Maharaja Dalip Singh Sukerchakia. Painting of the durbar of Maharaja Dalip Singh Sukerchakia. Painting of Ranjit Singh and Hira Singh of Nabha. Painting of Ranjit Singh and Hira Singh of Nabha. The Sikh Order of Merit with a Portrait of Ranjit Singh, directly inspired by the French Légion d'honneur The Sikh Order of Merit with a Portrait of Ranjit Singh, directly inspired by the French Légion d'honneur Ceiling fresco of female figures from an abandoned Gurdwara located in Mangat village in Pakistan Ceiling fresco of female figures from an abandoned Gurdwara located in Mangat village in Pakistan Guru Granth Sahib manuscript housed at Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur and dated to 1803 B.S. (1746 C.E.) beautifully decorated with gold and floral arabesques Guru Granth Sahib manuscript housed at Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur and dated to 1803 B.S. (1746 C.E.) beautifully decorated with gold and floral arabesques Equestrian portrait of Guru Gobind Singh attended upon by a Nihang, circa 1850 Equestrian portrait of Guru Gobind Singh attended upon by a Nihang, circa 1850 Guru Nanak engaged in an interfaith dialogue, Janamsakhi painting Guru Nanak engaged in an interfaith dialogue, Janamsakhi painting Holy men visiting Guru Nanak in a mountainous forest, Mewar painting Holy men visiting Guru Nanak in a mountainous forest, Mewar painting Illustrations of female figures on a chola (chogha) robe that is said to have belonged to Guru Nanak which was made by and given as a gift by his sister, Bebe Nanaki Illustrations of female figures on a chola (chogha) robe that is said to have belonged to Guru Nanak which was made by and given as a gift by his sister, Bebe Nanaki See also Sikh art Indian art Turban training centre Sikh architecture Sikh scriptures History of Sikhism Punjabi culture Shastar Vidya Sikh chola Sikh Ajaibghar Mehdiana Sahib Punjabi culture grew out of the settlements along the five rivers (the name Punjab, is derived from two Persian words, Panj meaning "Five" and Âb meaning "Water") which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE.[1] Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership.[1] The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan".[1] Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land.[1] Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.[1] Music Main article: Music of Punjab Bhangra is one of the many Punjabi musical art forms that are increasingly listened to in the West and becoming a mainstream favourite.[2] Punjabi music is used by western musicians in many ways, such as mixing with other compositions to produce award-winning music. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practiced in Pakistani Punjab; are other important genres in the Punjab region.[3][4] Dance See also: Punjabi dance Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with traditional musical instruments. Bhangra is one of the most famous dances originating in the Punjab by farmers during the harvesting season. It was mainly performed while farmers did agricultural chores. As they did each farming activity they would perform bhangra moves on the spot.[5] This allowed them to finish their job in a pleasurable way. For many years, farmers performed bhangra to showcase a sense of accomplishment and to welcome the new harvesting season.[6] Traditional bhangra is performed in a circle[7] and is performed using traditional dance steps. Traditional bhangra is now also performed on occasions other than during the harvest season.[8][9] Ghidda is also a famous dance from Punjab. This dance is for women and originates thousands of years ago, it resembles femininity and beauty.[citation needed] Art Painting in the Punjab developed during the reign of Iltutmish of the Khilji dynasty, who had patronized it.[10] A historical reference to this was made in the Tarikh-I-Ferozeshi.[10] Sikh art, including Sikh painting, is mostly derived from Punjab's art traditions.[10] B.N. Goswamy argues that painting in the Punjab goes back to the 16th century and became influenced by the Mughal school in the early half of the 18th century.[11] Punjabi Sikh forays into painting were mostly limited to wall paintings decorating the walls of religious sites up until the early 19th century.[12] Miniature painting depicting Hindu religious scenes and themes was popular in the Punjab Hills amongst the various Pahari Rajput states.[12] Between 1810–1830, the Sikhs began to commission these Pahari artists to paint Sikh subjects and settings, mostly Sikh royalty and nobility.[12] After Sikhs began to progressively come into more and more contact with Europeans after 1830, the main influence on Punjabi Sikh art shifted from Pahari styles and methods to European ones.[12] The Punjabi form and localization of Company paintings would be born out of this increased interaction between European and Punjabi artists.[12] Thus, Pahari-influenced traditional miniature paintings began to be surmounted by European-influenced Company school paintings.[12] Lahori and Amritsari artists increasingly abandoned using the traditional Indic medium of gouache for watercolour techniques.[12] In 1838–39, a British visitor hired local Punjabi artists to produce pictures covering the various kinds of inhabitants of northern India using British-supplied paper and bound into an album.[12] Images of the Sikh royals and military were documented in these British-patronized local paintings.[12] Many Europeans were employed by the Lahore Durbar, such as the Frenchman Jean-François Allard, and were sponsors of the local arts.[12] A few European artists who visited the Sikh court of Lahore and left a deep impact on the local art were: G. T. Vigne (visited in 1837), William G. Osborne (visited in 1838), Emily Eden (visited in 1838 alongside her brother), and August Schoefft (arrived in 1841).[12] Eden had a large impact, as her published work Portraits of the Princes and People of India (which included lithographic depictions of Sikhs and Punjabis) was a big success and many copies of the work made their way to Punjab where they ended up giving further shape to the emerging Punjabi Company School.[12] Schoefft spent over a year in Punjab painting various local scenes and subjects.[12] During the Anglo-Sikh Wars, many of the British officials and soldiers who made their way to Punjab were artists.[12] An example is Henry Lawrence, who painted local residents of various walks of life.[12] Many Indian artists who followed the Company school were hired to paint Punjabi subjects and settings.[12] When the Sikh Empire was annexed in 1849, local Punjabi artists working in the Company style created works based upon stock sets for the purpose of selling them to European tourists in the local bazaars.[12] These Punjabi paintings geared towards a European audience depicted "Sikh rulers, heroes, occupations, and costumes".[12] Wall paintings Murals (including frescoes) feature prominently in Punjab and showcase various themes.[13] Punjabi murals differ from Punjabi miniature paintings in that the wall paintings were far more readily accessible and viewable by the general masses rather than being mostly an affair restricted to the privileged classes of the society, as in the case of miniatures.[13] Since murals could be seen by all walks of society, the things depicted in them were commonly understood subjects that required no specialized knowledge.[13] Punjabi murals can depict religious or secular settings.[13] Religious themes Mural depicting a scene from Indic mythology, located within the Samadh of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore, ca.1840's. The mythological scene depicted is likely a Vaishnavist scene from the Mahabharata or Ramayana epics. Religious-themed murals are often found at religious shrines, such as Hindu and Sikh temples.[13] Scenes from Indic mythology, such as the Mahabharata, are commonly found, an example being the unveiling of Draupadi.[13] Religious murals depicting female figuratives were often Shaktist in-nature.[13] A prevailing theme of the divine (the Shakti) incarnating in feminine form (these unique forms are given various names, such as Kali) to battle with negative forces (that are hostile to the deities and mankind), including demons (such as Mahishasura) and giants (such as Shumbha and Nishumbha), is a commonly witnessed scene of Punjabi murals.[13] The scenes depicted by this category of wall paintings are seemingly drawn from the Markandeya Purana, which promotes the reverence of Shakti as the divine-mother figure.[13] Other scenes found in Punjabi wall paintings seem to stem from the stories of the Bhagavata Purana.[13] An example of a type of mural scene derived from it is Radha being surrounded by youthful gopis.[13] Krishna is also commonly depicted alongside gopis in this sort of mural.[13] Krishna is sometimes shown playing his flute whilst the gopis perform the ras-lila around him or he is shown stealing clothes from the gopis, an episode known as chira-harana.[13] Aside from Hindu themes, there are also depictions based upon Sikh history and themes, such as Sikh gurus, martyrs (shaheeds), and religious figures (an example being bhagats).[13] Secular themes Fresco depicting a hunting scene from a Punjabi Muslim khangah (Khangah Dargani Shah at Dhun Dhaewal) located on the right bank of the Beas River near Chola Sahib, Tarn Taran district Amid the murals based on profane subjects, depictions of scenes from traditional Punjabi folklore are commonplace, such as Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiban, Sohni Mahiwal, Sassi Pannu, Laila Majnun, Raja Rasalu, and more.[13] A lot of the depicted stories are ultimately based upon bardic literature, such as the legends of Shah Behram and Husan Banu.[13] There are also paintings based upon traditional folk ballads, such as Puran Bhagat.[13] Additionally, there are paintings of various Nayika themes, including the Ashta-nayika (eight heroines).[13] There also exists wall paintings based upon the Sat Sai of Bihari.[13] There are further depictions of various royal figures, such as Rani Jindan.[13] Many Punjabi wall paintings depict women and girls in the process of a variety of actions, such as feeding parrots, peacocks, or bucks.[13] Women are also depicted fondling pets or writing love letters in these wall paintings.[13] Fresco depicting a dalliance scene from Jandwal temple in Hoshiarpur district Usually displayed less conspicuously, there were also wall painting depicting sexual or erotic themes.[13] It was a common practice to decorate the walls of Islamic and Hindu palaces with erotic scenes.[13] The Sikh royality and nobality during the reign of the Sikh Empire had their residences embellished with these erotic wall paintings. General Paolo Avitabile had his private residence quarters decorated with figures of scantily clad dancing girls and Indic deities in the act of making love.[13] At the Rani Mahal of erstwhile Nabha State, there are wall paintings of couples having sex in various positions, settings, and emotions based upon the Koka Shastra treatise.[13] However, it is important to note that these erotic-based murals were limited mostly to the areas frequented by the upper-classes of the Punjabi society at the time.[13] Weddings See also: Punjabi wedding traditions Punjabi wedding traditions and ceremonies are traditionally conducted in Punjabi and are a strong reflection of Punjabi culture. While the actual religious marriage ceremony among Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians may be conducted in Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Hindi or Pali by the Qazi, Pundit, Granthi or Priest, there are commonalities in ritual, song, dance, food, and dress. The Punjabi wedding has many rituals and ceremonies that have evolved since traditional times and itself have evolved in Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab. Cuisine See also: Punjabi cuisine Tandoori chicken is a popular dish in Punjabi cuisine. The local cuisine of Punjab is heavily influenced by the agriculture and farming lifestyle prevalent from the times of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Dishes similar to tandoori chicken may have existed during the Harappan civilization during the Bronze Age of India. According to the archeologist Professor Vasant Shinde, the earliest evidence for a dish similar to tandoori chicken can be found in the Harappan civilization and dates back to 3000 BC. His team has found ancient ovens at Harappan sites which are similar to the tandoors that are used in the state of Punjab. Physical remains of chicken bones with char marks have also been unearthed.[14][15][16] Harappan houses had keyhole ovens with central pillars which was used for roasting meats and baking breads.[17] Sushruta Samhita records meat being cooked in an oven (kandu) after marinating it in spices like black mustard (rai) powder and fragrant spices.[18] According to Ahmed (2014), Harappan oven structures may have operated in a similar manner to the modern tandoors of the Punjab.[19] Basmati rice is the indigenous variety of Punjab, and various meat- and vegetable-based rice dishes have been developed using it.[20][21][22] Language and literature Main articles: Punjabi language and Punjabi literature Baba Farid, considered the first major Punjabi poet.[23] The Punjabi language is written with the Gurmukhi alphabet in India and with the Shahmukhi alphabet in Pakistan. Approximately 130 million people speak the Punjabi language.[24] The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to Nath Yogi era from 9th to 14th century.[25] They referred to God with various names such as "Alakh Nirajan" which are still prevalent in Punjabi vernacular.[25] The Punjabi literary tradition is popularly seen to commence with Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1173–1266).[23] Roughly from the 12th century to the 19th century, Punjabi Sufi poetry developed under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1628–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), Bulleh Shah (1680–1757), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (1747–1826), Mian Muhammad Baksh (1830–1907) and Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845–1901). In contrast to Persian poets, who had preferred the ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi poets tended to compose in the Kafi.[26] Punjabi Sufi poetry also influenced other Punjabi literary traditions particularly the Punjabi Qissa, a genre of romantic tragedy which also derived inspiration from Indic, Persian and Quranic sources. The Qissa of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah (1706–1798) is among the most popular of Punjabi qisse. Other popular stories include Sohni Mahiwal by Fazal Shah, Mirza Sahiba by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–1707), Sassi Punnun by Hashim Shah (1735?–1843?), and Qissa Puran Bhagat by Qadaryar (1802–1892). Dress Main article: Punjabi clothing Dastar Main article: Dastar A Dastar is an proud of headgear associated with Sikhism and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the dastār is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The Khalsa Sikh men and women, who keep the Five Ks, wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair (kesh). The Sikhs regard the dastār as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was sentenced to death by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru created the Khalsa and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the dastār covers.[27] Prior to Sikhi, only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.[28] Punjabi suit Main article: Shalwar kameez Punjabi traditional dress in India A Punjabi suit that features two items - a qameez (top), salwar (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people.[29][30][31] Shalwars are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[32] The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic.[33] The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the chaak[note 1]), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The combination garment is sometimes called salwar kurta, salwar suit, or Punjabi suit.[35][36] The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn,[37][38] and national dress,[39] of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck.[40] The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders.[41] Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.[42] Festivals See also: Punjabi festivals, List of Sikh festivals, List of Hindu festivals in Punjab, and Festivals in Lahore The Punjabi Muslims typically observe the Islamic festivals.[43][44] The Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus typically do not observe these, and instead observe Lohri, Basant and Vaisakhi as seasonal festivals.[45] The Punjabi Muslim festivals are set according to the lunar Islamic calendar (Hijri), and the date falls earlier by 10 to 13 days from year to year.[46] The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar or Punjabi calendar and the date of the festival also typically varies in the Gregorian calendar but stays within the same two Gregorian months.[47] Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals,[48] and they being declared haram (forbidden in Islam).[49] Preservation of Punjabi Culture In recent years, efforts have been made to preserve and promote Punjabi culture and heritage. One notable example is the Panjab Digital Library (PDL), founded by Davinder Pal Singh. The library's mission is to digitize and preserve historical manuscripts, books, and other materials related to Punjabi language, history, and culture. This initiative has helped to safeguard and promote Punjabi culture for future generations.[50] See also image Punjab portal icon Society portal Punjabi Culture Day Punjabi calendar Punjabi festivals Folk practices in Punjab Punjab Punjabi people British Punjabis Punjabi Americans Punjabi Australians Punjabi Canadians Punjabi diaspora Punjab (India) Punjab (Pakistan) Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago List of Punjabi language poets Livestock show Vaisakhi Sikh art and culture
In November 1956, D. S. Saund, who everyone simply called “Judge,” became the first person of Asian descent elected to serve as a United States Representative. He was a tireless champion of his southern California district and the farmers who called it home. But his unique backstory—born in India, naturalized U.S. citizen, successful businessman, county judge—also catapulted him to the international stage. During his career in the House of Representatives, at the height of the Cold War, Saund became something of a transcendent politician who had the singular ability to engage audiences abroad. Although he frequently confronted discrimination during his life in the United States, Saund maintained his belief in the promises of American democracy. Dalip Singh Saund was born on September 20, 1899, and raised in Chhajjalwaddi in the far-northern province of Punjab, India, which at the time was a British colony. Saund’s father worked as a construction contractor for the government and died when Saund was only a boy. His parents had lived through the period of British colonialism and neither had attended school, but education was a cornerstone of Saund’s life. His father and uncles saved enough money to open a one-room schoolhouse about a half mile from where Saund lived. At the age of eight, his parents sent him to boarding school 16 miles away in the city of Amritsar near the border with modern day Pakistan.1 While in college at the University of Punjab, Saund supported the movement for an independent India led by Mohandas Gandhi.2 Along with his informal lessons in nonviolence and civil disobedience, Saund majored in mathematics, graduated with a BS degree in 1919, and moved to America to further his education. While he waited for his passport, Saund worked to expand his childhood school, planted trees along the roads throughout his village, and helped establish two community banks.3 During World War I, Saund read the speeches of President Woodrow Wilson in the news and later discovered the writings of Abraham Lincoln, especially the moving words of the Gettysburg Address.4 “Lincoln,” Saund later wrote, “changed the entire course of my life.”5 Saund had planned to spend no more than a few years in America learning the fruit-canning business before returning home.6 His trip west took him from Bombay to England and from England to Ellis Island, New York, where he arrived on September 27, 1920. “You are now a free man in a free country,” one of the immigration officers told him.7 Saund made his way west and enrolled in the University of California’s agricultural school and mathematics department as well.8 Berkeley, California, was not the most welcoming of places for Indian and Asian students, and “outside of the university atmosphere,” he later remembered, “it was made quite evident that people from Asia—Japanese, Chinese, and Hindus—were not wanted.”9 Saund, however, became involved with the local community and then earned MA and PhD degrees in mathematics in 1924. After he finished his studies, Saund’s family informed him that the Indian government had been keeping tabs on his “anti-British utterances in America.” Saund decided to stay in California and later authored My Mother India, a book about his experiences at home and a critique of British imperialism.10 He moved south to California’s Imperial Valley, where a number of other Indians had settled.11 His first job, he said, was as “foreman of a cottonpicking gang at a ranch belonging to some Indian friends.” Saund saved money and quickly went into the business of growing lettuce. The lettuce market tanked, however, and it was a while before he recouped his losses.12 In 1928 Saund married Marian Kosa, the daughter of a close friend and a future teacher in the Los Angeles school system. Together they had three children: Dalip Jr., who served in the Korean War as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and two daughters, Julie and Ellie, who both attended the University of California, Los Angeles.13 Initially, Saund’s young family settled on a ranch in Westmorland, California, a dry, windy, and hot region of the state just a few miles south of the Salton Sea. The area specialized in sending melons to market before anywhere else, but the Depression hit the local economy hard. Fruit rotted in the field, and harvest work disappeared.14 Saund came out of the economic collapse relatively unscathed because he grew and baled alfalfa hay and had direct access to Los Angeles.15 Saund owned his own farming equipment, but because California law prevented people of Asian descent from owning or leasing land at the time, a friend in the valley had to put the contracts in his own name.16 As the economy rebounded, Saund stumbled for a spell and plunged into debt. Against advice from friends and business associates, he refused to declare bankruptcy and decided to work his way out of the hole “slowly but surely.” “That decision to follow the dictates of my own heart was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he wrote years later.17 After 20 years of farming, Saund opened his own fertilizer business around 1953, commuting a total of nearly 1,000 miles a week between his home near Los Angeles, where his wife taught and where they raised their children, and his business, headquartered in Westmorland.18 Saund closely followed politics during his time in the west, studying the issues of the 1924 and 1928 presidential contests. “By 1932,” he wrote in his memoirs, “I had positively and definitely become a Democrat by outlook and conviction.”19 During the 1930s, his home county received a number of benefits from federal New Deal programs created to help struggling farmers and people out of work.20 When he was not farming, Saund was a popular speaker in the valley and addressed local groups nearly every week.21 He learned how to think and speak in the moment, unscripted, during his involvement with the Toastmasters Club.22 Saund’s political activities could go only so far, however, because, at the time, federal law prevented him from becoming a U.S. citizen. In the 1940s, he helped organize efforts to open citizenship to people of Indian descent living in the States. He worked long hours to build support, and, eventually, Congress passed a bill allowing Indian immigrants to pursue naturalization.23 Saund became a U.S. citizen three and a half years later on December 16, 1949.24 Saund was elected to the Imperial County Democratic Central Committee in the summer of 1950 and ran for a judgeship in November. He claimed to know every voter in the district and campaigned door-to-door, building momentum. He won, but a higher court vacated his election after it became clear that Saund had not been a U.S. citizen for a full year at the time of his victory.25 Two years later, Saund ran again, and in the buildup to the 1952 judicial election, he faced a barrage of discrimination. Voters, and even old friends, told Saund that they liked him well enough but could never bring themselves to “go for a Hindu judge.”26 As the election heated up, Saund adamantly refused to go negative, his message being, “I am not running against anybody; all I’m asking for is a job, and it’s up to you to judge whether I deserve your support or not.”27 “Doc, tell us, if you’re elected, will you furnish the turbans or will we have to buy them ourselves in order to come into your court?” someone later asked him in the middle of a restaurant. “My friend,” Saund responded, “you know me as a tolerant man. I don’t care what a man has on the top of his head. All I’m interested in is what he’s got inside.”28 On Election Day, Saund won by 13 votes.29 During his four-year judgeship, Saund worked to institute stiff sentencing that helped clean up blighted areas of Westmorland.30 He earned the reputation as a firstrate legal mind, going head to head with more practiced attorneys.31 Saund’s judgeship became a huge part of his identity and served as a springboard to national office. When he ran for the House, he ran as “Judge Saund.”32 In 1954 Saund won election as the head of the Democratic Central Committee for Imperial County. Democrats lost the congressional election that year but made a stronger showing than most political experts expected, encouraging local party officials to go all in for the next race in 1956.33 Saund had met a number of political kingmakers, and by the next fall, California Democrats began pledging support for Saund—whom they reportedly called “the peacemaker”—if he ever decided to run for Congress. It did not take long. By October 1955, Saund resolved to campaign for a seat in the House from California’s 29th District. He knew half of the district well (Imperial County), but anticipated a struggle in neighboring Riverside County. A handful of party leaders from both counties ended up giving him their backing a month later.34 When the incumbent Congressman, Republican John Phillips, announced his retirement from the House, six Republicans and two Democrats—Saund included—jumped into the race by early 1956.35 Saund’s congressional district was created after the 1940 Census, and voters there had elected a Republican to the House ever since. By 1955, however, Democrats had a slight edge in voter registration.36 Geographically it was huge—larger “than Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Delaware combined,” according to the New York Times—and bordered by Nevada to the east, Mexico to the south, and Los Angeles to the west.37 From a population standpoint, it was one of California’s smaller districts, with a total of 233,021 people in 1950; it grew to 378,296 by 1960.38 Saund’s main opponent in the Democratic primary was a lawyer from nearby Riverside County named Carl Kegley. The race began cordially until Kegley filed legal action to disqualify Saund, arguing the Judge had not been a U.S. citizen long enough to serve in the House.39 Undismayed, Saund saw it as an opportunity. “When he filed suit against me,” Saund remembered a few years later, “it became front-page, headline news in all the Riverside and Imperial County papers. Even if I could have afforded it, I couldn’t have bought that kind of publicity.”40 Saund remained confident in his eligibility throughout the fight, pointing out that, if he won the election, he would take office in January 1957, making him a citizen for just over seven years, as required by the Constitution.41 He stayed on message and refused to attack his opponent, eventually winning the primary by more than 9,000 votes.42 Going into the general election, Saund played catch-up to his Republican opponent, Jacqueline Cochran Odlum. A decorated Army pilot known for her work as the head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, Odlum owned a successful cosmetics company and had long been a supporter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.43 Because of the unique backgrounds of the two leading candidates, the race attracted national attention. “A woman’s ‘smoldering hope’ and the success story of an East Indian immigrant are converging into what is likely to be one of the most colorful Congressional contests of 1956,” reported the New York Times. “Seldom if ever has the American melting pot cooked up a spicier election dish than the contest now simmering in California’s 29th Congressional District,” read another article in the Los Angeles Times.44 Throughout the campaign, Odlum reportedly outspent Saund many times over.45 Saund, however, used a grassroots approach, holding a series of free community barbeques.46 His phalanx of supporters, including members of his own family, campaigned door-to-door while registering voters.47 His wife, Marian, and their college-aged daughter, Ellie, spent summer vacation canvassing Riverside, and Saund’s son and daughter-in-law came home often to help. “We didn’t have time to stop and count how many precincts,” Marian said. “We just worked.”48 House Majority Whip Carl Albert of Oklahoma also campaigned for Saund in California, and Harold Cooley of North Carolina wired his support.49 Saund’s ethnicity and religious beliefs were a constant issue in the race. The Associated Press reminded readers that Saund was “a Sikh Hindu born in India” with “darkhued” skin before noting that he had been “thoroughly Americanized after 36 years here.”50 Saund bought airtime in Southern California to introduce himself to voters throughout the district.51 But as the New York Times told its readers two weeks before the election, Saund ran up against “considerable racial sensitivity in the area.”52 Years later, Odlum still believed that Saund was, as she said, “a card-toting Communist.”53 Ultimately, the issues seemed to outweigh everything else. As a farmer who had once struggled to pull himself out of debt, Saund believed in the necessity of farm subsidies, while Odlum, who also ran her own ranch, took a more conditional approach.54 Odlum touted her connections in Washington, while Saund promised to work hard and used his personal history as proof of his commitment to the district.55 A few years after the election, Saund criticized the idea of campaigning on political connections writing, “My view was that any congressman who expected to get favors from the big boys in Washington got them only by voting the way the big boys wanted him to vote, not the way the interests of his district would lead him to vote.”56 During a last-minute debate broadcast a week before the election, Saund pointed out that his political beliefs as a Democrat were often more in line with the popular Republican presidential administration of Dwight Eisenhower than Odlum’s own stances as the actual GOP candidate.57 Saund built on that momentum going into Election Day. When the dust settled, he won, taking 54,989 votes, or roughly 52 percent.58 Saund credited his victory to his stance on local issues, especially his commitment to small-scale farmers and small businesses.59 With his election, Saund became the first Asian American ever to enjoy full voting rights in Congress (he served as a U.S. Representative whose powers were not circumscribed like those of the Delegates and Resident Commissioners who had preceded him).60 “Californians have not always been hospitable to aliens—and especially to aliens of Asian origin,” the Washington Post’s editorial board observed. “In this election they ignored ancestry and considered the individual.”61 “He’s growed cotton. He’s growed lettuce and beets. He’s worked in hay and he’s worked for wages. And he won’t let any smart aleck lawyers trick him,” a district farmer told the culture magazine Coronet. “That’s why we sent him to Washington.”62 For the duration of his House career, Saund faced modest competition back home. He won re-election handily in 1958, taking 62 percent of the vote and crushing his Republican opponent, John Babbage, by almost 26,000 votes.63 In 1960, although he said he was “running scared,” Saund coasted to victory over Republican Charles H. Jameson.64 Saund, the New York Times wrote shortly after his first election, “is a stocky, dynamic, perpetually grinning man whose walnut skin threatened to handicap him in a raceconscious section where there was some informal school segregation until a couple of years ago. This evidently was more than offset by his manifest dedication to American ideals and by his articulateness—he speaks in a highpitched, urgent tone, with just a faint alien accent. He looks like an average business man or schoolteacher, and with his serviceable ‘border Spanish’ has occasionally been mistaken for one of the Mexican-Americans numerous in the district.”65 Saund’s ethnicity may have been an issue in the election, but the Congressman-elect did not want it to influence his service in the House. Saund wanted his committee assignments to reflect his district’s interests rather than his personal history and told the press he would like a seat on something other than the Foreign Affairs Committee. “I am not so much concerned with India,” he said about a month before the start of the new Congress. “I am concerned with my district right here in California.” He wanted to see better farm supports. He wanted the Air Force to build a new base in his district, and he wanted a nuclear power plant built in the “big spaces” outside the valley. “I would prefer to be on the Agriculture and the Armed Services Committee,” he had said in late November.66 On the eve of the new Congress, at least one report had Saund pushing for a seat on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.67 Saund arrived in Washington on December 17 to look for a home and start organizing his congressional office.68 He was already something of a national star and, in his first term, Democratic leaders placed him on the Committee on Foreign Affairs despite his earlier reluctance. Saund called the appointment a “high honor,” and he remained on the committee for his entire House career. Foreign Affairs was one of the most powerful committees in the House during the Cold War, making it a major coup for a novice lawmaker. In the 86th and 87th Congresses (1959–1963), Saund also served on the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.69 His national profile aside, Saund tried to stay out of the spotlight as much as he could in order to learn how the House worked—a difficult problem when television cameras from CBS followed him around on Opening Day. He and his wife ate breakfast in the House cafeteria every morning before he went up to his office to answer mail from his constituents.70 Saund helped veterans and their families access benefits and worked to secure millions in funding for the March Air Force Base and the Naval Auxiliary Air Station and additional money for the Corona Naval Ordinance Laboratory. He collaborated with committee chairmen to fund flood control projects, won funding for irrigation efforts on American Indian land, opened new post offices in his fast-growing district, built new roads, improved airports in the Imperial Valley, and assisted scientists developing new strains of cotton. He worked to protect the Bracero farm labor program, in which immigrants from Mexico took jobs in America’s agricultural sector as part of a guest-worker program. And he helped to settle claims Riverside County had against the federal government for repairs to a regional airport.71 Saund was a fierce supporter of the 1957 Civil Rights bill. The Judge used his own story to advocate its passage, pointing out that, although being born in India did not prevent him from becoming a Member, being born black in Mississippi would have. “No amount of sophistry or legal argument can deny the fact that in 13 counties in 1 State in the United States of America in the year 1957, not one Negro is a registered voter. Let us remove those difficulties, my friends.”72 Midway through his first term, Saund fulfilled a campaign promise by flying home to India for the first time in almost 40 years. When he first floated the idea in the days after the 1956 election, Saund billed the trip as a “goodwill” visit sponsored by the State Department to clear up “misunderstanding between the people of the United States and India.”73 India had more or less stayed out of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but Saund planned to stress America’s “freedom of opportunity.”74 “Look,” he wanted to tell the world, “here I am, a living example of American democracy in practice.”75 It was not until a year later that Saund returned to India as a representative of the Foreign Affairs Committee, “a one-man subcommittee,” as the Judge called himself.76 Saund was quick to acknowledge that racism still existed in the United States, but he hoped to use his personal story to undercut what he called “the Communist lie that racial prejudice against Asians is rampant in America.”77 Saund, his wife, and their daughter arrived in Calcutta, India, on November 25, 1957, and spent three weeks touring the country. He touted his assignment to the Foreign Affairs Committee as a reflection of America’s genuine desire to reach out to the world. More than anything, wrote one reporter, Saund’s trip “helped to create a new realization among thinking Indians that they have friends in the United States sincerely devoted to advancing the cause of India.”78 Saund also addressed a joint session of the Parliament of India, speaking honestly about America’s failings, but quickly pointing out the steps the United States was taking to correct its wrongs.79 During his two-and-a-half-month world tour, Saund visited a host of other locations : “Japan, Hong Kong, South Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, India, Pakistan, Israel … Rome, Paris, and London,” selling American ideals and encouraging cultural exchange.80 Eight months after he returned, Saund told the House that the people he met abroad wanted “freedom and the American way of life. Yet we—a Nation of supersalesman [sic], are failing to sell our way of life.”81 The needs of Saund’s constituents remained at the forefront of his legislative agenda during the 86th Congress.82 His bill to protect the date industry in the valley was perhaps his most hard-fought victory in the House. Date growers from his district had been running up against cheaper imports, and to protect the domestic crop, Saund introduced a bill to subject foreign-grown dates and walnuts to a quality inspection. Although the government already had similar programs for a host of other produce,a number of cabinet departments opposed Saund’s bill, as did the large commercial industries that relied on the cheap fruit. The House Agriculture Committee reported Saund’s bill favorably, but the Rules Committee sat on it, unwilling to bring it to the floor. In late August 1960, Democratic leadership suspended the rules and allowed for a vote. His bill easily cleared the House but failed to become law.83 Using his position on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Saund also helped negotiate a deal between the city of Palm Springs and the residents of the nearby Agua Caliente Reservation. Saund brokered the agreement using two bills (H.R. 8587 and H.R. 6672), whereby existing reservation land would be divided among its residents in a process called “equalization.” The holders of tribal lands could then lease their parcels to the city for a period of 99 years in order to meet commercial lending regulations. “This will make possible the development of valuable Indian property, the expansion of business in Palm Springs and the acquisition of the airport by the city,” Saund said.84 Saund continued to secure funding for flood control in the valley, new infrastructure projects and post offices, and improvements to the military installments in his district. Although he supported the Bracero Program, Saund called for tighter restrictions and criticized the ranchers who exploited the program in order to maximize profit. “American citizens are entitled to jobs on American farms before any imported labor is authorized,” he said.85 Saund maintained his support for Congress’s civil rights legislation and voted in favor of pensions, health insurance for senior citizens, and insurance for the unemployed. On an international scale, Saund wanted to spend less money on military aid and more on cultural exchanges and infrastructure projects in the developing world.86 For one thing, Saund wanted to see America’s huge agricultural surpluses put to use overseas. “A hungry world,” he wrote, “would receive the bounty of American farms with much more gratitude than they do the tons of obsolete military hardware under the Mutual Security Program.”87 Even into the next Congress, Saund remained critical of the federal government’s overseas spending. “We must admit,” he said, “that our efforts to promote democracy and build strong free societies in many of the underdeveloped countries of the world through massive expenditures of U.S. funds have been, to say the least, not successful.”88 In defiance of the John F. Kennedy administration, Saund pushed Congress to more closely monitor its foreign investments. In particular, he wanted to ensure that whatever money America gave to the world actually made it to the farmers and rural villagers who needed it the most. “That has been our mistake all along,” he said during debate on the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. “We have been identified with the ruling classes. We have been coddling kings and dictators and protecting the status quo. The status quo for the masses of people in many lands means hunger, pestilence, and ignorance.… And we then wonder why the poor people of the underdeveloped areas of the world do not appreciate the help of Uncle Sam.”89 Early in the 87th Congress, Saund was named vice chairman of a large congressional delegation participating in the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group. With the goal of strengthening ties between legislators of the two countries, four topics dominated the docket : “foreign investments, foreign trade, border affairs, and cultural exchange.”90 Saund, whose district stretched for miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, first submitted the resolution creating the legislative roundtable in 1959, and it became law a year later.91 He chaired the committee on border affairs at the conference, where the two countries discussed immigration, the Bracero Program, and customs duties.92 In the end, Saund considered the cross-border sitdown a huge success.93 On a flight from Los Angeles to DC on May 1, 1962, the Judge suffered a stroke and was immediately moved to a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Saund’s family and doctors kept his condition under tight secrecy. His wife reportedly brought work to his hospital room every day while his staff maintained business at his office on the Hill. Saund nevertheless went on to win the party primary a month after his health crisis, and in September his campaign announced he would stand for re-election in the general contest.94 On Election Day, however, Saund, who had been unable to campaign himself, lost to Republican Patrick M. Martin, taking only 44 percent of the vote.95 Saund remained in the Bethesda hospital for the next month until he was well enough to travel. Doctors moved him to a medical facility in San Diego and then, in January 1963, moved him to one closer to home in Los Angeles, where he made “slow but good” improvement.96 After suffering a second stroke 10 years later, Saund died at his home in Hollywood, California, on April 22, 1973.97 The House was in recess when Saund died, but when it gathered again, Members held a memorial service for the Judge in the Capitol and eulogized him on the floor. Colleagues called him “a classic American success story,” a “pioneer,” and “a gentleman in the best sense of the word.”98 Some said the House was a better place because of his service, which had paved the way for “those generations from and interested in Asian nations.”99 “To chronicle all his legislative achievements and personal successes during his lifetime could not begin to pay Dalip Saund the justice and honor he deserves,” Majority Leader Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts said. “Those of us who knew and admired him in the House, remember him as a man of boundless energy, personal integrity, and strong convictions—consistently and tirelessly fighting for the right of ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ for all Americans.”100 Dalip Singh Saund (September 20, 1899 – April 22, 1973) was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th District of California from January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1963. He was the first Asian American, the first Indian American and the first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to the United States Congress. Contents 1 Biography 2 Publications authored 3 See also 4 References and notes 5 External links Biography Photo of Dalip Singh Saund. Born in Chhajulwadi, Amritsar district, Punjab Province, British India (now Chhajjalwaddi, Punjab, India), to an Indian Punjabi Sikh family, he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Punjab in 1919. He immigrated to the United States (via Ellis Island) originally to study agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the university, he obtained a master's degree (1922) and a PhD (1924), both in mathematics. His studies were sponsored by Stockton Gurdwara in Stockton, California as he lived in the gurdwara-owned Guru Nanak Khalsa Hostel. Stockton Gurdwara was "the first permanent Sikh American settlement and gurdwara in the United States."[1] He thereafter remained in the United States, becoming a successful farmer. He married Marian Kosa in 1928. They had three children.[2] In 1930, Saund was commissioned by the Khalsa Diwan Society based in California. to write a book called “My Mother India" which was written in support of the Indian independence movement. Saund wrote that his book was intended to “answer various questions that commonly arise in the minds of the American people regarding the cultural and political problems of India.” His book addressed India's caste system as one of those questions and "pleaded for the civil rights of the downtrodden in India as he compared caste in India to racism in America and elsewhere."[3] Later, he campaigned to allow people of South Asian descent to become naturalized citizens. After the Luce-Celler Act was passed in 1946, he applied for naturalization and became an American citizen in 1949. He ran for election in 1950 as a Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland township, California, and won the election, but his election was thrown out as he had been a citizen for less than a year. He later ran again for the same post and won.[4] In November 1955, he announced his campaign to run for the House of Representatives as a Democrat and won an election for an open seat against a famous Republican aviator, Jacqueline Cochran. He was re-elected twice, becoming the first Sikh American, the first Asian American, the first Indian American and first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to Congress. Dalip Singh Saund in the Oval Office on February 14, 1961 On May 1, 1962, Saund suffered a severe stroke on an airplane flight which left him unable to speak or walk without assistance. Though unable to campaign, he won the June Democratic primary (running in the newly numbered 38th district) but was defeated for reelection in the November general election by Republican Patrick M. Martin by a 56% to 44% margin.[5] Following his defeat, his condition slightly improved allowing him to be moved from a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland to California. He had a second stroke about 10 years later and died on April 22, 1973 at his Hollywood home.[5] The world took note when in 1956 Dalip Singh Saund, native of India, was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 29th California District, which then comprised Riverside and Imperial counties. He was the first Asian to be elected to the Congress. There's no telling how far Saund might have risen in public life if he hadn't suffered a disabling stroke early in his campaign for a fourth term. He remained an invalid until he died in 1973. Earned Mathematics Degree Saund was born in 1899 in a village called Chhajulwadi, Punjab Province, lndia, to an uneducated but industrious and successtul family with a background of Sikh reformism and activism he went through a local school which in the absence of public schools. was financed by his father and uncles. 1-3 graduated from the University of the Punjab in Amritsar, earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Like many others of his status Saund was inspired by British promises of independence for India to follow World War I and was chagrined when that promise was abandoned. He was inspired by the writings of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt He was favorably impressed by the preachments of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the great Hindu exponent of non-violent struggle for independence. The young Saund persuaded his family to support him in a plan to study food canning in America with the intention of returning and starting an Indian canning industry. "l assured my family," he wrote in a 1960 book entitled Congressman From India, "that I would study in the United States for at least two and not more than three years and would then return home." At the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied at first in the College of Agriculture, he lived in a clubhouse maintained by a Sikh temple group in Stockton--evidence that there was already a complement of refugees and visitors from India to California, most of them having arrived during World War I as agricultural laborers. Stockton was the political and intellectual center of the colony. Imperial Valley was one of its concentration areas. The Hindustani Association of America was active in Berkeley. After two years, young Saund was elected as its national president. "AII of us," he wrote later, "were ardent nationalists and we never passed up an opportunity to expound on India's rights." Here he learned at least one lesson in tactics. A political science professor was invited to speak. "First," wrote Saund, "I delivered a half-hour talk on the right of India to independence and the inequities of English rule. He floored me with questions that I couldn't promptly answer." From such defeats smart politicians learn. By the time he had launched his career in American politics, Saund was usually in possession of more relevant facts than were his opponents. He spent summers working for canneries, for McNeill, McNeill and Libby and for California Packing Corporation (Del Monte), in Sacramento and Emeryville. According to his own later recollection, he was highly rated as a management prospect in canning but downgraded because he expressed a consuming interest in Indian liberation. Added Master's and Doctorate In addition to technical studies in the College of Agriculture, Saund took courses in mathematics, his major field at Amritsar. The upshot was that, on invitation, he switched to that field, eaming both a master's and a doctor's degree. The doctorate was granted in May 1924. Having over-stayed his intended time limit, he later wrote: "Even though life for me did not seem very easy, it had become impossible to think of life separated from the United States... The only way Indians in California could make a living at that time was to join with others who had settled in various parts of the state as farmers." Although his later account didn't say so, it seems likely that he changed courses and spent the necessary time to earn a doctorate in hope of a teaching career. He did mention offers from two universities in India but he was evidently determined to stay in the U.S. at all costs. It was a year after receiving the doctorate that he resorted to farming. Probably Saund had long been in touch with Hindus in Imperial Valley some of whom, despite menial beginnings, had become wealthy farmers. One of them offered him a summer job as foreman of a cotton-picking crew. "And so," he wrote, "in the summer of 1925 I decided to go to the Southern California desert valley and make my living as a farmer. " He went still wearing a turban but there he launched his political career among the dominant Anglo society. As foreman of the cotton-picking crew, Saund earned a percentage of the amounts paid to the pickers. "By the end of the season," he wrote, "I had managed to save quite a sum. I borrowed a little more from my friends and ventured into the growing of lettuce. The crop that year was outstanding in quantity and quality, but because lettuce had been profitable in recent years the crop was over planted and the price was low. He suffered a loss (but lettuce would again be profitable, to him and to others). 'I had not heard of Saund until his political campaign in Riverside County was well under way, in 1956, but I was doubly interested because of family background. My maternal grandparents and a host of uncles, aunts and cousins were living or had lived in Imperial Valley. Aubrey Lee, then my brotherin law, later recalled Saund's role in and around Westmorland in the late 1920s: Typical Hindu "He was a typical Hindu at the time, with his turban on, and he dressed with his robe. He was farming maybe two miles north and maybe two miles west of Westmorland. At that time he was raising alfalfa. We called him the wild Indian because he came tearing by in that old Ford of his...Later on, when he was in the Lions Club and getting into politics he said he was going to be the first Hindu congressman in the United States. He had a purpose. "It was about 1937 when I organized a Current Events Club. Saund was a member. It was strictly liberal people, most of them being Democrats " Of the local forum organizations, Saund remembered most fondly the Toastmasters' Club of Brawley, where the purpose was not only mutual self enlightenment on current issues but practice in speech-making itself. It was one of a chain of such clubs. He became it’s district governor, visiting member clubs in Imperial and San Diego counties and becoming further acquainted and further skilled. If he was irrigating on Toastmaster nights he would "...take my dress suit in my car to the field with me. At 6 o'clock I would change into my suit, set my water for three hours, go to the meeting, come back to the field, change to my work clothes and go on with my irrigating." A real American hero out of Horatio Alger, Jr.! Strive and Succeed! Saund often spent time in Los Angeles, especially in libraries and sometimes in speech-making. Early in his Imperial Valley years he wrote the first of his two books, titled My Mother India. It was a response to one by Katherine Mayo titled Mother India, a negative version of the sordid and poverty-ridden aspects of Indian society. As a result of a talk he gave at the Unitarian Church of Los Angeles he met the Kosa family, immigrants from Czechoslovakia: Mr. and Mrs. Emil Kosa Sr., Emil Kosa Jr. and Marian. Both Kosa men were artists. Marian was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Saund became a close friend of the family and in 1928 he married Marian Kosa. She gave up her UCLA career (temporarily, it developed) and joined him in Westmorland. She shared his life in politics and political activity. She became active in women's organizations including, in time, the Parent-Teachers Association. She and Dalip were active tennis players on the courts at the Westmorland school. Within the family she was given (and retains today) the nickname of "Maize" in consequence of a time when she stood guard with a noisemaking gun to frighten birds from their crop of milo maize. Dalip Jr., first of their three children, was born in 1930, followed by lulie and Ellie. Discrimination Surfaces While Saund had considerable acceptance, he also had rejections. One recollection from the Valley is that of Enoch Gullett, my uncle by marriage, who had arrived in Imperial Valley in 1901, the year of first irrigation there. He was an associate of Saund in the Westmorland Chamber of Commerce. They and others of that organization went together to the Grand Canyon for a meeting. According to Gullett's daughter, Geraldine Plumb, Saund was denied admittance to the hotel where they had made reservations. Both he and Gullett slept in an automobile. In 1991 I asked Marian Saund if she recalled that incident. She said he hadn't mentioned it but she did recall a similar incident in Stockton. He was scheduled to speak at a meeting there. She registered in a hotel for herself, Saund and their son, then their only child. When Saund arrived after the meeting he wasn't admitted. All three left. The family life of the Saunds was altered by what was described as Marian Saund's allergy for the pollen of Bermuda grass. On account of the allergy, as she explained it to me in 1991, she and the three children moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and took up residence in their old neighborhood. The family reassembled frequently in Los Angeles or Riverside. Effie Lee, my sister, and her then husband, Aubrey Lee, had played tennis with the Saunds and mingled with them socially. She recalled: "Marian told me that she hadn't realized what the prejudice could be and that the children wouldn't be accepted. It was commonly understood that the allergy was expedient and that the treatment of the children in the Westmorland schools was the real reason they moved to Los Angeles. " Geraldine Plumb agreed and so did her father, Enoch Gullett. At age 90 his recollections were tape recorded. Asked about the treatment of the Saund children, he replied: "Well, they first went over to the Mexican school and they were asked if they could speak English." Here Gullett laughed, presumably at the thought that they couldn't speak English, and continued, "You know that's the thing that ran Mrs. Saund up to Los Angeles." Theoretically there was no "Mexican school" in Westmorland. Harding School, in the minority-poverty neighborhood, was nominally intended to give special attention to children who didn't speak English but, in fact, it was a school for minorities including Blacks who spoke only English. In Los Angeles Marian Saund returned to UCLA, earned a bachelor's degree and teaching credential and taught in the Los Angeles schools. Although my relatives in the Valley had known Saund for some time, I first met him in Riverside early in 1956 during his first campaign in our county seat. "So you're from Westmorland," I said to him. "I have an uncle there, Frank Lyall. " I didn't know that Frank had been justice of peace and that Saund had defeated him for reelection. "Oh, Frank Lyall," he replied. "Great friend of mine. Fine man. " When next I saw Frank, who was a Ieading Westmorland business man, he was incensed that Saund had professed to be his friend. He considered Saund a shady business man, explaining that he had welshed on a contract for sheep to graze on his alfalfa, making a conflicting lease with another sheep man and taking money from both. “ Frank's wife, Manha Lyall, may have contributed to Marian Saund's decision to move to Los Angeles. My mother, Effie Lyall Patterson, visited the Valley and later said to me: "...so I asked Manha, “Well, what kind of person is Mrs. Saund?” and she said, '”Why Effie, she's as nice a person as you'd ever hope to find. She's attractive; she's educated. But her children are half breeds, and we just couldn't invite her to the book club.'" Although Marian Saund had belonged to two book clubs, in Brawley and Westmorland, there was another, which was considered the "senior" book club of Westmorland. Martha Lyall belonged to it. Saund always accented the positive, claiming that his election and his career were demonstrations of American democracy in action. He never complained of, or even mentioned, discriminatory treatment against himself, much less made an issue of it. In 1991 I asked Aubrey Lee and his second wife, Eileen Kirkpatrick Lee, about Frank Lyall's contention that Saund had welshed on a contract. Eileen Lee had been Frank's bookkeeper. Both assumed that the accusation was probably true but, said Aubrey: "A lot of farmers--this was during the depression and a farmer needed to plant his alfalfa and he didn't have any money to buy seed. So a sheep man, wanting to feed his sheep, would advance the money. They brought the sheep down from Montana and Wyoming in late September or early October...and then the farmer would sell the feed to someone he didn't owe money to. " Naturalization Prohibited Saund campaigned for an end to the restrictions prohibiting the naturalization of India natives as U.S. citizens. His campaign organization became the India Association of America with Saund as it’s national head. It became successful in 1946 when the bill was signed by President Harry Truman.(link to Record for posterity/Setting thescene/Luce-cellar act.) One of the earliest applicants under the revised law was Saund hirnself. He took the oath as a citizen on December 16, 1949. In 1950 he ran for justice of peace for Westmorland Township. He won in the balloting but a lawsuit by Westmorland business men resulted in a count decision voiding the election on the ground that he hadn't been a citizen for the required year. (He was a citizen by the beginning of the term for which he was elected.) The Imperial County Supervisors appointed Frank Lyall to the position. In 1959 Saund ran again and defeated Lyall by a narrow margin. Incidentally, Aubrey Lee confessed that in spite of considering himself a friend of Saund he had helped finance the lawsuit that set aside Saund's first election. "I let them pressure me," he said of the other business men involved. Saund was no ordinary justice of peace. He refused to go along with the longtime tradition of allowing the existence of a notorious Westmorland red light district. Instead of routine fines functioning as license fees, he routinely decreed jail sentences for prostitutes. He suspended the sentences if it appeared they were discouraged from returning. Since they came mostly from Mexicali, across the border, he encouraged the Border Patrol to raid the houses and charge the prostitutes with vagrancy. He gave the stiffest sentence, a fine of $l,000.00 and a year in the county jail, to the "vice queen" of the town. Her husband, on the same charge, skipped bail and fled. Within Saund's time the red light district had disappeared. Through the State Judicial Council Saund was assigned to preside over justice courts in El Centro and Brawley when judges there were ill. By 1951 Saund was chairman of the Imperial County Democratic Central Comrnittee, in which capacity he had a close-hand experience with campaigning for Congress. The Democratic candidate in the 29th District was Bruce Shangle of Blythe, Riverside County. Saund managed the Imperial County pan of the campaign. It was good exercise in a losing cause. John Phillips, Republican, of Banning in Riverside County, had been the district's Congressman for many years, his reelection becoming almost routine. He won in 1954, but in the following year announced that he wouldn't be a candidate in 1956. By that time Saund was well known in Imperial County for four major activities. He was an active Democratic politician. He was Westmorland justice of peace and commonly referred to as Judge Saund. He was a major farmer and he also had a distributorship for chemical fertilizer, a business that was said to have grossed $250,000 per year. In November, 1955, he announced his campaign for election to Congress by responding to the endorsement of a gathering of Democratic activists, meeting in Indio, Riverside County. In preparation for the campaign the Saunds rented an apartment in Riverside. All of them, including Fred Fisher, Julie's husband, and Dorothy Saund, wife of Dalip Jr., took part in intensive house-to-house canvassing. The opponent in the Democratic Party was Karl Kegley, previously an unsuccessful candidate for state attorney-general with the support of one of the series of inflationary pension plans for the elderly. He laid heavy stress on Saund's foreign-born status and on the fact that Saund had been sued by several creditors. Having been ardent in praising American democracy since his arrival in 1920, Saund apparently had no difficulty on the "foreigner" charge. He explained the lawsuits as the result of major loss during a bad farming year. It had happened to other Valley farmers at the time, some of whom solved the problem by bankruptcy. He had declined to take that route and eventually had paid off the creditors. Saund easily won the Democratic primary, enhancing the interest in his unusual candidacy, well beyond California's borders. The Republican primary winner, Jacqueline Cochran Odlum, had been , operator of a beauty salon in Chicago and was now a noted aviator and wife of Floyd Odlum, financier and organizer of General Dynamics Corporation. The Odlums lived in Coachella Valley, Riverside County. She had won the primary by a rightwing attack on her leading opponent, Fred Eldridge of Corona, concentrating especially on Eldridge's association with the World Federalists, a movement looking toward world govemment. Eldridge declined to endorse Odlum for the November election. This, plus the fact that Phillips had not run again, might well have accounted for Saund's margin of victory. Odlum, too, stressed Saund's foreign-born status and charged that he would be a setback to the district for lack of support for the Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower. She herself, as she emphasized, was personally acquainted with the president. During a broadcast debate, Saund pointed out that on several issues, including immigration law and the soil bank program, he supported Eisenhower's position while she opposed it. He stressed his support for farm subsidies. She campaigned by airplane. He and his campaign party traveled by automobile. He won by a majority of 3,300 votes out of about 115,000. That thoroughly confirmed him as an international celebrity. One consequence of his unusual status and of his knowledge of foreign affairs was his appointment to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, highly unusual for a freshman Congressman. Throughout his nearly six years as an active Congressman, Saund espoused what might be called a liberal agenda, but certainly not liberalism in extreme. He summarized his position in his book Congressman from India, published in 1960 during his second term. He advocated "adequate national defense," explaining in not very specific terms, "I firmly believe in a balanced budget, but we should never subordinate the security of the United States for any budgetary considerations. " He wrote that international Communism was spending far more than the U.S. on its effort to convert the world to its position and urged the U.S. government to spend more. He championed free enterprise, saying that the country's strength lies in the fact that Americans throughout history "have enjoyed equality of opportunity. " The small business man, he wrote, "is the backbone of our business community. " In his summary, and twice earlier in the book, Saund stressed the need for a "fair shake" for the farmer, explaining that they comprised 13 percent of the population and received only six percent of the national income. For an agricultural constituency, that position was virtually required. He supported the 160-acre limit, per land owner, for federally subsidized irrigation (a limit that has since been increased to 957 acres although in fact that limit is being evaded)., He was diligent in service to people and organizations asking solutions for their problems, including flood control and the search for supplemental water for Southern California. He said he supported civil rights legislation "with all the power at my command. Triumph Over Prejudice In short, Saund made a case for himself as a working Congressman, representing constituents efficiently. He was, in fact, a successful Congress man, staying within supportable ideological boundaries and working diligently. But the best remembered aspect of his career was his remarkable triumph in spite of prejudice against foreign born, especially against those with dark complexions and against non-Caucasians, dark or light. He did it by hard work and evangelism, constantly turning the other cheek. He did it with charisma. His ideological positions and his charisma were best demonstrated when in 1957, he visited many of the Far Eastern countries including his native India and was acclaimed everywhere. He went as an official emissary of the House of Representatives, accompanied by Mrs. Saund and their daughter Ellie. They stopped in Tokyo and in Riverside's sister city, Sendai. They visited Taiwan, where Saund expressed approval of that state's program, which was initiated in opposition to the Communist government on the Chinese mainland. They visited Saigon where he was critical of waste he observed in U.S.financed contracts. U.S. military involvement hadn't begun in Vietnam, but U.S. financial and political involvement was manifest. Saund wrote that "...you can not win minds and hearts by propping up dictators. " (At the time the U.S. was propping up President Ngo Dinh Diem.) They visited Indonesia where the flamboyant left-wing dictator Sukarno was in power. Saund cautiously observed that Sukarno "was an intense, dedicated nationalist, the kind of man who wanted power and enjoyed exercising it. " He also noted impatience among students and concluded that "...we should do everything possible to help guide that temper into truly democratic channels. " He reacted with similar caution to problems he observed in Singapore and the Philippines. The euphoria was unlimited when he reached his native India. He was cheered by throngs and entertained by the high and mighty in Calcutta, New Delhi and Bombay. The most animated outpouring of enthusiastic people was in Amritsar, where he had graduated from the University of the Punjab, and in Chhajalwadi, his birthplace. Saund's reelections in 1958 and 1960 were by majorities of more than 60 percent. Felled By Stroke He was beginning his campaign for a fourth term when, in May, 1962, he suffered a severe stroke while in an airplane approaching Washington. His family and staff minimized his disability and insisted that he would resume active political life. Despite his absence from public view he won the Democratic Party nomination, but hints of his real condition became widespread. At March Air Force Base Hospital, a Congressional delegation visited him and disclosed that he couldn't stand or speak. The fact was widely reported to the voting public. Pat Minor Martin, the Republican nominee, was elected. Marian Saund, diligent, able and devoted, resumed her teaching career with the Los Angeles schools. With part-time help she cared for her husband during the last, helpless, decade of his life. Eventually he was able to walk with the aid of a walker, but he never regained his speech. He died on April 22, 1973. The Saund children did well in school and as adults. Dalip Saund Jr. graduated from California Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering and then earned a doctorate in anthropology at UCLA. He served as a lieutenant in the Korean War. He was killed in a (civilian) sport flying accident. The daughters, Julie Fisher and Ellie Ford, both became teachers after graduation from UCLA. All three have children and grandchildren. Marian Saund lives in San Diego with daughter Julie and son-in-law Dr. Frederick Fisher. SOURCES This account grows out of conversations I had with Dalip and Marian Saund during his initial campaign for Congress in 1956 and during his subsequent Congressional service. However, all the statements attributed to him, whether quoted directly or indirectly, are taken from his book, Congressman From India, published by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1960. The Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress (1774-1989) confirms the major milestones of his life. The files of the Riverside Press, Riverside Enterprise, and The Press-Enterprise contain many accounts that have been helpful on re-reading. However, the comments of Dalip and Marian Saund in times of their prominence and even current comments of Marian Saund tell only of one aspect of the way they were accepted, and rejected, by their neighbors in Westmorland. Their purpose, no doubt, was to speak only good of their neighbors but it's necessary to discount their giving Marian's allergy as the sole reason she and the children moved to Los Angeles in 1942, where they lived until Dalip and Marian Saund became residents of Washington. The apparent real story, or a major part of it, was the Westmorland mistreatment of the Saund children, especially in school. For this I have relied on the recollections of my relatives-who lived in Westmorland or visited there-- Aubrey Lee, Eileen Kirkpatrick Lee, Effie Patterson Lee, Geraldine Gullett Plumb, Enoch Gullett and Effie Lyall Pauerson. As sources of an antagonistic local view of Dalip Saund there were two other relatives of mine, Frank and Martha Lyall Born near Amritsar, India in 1899, Dalip Singh Saund was an unlikely future candidate for national office when he came to the United States in 1920 to study food preservation at the University of California, Berkeley. But in 1956 Saund, whose career would span the vocations of mathematician, farmer, author, activist and judge, became the first Indian-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the first – and so far only – Sikh member of Congress. Sikhism is a monotheistic faith that was founded in the historic Punjab region of modern-day India and Pakistan. Based on the teachings of the early 16th-century prophet Guru Nanak and his successors, Sikhism teaches belief in reincarnation, equality among all human beings and the virtues of charity, selflessness and detachment from material possessions. In his 1960 autobiography, Congressman from India, Saund wrote that “my religion teaches me that love and service to fellow men are the road to earthly bliss and spiritual salvation.” Although Saund removed his turban, a Sikh symbol of religious devotion, soon after he immigrated to the U.S., he remained connected with the Sikh organization in central California that had provided housing for him upon his arrival at Berkeley. The group later commissioned Saund to write My Mother India, a 1930 critique of a then-sensational book, Mother India, which disparaged Indian self-rule. Saund soon became a familiar figure on the local lecture circuit, speaking to California civic organizations and churches about such topics as the work of Mahatma Gandhi and the fight for Indian independence from Britain. In the 1940s, Saund helped launch a successful effort to convince the U.S. Congress to pass the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which granted naturalization rights to Indian immigrants (then sometimes referred to as “Hindus”). After becoming a citizen himself, Saund was elected to a local judgeship in 1952 and then to the U.S. House in 1956. Saund served almost three full terms in Congress before suffering a debilitating stroke in 1962. He died in 1973. "Triumph and Tragedy of Dalip Saund" Written by Tom Patterson Published originally in California Historian in June 1992 (The author is a columnist and Riverside Historical Society Member.) Mr. and Mrs. Saund Mr. and Mrs. Saund The world took note when in 1956 Dalip Singh Saund, native of India, was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 29th California District, which then comprised Riverside and Imperial counties. He was the first Asian to be elected to the Congress. There's no telling how far Saund might have risen in public life if he hadn't suffered a disabling stroke early in his campaign for a fourth term. He remained an invalid until he died in 1973. Earned Mathematics Degree Saund was born in 1899 in a village called Chhajulwadi, Punjab Province, India, to an uneducated but industrious and successful family with a background of Sikh reformism and activism. He went through a local school which, in the absence of public schools, was financed by his father and uncles. He graduated from the University of the Punjab in Amritsar, earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Like many others of his status, Saund was inspired by British promises of independence for India to follow World War I and was chagrined when that promise was abandoned. He was inspired by the writings of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. He was favorably impressed by the preachments of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the great Hindu exponent of non-violent struggle for independence. The young Saund persuaded his family to support him in a plan to study food canning in America, with the intention of returning and starting an Indian canning industry. Dalip Saund Dalip Saund "I assured my family," he wrote in a 1960 autobiography entitled Congressman From India, "that I would study in the United States for at least two and not more than three years and would then return home." At the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied at first in the College of Agriculture, he lived in a clubhouse maintained by a Sikh temple group in Stockton — evidence that there was already a complement of refugees and visitors from India to California, most of them having arrived during World War I as agricultural laborers. On January 3, 1957 Dalip Singh Saund is sworn in as the congressional representative of California’s 29th district. Known to many as “Judge,” and also nicknamed “the Peacemaker,” he is the first Asian, first Indian American, first Sikh and first follower of a non-Abrahamic religion to be elected to the United States Congress. Born and raised in Punjab while India was under British rule, Saund attended the University of Punjab and was active in the independence movement led by Mohandas Gandhi. He enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley in 1920, earning a PhD in mathematics four years later. He married and moved to a ranch in Westmoreland, California, getting a friend to sign the deed for him in order to circumvent a state law that prohibited Asians from owning land. His time as a farmer, witnessing the struggles of his neighbors during the Great Depression, made him a fan of the New Deal and a lifelong Democrat. Saund organized in favor of allowing Indians to become naturalized American citizens, which Congress finally approved in 1946. Three years later, Saund became a citizen, and the following year he ran for a judgeship. Despite facing persistent racism—one reporter asked him if he would supply turbans to all those who entered his court—he won by 13 votes. In 1956, Saund ran for his home district’s open congressional seat. Despite a legal challenge from his Democratic primary opponent, who unsuccessfully argued that Saund had not been a citizen long enough to serve in Congress, Saund won the nomination and defeated famous female aviator Jacqueline Cochran Odlum for the seat. He credited his victory to the connections he had made in the district, particularly to small farmers and small business owners. He served three terms in Congress, where he became known as a champion of small farmers and civil rights legislation and worked to improve the United States’ relations with Mexico as well as his native India Sikhism (/ˈsɪkɪzəm/) or Sikhi (Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖੀ Sikkhī, [ˈsɪkhiː], from ਸਿੱਖ, Sikh, 'disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner')[i] is an religion that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent[ii] around the end of the 15th century CE.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Sikhism is one of the youngest of the major religions and the world's sixth-largest organized religion,[7] with about 25–30 million Sikhs as of the early 21st century.[8][9] However, according to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore) Sahajdhari or non-khalsa Nanakpanthi Sikhs across the world who also believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib.[10][11][12] Symbol of Sikhism Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru (1469–1539),[13] and of the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. The tenth guru, Gobind Singh (1666–1708), named the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as his successor, bringing to a close the line of human gurus and establishing the scripture as the last eternal 11th living guru, a religious spiritual/life guide for Sikhs.[14][15][16] Guru Nanak taught that living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is above metaphysical truth, and that the ideal man "establishes union with God, knows His Will, and carries out that Will".[17] Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru (1606–1644), established the concept of mutual co-existence of the miri ('political'/'temporal') and piri ('spiritual') realms.[18] The Sikh scripture opens with the Mul Mantar (ਮੂਲ ਮੰਤਰ), fundamental prayer about ik onkar (ੴ, 'One God').[19][20] The core beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the Guru Granth Sahib, include faith and meditation on the name of the one creator; divine unity and equality of all humankind; engaging in seva ('selfless service'); striving for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all; and honest conduct and livelihood while living a householder's life.[21][22][23] Following this standard, Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute Truth.[iii][24] Sikhism emphasizes simran (ਸਿਮਰਨ, meditation and remembrance of the teachings of Gurus),[25] which can be expressed musically through kirtan, or internally through naam japna ('meditation on His name') as a means to feel God's presence. It teaches followers to transform the "Five Thieves" (i.e. lust, rage, greed, attachment, and ego).[26] The religion developed and evolved in times of religious persecution, gaining converts from both Hinduism and Islam.[27] Mughal rulers of India tortured and executed two of the Sikh gurus—Guru Arjan (1563–1605) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675)—after they refused to convert to Islam.[28][29][30][31][32] The persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 as an order to protect the freedom of conscience and religion,[28][33] with members expressing the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī ('saint-soldier').[34][35] Contents 1 Terminology 2 Philosophy and teachings 2.1 Concept of God 2.2 Worldly Illusion 2.3 Timeless Truth 2.4 Liberation 2.5 Power and Devotion (Miri and Piri) 2.6 Singing and Music 2.7 Remembrance of the Divine Name 2.8 Service and Action 2.9 Justice and Equality 2.10 Ten Gurus and Authority 3 Scripture 3.1 Adi Granth 3.2 Guru Granth Sahib 3.2.1 Compilation 3.2.2 Language and script 3.2.3 Teachings 3.2.4 As guru 3.2.5 Relation to Hinduism and Islam 3.3 Dasam Granth 3.4 Janamsakhis 4 Observances 4.1 Sikh festivals/events 4.2 Ceremonies and customs 4.3 Initiation and the Khalsa 5 History 5.1 Historical influences 5.2 Growth of Sikhism 5.3 Political advancement 5.3.1 Sikh confederacy and the rise of the Khalsa 5.3.2 Singh Sabha movement 5.3.3 Partition of India 5.3.4 Khalistan 6 Sikh people 6.1 Sikh sects 6.2 Sikh castes 6.3 Sikh diaspora 7 Prohibitions in Sikhism 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Terminology The majority of Sikh scriptures were originally written in the alphabet of Gurmukhī, a script standardised by Guru Angad out of Laṇḍā scripts historically used in present-day Pakistan and North India.[36][37] Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs, meaning 'students' or 'disciples' of the Guru. The anglicised word Sikhism derives from the Punjabi verb Sikhi, which connotes the "temporal path of learning" and is rooted in the word sikhana ('to learn').[38][39] Philosophy and teachings Main article: Ik Onkar A Sikh can be defined as any human being who faithfully believes in:[40] i. One Formless Being ii. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, iii. The Guru Granth Sahib, iv. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus. Sikhism is classified as an Indian religion along with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.[iv][v][41] The basis of Sikhism lies in the teachings of Guru Nanak and his successors. Sikh ethics emphasize the congruence between spiritual development and everyday moral conduct. Its founder Guru Nanak summarized this perspective as: "Truth is the highest virtue, but higher still is truthful living."[42]:234 Sikhism lays emphasis on Ėk nūr te sab jag upjiā, 'From the one light, the entire universe welled up.'[citation needed] Concept of God Some sources call Sikhism a monotheistic religion,[43][44] while others call it a monistic and panentheistic religion.[6][3][4] According to Nesbitt (2005), English renderings of Sikhism as a monotheistic religion "tend misleadingly to reinforce a Semitic understanding of monotheism, rather than Guru Nanak's mystical awareness of the one that is expressed through the many. However, what is not in doubt is the emphasis on 'one'."[2] In Sikhism, the overall concept of God is Waheguru ('wondrous Teacher') considered to be nirankar ('shapeless'), akal ('timeless'), karta purakh ('the creator'), and agam agochar ('incomprehensible and invisible').[45] In a literal sense, God has no gender in Sikhism, though metaphorically, God is presented as masculine and God's power as feminine. For example, God is repeatedly referred to by the name akaal purkh ('beyond time and space') and nirankar ('without form') by the tenth guru Guru Gobind Singh Ji, but he also refers to God as his father, and God's creative power as his mother. Similarly, another example is that the scripture and eternal guru, the Guru Granth Sahib says that all humans are soul-brides who long to unite with their husband Lord.[46] In addition, the gurus also wrote in the Guru Granth Sahib that there are many worlds on which the transcendental God has created life.[47] The Sikh scripture begins with God as ik onkar (ੴ), the 'formless one',[20][42]:227 understood in the Sikh tradition as monotheistic unity of God.[48] Ik onkar (sometimes capitalized) is more loosely rendered 'the one supreme reality', 'the one creator', 'the all-pervading spirit', and other ways of expressing a diffused but unified and singular sense of God and creation.[49] The traditional Mul Mantar goes from ik onkar until Nanak hosee bhee sach.[clarification needed] The opening line of the Guru Granth Sahib and each subsequent raga, mentions ik onkar:[50] ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥ ikk ōankār sat(i)-nām(u) karatā purakh(u) nirabha'u niravair(u) akāl(a) mūrat(i) ajūnī saibhan gur(a) prasād(i). "There is one supreme being, the eternal reality, the creator, without fear and devoid of enmity, immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace through the true Guru." —Guru Granth Sahib (17th c.), p. 1 Worldly Illusion Māyā, defined as a temporary illusion or "unreality", is one of the core deviations from the pursuit of God and salvation: where worldly attractions give only illusory temporary satisfaction and pain that distracts from the process of the devotion of God. However, Nanak emphasised māyā as not a reference to the unreality of the world, but of its values. In Sikhism, the influences of ego, anger, greed, attachment, and lust, known as the pānj chor ('five thieves'), are believed to be particularly distracting and hurtful. Sikhs believe the world is currently in a state of kali yuga ('age of darkness') because the world is led astray by the love of and attachment to maya.[51] The fate of people vulnerable to the five thieves, is separation from God, and the situation may be remedied only after intensive and relentless devotion.[52] Timeless Truth An Akali-Nihang Sikh Warrior at Harmandir Sahib, also called the Golden Temple According to Guru Nanak, the supreme purpose of human life is to reconnect with Akal ('The Timeless One'), however, egotism is the biggest barrier in making this connection. Using the Guru's teaching remembrance of nām (the divine Name of the Lord)[53][54] leads to the end of egotism. Guru Nanak designated the word Guru ('teacher')[55] to mean the voice of "the spirit": the source of knowledge and the guide to salvation.[56] As ik onkar is universally immanent, Guru is indistinguishable from Akal and are one and the same.[57] One connects with Guru only with accumulation of selfless search of truth.[58] Ultimately the seeker realises that it is the consciousness within the body which is the seeker/follower of the Word that is the true Guru. The human body is just a means to achieve the reunion with Truth.[57] Once truth starts to shine in a person's heart, the essence of current and past holy books of all religions is understood by the person.[59] Liberation Guru Nanak's teachings are founded not on a final destination of heaven or hell, but on a spiritual union with the Akal, which results in salvation or jivanmukti ('enlightenment/liberation within one's lifetime'),[60] a concept also found in Hinduism.[61] Guru Gobind Singh makes it clear that human birth is obtained with great fortune, therefore one needs to be able to make the most of this life.[62] Sikhs accept reincarnation and karma concepts found in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism, but do not necessarily infer a metaphysical soteriology akin to those found in those other religions.[clarification needed][62][63][64] However, in Sikhism, both karma and liberation "is modified by the concept of God's grace" (nadar, mehar, kirpa, karam, etc.).[61] Guru Nanak states that "the body takes birth because of karma, but salvation is attained through grace."[65] To get closer to God, Sikhs: avoid the evils of maya; keep the everlasting truth in mind; practice shabad kirtan (musical recitation of hymns); meditate on naam; and serve humanity. Sikhs believe that being in the company of the satsang (association with sat, 'true', people) or sadh sangat is one of the key ways to achieve liberation from the cycles of reincarnation.[66] Power and Devotion (Miri and Piri) See also: Bhakti Sikhism was influenced by the Bhakti movement,[vi][vii][viii] but it was not simply an extension of Bhakti.[67] Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and the founder of Sikhism, was a Bhakti saint.[68] He taught that the most important form of worship is Bhakti (devotion to Bhagvan).[69] Guru Arjan, in the Sukhmani Sahib, recommended the true religion is one of loving devotion to God.[70][71] The Guru Granth Sahib includes suggestions on how a Sikh should perform constant Bhakti.[69][72][73] Some scholars call Sikhism a Bhakti sect of Indian traditions,[74][75] adding that it emphasises "nirguni Bhakti," i.e. loving devotion to a divine without qualities or physical form.[75]:1–3[76][77] While Western scholarship generally places Sikhism as arising primarily within a Hindu Bhakti movement milieu while recognizing some Sufi Islamic influences,[78][79]:3, 42–3 some Indian Sikh scholars disagree and state that Sikhism transcended the environment it emerged from. The basis of the latter analysis is that Bhakti traditions did not clearly disassociate from Vedic texts and their cosmologies and metaphysical worldview, while the Sikh tradition clearly did disassociate from the Vedic tradition.[67] Some Sikh sects outside the Punjab region of India, such as those found in Maharashtra and Bihar, practice aarti (the ceremonial use of lamps) during Bhakti observances in a Sikh gurdwara.[80][81] But, most Sikh gurdwaras forbid aarti during their Bhakti practices.[79]:201 While emphasizing Bhakti, the Sikh gurus also taught that the spiritual life and secular householder life are intertwined, and not separate. This logically follows from the panentheistic nature of Sikh philosophy.[82] In Sikh worldview, the everyday world is part of the Infinite Reality, increased spiritual awareness leads to increased and vibrant participation in the everyday world.[83] Guru Nanak described living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" as being higher than the metaphysical truth.[84] The 6th Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind, after Guru Arjan martyrdom and faced with oppression by the Islamic Mughal Empire, affirmed the philosophy that the political/temporal (Miri) and spiritual (Piri) realms are mutually coexistent.[85][86] According to the 9th Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, the ideal Sikh should have both Shakti (power that resides in the temporal), and Bhakti (spiritual meditative qualities). This was developed into the concept of the "saint soldier" by the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh.[86] The concept of man as elaborated by Guru Nanak refines and negates the "monotheistic concept of self/God", and "monotheism becomes almost redundant in the movement and crossings of love."[87] The goal of man, taught the Sikh gurus, is to end all dualities of "self and other, I and not-I", attain the "attendant balance of separation-fusion, self-other, action-inaction, attachment-detachment, in the course of daily life".[87] Singing and Music Sikhs refer to the hymns of the gurus as Gurbani ('Guru's word'). Shabad Kirtan is the singing of Gurbani. The entire verses of Guru Granth Sahib are written in a form of poetry and rhyme to be recited in thirty-one Ragas of the Classical Indian Music as specified. However, the exponents of these are rarely to be found amongst the Sikhs who are conversant with all the Ragas in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak started the Shabad Kirtan tradition and taught that listening to kirtan is a powerful way to achieve tranquility while meditating; Singing of the glories of the Supreme Timeless One (God) with devotion is the most effective way to come in communion with the Supreme Timeless One.[88] The three morning prayers for Sikhs consist of Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, and Tav-Prasad Savaiye.[89] Baptised Sikhs (Amritdharis) rise early and meditate, then recite all the Five Banis of Nitnem, before breakfast. Remembrance of the Divine Name A key practice by Sikhs is remembrance[54] of the Naam (divine name) Waheguru.[53] This contemplation is done through Nām Japna (repetition of the divine name) or Naam Simran (remembrance of the divine Name through recitation).[54][90] The verbal repetition of the name of God or a sacred syllable has been an ancient established practice in religious traditions in India, however, Sikhism developed Naam-simran as an important Bhakti practice.[91][92][93] Guru Nanak's ideal is the total exposure of one's being to the divine Name and a total conforming to Dharma or the "Divine Order". Nanak described the result of the disciplined application of nām simraṇ as a "growing towards and into God" through a gradual process of five stages. The last of these is Sach Khaṇḍ (The Realm of Truth) – the final union of the spirit with God.[56] Service and Action Further information: Seva (Indian religions) § Seva in Sikhism The Sikh gurus taught that by constantly remembering the divine name (naam simran) and through selfless service (sēvā) the devotee overcomes egotism (Haumai). This, it states, is the primary root of five evil impulses and the cycle of birth and death.[94][95] Service in Sikhism takes three forms: Tan (physical service, i.e. labor), Man (mental service, such as dedicating your heart for service of others), and Dhan (material service, including financial support).[96] Sikhism stresses kirat karō: that is "honest work". Sikh teachings also stress the concept of sharing, or vaṇḍ chakkō, giving to the needy for the benefit of the community.[97] Justice and Equality Sikhism regards God as the true king, the king of all kings, the one who dispenses justice through the law of karma, a retributive model and divine grace.[98][34][35] The term for justice in the Sikh tradition is niau.[98] It is related to the term dharam which in Sikhism connotes 'moral order' and righteousness (derived from but become distinct from the etymologically related Hindu concept of dharma).[98] According to the Tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh, states Pashaura Singh (a professor of Sikh studies), "one must first try all the peaceful means of negotiation in the pursuit of justice" and if these fail then it is legitimate to "draw the sword in defense of righteousness".[99] Sikhism considers "an attack on dharam is an attack on justice, on righteousness, and on the moral order generally" and the dharam "must be defended at all costs".[100] The divine name is its antidote for pain and vices. Forgiveness is taught as a virtue in Sikhism, yet it also teaches its faithful to shun those with evil intentions and to pick up the sword to fight injustice and religious persecution.[101] Sikhism does not differentiate religious obligations by gender. God in Sikhism has no gender, and the Sikh scripture does not discriminate against women, nor bar them from any roles.[102] Women in Sikhism have been in positions of leadership, including leading in wars and issued orders or hukamnamas.[103][102][104] Ten Gurus and Authority Main article: Sikh gurus A rare Tanjore-style painting from the late 19th century depicting the ten Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana The term Guru comes from the Sanskrit gurū, meaning teacher, enlightener, guide, or mentor. The traditions and philosophy of Sikhism were established by ten Gurus from 1469 to 1708.[105][106] Each Guru added to and reinforced the message taught by the previous, resulting in the creation of the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak was the first Guru and appointed a disciple as successor. Guru Gobind Singh was the final Guru in human form. Before his death, Guru Gobind Singh decreed in 1708, that the Gurū Granth Sāhib would be the final and perpetual Guru of the Sikhs.[16] Guru Nanak stated that his Guru is God who is the same from the beginning of time to the end of time.[107] Nanak said to be a God's slave and servant, but maintained that he was only a guide and teacher.[108][109] Nanak stated that the human Guru is mortal, who is to be respected and loved but not worshipped.[108] When Guru, or SatGuru (The true Guru) is used in Gurbani it is often referring to the highest expression of truthfulness.[110] Guru Angad succeeded Guru Nanak. Later, an important phase in the development of Sikhism came with the third successor, Guru Amar Das. Guru Nanak's teachings emphasised the pursuit of salvation; Guru Amar Das began building a cohesive community of followers with initiatives such as sanctioning distinctive ceremonies for birth, marriage, and death. Amar Das also established the manji (comparable to a diocese) system of clerical supervision.[56] Guru Amar Das's successor and son-in-law Guru Ram Das founded the city of Amritsar, which is home of the Harimandir Sahib and regarded widely as the holiest city for all Sikhs. Guru Arjan was arrested by Mughal authorities who were suspicious and hostile to the religious community he was developing.[111] His persecution and death inspired his successors to promote a military and political organization of Sikh communities to defend themselves against the attacks of Mughal forces. The interior of the Akal Takht The Sikh gurus established a mechanism which allowed the Sikh religion to react as a community to changing circumstances. The sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, was responsible for the creation of the concept of Akal Takht (throne of the timeless one), which serves as the supreme decision-making centre of Sikhism and sits opposite the Harmandir Sahib. The Akal Takht is located in the city of Amritsar. The leader is appointed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Pabandhak Committee (SPGC). The Sarbat Ḵẖālsā (a representative portion of the Khalsa Panth) historically gathers at the Akal Takht on special festivals such as Vaisakhi or Hola Mohalla and when there is a need to discuss matters that affect the entire Sikh nation. A gurmatā (literally, 'guru's intention') is an order passed by the Sarbat Ḵẖālsā in the presence of the Gurū Granth Sāhib. A gurmatā may only be passed on a subject that affects the fundamental principles of Sikh religion; it is binding upon all Sikhs.[112] The term hukamnāmā (literally, 'edict' or 'royal order') is often used interchangeably with the term gurmatā. However, a hukamnāmā formally refers to a hymn from the Gurū Granth Sāhib which is given order to Sikhs. Graph showing Life Spans and Guruship Spans of Sikh Gurus Approximate Life Spans and Guruship Spans of the 10 Sikh Gurus The word guru in Sikhism also refers to Akal Purkh (God), and God and guru can sometimes be synonymous in Gurbani (Sikh writings).[105][113] Scripture There is one primary scripture for the Sikhs: the Gurū Granth Sāhib. It is sometimes synonymously referred to as the Ādi Granth.[114] Chronologically, however, the Ādi Granth – literally, 'First Volume' – refers to the version of the scripture created by Guru Arjan in 1604.[115] The Gurū Granth Sāhib is the final expanded version of the scripture compiled by Guru Gobind Singh.[114][116] While the Guru Granth Sahib is an unquestioned scripture in Sikhism, another important religious text, the Dasam Granth, does not enjoy universal consensus, but is considered a secondary scripture by many Sikhs.[114] Adi Granth Main article: Ādi Granth The Ādi Granth was compiled primarily by Bhai Gurdas under the supervision of Guru Arjan between the years 1603 and 1604.[117] It is written in the Gurmukhī script, which is a descendant of the Laṇḍā script used in the Punjab at that time.[118] The Gurmukhī script was standardised by Guru Angad, the second guru of the Sikhs, for use in the Sikh scriptures and is thought to have been influenced by the Śāradā and Devanāgarī scripts. An authoritative scripture was created to protect the integrity of hymns and teachings of the Sikh Gurus, and thirteen Hindu and two Muslim bhagats of the Bhakti movement sant tradition in medieval India.[119] The thirteen Hindu bhagats whose teachings were entered into the text included Ramananda, Namdev, Pipa, Ravidas, Beni, Bhikhan, Dhanna, Jaidev, Parmanand, Sadhana, Sain, Sur, Trilochan, while the two Muslim bhagats were Kabir and Sufi saint Farid.[120][121][122][123] However, the bhagats in context often spoke of transcending their religious labels, Kabir often attributed to being a Muslim states in the Adi Granth, "I am not Hindu nor Muslim."[124] The Gurus following on this message taught that different methods of devotion are for the same infinite God.[125] Guru Granth Sahib Gurū Granth Sāhib – the primary scripture of Sikhism Main article: Gurū Granth Sāhib The Guru Granth Sahib is the holy scripture of the Sikhs, and is regarded as the living Guru. Compilation The Guru Granth started as a volume of Guru Nanak's poetic compositions. Prior to his death, he passed on his volume to Guru Angad (Guru 1539–1551). The final version of the Gurū Granth Sāhib was compiled by Guru Gobind Singh in 1678. It consists of the original Ādi Granth with the addition of Guru Tegh Bahadur's hymns. The predominant bulk of Guru Granth Sahib is compositions by seven Sikh Gurus – Guru Nanak, Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. It also contains the traditions and teachings of thirteen Hindu Bhakti movement sants (saints) such as Ramananda, Namdev among others, and two Muslim saints namely Kabir and the Sufi Sheikh Farid.[120][56] The text comprises 6,000 śabads (line compositions),[114] which are poetically rendered and set to rhythmic ancient north Indian classical music.[126] The bulk of the scripture is classified into sixty rāgas, with each Granth rāga subdivided according to length and author. The hymns in the scripture are arranged primarily by the rāgas in which they are read.[114] Language and script Mul Mantar written by Guru Har Rai, showing the Ik Onkar at top. The main language used in the scripture is known as Sant Bhāṣā, a language related to both Punjabi and Hindi and used extensively across medieval northern India by proponents of popular devotional religion (bhakti).[127] The text is printed in Gurumukhi script, believed to have been developed by Guru Angad,[114] but it shares the Indo-European roots found in numerous regional languages of India.[128] Teachings A group of Sikh musicians at the Golden Temple complex The vision in the Guru Granth Sahib, states Torkel Brekke, is a society based on divine justice without oppression of any kind.[129] The Granth begins with the Mūl Mantra, an iconic verse which received Guru Nanak directly from Akal Purakh (God). The traditional Mul Mantar goes from Ik Oankar until Nanak Hosee Bhee Sach. One God exists, truth by name, creative power, without fear, without enmity, timeless form, unborn, self-existent, by the Guru's grace.[130] (Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥, romanized: Ika ōaṅkāra sati nāmu karatā purakhu nirabha'u niravairu akāla mūrati ajūnī saibhaṅ gura prasādi) As guru The Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji, named the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as his successor, terminating the line of human Gurus and making the scripture the literal embodiment of the eternal, impersonal Guru, where Gods/Gurus word serves as the spiritual guide for Sikhs.[14][15][16][131] All Sikhs are commanded to take the Granth as Guru (Punjabi: ਸੱਬ ਸਿੱਖਣ ਕੋ ਹੁਕਮ ਹੈ ਗੁਰੂ ਮਾਨਯੋ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ।, romanized: Sabb sikkhaṇ kō hukam hai gurū mānyō granth) The Guru Granth Sahib is installed in Sikh Gurdwara (temple); many Sikhs bow or prostrate before it on entering the temple. The Guru Granth Sahib is installed every morning and put to bed at night in many Gurdwaras.[132] The Granth is revered as eternal gurbānī and the spiritual authority.[133] The copies of the Guru Granth Sahib are not regarded as material objects, but as living subjects which are alive.[134] According to Myrvold, the Sikh scripture is treated with respect like a living person, in a manner similar to the Gospel in early Christian worship. Old copies of the Sikh scripture are not thrown away, rather funerary services are performed.[134] In India the Guru Granth Sahib is even officially recognised by the Supreme Court of India as a judicial person which can receive donations and own land.[134] Yet, some Sikhs also warn that, without true comprehension of the text, veneration for the text can lead to bibliolatry, with the concrete form of the teachings becoming the object of worship instead of the teachings themselves.[134] Relation to Hinduism and Islam Main articles: Sikhism and Hinduism and Islam and Sikhism The Sikh scriptures use Hindu terminology, with references to the Vedas, and the names of gods and goddesses in Hindu bhakti movement traditions, such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Rama, Krishna, but not to worship.[129][135][self-published source][136] It also refers to the spiritual concepts in Hinduism (Ishvara, Bhagavan, Brahman) and the concept of God in Islam (Allah) to assert that these are just "alternate names for the Almighty One".[137] While the Guru Granth Sahib acknowledges the Vedas, Puranas and Qur'an,[138] it does not imply a syncretic bridge between Hinduism and Islam,[139] but emphasises focusing on nitnem banis like Japu (repeating mantra of the divine Name of God – Waheguru), instead of Muslim practices such as circumcision or praying on a carpet, or Hindu rituals such as wearing thread.[140] Dasam Granth The Dasam Granth is a Sikh scripture which contains texts attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, including his autobiography Bachittar Natak. The major narrative in the text is on Chaubis Avtar (24 Avatars of Hindu god Vishnu), Rudra, Brahma, the Hindu warrior goddess Chandi and a story of Rama in Bachittar Natak.[141] Main article: Dasam Granth The Dasam Granth is a scripture of Sikhs which contains texts attributed to the Guru Gobind Singh. The Dasam Granth is important to a great number of Sikhs, however it does not have the same authority as the Guru Granth Sahib. Some compositions of the Dasam Granth like Jaap Sahib, (Amrit Savaiye), and Benti Chaupai are part of the daily prayers (Nitnem) for Sikhs.[142] The first verse of the ardās prayer is from Chandi di Var. The Dasam Granth is largely versions of Hindu mythology from the Puranas, secular stories from a variety of sources called Charitro Pakhyan – tales to protect careless men from perils of lust.[143][144] Five versions of Dasam Granth exist, and the authenticity of the Dasam Granth has in modern times become one of the most debated topics within Sikhism. The text played a significant role in Sikh history, but in modern times parts of the text have seen antipathy and discussion among Sikhs.[141] Janamsakhis Main article: Janamsākhīs The Janamsākhīs (literally birth stories), are writings which profess to be biographies of Guru Nanak. Although not scripture in the strictest sense, they provide a hagiographic look at Guru Nanak's life and the early start of Sikhism. There are several – often contradictory and sometimes unreliable – Janamsākhīs and they are not held in the same regard as other sources of scriptural knowledge. Observances The Darbar Sahib of a Gurdwara Observant Sikhs adhere to long-standing practices and traditions to strengthen and express their faith. The daily recitation of the divine name of God VaheGuru and from a memory of specific passages from the Gurū Granth Sāhib, like the Japu (or Japjī, literally chant) hymns is recommended immediately after rising and bathing. Baptized Sikhs recite the five-morning prayers, the evening and night prayer. Family customs include both reading passages from the scripture and attending the gurudwara (also gurduārā, meaning the doorway to God; sometimes transliterated as Gurudwara). There are many gurdwaras prominently constructed and maintained across India, as well as in almost every nation where Sikhs reside. Gurdwaras are open to all, regardless of religion, background, caste, or race. Worship in a gurdwara consists chiefly of the singing of passages from the scripture. Sikhs will commonly enter the gurdwara, touch the ground before the holy scripture with their foreheads. The recitation of the eighteenth century ardās is also customary for attending Sikhs. The ardās recalls past sufferings and glories of the community, invoking divine grace for all humanity.[145] The gurdwara is also the location for the historic Sikh practice of "Langar" or the community meal. All gurdwaras are open to anyone of any faith for a free meal, always vegetarian.[146] People eat together, and the kitchen is maintained and serviced by Sikh community volunteers.[147] Sikh festivals/events Guru Amar Das chose festivals for celebration by Sikhs like Vaisakhi, wherein he asked Sikhs to assemble and share the festivities as a community.[148][149] Vaisakhi is one of the most important festivals of Sikhs, while other significant festivals commemorate the birth, lives of the Gurus and Sikh martyrs. Historically, these festivals have been based on the moon calendar Bikrami calendar.[150] In 2003, the SGPC, the Sikh organisation in charge of upkeep of the historical gurdwaras of Punjab, adopted Nanakshahi calendar.[150] The new calendar is highly controversial among Sikhs and is not universally accepted. Sikh festivals include the following: Vaisakhi which includes Parades and Nagar Kirtan and occurs on 13 April or 14 April. Sikhs celebrate it because on this day, which fell on 30 March 1699, the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, inaugurated the Khalsa, the 11th body of Guru Granth Sahib and leader of Sikhs until eternity. Nagar Kirtan involves the processional singing of holy hymns throughout a community. While practiced at any time, it is customary in the month of Visakhi (or Vaisakhi). Traditionally, the procession is led by the saffron-robed Panj Piare (the five beloved of the Guru), who are followed by the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy Sikh scripture, which is placed on a float. Nagar Kirtan crowd listening to Kirtan at Yuba City, California. Band Chor Diwas has been another important Sikh festival in its history.[151] In recent years, instead of Diwali, the post-2003 calendar released by SGPC has named it the Bandi Chhor divas.[152] Sikhs celebrate Guru Hargobind's release from the Gwalior Fort, with several innocent Raja kings who were also imprisoned by Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1619. This day continues to be commemorated on the same day of Hindu festival of Diwali, with lights, fireworks and festivities. Hola Mohalla is a tradition started by Guru Gobind Singh. It starts the day after Sikhs celebrate Holi,[153] sometimes referred to as Hola.[154] Guru Gobind Singh modified Holi with a three-day Hola Mohalla extension festival of martial arts. The extension started the day after the Holi festival in Anandpur Sahib, where Sikh soldiers would train in mock battles, compete in horsemanship, athletics, archery and military exercises.[155][156] Gurpurbs are celebrations or commemorations based on the lives of the Sikh Gurus. They tend to be either birthdays or celebrations of Sikh martyrdom. All ten Gurus have Gurpurbs on the Nanakshahi calendar, but it is Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh who have a gurpurb that is widely celebrated in Gurdwaras and Sikh homes. The martyrdoms are also known as a Shaheedi Gurpurbs, which mark the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur. Ceremonies and customs Sikh wedding Sikh funeral procession, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh Khalsa Sikhs have also supported and helped develop major pilgrimage traditions to sacred sites such as Harmandir Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patna Sahib, Hazur Nanded Sahib, Hemkund Sahib and others.[157] Sikh pilgrims and Sikhs of other sects customarily consider these as holy and a part of their Tirath.[158] The Hola Mohalla around the festival of Holi, for example, is a ceremonial and customary gathering every year in Anandpur Sahib attracting over 100,000 Sikhs.[159][160] Major Sikh temples feature a sarovar where some Sikhs take a customary dip. Some take home the sacred water of the tank particularly for sick friends and relatives,[161][162] believing that the waters of such sacred sites have restorative powers and the ability to purify one's karma.[163][ix][161] The various Gurus of Sikhism have had different approaches to pilgrimage.[164] Upon a child's birth, the Guru Granth Sahib is opened at a random point and the child is named using the first letter on the top left hand corner of the left page. All boys are given the last name Singh, and all girls are given the last name Kaur (this was once a title which was conferred on an individual upon joining the Khalsa).[165] The Sikh marriage ritual includes the anand kāraj ceremony.[166][167] The marriage ceremony is performed in front of the Guru Granth Sahib by a baptized Khalsa, Granthi of the Gurdwara.[168][169] The tradition of circling the Guru Granth Sahib and Anand Karaj among Khalsa is practised since the fourth Guru, Guru Ram Das. Its official recognition and adoption came in 1909, during the Singh Sabha Movement.[169] Upon death, the body of a Sikh is usually cremated. If this is not possible, any respectful means of disposing the body may be employed. The kīrtan sōhilā and ardās prayers are performed during the funeral ceremony (known as antim sanskār).[170] Initiation and the Khalsa Khalsa (meaning "pure and sovereign") is the collective name given by Guru Gobind Singh to those Sikhs who have been fully initiated by taking part in a ceremony called ammrit sañcār (nectar ceremony).[171] During this ceremony, sweetened water is stirred with a double-edged sword while liturgical prayers are sung; it is offered to the initiating Sikh, who ritually drinks it.[171] Many Sikhs are not formally and fully initiated, as they do not undergo this ceremony, but do adhere to some components of Sikhism and identify as Sikhs. The initiated Sikh, who is believed to be reborn, is referred to as Amritdhari or Khalsa Sikh, while those who are not initiated or baptised are referred to as Kesdhari or Sahajdhari Sikhs.[171][172] The first time that this ceremony took place was on Vaisakhi, which fell on 30 March 1699 at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab.[171] It was on that occasion that Gobind Singh baptised the Pañj Piārē – the five beloved ones, who in turn baptised Guru Gobind Singh himself. To males who initiated, the last name Singh, meaning "lion", was given, while the last name Kaur, meaning "princess", was given to baptised Sikh females.[171] Baptised Sikhs wear five items, called the Five Ks (in Punjabi known as pañj kakkē or pañj kakār), at all times. The five items are: kēs (uncut hair), kaṅghā (small wooden comb), kaṛā (circular steel or iron bracelet), kirpān (sword/dagger), and kacchera (special undergarment).[171] The Five Ks have both practical and symbolic purposes.[173] History Main article: History of Sikhism Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, was born in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talwandī, now called Nankana Sahib (in present-day Pakistan).[174] His parents were Punjabi Khatri Hindus.[175][176] According to the hagiography Puratan Janamsakhi composed more than two centuries after his death and probably based on oral tradition,[177] Nanak as a boy was fascinated by religion and spiritual matters, spending time with wandering ascetics and holy men.[178] His friend was Mardana, a Muslim. Together they would sing devotional songs all night in front of the public, and bathe in the river in the morning. One day, at the usual bath, Nanak went missing and his family feared he had drowned. Three days later he returned home, and declared: "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim" ("nā kōi hindū nā kōi musalmān"). Thereafter, Nanak started preaching his ideas that form the tenets of Sikhism. In 1526, Guru Nanak at age 50, started a small commune in Kartarpur and his disciples came to be known as Sikhs.[178] Although the exact account of his itinerary is disputed, hagiographic accounts state he made five major journeys, spanning thousands of miles: the first tour being east towards Bengal and Assam; the second south towards Andhra and Tamil Nadu; the third north to Kashmir, Ladakh, and Mount Sumeru[179] in Tibet; and the fourth to Baghdad.[180] In his last and final tour, he returned to the banks of the Ravi River to end his days.[181] There are two competing theories on Guru Nanak's teachings.[182] One, according to Cole and Sambhi, is based on hagiographical Janamsakhis,[183] and states that Nanak's teachings and Sikhism were a revelation from God, and not a social protest movement nor any attempt to reconcile Hinduism and Islam in the 15th century.[184] The other states that Nanak was a guru. According to Singha, "Sikhism does not subscribe to the theory of incarnation or the concept of prophethood. But it has a pivotal concept of Guru. He is not an incarnation of God, not even a prophet. He is an illumined soul."[185] The second theory continues that hagiographical Janamsakhis were not written by Nanak, but by later followers without regard for historical accuracy, and contain numerous legends and myths created to show respect for Nanak.[186] The term revelation, clarify Cole and Sambhi, in Sikhism is not limited to the teachings of Nanak, but is extended to all Sikh gurus, as well as the words of past, present and future men and women, who possess divine knowledge intuitively through meditation. The Sikh revelations include the words of non-Sikh bhagats, some who lived and died before the birth of Nanak, and whose teachings are part of the Sikh scriptures.[187] The Adi Granth and successive Sikh gurus repeatedly emphasised, states Mandair, that Sikhism is "not about hearing voices from God, but it is about changing the nature of the human mind, and anyone can achieve direct experience and spiritual perfection at any time".[182] Historical influences The roots of the Sikh tradition are, states Louis Fenech, perhaps in the Sant-tradition of India whose ideology grew to become the Bhakti tradition.[vii] Furthermore, adds Fenech:[188] Few Sikhs would mention these Indic texts and ideologies in the same breadth as the Sikh tradition, let alone trace elements of their tradition to this chronological and ideological point, despite the fact that the Indic mythology permeates the Sikh sacred canon, the Guru Granth Sahib, and the secondary canon, the Dasam Granth ... and adds delicate nuance and substance to the sacred symbolic universe of the Sikhs of today and of their past ancestors. The development of Sikhism was influenced by the Bhakti movement;[vi][vii][viii] and Vaishnava Hinduism.[189] however, Sikhism was not simply an extension of the Bhakti movement.[67][190] Sikhism developed while the region was being ruled by the Mughal Empire. Two of the Sikh Gurus, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, refused to convert to Islam and were tortured and executed by the Mughal rulers.[28][191] The Islamic era persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa, as an order for freedom of conscience and religion.[28][192][33] A Sikh is expected to embody the qualities of a "Sant-Sipāhī" – a saint-soldier.[34][35] Growth of Sikhism Guru Nanak explaining Sikh teachings to Sadhus After its inception, Sikhism grew as it gained converts among Hindus and Muslims in the Punjab region.[27][193][194][195] In 1539, Guru Nanak chose his disciple Lahiṇā as a successor to the Guruship rather than either of his sons. Lahiṇā was named Guru Angad and became the second Guru of the Sikhs.[196][197] Nanak conferred his choice at the town of Kartarpur on the banks of the river Ravi. Sri Chand, Guru Nanak's son was also a religious man, and continued his own commune of Sikhs. His followers came to be known as the Udasi Sikhs, the first parallel sect of Sikhism that formed in Sikh history.[198] The Udasis believe that the Guruship should have gone to Sri Chand, since he was a man of pious habits in addition to being Nanak's son.[198] Guru Angad, before joining Guru Nanak's commune, worked as a pujari (priest) and religious teacher centered around Hindu goddess Durga.[197][199] On Nanak's advice, Guru Angad moved from Kartarpur to Khadur, where his wife Khivi and children were living, until he was able to bridge the divide between his followers and the Udasis. Guru Angad continued the work started by Guru Nanak and is widely credited for standardising the Gurmukhī script as used in the sacred scripture of the Sikhs.[199] Guru Amar Das became the third Sikh Guru in 1552 at the age of 73. He adhered to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism for much of his life, before joining the commune of Guru Angad.[200][201] Goindval became an important centre for Sikhism during the Guruship of Guru Amar Das. He was a reformer, and discouraged veiling of women's faces (a Muslim custom) as well as sati (a Hindu custom).[202][203] He encouraged the Kshatriya people to fight in order to protect people and for the sake of justice, stating this is Dharma.[204] Guru Amar Das started the tradition of appointing manji (zones of religious administration with an appointed chief called sangatias),[200] introduced the dasvandh ("the tenth" of income) system of revenue collection in the name of Guru and as pooled community religious resource,[205] and the famed langar tradition of Sikhism where anyone, without discrimination of any kind, could get a free meal in a communal seating. The collection of revenue from Sikhs through regional appointees helped Sikhism grow.[200][206] Guru Amar Das named his disciple and son-in-law Jēṭhā as the next Guru, who came to be known as Guru Ram Das. The new Guru faced hostilities from the sons of Guru Amar Das and therefore shifted his official base to lands identified by Guru Amar Das as Guru-ka-Chak.[207] He moved his commune of Sikhs there and the place then was called Ramdaspur, after him. This city grew and later became Amritsar – the holiest city of Sikhism.[208] Guru Ram Das expanded the manji organization for clerical appointments in Sikh temples, and for revenue collections to theologically and economically support the Sikh movement.[207] In 1581, Guru Arjan – youngest son of Guru Ram Das, became the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. The choice of successor, as throughout most of the history of Sikh Guru successions, led to disputes and internal divisions among the Sikhs.[209] The elder son of Guru Ram Das named Prithi Chand is remembered in the Sikh tradition as vehemently opposing Guru Arjan, creating a faction Sikh community which the Sikhs following Guru Arjan called as Minas (literally, "scoundrels").[210][211] Guru Arjan is remembered in the Sikh for many things. He built the first Harimandir Sahib (later to become the Golden Temple). He was a poet and created the first edition of Sikh sacred text known as the Ādi Granth (literally "the first book") and included the writings of the first five Gurus and other enlightened 13 Hindu and 2 Muslim Sufi saints. In 1606, he was tortured and killed by the Mughal emperor Jahangir,[212] for refusing to convert to Islam.[213][28][214] His martyrdom is considered a watershed event in the history of Sikhism.[28][215] Political advancement After the martyrdom of Guru Arjan, his son Guru Hargobind at age eleven became the sixth Guru of the Sikhs, and Sikhism dramatically evolved to become a political movement in addition to being religious.[216] Guru Hargobind carried two swords, calling one spiritual and the other for temporal purpose (known as mīrī and pīrī in Sikhism).[217][self-published source] According to the Sikh tradition, Guru Arjan asked his son Hargobind to start a military tradition to protect the Sikh people and always keep himself surrounded by armed Sikhs. The building of an armed Sikh militia began with Guru Hargobind.[216] Guru Hargobind was soon arrested by the Mughals and kept in jail in Gwalior. It is unclear how many years he served in prison, with different texts stating it to be between 2 and 12.[218] He married three women, built a fort to defend Ramdaspur and created a formal court called Akal Takht, now the highest Khalsa Sikh religious authority.[219] In 1644, Guru Hargobind named his grandson Har Rai as the Guru. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan attempted political means to undermine the Sikh tradition, by dividing and influencing the succession.[220] The Mughal ruler gave land grants to Dhir Mal, a grandson of Guru Hargobind living in Kartarpur, and attempted to encourage Sikhs to recognise Dhir Mal as the rightful successor to Guru Hargobind.[220] Dhir Mal issued statements in favour of the Mughal state, and critical of his grandfather Guru Arjan. Guru Hargobind rejected Dhir Mal, the latter refused to give up the original version of the Adi Granth he had, and the Sikh community was divided.[220] Guru Har Rai is famed to have met Dara Shikoh during a time Dara Shikoh and his younger brother Aurangzeb were in a bitter succession fight. Aurangzeb summoned Guru Har Rai, who refused to go and sent his elder son Ram Rai instead.[221] The emperor found a verse in the Sikh scripture insulting to Muslims, and Ram Rai agreed it was a mistake then changed it. Ram Rai thus pleased Aurangzeb, but displeased Guru Har Rai who excommunicated his elder son. He nominated his younger son Guru Har Krishan to succeed him in 1661. Aurangzeb responded by granting Ram Rai a jagir (land grant). Ram Rai founded a town there and enjoyed Aurangzeb's patronage; the town came to be known as Dehradun, after Dehra referring to Ram Rai's shrine. Sikhs who followed Ram Rai came to be known as Ramraiya Sikhs.[221][222] However, according to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore)[223] Guru Har Krishan became the eighth Guru at the age of five, and died of smallpox before reaching the age of eight. No hymns composed by these three Gurus are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.[224] Guru Tegh Bahadur, the uncle of Guru Har Krishan, became Guru in 1665. Tegh Bahadur resisted the forced conversions of Kashmiri Pandits[225] and non-Muslims[226] to Islam, and was publicly beheaded in 1675 on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi for refusing to convert to Islam.[227][228] His beheading traumatized the Sikhs. His body was cremated in Delhi, the head was carried secretively by Sikhs and cremated in Anandpur. He was succeeded by his son, Gobind Rai, who militarised his followers by creating the Khalsa in 1699, and baptising the Pañj Piārē.[229] From then on, he was known as Guru Gobind Singh, and Sikh identity was redefined into a political force resisting religious persecution.[230] Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi. The long window under the marble platform is the location where Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed by the Mughals. Artistic rendering of the execution of Bhai Mati Das by the Mughals. This image is from a Sikh Ajaibghar near the towns of Mohali and Sirhind in Punjab, India. Sikh confederacy and the rise of the Khalsa Sculpture at Mehdiana Sahib of the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716 by the Mughals. Some bodyguards of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the Sikh capital, Lahore, Punjab. Guru Gobind Singh inaugurated the Khalsa (the collective body of all initiated Sikhs) as the Sikh temporal authority in the year 1699. It created a community that combines its spiritual purpose and goals with political and military duties.[231][16][127] Shortly before his death, Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed the Gurū Granth Sāhib (the Sikh Holy Scripture) to be the ultimate spiritual authority for the Sikhs.[232] The Sikh Khalsa's rise to power began in the 17th century during a time of growing militancy against Mughal rule. The creation of a Sikh Empire began when Guru Gobind Singh sent a Sikh general, Banda Singh Bahadur, to fight the Mughal rulers of India[233][self-published source] and those who had committed atrocities against Pir Buddhu Shah. Banda Singh advanced his army towards the main Muslim Mughal city of Sirhind and, following the instructions of the Guru, punished all the culprits. Soon after the invasion of Sirhind, while resting in his chamber after the Rehras prayer Guru Gobind Singh was stabbed by a Pathan assassin hired by Mughals. Gobind Singh killed the attacker with his sword. Though a European surgeon stitched the Guru's wound, the wound re-opened as the Guru tugged at a hard strong bow after a few days, causing profuse bleeding that led to Gobind Singh's death. After the Guru's death, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur became the commander-in-chief of the Khalsa.[234] He organised the civilian rebellion and abolished or halted the Zamindari system in time he was active and gave the farmers proprietorship of their own land.[235] Banda Singh was executed by the emperor Farrukh Siyar after refusing the offer of a pardon if he converted to Islam. The confederacy of Sikh warrior bands known as misls emerged, but these fought between themselves. Ranjit Singh achieved a series of military victories and created a Sikh Empire in 1799. The Sikh empire had its capital in Lahore, spread over almost 200,000 square miles (520,000 square kilometres) comprising what is now northwestern Indian subcontinent. The Sikh Empire entered into a treaty with the colonial British powers, with each side recognizing Sutlej River as the line of control and agreeing not to invade the other side.[236] Ranjit Singh's most lasting legacy was the restoration and expansion of the Harmandir Sahib, most revered Gurudwara of the Sikhs, with marble and gold, from which the popular name of the "Golden Temple" is derived.[237] After the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, the Sikh Empire fell into disorder. Ranjit Singh had failed to establish a lasting structure for Sikh government or stable succession, and the Sikh Empire rapidly declined after his death. Factions divided the Sikhs, and led to Anglo-Sikh wars. The British easily defeated the confused and demoralised Khalsa forces, then disbanded them into destitution.[238] The youngest son of Ranjit Singh, named Duleep Singh, ultimately succeeded, but he was arrested and exiled after the defeat of Sikh Khalsa.[239] Singh Sabha movement Main article: Singh Sabha Movement The Singh Sabha movement, a movement to revitalize Sikhism, also saw the resurgence of the Khalsa after their defeat by the British in the Anglo-Sikh wars,[240] and the subsequent decline and corruption of Sikh institutions during colonial rule, and the proselytization of other faith groups in the Punjab.[241][242] It was started in the 1870s, and after a period of interfactional rivalry, united under the Tat Khalsa to reinvigorate Sikh practice and institutions.[243] The last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Duleep Singh, converted to Christianity in 1853, a controversial but influential event in Sikh history. Along with his conversion, and after Sikh Empire had been dissolved and the region made a part of the colonial British Empire, proselytising activities of Christians, Brahmo Samajis, Arya Samaj, Muslim Anjuman-i-Islamia and Ahmadiyah sought to convert the Sikhs in northwestern Indian subcontinent into their respective faiths.[241][242] These developments launched the Singh Sabha Movement.[241][242] The first meeting of the movement was in the Golden Temple, Amritsar in 1873, and it was largely launched by the Sanatan Sikhs, Gianis, priests, and granthis.[244] Shortly thereafter, Nihang Sikhs began influencing the movement, followed by a sustained campaign by the Tat Khalsa, which had quickly gained dominance by the early 1880s.[243][245] The movement became a struggle between Sanatan Sikhs and Tat Khalsa in defining and interpreting Sikhism.[246][247][248] Sanatan Sikhs led by Khem Singh Bedi – who claimed to be a direct descendant of Guru Nanak, Avtar Singh Vahiria and others supported a more inclusive approach which considered Sikhism as a reformed tradition of Hinduism, while Tat Khalsa campaigned for an exclusive approach to the Sikh identity, disagreeing with Sanatan Sikhs and seeking to modernize Sikhism.[248][245][249] The Sikh Sabha movement expanded in north and northwest Indian subcontinent, leading to more than 100 Singh Sabhas.[248][246] By the early decades of the 20th century, the influence of Tat Khalsa increased in interpreting the nature of Sikhism and their control over the Sikh Gurdwaras.[248][246][245] The Tat Khalsa banished Brahmanical practices including the use of the yagna fire,[250][251] replaced by the Anand Karaj marriage ceremony in accordance with Sikh scripture, and the idols and the images of Sikh Gurus from the Golden Temple in 1905, traditions which had taken root during the administration of the mahants during the 1800s.[252] They undertook a sustained campaign to standardize how Sikh Gurdwaras looked and ran, while looking to Sikh scriptures and the early Sikh tradition[253] to purify the Sikh identity.[254] The spiritual successors of the Singh Sabha include the Akali movement of the 1920s, as well as the modern-day Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a gurdwara administration body, and the Akali Dal political party.[255] Partition of India Sikhs participated and contributed to the decades-long Indian independence movement from the colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century. Ultimately when the British Empire recognized independent India, the land was partitioned into Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan (East and West) in 1947. This event, states Banga, was a watershed event in Sikh history.[256][257] The Sikhs had historically lived in northwestern region of Indian subcontinent on both sides of the partition line ("Radcliffe Line"). According to Banga and other scholars, the Sikhs had strongly opposed the Muslim League demands and saw it as "perpetuation of Muslim domination" and anti-Sikh policies in what just a hundred years before was a part of the Sikh Empire. As such, Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as inviting possible persecution; the Sikhs largely thus strongly opposed the partition of India.[258] During the discussions with the colonial authorities, Tara Singh emerged as an important leader who campaigned to prevent the partition of colonial India and for the recognition of Sikhs as the third community.[256] When partition was announced, the newly created line divided the Sikh population into two halves. Along with the Hindus, the Sikhs suffered organized violence and riots against them in West Pakistan, and Sikhs moved en masse to the Indian side leaving behind their property and the sacred places of Sikhism.[259] This reprisals on Sikhs were not one sided, because as Sikhs entered the Indian side, the Muslims in East Punjab experienced reprisals and they moved to West Pakistan.[256][260] Before the partition, Sikhs constituted about 15% of the population in West Punjab that became a part of Pakistan, the majority being Muslims (55%). The Sikhs were the economic elite and wealthiest in West Punjab, with them having the largest representation in West Punjab's aristocracy, nearly 700 Gurdwaras and 400 educational institutions that served the interests of the Sikhs.[261] Prior to the partition, there were a series of disputes between the majority Muslims and minority Sikhs, such as on the matters of jhatka versus halal meat, the disputed ownership of Gurdwara Sahidganj in Lahore which Muslims sought as a mosque and Sikhs as a Gurdwara, and the insistence of the provincial Muslim government in switching from Indian Gurmukhi script to Arabic-Persian Nastaliq script in schools.[256] During and after the Simla Conference in June 1945, headed by Lord Wavell, the Sikh leaders initially expressed their desire to be recognized as the third party, but ultimately relegated their demands and sought a United India where Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims would live together, under a Swiss style constitution. The Muslim League rejected this approach, demanding that entire Punjab should be granted to Pakistan.[262] The Sikh leaders then sought the partition instead, and Congress Working Committee passed a resolution in support of partitioning Punjab and Bengal.[262][260] Sikh Light Infantry personnel march past during the Republic day parade in New Delhi, India Between March and August 1947, a series of riots, arson, plunder of Sikh and property, assassination of Sikh leaders, and killings in Jhelum districts, Rawalpindi, Attock and other places made Tara Singh call the situation in Punjab as "civil war", while Lord Mountbatten stated "civil war preparations were going on".[259] The riots had triggered the early waves of migration in April, with some 20,000 people leaving northwest Punjab and moving to Patiala.[263][257] In Rawalpindi, 40,000 people became homeless. The Sikh leaders made desperate petitions, but all religious communities were suffering in the political turmoil. Sikhs, states Banga, were "only 4 million out of a total of 28 million in Punjab, and 6 million out of nearly 400 million in India; they did not constitute the majority, not even in a single district".[263][264] When the partition line was formally announced in August 1947, the violence was unprecedented, with Sikhs being one of the most affected religious community both in terms of deaths, as well as property loss, injury, trauma and disruption.[265][260] Sikhs and Muslims were both victims and perpetrators of retaliatory violence against each other. Estimates range between 200,000 and 2 million deaths of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims.[265][260] There were numerous rapes of and mass suicides by Sikh women, they being taken captives, their rescues and above all a mass exodus of Sikhs from newly created Pakistan into newly independent India. The partition created the "largest foot convoy of refugees recorded in [human] history, stretching over 100 kilometer long", states Banga, with nearly 300,000 people consisting of mostly "distraught, suffering, injured and angry Sikhs". Sikh and Hindu refugees from Pakistan flooded into India, Muslim refugees from India flooded into Pakistan, each into their new homeland.[265][264] Khalistan Sikhs in London protesting against the Indian government In 1940, a few Sikhs such as the victims of Komagata Maru in Canada proposed the idea of Khalistan as a buffer state between an independent India and what would become Pakistan.[261] These leaders, however, were largely ignored.[256][257] The early 1980s witnessed some Sikh groups seeking an independent nation named Khalistan carved out from India and Pakistan. The Golden Temple and Akal Takht were occupied by various militant groups in 1982. These included the Dharam Yudh Morcha led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Babbar Khalsa, the AISSF and the National Council of Khalistan.[266] Between 1982 and 1983, there were Anandpur Resolution demand-related terrorist attacks against civilians in parts of India.[267] By late 1983, the Bhindranwale led group had begun to build bunkers and observations posts in and around the Golden Temple, with militants involved in weapons training.[266] In June 1984, the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi ordered Indian Army to begin Operation Blue Star against the militants.[266] The fierce engagement took place in the precincts of Darbar Sahib and resulted in many deaths, including Bhindranwale, the destruction of the Sikh Reference Library, which was considered a national treasure that contained over a thousand rare manuscripts,[268] and destroyed Akal Takht. Numerous soldiers, civilians and militants died in the cross fire. Within days of the Operation Bluestar, some 2,000 Sikh soldiers in India mutinied and attempted to reach Amritsar to liberate the Golden Temple.[266] Within six months, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards Satwant and Beant Singh assassinated her. The assassination triggered the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.[267] According to Donald Horowitz, while anti-Sikh riots led to much damage and deaths, many serious provocations by militants also failed to trigger ethnic violence in many cases throughout the 1980s. The Sikhs and their neighbors, for most part, ignored attempts to provoke riots and communal strife.[267] Sikh people Main article: Sikh Sikhs in India[269] State/UT Percentage Punjab 58% Chandigarh 13.1% Haryana 4.9% Delhi 3.4% Uttarakhand 2.3% Jammu and Kashmir 1.9% Rajasthan 1.3% Himachal Pradesh 1.2% Estimates state that Sikhism has some 25-30 million followers worldwide.[viii][270] But however according to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore) Sahajdhari or non-khalsa Nanakpanthi Sikhs across the world who also believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib.[10][11][12] According to Pew Research, a religion demographics and research group in Washington DC, "more than nine-in-ten Sikhs are in India, but there are also sizable Sikh communities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada."[271] Within India, the Sikh population is found in every state and union territory, but it is predominantly found in the northwestern and northern states. Only in the state of Punjab do Sikhs constitute a majority (58% of the total, per 2011 census).[269] The states and union territories of India where Sikhs constitute more than 1.5% of its population are Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir.[269] Forming 4.7% of the total population, the western Canadian province of British Columbia is home to over 200,000 Sikhs and is the only province (or similar major subnational division) in the world outside India with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the population.[272][273] Sikhism was founded in northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent in what is now Pakistan. Some of the Gurus were born near Lahore and in other parts of Pakistan. Prior to 1947, in British India, millions of Sikhs lived in what later became Pakistan. During the partition, Sikhs and Hindus left the newly created Muslim-majority Pakistan and mostly moved to Hindu-majority India — with some moving to Muslim-majority Afghanistan[274]) — while numerous Muslims in India moved to Pakistan.[275][276] According to 2017 news reports, only about 20,000 Sikhs remain in Pakistan, and their population is dwindling (0.01% of the country's estimated 200 million population).[277][278] Sikh sects Main article: Sects of Sikhism Sikh sects are sub-traditions within Sikhism that believe in an alternate lineage of gurus, or have a different interpretation of the Sikh scriptures, or believe in following a living guru, or hold other concepts that differ from the orthodox Khalsa Sikhs.[279][280] The major historic sects of Sikhism have included Udasi, Nirmala, Nanakpanthi, Khalsa, Sahajdhari, Namdhari Kuka, Nirankari, and Sarvaria.[281] Namdhari Sikhs, also called the Kuka Sikhs are a sect of Sikhism known for their crisp white dress and horizontal pagari (turban).[282][168] Above: Namdhari singer and musicians. The early Sikh sects were Udasis and Minas founded by Sri Chand – the elder son of Guru Nanak, and Prithi Chand – the elder son of Guru Ram Das respectively, in parallel to the official succession of the Sikh Gurus. Later on Ramraiya sect grew in Dehradun with the patronage of Aurangzeb.[283] Many splintered Sikh communities formed during the Mughal Empire era. Some of these sects were financially and administratively supported by the Mughal rulers in the hopes of gaining a more favorable and compliant citizenry.[280][283] After the collapse of Mughal Empire, and particularly during the rule of Ranjit Singh, Udasi Sikhs protected Sikh shrines, preserved the Sikh scripture and rebuilt those that were desecrated or destroyed during the Muslim–Sikh wars. However, Udasi Sikhs kept idols and images inside these Sikh temples.[198][284] In the 19th century, Namdharis and Nirankaris sects were formed in Sikhism, seeking to reform and return to what each believed was the pure form of Sikhism.[248][246][247] All these sects differ from Khalsa orthodox Sikhs in their beliefs and practices, such as continuing to solemnize their weddings around fire and being strictly vegetarian.[282][168] Many accept the concept of living Gurus such as Guru Baba Dyal Singh. The Nirankari sect, though unorthodox, was influential in shaping the views of Tat Khalsa and the contemporary-era Sikh beliefs and practices.[285][286] Another significant Sikh sect of the 19th century was the Radhasoami movement in Punjab led by Baba Shiv Dyal.[287] Other contemporary era Sikhs sects include the 3HO, formed in 1971, which exists outside India, particularly in North America and Europe.[287][288][289] Sikh castes Nagar Kirtan in Bangalore According to Surinder Jodhka, the state of Punjab with a Sikh majority has the "largest proportion of scheduled caste population in India". Although decried by Sikhism, Sikhs have practiced a caste system. The system, along with untouchability, has been more common in rural parts of Punjab. The landowning dominant Sikh castes, states Jodhka, "have not shed all their prejudices against the lower castes or dalits; while dalits would be allowed entry into the village gurdwaras they would not be permitted to cook or serve langar." The Sikh dalits of Punjab have tried to build their own gurdwara, other local level institutions and sought better material circumstances and dignity. According to Jodhka, due to economic mobility in contemporary Punjab, castes no longer mean an inherited occupation, nor are work relations tied to a single location.[290] In 1953, the government of India acceded to the demands of the Sikh leader, Master Tara Singh, to include Sikh dalit castes in the list of scheduled castes.[291] In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[291] Over 60% of Sikhs belong to the Jat caste, which is an agrarian caste. Despite being very small in numbers, the mercantile Khatri and Arora castes wield considerable influence within the Sikh community. Other common Sikh castes include Sainis, Ramgarhias (artisans), Ahluwalias (formerly brewers), Kambojs (rural caste), Labanas, Kumhars and the two Dalit castes, known in Sikh terminology as the Mazhabis (the Chuhras) and the Ravidasias (the Chamars).[292] Sikh diaspora Further information: Sikhism in India, Sikh diaspora, and Sikhism by country Sikhs celebrating Vaisakhi in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Sikhism is the fourth-largest amongst the medium-sized world religions, and one of the youngest.[293][294][295] Worldwide, there are 30 million Sikhs, which makes up 0.4% of the world's population. Approximately 75% of Sikhs live in Punjab, where they constitute over 60% of the state's population. Large communities of Sikhs migrate to the neighboring states such as Indian State of Haryana which is home to the second largest Sikh population in India with 1.1 million Sikhs as per 2001 census, and large immigrant communities of Sikhs can be found across India. However, Sikhs only comprise about 2% of the Indian population.[296] Sikh migration to Canada began in the 19th century and led to the creation of significant Sikh communities, predominantly in South Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia, and Brampton, Ontario. Today temples, newspapers, radio stations, and markets cater to these large, multi-generational Indo-Canadian groups. Sikh festivals such as Vaisakhi and Bandi Chhor are celebrated in those Canadian cities by the largest groups of followers in the world outside the Punjab. Sikhs also migrated to East Africa, West Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. These communities developed as Sikhs migrated out of Punjab to fill in gaps in imperial labour markets.[297] In the early twentieth century a significant community began to take shape on the west coast of the United States. Smaller populations of Sikhs are found within many countries in Western Europe, Pakistan, Mauritius, Malaysia, Philippines, Fiji, Nepal, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Singapore, United States, and many other countries. Prohibitions in Sikhism Further information: Prohibitions in Sikhism and Diet in Sikhism Some major prohibitions include: Hair removal - Cutting or removing hair from any body part is strictly forbidden including shaving or trimming facial and nostril hairs for both Amritdhari (formally baptized) and Keshdhari (non-baptized and practicing) Sikhs. Intoxication: Consumption of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other intoxicants is not allowed for Amritdhari Sikhs and Keshdhari Sikhs. Drugs and tobacco are forbidden for all.[298][299][300] Cannabis is generally prohibited, but ritually consumed in edible form by some Sikhs.[301][302] Gambling:- Gambling, also called jooa in traditional Indian languages,[clarification needed] be it in any form like lottery, roulette, poker, American or British bingo, is prohibited in some codes of conduct, such as the Sikh Rehat Maryada. Hereditary priest - Sikhism does not have priests, as they were abolished by Guru Gobind Singh (the 10th Guru of Sikhism).[303] The only position he left was a Granthi to look after the Guru Granth Sahib; any Sikh is free to become Granthi or read from the Guru Granth Sahib.[303] Adultery-[298][299][304][305] See also Mai Bhago Five Virtues Hari Singh Nalwa Indian religions Bebe Nanaki Turban training centre Women in the Guru Granth Sahib Notes Sikhs (/siːk/ or /sɪk/; Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ, sikkh, [sɪkkʰ]) are people associated with Sikhism, a monotheistic religion originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak.[30] The term Sikh has its origin in the word śiṣya (शिष्य), meaning 'disciple' or 'student'.[31][32] Male Sikhs generally have Singh ('lion') as their middle or last name, though not all Singhs are necessarily Sikhs; likewise, female Sikhs have Kaur ('princess') as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the Khanḍe-kī-Pahul ('baptism by Khanda') which is an initiation ceremony known as Amrit are from the day of their initiation known as Khalsa Amritdhari Sikhs, and they must at all times have on their bodies five Ks: kesh, uncut hair, which is kept covered usually by a dastār, also known as a turban; kara, an iron or steel bracelet; kirpan, a dagger-like sword tucked into a gatra strap or a kamal kasar belt; kachera, a cotton undergarment; and kanga, a small wooden comb. The Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent has been the historic homeland of the Sikhs, having even been ruled by the Sikhs for significant parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the Punjab state in northwest India has a majority Sikh population, and sizeable communities of Sikhs exist around the world. Many countries, such as the United Kingdom, recognize Sikhs as a designated religion on their censuses,[33] and, as of 2020, Sikhs are considered as a separate ethnic group in the United States.[34] Contents 1 History 1.1 British rule in India 1.2 Partition and post-Partition 2 Culture and religious observations 2.1 Daily routine 2.2 Five Ks 2.3 Music and instruments 3 Demographics 3.1 Migration 3.2 Castes 3.3 3HO 3.4 Diaspora 4 Agriculture 5 Sikhs in modern history 6 In the Indian and British armies 7 Sikh nationalism and the Khalistan movement 8 Art and culture 8.1 Painting 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 11.1 Citations 11.2 Sources 12 Further reading 13 External links History Main article: History of Sikhism Gurdwara Janam Asthan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, was born to Mehta Kalu and Mata Tripta in the village of Talwandi, present-day Nankana Sahib, near Lahore.[35] Throughout his life, Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer. However, Sikh political history may be said to begin in 1606 with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev.[36] Religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699, when the Guru initiated five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare ("beloved five") to form a collective body of initiated Sikhs, known as the Khalsa ("pure").[37] During the rule of the Mughal Empire in India (1556–1707), several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities, including Sikhs.[38] The Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule.[citation needed] The Samadhi of Emperor Ranjit Singh in Lahore, Pakistan The Golden Temple Metal helmet in a museum A Sikh Khalsa Army sowar's battle helmet After defeating the Afghans and Mughals, sovereign states called Misls were formed under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Confederacy of these states would be unified and transformed into the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bahadur. This era would be characterised by religious tolerance and pluralism, including Christians, Muslims, and Hindus in positions of power. Its secular administration implemented military, economic, and governmental reforms. The empire is considered the zenith of political Sikhism,[39] encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh, and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army in the northwest Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. British rule in India Sikh armour and weapons After the annexation of the Sikh kingdom by the British, the British Army began recruiting significant numbers of Sikhs and Punjabis.[citation needed] During the 1857 Indian mutiny, the Sikhs stayed loyal to the British, resulting in heavy recruitment from Punjab to the British Indian Army for the next 90 years of the British Raj in colonial India.[40] The distinct turban that differentiates a Sikh from other turban wearers is a relic of the rules of the British Indian Army.[41] The British colonial rule saw the emergence of many reform movements in India, including Punjab, such as the formation of the First and Second Singh Sabha in 1873 and 1879 respectively. The Sikh leaders of the Singh Sabha worked to offer a clear definition of Sikh identity and tried to purify Sikh belief and practice.[42] The later years of British colonial rule saw the emergence of the Akali movement to bring reform in the gurdwaras during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, which placed all the historical Sikh shrines in India under the control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.[43] Partition and post-Partition At the time of the Indian independence movement, the Sikh ruler of the Kapurthala State fought to oppose the partition of India and advocated for a united, secular country.[44] Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as inviting possible persecution; the Sikhs largely thus strongly fought against the partition of India.[45] The months leading up to the 1947 partition of India were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims.[46] This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab to the east (modern India), mirroring a simultaneous religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab to the west (modern Pakistan).[47] The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in independent India,[48] with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjabi state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence.[49] The modern Punjab state carved out of the former East Punjab province now has a population in which the majority of the people follow Sikhism; the people in the areas of what is now Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, both of which were included in the East Punjab province, mostly follow Hinduism. In 1966, on the first of November, Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Punjab and Haryana. Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale triggered violence in Punjab, resulting in then-prime minister Indira Gandhi ordering an operation to remove Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star. This would subsequently lead to Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.[50] Her assassination would be followed by an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity.[51] During the day of Vaisakhi in 1999, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the anniversary. Likewise, on 9 April 1999 Indian president K. R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa as well.[52] In 2004, Manmohan Singh became the first Sikh Prime Minister of India, and the first Sikh Head of government in the world. Culture and religious observations According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada ('code of conduct'), a Sikh is:[53] Any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; eleven gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the 6 Gurus, 15 bhagats, 11 bhatts, 4 Gursikhs and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru. Daily routine From the Guru Granth Sahib:[54] One who calls themself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, he is to chant the Name of the Lord, "Har, Har." All sins, misdeeds, and negativity shall be then erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, he is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, he is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food and – that GurSikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that GurSikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that GurSikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it. — Fourth Mehl (Guru Ram Das), Guru Granth Sahib, p. 305 Five Ks Main articles: The Five Ks, Khalsa, and Sahajdhari Wooden comb, iron bracelet and curved, gold-coloured dagger Kanga, Kara and Kirpan: three of the five Sikh articles of faith The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized (Amritdhari) Sikhs are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on Waheguru, and never bowing to tyranny.[55] The five symbols are: Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a dastar Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a dastar to always also keep one's hair clean and well-groomed. Kachera: Cotton undergarments, worn by both sexes; the kachera is a symbol of chastity, also historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Kara: An iron bracelet, a symbol of eternity, strength, and a constant reminder of the strength of will to keep hands away from any kind of unethical practices. Kirpan: An iron sword/dagger in different sizes. In the UK, Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in Punjab, they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length. Kirpan is only a weapon of defense, used to serve humanity and to be used against oppression. Music and instruments Woman in yellow scarf bowing an instrument Woman playing the dilruba Main article: Sikh music The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments, including the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori, and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged by Guru Hargobind. The rebab was played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were introduced to Sikh devotional music by Guru Arjan. The taus (Persian for "peacock") was designed by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds. The dilruba was designed by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabad in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as raags. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet. When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit nagara ("victory drum") to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the Singhs were on their way. Demographics Main article: Sikh diaspora Yellow bar graph India's Sikh population and their percentage of the total population Sikhs number about 25-30 million worldwide and out of that, nearly 22-28 million, lives in India which represent about (73.3%-93.3%) of the world's Sikh population.[56][57][58][59][60] About 76% of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, forming the majority (about two-thirds) of the population.[61] Also, According to rough estimates, there are around 120–150 million (12–15 crore) Sahajdhari or non-khalsa Nanakpanthis across the world who also believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib.[62][63][64] There is no data available for specific number of Guru Nanak followers country-wise till now, but however they have been estimated to be around 140 million in India, nearly 8 lakhs in Pakistan and of the order of 150 million throughout the world.[65][66][67] Karnail Singh Panjoli, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, says that there are several communities within the term ‘Nanakpanthis’ too. Apart from Sindhi Hindus, “There are groups like Sikhligarh, Vanjaarey, Nirmaley, Lubaney, Johri, Satnamiye, Udaasiyas, Punjabi Hindus etc who call themselves Nanakpanthis despite being Hindus. They along with Bhagavad gita follow Nanak and Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Within India, they are spread across states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana among others,”.[68] Substantial communities of Sikhs live in the Indian states or union territories of Chandigarh where they form 13.11% of the population, Haryana (over 1.2 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.[69] Another substantial community of Sikhs exists within the Canadian province of British Columbia, numbering 0.2 million or 5% of the total population; outside India, it is the only province or state in the world with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the populace.[70][71] Migration Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab.[47] The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire.[47] During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972.[72] Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. Due to this, Canada is the country, other than India, that has the highest number of Sikhs in proportion to the population in the world at 1.4 per cent of Canada's total population.[73] Coloured world map Map showing world Sikh population areas and historical migration patterns (2004 estimate)[74] After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sikhs from what would become the Punjab of Pakistan migrated to India as well as to Afghanistan in fear of persecution. Afghanistan was home to hundreds of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus as of the 1970s, but due to the wars in Afghanistan by the 2010s the vast majority of Afghan Sikhs had migrated to India, Pakistan or the west.[75][76][77] Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK becoming "virtually impossible since the late 1970s," migration patterns evolved to continental Europe.[78] Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration,[79] with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters.[80] Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools, and horticulture.[81] Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7% per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths, and conversions. Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001).[82] The Sikh population has the lowest gender balance in India, with only 903 women per 1,000 men according to the 2011 Indian census.[83] It is estimated that world's Sikh population is 30 million in 2020, and will reach 42 million by 2050 and will increase up to 62 million by 2100, given the expected growth rate of 1.7% per year and adding at least 400,000 followers annually.[84][82] Castes Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. Caste is still practiced in the Sikh community, despite Guru Nanak's calls for treating everyone equally in Sri Granth Sahib.[85][note 1] As such, Sikhs comprise a number of sub-ethnic groups. Along with Guru Nanak, other Sikh Gurus had also denounced the hierarchy of the caste system, however, they all belonged to the same caste, the Khatris.[89] Most Sikhs belong to the Jat ( Jatt), traditionally agrarian in occupation.[90] Despite being very small in numbers, the Khatri and Arora (kshatriyas) castes also wield considerable influence within the Sikh community. Other common Sikh castes include Ahluwalias (brewers), Kambojs or Kambos (rural caste), Ramgarhias (artisans), Brahman(Mohyal)Rajputs (kshatriyas), Sainis (kshatriyas/agrarian), Rai Sikh (rural caste), Labanas (merchants), and Kumhars, as well as the two Dalit castes known in Sikh terminology as the Mazhabi and the Ravidasias.[91] Some Sikhs belonging to the landowning dominant castes have especially not shed all their prejudices against the Dalits. While Dalits would be allowed entry into the village gurdwaras but in some gurdwaras they would not be permitted to cook or serve langar (communal meal). Therefore, wherever they could mobilize resources, the Sikh Dalits of Punjab have tried to construct their own gurdwara and other local level institutions in order to attain a certain degree of cultural autonomy.[85] In 1953, Sikh leader and activist, Master Tara Singh, succeeded in persuading the Indian government to include Sikh castes of the converted untouchables in the list of scheduled castes.[92] In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[92] Other castes (over 1,000 members) include the Arain, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba (cotton farmers), Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kumhar, Lohar, Mahtam, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Ramgarhia, Sansi, Sudh, Tarkhan, and Kashyap. 3HO The 3HO organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism.[93] In 1998, an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as gora (ਗੋਰਾ, 'white') Sikhs,[94] were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Diaspora Large, ornate white building against a blue sky A Sikh temple, Nanaksar Gurudwara, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa,[95] the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.[96] There was a large Sikh immigration to Canada. While Sikhs were temporarily disenfranchised several decades ago, currently 17 of the 338 Canadian legislators are Sikhs, which is disproportionately higher than their share of the total Canadian population.[97] Large group of Sikh men and women on a city street Sikhs in Toronto celebrating Vaisakhi, which marks the new year the birth of the Khalsa for the Sikhs As Sikhs wear turbans and keep beards (among other physical similarities to Middle Eastern men), Sikh men in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim, Arabic, and/or Afghan since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War.[98][99] Several days after the 9/11 attacks, Sikh-American gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered in Arizona by a man who took Sodhi to be a member of al-Qaeda, marking the first recorded hate-crime in America motivated by 9/11. CNN would go on to suggest an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the US and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.[98][99] In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations exist. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the US and Canada. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, and UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82%) of any religious community.[100] UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest religious group in the UK (after the Jewish community), with a median total household wealth of GB£229,000.[101] In May 2019, the UK government exempted "Kirpan" from the list of banned knives. The U.K. government has passed an amendment by which Sikhs in the country will be allowed to carry kirpans and use it during religious and cultural functions. The bill had been amended late last year to ensure that it would not impact the right of the British Sikh community to possess and supply kirpans, or religious swords.[102][103] Similarly, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.[104] Agriculture Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 per cent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture.[105] Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 per cent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector.[106] According to the Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat and Kamboj or Kamboh, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial."[107] However, Indian physicist Vandana Shiva[108] wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth. Sikhs in modern history Main article: List of Sikhs Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist, academic, and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The first Sikh in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. In the United States, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, was born and raised as a Sikh, but converted to Christianity after her marriage. She still actively attends both Sikh and Christian services.[109] Notable Sikhs in science include nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill, who worked on the Manhattan Project[citation needed]; fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany; and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh. In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based JASPAL[110] were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs.[111] Apollo Tyres is headed by Onkar Singh Kanwar. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings,[112] into total assets of almost US$1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. Mastercard CEO was a Sikh named Ajaypal Singh Banga In sports, Sikhs include England cricketer Monty Panesar; former 400-metre runner Milkha Singh; his son, professional golfer Jeev Milkha Singh; Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh; former Indian hockey team captains Sandeep Singh, Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr.; former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi; Harbhajan Singh, India's most successful off spin cricket bowler; Yuvraj Singh, World Cup winning allrounder; Maninder Singh, World Cup winning off spinner; and Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Indian cricketer-turned-politician. Sikhs in Bollywood, in the arts in general, include poet and lyricist Rajkavi Inderjeet Singh Tulsi; Gulzar; Jagjit Singh; Dharmendra; Sunny Deol; writer Khushwant Singh; actresses Neetu Singh, Simran Judge, Poonam Dhillon, Mahi Gill, Esha Deol, Parminder Nagra, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral; and directors Gurinder Chadha and Parminder Gill. Sikhs in Punjabi Music industry include Gurdas Maan, Diljit Dosanjh, Kuldeep Manak and Babu Singh Maan. Postcard of marching Sikhs with rifles French postcard depicting the arrival of the 15th Sikh Regiment in France during World War I; the bilingual postcard reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten the German hooligans" See caption Japanese soldiers shooting blindfolded Sikh prisoners In the Indian and British armies Main article: Sikhs in the British Indian Army According to a 1994 estimate, Punjabis (Sikhs and non-Sikhs) comprised 10 to 15% of all ranks in the Indian Army. The Indian government does not release religious or ethnic origins of the military personnel, but a 1991 report by Tim McGirk estimated that 20% of Indian Army officers were Sikhs.[113] Together with the Gurkhas recruited from Nepal, the Maratha Light Infantry from Maharashtra and the Jat Regiment, the Sikhs are one of the few communities to have exclusive regiments in the Indian Army.[113] The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army,[114] with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses,[115] 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross),[116] 15 Theatre Honours, 5 COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 5 Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras, and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh.[117] Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.[118] Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[119] By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 per cent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses (VC) were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record.[115] In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates[120] on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace.[121] Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial. During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.[122] Sikh nationalism and the Khalistan movement The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistān ("The Land of the Khalsa") in the Punjab region of South Asia to serve as a homeland for Sikhs.[123] The territorial definition of the proposed country Khalistan consists of both the Punjab, India, along with Punjab, Pakistan, and includes parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.[124][125][126] Khalistan movement began as an expatriate venture.[127] In 1971, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in an advertisement published in the New York Times by an expat [Jagjit Singh Chohan].[128] By proclaiming the formation of Khalistan he was able to collect millions of dollars from the Sikh diaspora.[129] On 12 April 1980 he declared the formation of "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur Sahib.[130] He declared himself as the President of the council, and named Balbir Singh Sandhu as its Secretary General. In May 1980, Chohan traveled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Balbir Singh Sandhu in Amritsar, where he began releasing stamps and currency of Khalistan. The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried by the Akali Dal, headed by the Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal, as a political stunt by the Congress(I) party of Indira Gandhi.[131] Sikhs in London protesting against Indian government actions With the financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora, the movement flourished in Indian state of Punjab, which has a Sikh-majority population and reached its zenith in the late 1970s and 1980s when the secessionist movement caused large scale violence among the local population. Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab.[132] In July 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harchand Singh Longowal had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in Golden Temple Complex, Akal Thakt.[133][134] Bhindranwale later on made the sacred temple complex an armoury and headquarters.[135] In the violent events leading up to the Operation Blue Star since the inception of Akali Dharm Yudh Morcha, the militants had killed 165 Hindus and Nirankaris, even 39 Sikhs opposed to Bhindranwale were killed. The total number of deaths was 410 in violent incidents and riots while 1,180 people were injured.[136] Casualty figures for the Army were 83 dead and 249 injured.[137] According to the official estimate presented by the Indian government, 1592 were apprehended and there were 493 combined militant and civilian casualties.[138] The attack took place on a gurpurb, and thousands of pilgrims had arrived from across the country to observe the anniversary of Guru Arjan's martyrdom. The Indian government alleges the militants used pilgrims as human shields, hence the high civilian casualties. However, independent sources have confirmed that Indian forces allowed thousands of pilgrims into the complex before the attack, and then did not let any of them leave once the raid began.[139] 8 months later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her 2 Sikh body guards in retaliation for Operation Bluestar. In the immediate aftermath, thousands of Sikh civilians were killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In June 1985, Air India Flight 182 was bombed by Babbar Khalsa, a pro-Khalistani terrorist organization.[140] In January 1986, the Golden Temple was occupied by militants belonging to All India Sikh Students Federation and Damdami Taksal.[141] On 26 January 1986, a gathering known as the Sarbat Khalsa (a de facto parliament) passed a resolution (gurmattā) favouring the creation of Khalistan. Subsequently, a number of rebel militant groups in favour of Khalistan waged a major insurgency against the government of India. Indian security forces suppressed the insurgency in the early 1990s, but Sikh political groups such as the Khalsa Raj Party and SAD (A) continued to pursue an independent Khalistan through non-violent means.[142][143][144] Pro-Khalistan organisations such as Dal Khalsa (International) are also active outside India, supported by a section of the Sikh diaspora.[145] In the 1990s the insurgency petered out,[146] and the movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on separatists, divisions among the Sikhs and loss of support from the Sikh population.[147] However, various pro-Khalistan groups, both political and militant, remain committed to the separatist movement. There are claims of funding from Sikhs outside India to attract young people into militant groups.[148] Art and culture Main articles: Sikh art and culture and Punjabi culture Intricate design Opaque watercolour-on-paper Nakashi art; about 1880, by an unknown artist from Lahore or Amritsar, and used to decorate the walls of Harmandir Sahib Large building on the water Darbar Sahib, circa 1870 Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). Punjab has been called India's melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak's creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".[149] The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".[150] During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries,[151] the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.[152] The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places), and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters, and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar. Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts—except for the relics of the Gurus—have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor. Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon that can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen.[153] The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra, and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (The Singh Twins)[154] is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in Punjab. Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").[155] Painting Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars. The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.
Page 1 of 4 Congressman from India: The Remarkable Story of Dalip Singh Saund What we would like is not to be considered foreigners or strangers at all, but to be accepted by Americans as friends. . . . We would like to be merely members of the family and not feel we are strangers or foreigners. D.S. Saund In 1956, Dalip Singh Saund, a lettuce farmer in Imperial Valley and local judge, originally from India, ran against Jacqueline Cochran Odlum, a world famous aviator, winner of many aviation prizes, leader of women aviators during World War II, and wife of a multimillionaire, for Congress from the 29th District of California. And he won by 3,300 votes—the first Indian and Asian to be elected to the United States Congress. He narrates his eventful life in his autobiography Congressman from India (1960), which offers a fascinating account of post-War California on the edge of dramatic transformation and just before the great migrations from Asia and other parts of the world. Saund was born in Amritsar, India, in 1899 during the British Raj, received his undergraduate education in India. After graduating from the University of Punjab (A.B., 1919), he came to the United States in 1920 to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1922 receiving M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He settled down as a lettuce farmer in the Imperial Valley of California in 1930 and became a citizen of the United States in 1949. Elected as a judge of the Justice Court, Westmorland Judicial District, Imperial County, he served from 1952-1957. He was elected as a Democrat Congressman to the Eighty-fifth, Eighty-sixth, and Eighty-seventh Congresses (January 3, 1957-January 3, 1963). His life, public service, and achievements are a remarkable chapter in the richly varied history of this global village called California and provide a fascinating insight into the ongoing narrative of diversity, assimilation, and coexistence that informs the very fiber of California culture and society. In the last several decades, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the Chinese and Japanese immigrants in California—understandably so. Stories like that of Saund reveal that Indians from India have also played an important role in the development of California and have enriched the life of the state but have not received the same attention. Such a study is therefore necessary and timely. This research project is only the first step towards a more detailed and comprehensive study of the role and contributions of Indians in California. In this project, I will focus only on the life and career of Dalip Singh Saund. Page 2 of 4 For this project, I propose to study Saund’s autobiography, the Congressional Record, local newspapers, and histories of southern California to learn about his life and achievements and about the relationships among some of the prominent ethnic groups during Saund’s professional and public life. This research will lead to the following tangible and specific results: 1. A unit on the role of Indians in the culture of California in the Literature of California course (English 9) that I regularly teach. 2. Revision of the unit on Indians in American culture in the Asian American Literature course (English 41), the next time I offer the course. 3. A database of Indian-Americans, like Saund, who have played a significant role in the culture of California. This database will be the foundation of a website on Indian-Americans in California that I plan to create for students and the general public. This research project will proceed according to the following schedule. Winter 2018: Objective 1: Overview and Review Activity 1: Re-read Saund’s autobiography and compile a working bibliography of primary and secondary sources, including Karen Leonard’s Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican Americans (1992) and Jayasri Majumdar Hart’s Roots in the Sand (2000). Spring 2018: Objective 2: Study Saund’s life—professional and public. (FebruaryApril) Activity 2.1: Take detailed notes from his autobiography; websites, such as www.saund.org and www.pbs.org/roots in the sand. Activity 2.2: Read and take additional notes about his career as a judge and his congressional campaign and career in newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, and in historical records of southern California available at the Huntington Library and in the public records of the city of Westmorland, CA. Objective 3: More study of the historical context and preparation of a lesson plan (April-May) Activity 3.1: Continuing to read histories of some of the ethnic groups of southern California. Activity 3.2: Preparation of a one or two-week unit on Saund and Asian Indians in southern California for use in my Literature of California course (English 9). Page 3 of 4 Activity 3.3 (June-July): Preparation of presentations on this subject to professional organizations (local and statewide) and the report to be submitted to the Sabbaticals and Fellowships Committee. Revision of the unit on Indians in the Asian American Literature course (English 41). Fall 2018-: Compiling the database of Indian-Americans who have played a significant role and beginning work on the creation of the website. 2. Benefits to Students: I regularly teach a course in Literature of California that transfers to UC, CSU, and other colleges. A historical survey of the literature of California from indigenous beginnings to the 1970s, the course does pay attention to the various ethnic groups who have made significant contributions to California culture, especially in the decades before and after World War II. Thus, this study will be directly relevant to the curriculum and will open a fascinating window into a relatively neglected area of California culture. In addition, my study of primary and archival materials will provide interesting lessons about research methodology for my students in English 1, which I also regularly teach. As a result, this research will satisfy the following three ILOs: The students will acquire the self-confidence and self-discipline to pursue their intellectual curiosities with integrity in both their personal and professional lives. Obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to access, evaluate, and interpret ideas, images, and information critically in order to communicate effectively, reach conclusions, and solve problems. Respect the inter-relatedness of the global environment, engage with diverse peoples, and acknowledge the significance of their daily actions relative to broader issues and events 3. Sharing the research with the SMC community: I plan to present my findings and share the story of Dalip Singh Saund with students and colleagues in a lecture during the Activity Hour on a Tuesday or Thursday in Fall 2018 or Spring 2019. I am also willing to visit any classes to discuss my research if any of my colleagues would like me to. Thus, the project is consistent with one of the Supporting Goals of the institution: Innovative and Responsive Academic Environment Page 4 of 4 Continuously develop curricular programs, learning strategies, and services to meet the evolving needs of students and the community. 4. Documenting and disseminating the research: I would like to present my research in talks to professional organizations (local and statewide) as well as to community groups organized by local public libraries. In addition, I hope to write a short article on Saund for popular magazines, such as Los Angeles Magazine. An important goal is to compile a database of significant Indian-Americans in California, such as Dalip Singh Saund and Bhagat Singh Thind, and create a website to make information about their role in and contributions to California history and culture available to students and the general public. On September 27, 2014, an estimated crowd of 19,000 Indian Americans filled Madison Square Garden in New York City.1 The crowd that assembled were not necessarily NBA fans of the New York Knicks or NHL afficionados of the New York Rangers. Instead, they arrived at the venue for a political event very much out of the ordinary – an address by the then Indian Prime Ministerelect, Narendra Modi. Old and young, Indian-born and U.S. born, the crowd had travelled from all corners of the nation to hear the new Indian Prime Minister speak. Also, among those gathered to see Modi were Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and the Democratic senators from New Jersey, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, but also the then Indian American Republican Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley and numerous other members of Congress from both sides of the political divide. In India itself, news networks also beamed live coverage of Modi’s speech in Hindi from a revolving platform to Indians across the country from Punjab in the north to Kerala in the south. 2 Admittedly a surreal event, Modi’s address in New York City did not just reflect the growing visibility of Indian Americans in the United States. Indeed, Modi’s appearance also highlighted the increasing importance of Indian Americans as a political constituency in U.S. society. Indian Americans constitute less than one percent of the U.S. population, yet the median annual income of Indian-headed households is more than twice that of the U.S. median. Seventy-six percent of Indian immigrants in the country aged twenty-five or older possess at least a bachelor’s degree thus making the immigrant community one of the most educated and affluent in the nation.3 Given Californian Democrat Kamala Harris’s status as the U.S. Vice-President-Elect and the not so distant Bobby Jindal and Haley governorships of two of the nation’s most conservative Southern states, Indian Americans have therefore emerged onto the U.S. political scene as a powerful transnational force. Rudyard Kipling once remarked: “[e]ast is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” 4 Yet Modi’s raucous address drawing on politicians, rhetoric and themes from both East and West clearly proved the famed British novelist and poet wrong. Bhadrajee S. Hewage is affiliated with Princeton University’s Department of History and the Programs in African Studies, Latin American Studies, and South Asian Studies. He will become a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford pursuing a DPhil in History in 2021 following his graduation. 1 “At Madison Square Garden, Chants, Cheers and Roars for Modi,” The New York Times, September 28, 2014. 2 Sangay K. Mishra, Desis Divided: The Political Lives of South Asian Americans (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016), 1. 3 “Indian immigrants make it obvious that the American dream is alive and well,” The Washington Post, August 24, 2015. 4 “The Ballad of East and West” (1889) featured in Rudyard Kipling, Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940), 234-38. 1 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 However, the political potential and visibility of Indian Americans within the United States was not always like this. Indeed, when Judge Dalip Singh Saund became the Democratic Representative for California’s 29th district in 1956, he became the first Asian American and first member from a non-Abrahamic faith ever elected to Congress. In an electoral district which had never before sent a Democrat to Congress, Saund won thanks to a margin of roughly 3,000 votes from a total of 110,000 cast.5 The stature of his Republican opponent Jacqueline Cochran Odlum made Saund’s stunning electoral victory all the more impressive. A world-renowned aviatrix, Odlum had won numerous prizes for her feats, had marshalled female fliers during the Second World War, and had married the multi-millionaire financier, Floyd Odlum. As reporter Richard Dyer MacCann noted: “[s]elf-made woman vs. naturalized Sikh – certainly this has never happened before in American politics.”6 Furthermore, Odlum was a Caucasian. Four years earlier, Saund had achieved prominence through winning the Justice of the Peace election in his hometown of Westmorland in California’s Imperial County by a mere thirteen votes.7 Again, the incumbent whom Saund defeated was Caucasian. More than half a century before the appearance of Indian American politicians such as Harris, Haley, or Jindal on the national U.S. political scene, Saund’s electoral successes were as remarkable as they were improbable. One of seven children born to illiterate parents in 1899, Saund’s journey to the upper echelons of U.S. political power certainly deserves further examination. Indeed, how did Saund’s Indian heritage feature in his successful journey to Congress in 1956? Using material from Saund’s memoir and media coverage of Saund’s campaigns, I will explain in this paper how Saund managed to achieve electoral success despite his status as a naturalized U.S. citizen of Indian origin. I argue that his outward appearance as an amenable, educated, and canny politician who embodied U.S. values helped Saund achieve political success despite the significant obstacle posed by his Indian heritage. Given national attitudes towards immigration at the time Saund arrived in the United States, his later successes are even more remarkable. Saund’s story was certainly not one of the standard rags-to-riches lore. While his parents may have been illiterate, they were well-off agriculturalists from Amritsar in the Punjab and were able to provide for Saund’s U.S. education.8 Yet Saund arrived for graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley a mere three years after the nation had passed the 1917 Immigration Act. Creating a “Pacific Barred Zone,” the Act severely restricted the admission of Asians to the United States and further declared individuals of Asian descent ineligible for U.S. citizenship. Historian David Gerber notes how “frustrated efforts at piecemeal proscription of Asian immigration and citizenship” finally resulted in the 1917 Act which 5 Dalip S. Saund, Congressman from India (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1960), 98. 6 “Democracy Seen in Action,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 16, 1956. 7 Saund, Congressman from India, 83. 8 “First India Native Goes to Congress,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 11, 1956. 2 Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship, Vol. 5 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 2 https://newprairiepress.org/crossingborders/vol5/iss1/2 DOI: 10.4148/2373-0978.1093 “declar[ed] all of Asia, exclusive of the Philippines… ‘the barred Asiatic zone,’ from which immigration must cease completely.”9 Indian demographer Sripati Chandrasekhar highlighted the two ways in which the 1917 Act especially affected those of Indian descent. He claimed firstly that “the United States Government, having discriminated against two important countries, China and Japan, did not wish these countries to feel that they had been singled out for discrimination, and so they added India and the rest [other Asian nations] for fairness!” According to Chandrasekhar, the second justification involved Britain’s relationship with the U.S. since there was the concern that “any national of [Britain’s] colonial empire in Asia, and particularly the educated and articulate Indians, if admitted to the U.S. would certainly carry-on propaganda against British rule.”10 Despite the tough immigration rhetoric in the years which preceded his arrival in the U.S., Saund had nevertheless developed an affectionate fascination with the United States while still in India. Scholar Rajni Srikanth writes that “Asian Americans have a more urgent reason to exhibit interest in their ancestral nations, however: they never know when their membership in the United States will be called into question.”11 Yet for Saund, the primary interest was never in his ancestral country of India but rather in his adopted U.S. homeland. He admitted that he had first developed his own notions of who constituted and American and what constituted American values while still a college student in the Punjab. He wrote: “I must confess as late as 1917, when I was a junior in college, despite my interest in political affairs, my knowledge of the United States of America was next to nothing.”12 Yet this began to change when the U.S. entered the First World War. Following U.S. attempts to create a League of Nations in the aftermath of the conflict, Saund started reading the speeches of President Woodrow Wilson in Indian newspapers. He noted how “[Wilson’s] inspiring ideas and ideals – ‘make the world safe for democracy’, ‘the war to end war,’ and ‘self-determination for all peoples’ – appealed to my young heart.”13 Through his engagement with Wilson’s oratory, Saund further became acquainted with the words of Abraham Lincoln. The discovery of Lincoln and his role in U.S. history changed the direction of Saund’s life. He remarked: “Lincoln changed the entire course of my life.” He added: “[d]efiant of the wishes of my parents, who wanted me to join the service of the British Government in India, I said to myself and to them, I must go to the United States of America, come what may.”14 9 David A. Gerber, American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 32. The Philippines remained a U.S. possession until 1946 following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War of 1898. 10 Sripati Chandrasekhar, From India to America: A Brief History of Immigration, Problems of Discrimination, Admission and Assimilation (La Jolla, California: Population Review Publications, 1982), 18. 11 Rajini Srikanth, The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), 51. 12 Saund, Congressman from India, 31. 13 Ibid. 14 Saund, Congressman from India, 31. 3 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 Coming to Berkeley in 1920 to study viticulture, Saund quickly saw how erroneously the U.S. viewed India and those of Indian descent and so he started the process of adapting to what he believed the U.S. wanted of new arrivals like him. Author Vivek Bald noted that “[t]oday, when we think of U.S. fads and fashions for India, we tend to focus on the recent mass popularity of yoga and Bollywood films or on narratives of self-discovery in the East such as Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling Eat, Pray Love.” Yet Bald notes that “[i]t is largely forgotten that at the turn of the twentieth century the United States was in the grips of a craze over India and ‘the Orient’ that was, in some ways, larger and more pervasive than anything that has occurred since.”15 Indeed, Saund himself observed that “[i]n those days the picture of India which most of the American people carried in their minds had little basis in reality…It was a confused jumble of yogis, snake charmers, and maharajas.”16 Yet, despite the romantic depictions and imaginations of India, Saud knew that prejudice against Asians was intense, and that those of Asian descent were unwelcome. He realized that to become accepted in U.S. society, he needed to act and behave as a “true American.” He wrote: “I vowed to myself that if I was going to acquire any of the characteristics of the American people, one of the most important ones would be to learn to be a good sport.”17 Only then, he believed, would others in the U.S. come to accept him as an American who happened to be of Indian descent rather an Indian who happened to reside in the United States. Once on the path to becoming an American “good sport,” Saund still had one formidable obstacle to overcome. Finishing his graduate degrees at Berkeley, Saund became intimately familiar with U.S. life. Yet he had not managed to achieve U.S. citizenship. As a non-citizen, Saund faced the same problems experienced by countless other South Asians who had immigrated to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Journalist Kathryn Schulz describes the similar citizenship struggle of Pathan tamale seller Zarif Khan who had his U.S. citizenship revoked a mere four months after obtaining it in 1926 on the realization that he had fallen foul of the 1917 Act.18 Saund himself lamented: “I had married an American [Caucasian] girl, and was the father of three American children …. I was making America my home.” He continued: “thus it was only natural that I felt very uncomfortable not being able to become a citizen of the United States.”19 In fact, it was only after the U.S. had come to terms with the efforts of non-citizen minority communities to the U.S. effort during the Second World War did citizenship restrictions change. Only July 2, 1946, President Truman eventually passed the Immigration Act of 1946 which, according to Chandrasekhar, for the first time authorized “the admission into the United States 15 Vivek Bald, Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2013), 16. [Emphasis original]. 16 Saund, Congressman from India, 40. 17 Ibid., 41. 18 “Citizen Khan,” The New Yorker, June 2016. Khan finally regained his citizenship twenty-eight years later in 1954. 19 Saund, Congressman from India, 72. 4 Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship, Vol. 5 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 2 https://newprairiepress.org/crossingborders/vol5/iss1/2 DOI: 10.4148/2373-0978.1093 of persons or races indigenous to India…to make them racially eligible for naturalization and other purposes.”20 Following the passing of the 1946 Act, as many as 3,000 Indians who had been resident in the United States became U.S. citizens.21 Indeed, Saund finally became a U.S. citizen himself three years after the passing of this Act and twenty-nine years after he first arrived in the United States. 22 Receiving his doctorate in Mathematics from Berkeley, Saund had moved to the town of Westmorland in California’s Imperial County. Marrying Marian Kosa, the daughter of a Los Angeles painter of Czech origin, Saund began raising alfalfa and sugar beet in the Imperial Valley.23 There, the Justice of the Peace, who happened to be a close friend, drew Saund into local Democratic Party affairs. Having fulfilled U.S. citizenship residency requirements and become wealthy through his agricultural enterprises, Saund contested this judicial post following the death of his friend in 1952. Here began Saund’s first electoral battle and the first time where his Indian heritage was seriously called into question. He remembered an exchange he had with a friend who advised him against becoming the town’s Justice of the Peace. To emphasize his point, Saund’s friend informed him: “[w]ell you’re kind of an American I suppose, but I can trace my own origin to a family that came over on the Mayflower.”24 Another resident attacked him asking “Doc, tell us, if you’re elected, will you furnish the turbans or will we have to buy them ourselves in order to come into your court?”25 Another town dweller remarked: “I agree that Saund would make a good judge, but I just can’t go for a Hindu for a judge.” While that particular Westmorland resident did not vote for him, Saund later learned that ten younger members of his family did.26 The traces of the prejudice and discrimination that had fuelled the implementation of the 1917 Act remained among the older generation, but Saund noticed how they were largely absent among those from the younger generation. For the latter, Saund’s actions and good works in the town community held much more weight than his ethnic or racial origins. Saund noted how in the run-up to the election, he had worked in support of Community Chest drives and the Boy Scouts and had also acted as the chairman of the March for Dimes for two years. He further described how he had been appointed as the chairman of a drive to complete a swimming pool for the town. While covering his Congressional race four years later, several media outlets noted how he had successfully helped the town to dispel its associations with gambling and prostitution.27 His reputation as an educated man had also begun to precede him with the townsfolk affectionately referring to him as “Doc.” His responses to racists such as “I don’t care what a 20 Chandrasekhar, From India to America, 22. 21 “Hindu Is Trying to Ground Jackie Cochran at The Polls,” The Courier-Journal, May 9, 1956. 22 Saund, Congressman from India, 76. 23 “Jackie Cochran Vies for Votes with a Hindu,” Detroit Free Press, May 6, 1956. 24 Saund, Congressman from India, 80. [Emphasis original]. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid. 27 “A Sikh in Congress: Dalip Singh Saund,” The New York Times, November 10, 1956; “Jackie Cochran Vies for Votes with a Hindu,” Detroit Free Press, May 6, 1956. 5 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 man has on top of his head …. All I’m interested in is what he’s got inside it”, all helped his personality and charm appeal to voters rather than his Indian heritage.28 Saund’s decision to contest the 1956 Congressional election for California’s 29th district again played host to discussions regarding his Indian background. In the district’s Democratic primary, Saund’s opponent repeatedly racially attacked him yet Saund refused to acknowledge the assaults against his character. He wrote: “I had positively and definitely made up my mind to present myself as a candidate for the high office of congressman on my own merits and not say a word against my opponent.” He added: “I thus never felt the need nor the desire to answer his charges.” His Democratic challenger Carl Kegley even unsuccessfully took Saund to court in his belief that Saund did not meet the citizenship requirements to run for the seat.29 Saund trusted that the district’s constituents would judge his candidacy based on his work as Westmoreland’s Justice of the Peace rather than his Asian or immigrant background. Securing the Democratic nomination, he noted that the results “have confirmed my faith in the good sense and fair play on the part of the American people.”30 Yet, defeating Kegley did not make the seat race any easier. Following the retirement of the district’s seven-term Republican congressman John Phillips, Saund indeed faced an uphill, often race-based battle to secure the seat. Campaigning against Odlum, Saund noted: “[e]very effort was made to make it appear that I was an Indian, not an American …. In newspaper ads I was not called D.S. Saund, but Dalip Singh in big letters and Saund in small letters.”31 Furthermore, Odlum, a personal friend of President Eisenhower, had a wellfinanced campaign. Saund had struggled to find any rich supporters for his cause. Despite lacking in financial clout, he nevertheless managed a campaign built on strong volunteer support and ingenuity. Priced out of buying commercial billboards, his campaign furnished their own homemade plywood billboards. Scores of volunteers canvassed the towns and cities in the district for Saund. Family members campaigning on his behalf also worked wonders for Saund with many constituents deciding to vote for him after meeting them. Furthermore, campaigning in a largely agricultural and conservative rural district, Saund advocated for federal aid for farmers, regional water rights and higher pay for the armed forces.32 This hard work coupled with his own farming background helped Saund reap benefits which overcame his campaign’s financial struggles. Saund had always tried to deflect attention away from his Indian heritage. Yet he eventually realized that his ethnic and racial background could be used as an instrument to definitively prove his assimilation into U.S. society. Scholar Seema Sohi writes that “[t]he experiences of Indian workers, intellectuals, and students as they moved across the globe …. [enabled them] to see themselves not simply as migrants seeking economic opportunity.” 33 Sohi argues that many of 28 Saund, Congressman from India, 80-82. 29 “Appellate Court Refuses to Act in Election Case,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1956. 30 “Aviatrix and Hindi Win Nominations,” The Hartford Courant, June 7, 1956. 31 Saund, Congressman from India, 101-102. 32 “First India Native Goes to Congress,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 11, 1956. 33 Seema Sohi, Echoes of Mutiny: Race, Surveillance, and Indian Anticolonialism In North America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 16. 6 Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship, Vol. 5 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 2 https://newprairiepress.org/crossingborders/vol5/iss1/2 DOI: 10.4148/2373-0978.1093 these Indians actively became involved “as politicized workers” who were determined to make their own impact on the political systems in the nations to which they migrated. Saund certainly declared himself first and foremost to be working for the best interests of his constituents. He remembered how Odlum dragged Indian Prime Minister Nehru into the election by claiming that he was a Communist-sympathizer and “would certainly like to have a man from India elected to the Congress of the United States.”34 According to Saund, he replied to her that: “I was presenting myself to the people of the 29th Congressional District as an American candidate for Congress and not as anyone owing allegiance to any foreign country.”35 Saund further promised to his constituents that if he were to be elected, one of the first items on his agenda would be to travel to India and the Middle East to showcase the wonders of U.S. democracy. 36 Once there, he pledged to appear before the appeal and claim: “[y]ou have been listening to the insidious propaganda of the Communists that there is prejudice and discrimination in the United States against your people.” Saund believed that his election would prove to ordinary Asians that he was a “living example of American democracy in action” as would be “elected by the free vote of the people in a very conservative district of the state of California to membership in the most powerful legislative body on earth.”37 For Saund, his Indian heritage thus had the potential to function not just as a marker of his national and racial origins but also as a reminder of the distance he had covered on his path to assimilation in U.S. society. Saund’s vigorous campaign paid off. Narrowly defeating Odlum, he took office as the Democratic congressman from California’s 29th district in January 1957. Authors Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur, and Nirvikar Singh wrote that “[h]aving worked as a farmer in the Imperial Valley, [Saund] understood the daily lives of his neighbours.” 38 Covering the elections, The Minneapolis Morning Tribune noted how “Saund appears to be on first name terms with half the people in Imperial County …. Because of his dark skin, he has a natural appeal to the region’s Negroes, Mexicans, Japanese, and Hindus” who together formed around three percent of the total electorate.39 Marrying the daughter of Czech immigrants and serving in local civic organizations, Saund had also formed several bonds with the majority of the Caucasians in his town and California county. He had managed to use his Indian heritage to highlight how despite his foreign origins, he remained committed to improving the lives and welfare of those in the country where he became a naturalized citizen. His candidacy as a hard-working, personable, and educated Democrat in a Republican stronghold appeared to matter much more than his Indian national origins. 34 Saund, Congressman from India, 108. 35 Ibid. 36 “Jackie Cochran Vies for Votes with a Hindu,” Detroit Free Press, May 6, 1956. 37 Saund, Congressman from India, 108-110. 38 Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur, and Nirvikar Singh, The Other One Percent: Indians In America (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016), 20. 39 “Hindu Battles Woman Flier in California Congress Race,” The Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 6, 1956. 7 Hewage: An “Indian” American Congressman Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 Despite Saund’s election to Congress in 1956, his victory did not immediately pave the way for other Indian Americans to join Congress. Indeed, it would be another forty-eight years before Bobby Jindal took his place in Congress as a Representative from Louisiana. Like Saund, Jindal again had to overcome obstacles based on his ethnic and racial origins to appeal to his electorate. Jindal had converted from his family’s Hinduism to Roman Catholicism, but even religious conversion did not prevent him from facing questions over his “Americanness.”40 However, in recent years, Indian American politicians have become more comfortable in publicly embracing their various ethnic and religious origins. Today, both Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Pramila Jayapal play a key role in fostering dialogue between India and the U.S. through the Congressional India Caucus, and Vice-President-Elect Harris has even publicly cooked Indian food with Indian American celebrity Mindy Kaling while out on the campaign trail.41 Saund may have broken ground in becoming the first Indian American Congressman, but it is only now that the wider American public can begin to see and indeed appreciate the national role of Indian American politicians in representing them. Indeed, the raucous welcome afforded to Modi at a packed-out Madison Square Garden in 2014 highlights the important position of Indian Americans in U.S. political life today. Referencing his heritage, Saund was correct when he lamented: “I have found it impossible to malign or belittle my opponents.”42 Almost half a century before Indian Americans began playing a larger role in U.S. politics, Saund was able to legitimize himself as a regular U.S. citizen who simply happened to come from an Indian background due to his work as a determined politician with an established track record in his community. One of the statements of Abraham Lincoln that most appealed to Saund was his advice: “[b]e satisfied with skim milk if you cannot get cream.”43 Saund certainly was forced to live with skim milk on several occasions throughout his life, yet he had managed to find it both sweet and nourishing. Kipling may have remarked that East could never meet West. Through his journey from Punjab to California and Washington, Saund decisively proved him wrong. 40 “Must Sikhs, Hindus convert to get elected,” Na Sikhs (singular Sikh: /sɪk/ (like "sick") or /siːk/ (like "seek"); Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ, sikkh [sɪkkʰ]; Devanagari: सिख) are an ethnoreligious group[74] who adhere to Sikhi or Sikhism,[75] a Dharmic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak.[76] The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit word śiṣya (शिष्य), meaning 'disciple' or 'student'.[77][78][79] Male Sikhs generally have Singh ('lion') as their last name, though not all Singhs are necessarily Sikhs; likewise, female Sikhs have Kaur ('princess') as their last name. These unique last names were given by the Gurus to allow Sikhs to stand out and also as an act of defiance to India's caste system, which the Gurus were always against. Sikhs strongly believe in the idea of sarbat da bhala (welfare of all) and are often seen on the frontline to provide humanitarian aid across the world. Sikhs who have undergone the Amrit Sanchar ('baptism by Khanda'), an initiation ceremony, are known as Khalsa from the day of their initiation, and they must at all times have on their bodies the five Ks: kesh, uncut hair usually kept covered by a dastār, also known as a turban; kara, an iron or steel bracelet; kirpan, a dagger-like sword tucked into a gatra strap or a kamar kasa waistband; kachera, a cotton undergarment; and kanga, a small wooden comb. Tarn Taran Sahib - The World's Largest Sarovar (sacred pool) The Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent has been the historic homeland of the Sikhs, having even been ruled by the Sikhs for significant parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, Canada has the largest national Sikh proportion (2.1%) in the world,[13] while the Punjab state in India has the largest Sikh proportion (58%) amongst all administrative divisions in the world. Many countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, recognize Sikhs as a designated religion on their censuses,[80] and, as of 2020, Sikhs are considered as a separate ethnic group in the United States.[81] The UK also considers Sikhs to be an ethno-religious people, as a direct result of the Mandla v Dowell-Lee case in 1982.[82][83] History Main article: History of Sikhism Gurdwara Janam Asthan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, was born in a Khatri family to Mehta Kalu and Mata Tripta in the village of Talwandi, present-day Nankana Sahib, near Lahore.[84] Throughout his life, Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer. However, Sikh political history may be said to begin in 1606, with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev.[85] Religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699, when the Guru initiated five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare ("beloved five"), to form a collective body of initiated Sikhs, known as the Khalsa ("pure").[86] The early followers of Guru Nanak were Khatris, but later a large number of Jats joined the faith.[87] Khatris and Brahmins opposed "the demand that the Sikhs set aside the distinctive customs of their castes and families, including the older rituals."[88] Pashaura Singh analyzed references made within the 11th ballad of the Varan of Bhai Gurdas to form a picture of the caste-makeup of the early Sikh community.[89] At the time of the writing the Vaar, the early Sikh community was composed of various castes and backgrounds, such as:[89] Khatris (particularly the Sehgal, Ohri, Uppal, Julka, Bhalla, Passi, Khullar, Vohra, Vij, Kapur, Chaddha, Behl, Kohli, Marwah, Mehra, Soni, Jhanjhi, Sodhi, Beri, Nanda, Wadhawan, Tulli, and Puri gotras)[89] Brahmins (such as the Bhardwaj gotra)[89] Jats (particularly the Randhawa, Khehra, Dhillon, and Pannu gotras)[89] Tarkhans ('carpenters')[89] Lohars ('blacksmiths')[89] Nais ('barbers')[89] Chhimbas ('cotton-printers')[89] Machhis ('water-carriers')[89] Dhobis ('washermen')[89] Kumhars ('potters')[89] Telis ('oil pressers")[89] masons[89] goldsmiths[89] Outcastes (such as Chandals)[89] Muslims[89] The early Sikhs varied widely in their occupations and position in society's hierarchy: some were rich merchants (Seths and Sarrafs), others were heads of villages (Chowdhury), some were labourers, others were enslaved, whilst others still were artisans, craftsmen, shopkeepers, or simple peasants.[89] The Sikh Empire at its greatest extent During the rule of the Mughal Empire in India, two Sikh gurus were martyred. (Guru Arjan was martyred on suspicion of helping in betrayal of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb)[90] As the Sikh faith grew, the Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule.[citation needed] The Samadhi of Emperor Ranjit Singh in Lahore, Pakistan The Golden Temple Metal helmet in a museum A Sikh Khalsa Army sowar's battle helmet Max Arthur Macauliffe (1841-1913), a senior British administrator who was posted to India during the British rule of Punjab, converted to Sikhism in the 1860s After defeating the Afghans and Mughals, sovereign states called Misls were formed under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Confederacy of these states was unified and transformed into the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. This era was characterised by religious tolerance and pluralism, including Christians, Muslims, and Hindus in positions of power. Its secular administration implemented military, economic, and governmental reforms. The empire is considered the zenith of political Sikhism,[91] encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh, and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army in the North-West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. British rule in India Sikh armour and weapons “Sikh Sardar”, photograph by John McCosh taken in circa 1848-49 After the annexation of the Sikh/Punjabi kingdom by the British, the British Army began recruiting significant numbers of Sikhs and Punjabis.[citation needed] During the 1857 Indian mutiny, the Sikhs stayed loyal to the British, resulting in heavy recruitment from Punjab to the British Indian Army for the next 90 years of the British Raj in colonial India.[92] The distinct turban that differentiates a Sikh from other turban wearers is a relic of the rules of the British Indian Army.[93] The British colonial rule saw the emergence of many reform movements in India, including Punjab, such as the formation of the First and Second Singh Sabha in 1873 and 1879 respectively. The Sikh leaders of the Singh Sabha worked to offer a clear definition of Sikh identity and tried to purify Sikh belief and practice.[94] The later years of British colonial rule saw the emergence of the Akali movement to bring reform in the gurdwaras during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, which placed all the historical Sikh shrines in India under the control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.[95] Partition and post-Partition At the time of the Indian independence movement, the Sikh ruler of the Kapurthala State fought to oppose the partition of India and advocated for a united, secular country.[96] Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as inviting possible persecution, with Akali Dal instead favouring an undivided Azad Punjab as an independent Sikh State or Khalistan, having passed the Sikh State Resolution in 1946. The Sikhs therefore strongly fought against the partition of Punjab.[97] The months leading up to the 1947 partition of Punjab were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims.[98] This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab to the east (modern India), mirroring a simultaneous religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab to the west (modern Pakistan).[99] Following partition, the Government of India had begun to redraw states corresponding to demographic and linguistic boundaries. However, this was not effective in the northern part of the country,[100] as the government reconsidered redrawing states in the north. [101] While states across the country were extensively redrawn on linguistic lines at the behest of linguistic groups, the only languages not considered for statehood were Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu. [102] Leading to the launch of the Punjabi Suba movement and the presentation for a Punjabi Suba as a policy in April 1948 by Master Tara Singh. Also, on 26 January 1950 Sikh representatives refused to sign the Indian constitution. As Sikhs were recognized as Hindus and Sikhs were not provided with scheduled castes concessions given to Hindu scheduled castes. The Punjab Suba experienced heavy government crackdown with the Congress Government arresting as many as 21,000 people. Attempted negotiations with Congress-led the agitation to be adjourned twice, though Jawaharlal Nehru continued to reject the demand.[103][104] On 4 July 1955, government police forces, led by DIG Ashwini Kumar,[105] forced entry into the Golden Temple premises and heavy-handedly arrested protestors and took them into custody, along with the head granthis of the Akal Takht and Golden Temple, volunteer protestors, and even cooks of the temple's langar.[106] The Guru Ram Das Serai and Shiromani Akali Dal offices were also raided, and batons used and tear gas and shells were fired to disperse the protestors gathered on the periphery of the temple, damaging the periphery and Sarovar, or pool, of the temple.[106][107] The government stopped volunteers on the way to the Golden Temple, and troops were ordered to flag-march through the bazaars and streets surrounding the site.[107] Over 200 protestors were killed, thousands arrested,[107] and thousands, including women and children, were injured. The Congress government agreed to the Punjab Suba in 1966 after protests and recommendation of the States Reorganisation Commission.[108] The state of East Punjab was later split into the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana and current day Punjab.[109] However, there was a growing alienation between Punjabi Sikh and Hindu populations. The latter of which reported Hindi rather than Punjabi as their primary language. The result was that Punjabi-speaking areas were left out of the new state and given to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh[110] resulting in the state of Punjab to be roughly 35,000 square miles smaller than the Punjabi-speaking areas based on pre-1947 census figures. Moreover, the 1966 reorganization left Sikhs highly dissatisfied, with the capital Chandigarh being made into a shared a union territory and the capital of Punjab and Haryana. In the late 1960s, the Green Revolution in India was first introduced in Punjab as part of a development program issued by international donor agencies and the Government of India.[111] While, Green Revolution in Punjab had several positive impacts, the introduction of the mechanised agricultural techniques led to uneven distribution of wealth. The industrial development was not done at the same pace as agricultural development, the Indian government had been reluctant to set up heavy industries in Punjab due to its status as a high-risk border state with Pakistan.[112] The rapid increase in the higher education opportunities without an adequate rise in the jobs resulted in the increase in the unemployment of educated youth.[108] In 1973 as a result, of unaddressed grievances and increasing inequality the Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.[113] The resolution included both religious and political issues. It asked for recognising Sikhism as a religion, it also demanded the devolution of power from the Central to state governments.[108] The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government as a secessionist document. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.[114] After unsuccessful negotiations the Dharam Yuddh Morcha ("righteous campaign")[115] was launched on 4 August 1982,[citation needed] by the Akali Dal in partnership with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, with its stated aim being the fulfillment of a set of devolutionary objectives based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.[115] Indian police responded to protestors with high-handed police methods creating state repression affecting a very large segment of Punjab's population. Police brutality resulted in retaliatory violence from a section of the Sikh population, widening the scope of the conflict by the use of violence of the state on its own people. [116] A "state of chaos and repressive police methods" combined to create "a mood of overwhelming anger and resentment in the Sikh masses against the authorities". Leading to Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale gaining prominence and demands of independence gain currency, even amongst moderates and Sikh intellectuals.[116] In 1982 and early 1983, extrajudicial killings by the police of orthodox Sikh youth in rural areas in Punjab provoked reprisals.[117] Over 190 Sikhs had been killed in the first 19 months of the protest movement.[118] In May 1984, a Grain Roko morcha was planned and to be initiated on 3 June[119] with protestors practising civil disobedience by refusing to pay land revenue, water or electricity bills, and blocking the flow of grain out of Punjab. Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi launched Operation Blue Star on 1 June prior to the Grain Roko morcha in order to remove Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple. This subsequently lead to Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.[120] Her assassination was followed by government-sponsored pogroms against Sikh communities across India and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. These events triggered an Insurgency in Punjab which would consume Punjab until the early 1990s. During the day of Vaisakhi in 1999, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the anniversary. Likewise, on 9 April 1999, Indian president K. R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa as well.[121] Culture and religious observations According to Article I of Chapter 1 of the Sikh Rehat Maryada ('code of conduct'), the definition of Sikh is:[122] Any human being who faithfully believes in i. One Immortal Being, ii. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, iii. The Guru Granth Sahib, iv. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and v. the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh. Daily routine From the Guru Granth Sahib:[123] One who calls themself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, he is to chant the Name of the Lord, "Har, Har." All sins, misdeeds, and negativity shall be then erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, he is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, he is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food and – that GurSikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that GurSikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that GurSikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it. — Fourth Mehl (Guru Ram Das), Guru Granth Sahib, p. 305 The Sikh Rahit Maryada (Code of Conduct) clearly states that baptized Amritdhari Khalsa Sikhs must recite or listen to the recitation of Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, the 10 Sawayyas, Sodar Rehraas, and Sohila.[124][125] Every Sikh is also supposed take the Hukam (divine order) from the Guru Granth Sahib after awakening in the ambrosial hours of the morning (three hours before the dawn) before eating.[126] In his 52 Hukams, Guru Gobind Singh orders his followers to arise during Amritvela (early morning) and to recite the late evening prayer "Sohila" and the verse "Pavan guru pani pita..." before sleeping. Five Ks Main articles: The Five Ks, Khalsa, and Sahajdhari Wooden comb, iron bracelet and curved, gold-coloured dagger Kanga, Kara and Kirpan: three of the five Sikh articles of faith The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized (Amritdhari) Sikhs are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on Waheguru, and never bowing to tyranny.[127] The five symbols are: Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a turban. Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a turban to always also keep one's hair clean and well-groomed. Kachera: Cotton undergarments, worn by both sexes; the kachera is a symbol of chastity, and also a symbol of cleanliness. It is also historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility and comfort when compared to a dhoti. Kara: An iron bracelet, a symbol of eternity, strength, and a constant reminder of the strength of will to keep hands away from any kind of unethical practices. Kirpan: An iron blade in different sizes. In the UK, Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in Punjab, they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length. Kirpan is only a weapon of defense and religious protection, used to serve humanity and to be used against oppression. Music and instruments Woman in yellow scarf bowing an instrument Woman playing the dilruba Main article: Sikh music The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments, including the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori, and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged by Guru Hargobind. The rebab was played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were introduced to Sikh devotional music by Guru Arjan. The taus (Persian for "peacock") was designed by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds. The dilruba was designed by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabad in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as raags. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet. When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit nagara ("victory drum") to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the Singhs were on their way. Demographics Main articles: Sikhism by country and Punjabi Sikhs Global map of Sikh population (estimated 2023) Sikhs number about 26-30 million worldwide, of whom 24–28 million live in India, which thus represents around 90 percent of the total Sikh population.[128][129][130][131][132][133] About 76 percent of all Indian Sikhs live in the northern Indian state of Punjab, forming a majority of about 58 per cent of the state's population, roughly around 16 million.[134][135] Substantial communities of Sikhs live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana, where they number around 1.2 million and form 4.91 percent of the population, Rajasthan (872,000 or 1.27 percent of the population), Uttar Pradesh (643,000, 0.32 percent), Delhi (570,000, 3.4 percent), Uttarakhand (236,000, 2.34 percent), Jammu and Kashmir (234,000, 1.87 percent), Chandigarh (138,000, 13.11 percent) and Himachal Pradesh (86,000, 1.16 percent). Canada is home to the largest national Sikh proportion (2.1 percent of the total population) in the world.[13] A substantial community of Sikhs exist in the western province of British Columbia, numbering nearly 300,000 persons and forming approximately 5.9 percent of the total population. This represents the third-largest Sikh proportion amongst all global administrative divisions, behind only Punjab and Chandigarh in India. Furthermore, British Columbia,[136] Manitoba, and Yukon hold the distinction of being three of the only four administrative divisions in the world with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the population.[139] Census Data and Official Statistics As a religious minority, Sikhs have fought long and hard to get official status and to be counted in many countries across the world. Through the efforts of Sikh organisations and communities in their respective countries, there is now readily available population data on Sikhs as part of the census or official statistics in the following territories: Census Data / Official Statistics: Territory Latest Data Punjab 16,004,754 2011[140] India (Rest of India) 4,828,362 Canada 771,790 2021[141] England 520,092 2021[142] Australia 210,400 2021[143] New Zealand 40,908 2018[144] Singapore 12,051 2020[145] Thailand 11,124 2010[146] Norway 4,318 2021[147] Wales 4,048 2021[142] Fiji 2,577 2007[148] Ireland 2,183 2022[149] Nepal 1,496 2021[150] Northern Ireland 389 2021[151] Scotland Pending 2022 Pakistan Pending 2023 2011-2021 Change in Sikh % Note: Official statistics do not count unregistered arrivals or those who have not completed the census or surveys. However, they do provide for a much more accurate depiction of Sikh communities as opposed to estimates from various Sikh organisations whose estimates can vary vastly with no statistically valuable source. Thus, official statistics and census data is highly important and Sikh communities continue to push for census inclusion in many countries where they are still not counted. Migration Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab, which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many also to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972.[152] Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sikhs from what would become the Punjab of Pakistan migrated to India as well as to Afghanistan due to fear of persecution. Afghanistan was home to hundreds of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus as of the 1970s, but due to the wars in Afghanistan in the 2010s, the vast majority of Afghan Sikhs had migrated to India, Pakistan or the west.[153][154][155] Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK becoming "virtually impossible since the late 1970s," migration patterns evolved to continental Europe.[156] Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration,[157] with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters.[158] Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools, and horticulture.[159] Growth A group of Sikh people Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7% per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths, and conversions. Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001) and it have further declined to just 8.4 per cent in 2011 census report.[160][161] Sikhs in the world have the lowest fertility rate of 1.6 children per women as per (2019–20) estimation research.[162][163] The Sikh population has the lowest gender balance in India, with only 903 women per 1,000 men according to the 2011 Indian census.[164] The estimated world's Sikh population was over 30 million in 2020, and it will reach 42 million by 2050. It is expected to increase up to 62 million by 2100, given that the anticipated growth rate of 1.7% per year and adding at least 400,000 followers annually.[165][161] Since the Sikh growth rate dropped from 1.7% (16.9% in 1991 to 2001 estimate) to 0.84%(8.4% in 2001-2011) in 2011 report,hence based on their growth rate,their population will increase 196,316(0.84% based on 2011 figures) per year and will reach 36 million in 2050,it expected to reach 52 million in 2100 given that the anticipated growth rate of 0.84% and adding at least 200,000 followers annually..[166][167] Sikhism is the fastest growing religion in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The growth is mainly contributed by the immigration of Indian Sikhs there over the decades. Sikhism is fourth-largest religion in Canada, fifth-largest religion in Australia and New Zealand. The decadal growth of Sikhs is more in those countries as compared to the decadal growth of Sikh population in India, thus making them the fastest-growing religion there.[168][13][169][170] Canada has the highest proportion of Sikhs in the globe, which stands at 2.12% as of 2021,[13] as compared to India which stands at 1.72% as of 2011 respectively.[171] Castes Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. Caste may still be practiced by some Sikhs, despite Guru Nanak's calls for treating everyone equally in Sri Granth Sahib.[172][c] Along with Guru Nanak, other Sikh gurus had also denounced the hierarchy of the caste system, however, they all belonged to the same caste, the Khatris.[176] Most Sikhs belong to the Jat (Jatt), traditionally agrarian in occupation.[177] Despite being very small in numbers, the Khatri and Arora (Moneylenders) castes also wield considerable influence within the Sikh community. Other common Sikh castes include Ahluwalias (brewers), Kambojs or Kambos (rural caste), Ramgarhias (artisans), Brahmins (Priestly class), Rajputs (kshatriyas), Sainis (agrarian), Rai Sikh (rural caste), Labanas (merchants), Kumhars, Mazhabi and the Ramdasia/Ravidasias(Chamar).[178] Some Sikhs, especially those belonging to the landowning dominant castes, have not shed all their prejudices against the Dalits. While Dalits were allowed entry into the village gurdwaras, in some gurdwaras, they were not be permitted to cook or serve langar (communal meal). Therefore, wherever they could mobilize resources, the Sikh Dalits of Punjab have tried to construct their own gurdwara and other local level institutions in order to attain a certain degree of cultural autonomy.[172] In 1953, Sikh leader and activist Master Tara Singh succeeded in persuading the Indian government to include Sikh castes of the converted untouchables in the list of scheduled castes.[179] In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[179] Other castes (over 1,000 members) include the Arain, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba (cotton farmers), Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kumhar, Lohar, Mahtam, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Ramgharia, Sansi, Sudh, Tarkhan and Kashyap[citation needed] Karnail Singh Panjoli, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, says that there are several communities within the term Nanakpanthis too. Apart from Sindhi Hindus, "There are groups like Sikhligarh, Vanjaarey, Nirmaley, Lubaney, Johri, Satnamiye, Udaasiyas, Punjabi Hindus, etc. who call themselves Nanakpanthis despite being Hindus.[180] Diaspora As Sikhs wear turbans and keep beards, Sikh men in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim, Arabic, and/or Afghan since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War.[181][182] Several days after the 9/11 attacks, Sikh-American gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered in Arizona by a man who took Sodhi to be a member of al-Qaeda, marking the first recorded hate-crime in America motivated by 9/11. CNN would go on to suggest an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the US and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.[181][182] In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations exist. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in the UK, and UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82%) of any religious community.[183] UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest religious group in the UK (after the Jewish community), with a median total household wealth of £229,000.[184] In May 2019, the UK government exempted "Kirpan" from the list of banned knives. The U.K. government passed an amendment by which Sikhs in the country would be allowed to carry kirpans and use them during religious and cultural functions. The bill was amended to ensure that it would not impact the right of the British Sikh community to possess and supply kirpans, or religious swords.[185][186] Similarly, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials in 2010.[187] Agriculture Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 per cent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture.[188] Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 per cent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector.[189] According to the Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat and Kamboj or Kamboh, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial."[190] However, Indian physicist Vandana Shiva[191] wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science (i.e. the green revolution) on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth. Sikhs in modern history Main article: List of Sikhs Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist, academic, and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The first and only Sikh and non-Hindu in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. Notable Sikhs in science include nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill, fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany; and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh. In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based JASPAL[192] were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs.[193] Apollo Tyres is headed by Onkar Singh Kanwar. In Singapore, Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings,[194] into assets totalling almost US$1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. Mastercard's CEO was a Sikh named Ajaypal Singh Banga. In sports, Sikhs include England cricketer Monty Panesar; former 400-metre runner Milkha Singh; his son, professional golfer Jeev Milkha Singh; Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh; former Indian hockey team captains Sandeep Singh, Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr.; former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi; Harbhajan Singh, India's most successful off spin cricket bowler; Yuvraj Singh, World Cup winning allrounder; Maninder Singh, World Cup winning off spinner; and Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Indian cricketer-turned-politician. Sikhs in Bollywood, in the arts in general, include poet and lyricist Rajkavi Inderjeet Singh Tulsi; Gulzar; Jagjit Singh; Dharmendra; Sunny Deol; writer Khushwant Singh; actresses Neetu Singh, Simran Judge, Poonam Dhillon, Mahi Gill, Esha Deol, Parminder Nagra, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral; and directors Gurinder Chadha and Parminder Gill. Sikhs in Punjabi Music industry include Sidhu Moosewala, Diljit Dosanjh, Babu Singh Maan, Surjit Bindrakhia, Ammy Virk, Karan Aujla, Jazzy B, Miss Pooja. In the Indian and British armies Main article: Sikhs in the British Indian Army According to a 1994 estimate, Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus comprised 10 to 15% of all ranks in the Indian Army. The Indian government does not release religious or ethnic origins of a military personnel, but a 1991 report by Tim McGirk estimated that 20% of Indian Army officers were Sikhs.[195] Together with the Gurkhas recruited from Nepal, the Maratha Light Infantry from Maharashtra and the Jat Regiment, the Sikhs are one of the few communities to have exclusive regiments in the Indian Army.[195] The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses,[196] 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross),[197] 15 Theatre Honours, 5 COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 5 Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras, and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh.[198] Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.[199] Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[200] By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 per cent of the force). Until 1945, fourteen Victoria Crosses (VC) were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record.[196] In 2002, the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates[201] on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace.[202] Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial. During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq, receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.[203] Sikhs in the First World War, marching with their scripture, Guru Granth Sahib Sikhs in the First World War, marching with their scripture, Guru Granth Sahib Postcard of marching Sikhs with rifles French postcard depicting the arrival of the 15th Sikh Regiment in France during World War I; the bilingual postcard reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten the German hooligans" Indian Sikh soldiers in the Italian campaign Indian Sikh soldiers in the Italian campaign Sikh soldier with captured Swastika flag of Nazi Germany Sikh soldier with captured Swastika flag of Nazi Germany See caption Japanese soldiers shooting blindfolded Sikh prisoners in World War II Khalistan movement Sikhs in London protesting against Indian government actions The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistān ("The Land of the Khalsa") in the Punjab region of South Asia to serve as a homeland for Sikhs.[204] The territorial definition of the proposed country Khalistan consists of both the Punjab, India, along with Punjab, Pakistan, and includes parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.[205][206][207] Khalistan movement began as an expatriate venture.[208] In 1971, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in an advertisement published in the New York Times by an expat (Jagjit Singh Chohan).[209] By proclaiming the formation of Khalistan, he was able to collect millions of dollars from the Sikh diaspora.[210] On 12 April 1980, he declared the formation of the "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur Sahib.[211] He declared himself as the President of the council, and named Balbir Singh Sandhu as its Secretary General. In May 1980, Chohan traveled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Balbir Singh Sandhu in Amritsar, where he began releasing stamps and currency of Khalistan. The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried as a political stunt by the Congress(I) party of Indira Gandhi by the Akali Dal, headed by the Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal.[212] The movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab following Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms. As proponents were able to generate funding from a grieving diaspora. In June 1985, Air India Flight 182 was bombed by Babbar Khalsa, a pro-Khalistani terrorist organization.[213] In January 1986, the Golden Temple was occupied by militants belonging to All India Sikh Students Federation and Damdami Taksal.[214] On 26 January 1986, a gathering known as the Sarbat Khalsa (a de facto parliament) passed a resolution (gurmattā) favouring the creation of Khalistan. Subsequently, a number of rebel militant groups in favour of Khalistan waged a major insurgency against the government of India. Indian security forces suppressed the insurgency in the early 1990s, but Sikh political groups such as the Khalsa Raj Party and SAD (A) continued to pursue an independent Khalistan through non-violent means.[215][216][217] Pro-Khalistan organisations such as Dal Khalsa (International) are also active outside India, supported by a section of the Sikh diaspora.[218] In the 1990s, the insurgency abated,[219] and the movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on separatists, divisions among the Sikhs and loss of support from the Sikh population.[220] However, various pro-Khalistan groups, both political and militant, remain committed to the separatist movement. There are claims of funding from Sikhs outside India to attract young people into militant groups.[221] There have also been multiple claims that the movement is motivated and supported by the Pakistan's external intelligence agency, the ISI.[222][223] Art and culture Main articles: Sikh art and culture and Punjabi culture Intricate design Opaque watercolour-on-paper Nakashi art; about 1880, by an unknown artist from Lahore or Amritsar, and used to decorate the walls of Harmandir Sahib Large building on the water Darbar Sahib, circa 1870 Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). Punjab has been called India's melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak's creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".[224] The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an ethnic minority" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".[225] During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries,[226] the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.[227] The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places), and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters, and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar. Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts—except for the relics of the Gurus—have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor. Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon that can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen.[228] The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra, and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (The Singh Twins)[229] is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in Punjab. Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").[230] Painting Painting of Guru Nanak with companions, Bhai Mardana and Bhai Bala, in debate with the Siddhs Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813, the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars. The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting. Shrines There is an old Sikh shrine called 'Prachin Guru Nanak Math', which lies at a small hill, just next to Bishnumati bridge at Balaju. Guru Nanak is said to have visited Nepal during his third Udasi while returning from Mount Kailash in Tibet. Nanak is said to have stayed at Balaju and Thapathali in Kathmandu. The Nanak Math shrine at Balaju is managed by the Guru-Ji and the Udasin Akardha, a sect developed by Guru Nanak's son, Sri Chandra.[231][232] See also History of Punjab Ganga Sagar (urn) Jat Sikh List of British Sikhs Mazhabi Sikh Sects of Sikhism Sikhism by country Sikhism in India Turban training centre Indian Sikhs number approximately 21 million people and account for 1.7% of India's population as of 2011, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. The majority of the nation's Sikhs live in the northern state of Punjab, which is the only Sikh-majority administrative division in the world. India is home to the majority of the global Sikh population, and also has the second-largest Sikh proportion in the world, behind Canada. History Main article: History of Sikhism Partition Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, strongly opposed the partition of India, viewing the possibility of the creation of Pakistan as inviting persecution.[4] Demography The Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Population India's Sikh population stands at 20.8 million, which is only 1.72% of the country's total population. Out of approximately 25-30 million Sikhs in the world, the majority of them, 20.8-22 million, live in India that is about (83.2%-84.1%) of the world's Sikh population.[5][6] Sikhs have a fertility rate of 1.6 in India, which is the lowest in the nation as per as according to year 2019-21 estimation.[7] Half a million Sikhs have made Canada their home, and though they constitute 1.4% of the total population, they have had a notable impact on Canadian society and national politics.[8] Out of the total Sikhs in India, 77% are concentrated in state of Punjab. Sikhism is the dominant religion in Punjab, India, where it is followed by 16 million constituting 57.7% of the population, the only Indian state where Sikhism is the majority faith. By 2050, according to Pew research center based on growth rate of current Sikh population between (2001-2011), India will have 30,012,386 Sikhs by half-century which will be more than that of any country including the west.[9] National and ethnic origins Although Punjabi Sikhs form the majority of the Sikh population, the Sikh community is varied and includes people who speak the Pashto language, the Brahui language, the Telugu language, Marathi language, Assamese language, Hindi language, Sindhi language, Bengali language and many more. The many communities following Sikhism is detailed below. Afghan Sikhs Main article: Sikhism in Afghanistan The Sikhs of Afghanistan are primarily Punjabi merchants and immigrants.[10][11] They speak the Punjabi language within themselves but are usually fluent in Dari and occasionally Pashto as well.[12] Bengali Sikhs Sikhism in the Bengal region dates back to 1504 but has declined after the partition.[13] Sikhism first emerged in Bengal when Guru Nanak visited Bengal in 1504 and established a number of Gurdwaras.[14] By the early 18th century, there were a few Sikhs living in the region of Bengal.[15] One famous Sikh who lived during this time period was Omichand, a local Khatri Sikh banker and landlord who participate in the conspiracy against Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah with the East India Company.[15][16] The Flemish artist Frans Baltazard Solvyns arrived in Calcutta in 1791 and observed many Sikhs, whom one could differentiate from the rest of the land's inhabitants by their garbs and traditions.[15] He etched depictions of a Khalsa Sikh and a Nanakpanthi, which was published in 1799.[15] Gurdwara Nanak Shahi is the principal Sikh Gurdwara (prayer hall) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located at the campus of the University of Dhaka and considered to be the biggest of the 7 Gurdwaras in the country. After the Partition of India, the Sikh community left for India.[14] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War, Indian Sikh soldiers helped renovate the Gurdwaras left in Bangladesh.[citation needed] Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji visited Dhaka. There is another Sikh temple known as the Gurudwara Sangat Tola. Many Sikhs also used to visit a well at the ruins of Jafarabad which they believed has waters with curative powers.[17] There was a presence of Sikhism in Sylhet Division after Guru Nanak's visit in 1508. Kahn Singh Nabha has stated that in memory of Nanak's visit, Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet was established.[citation needed] This Gurdwara was visited twice by Tegh Bahadur and many hukamnamas were issued to this temple by Guru Gobind Singh. In 1897, the gurdwara fell down after the earthquake. Nearly all the Sikhs of Sylhet in the early 18th century were found in North Cachar where they used to work for the Assam Bengal Railway.[18] There are around 1 lakh Bengali people who follow Sikhism as their religion in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.[19] Assamese Sikhs The presence of Sikhism has been existing in Assam[20] for over 200 years. The community traces its origins to the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who took his army to Assam and put some influence of the religion towards the locals. According to the 2001 census, there were 22,519 Sikhs in Assam,[21] out of which 4,000 are Assamese Sikhs.[19] Assamese Sikhs follow the Sikh religion and celebrate Sikh festivals as they also celebrate cultural festivals such as Magh Bihu and wear traditional Assamese dress. Their language is the Assamese language.[19][22] Agrahari Sikhs Agrahari Sikh is a Sikh community found in Bihar and Jharkhand. Agrahari Sikhs, also known as Bihari Sikhs, have existed for centuries in Bihar and Jharkhand.[23] Bihari Sikhs share their culture with the local Bihari community. The men generally wear the local dhoti and women wear the Sari. They also celebrate Hindu festivals such as the Chath festival.[24] Dakhni Sikhs Dakhni Sikhs are from the Deccan Plateau in India located within the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.[25] The traditional dress of women is the sari. The native language of Dakhni Sikhs is the Telugu language.[26] Kashmiri Sikhs Ethnic Kashmiri Sikhs speak the Kashmiri language and observe Kashmiri culture. They trace their religious heritage to the influence of Sikh soldiers who settled in Kashmir under the Maharaja Ranjit Singh rule in 1819. However, the soldiers permanently settled in Kashmir.[27] Punjabi Sikhs Punjabi Sikhs are the native Sikhs of undivided Punjab region who speaks the Punjabi language as their mother tongue and practice Punjabi culture. Their traditional dress includes the Punjabi Salwar Suit, Punjabi Tamba and Kurta, Punjabi juti and Patiala salwar. In addition to the Sikh festivals using the Nanakshahi calendar, Punjabi Sikhs observe traditional Punjabi festivals using the Punjabi calendar. Sindhi Sikhs Main article: Sindhis in India See also: Sikhism in Pakistan In addition to celebrating Sikh festivals, Sindhi Sikhs celebrate cultural festivals such as Cheti Chand, the Sindhi new year. Sindhi Sikhs speak the Sindhi language. Most of the Sindhi Hindus are Nanak Panthis who believe in 10 Sikh Gurus and regularly go to guru dwara and most of the Marriage also takes place in Gurudwara.[28] South Indian Sikhs There are Sikh communities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra who converted to Sikhism centuries ago. The Sikhs comprise Banjara and Satnami. The process of blending the religion into southern India for the Sikligars began at the time of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who came to the Deccan and died in 1708 at Nanded (Maharashtra). It all came by the Sikligars as they came to southern India as expert arms-making camp followers of the tenth Guru. Sikligar is a compound of the Persian words `saiqal` and `gar` meaning a polisher of metal.[25] The traditional occupation of the Sikligars is crafting kitchen implements. Banjaras are a nomadic tribe who traditionally travelled with merchandise and are found across a large swathe of northern India, as well as in the south. Sikh Banjaras too travelled with armies of the past supplying them with provisions.[25] Geographical distribution Sikhs as percentage of total population in different districts of India, 2011 Census Indian Sikhs by state and union territory State/U.T. 2011 Indian Census[29] Pop. % Punjab 16,004,754 57.69% Haryana 1,243,752 4.91% Rajasthan 872,930 1.27% Uttar Pradesh 643,500 0.32% Delhi 570,581 3.4% Uttarakhand 236,340 2.34% Jammu and Kashmir 232,585 1.9% Maharashtra 223,247 0.2% Madhya Pradesh 151,412 0.21% Chandigarh 138,329 13.11% Himachal Pradesh 79,896 1.16% Jharkhand 71,422 0.22% Chhattisgarh 70,036 0.27% West Bengal 63,523 0.07% Gujarat 58,246 0.1% Telangana 30,340 0.09% Karnataka 28,773 0.05% Bihar 23,779 0.02% Odisha 21,991 0.05% Assam 20,672 0.07% Tamil Nadu 14,601 0.02% Andhra Pradesh 9,904 0.02% Kerala 3,814 0.01% Arunachal Pradesh 3,287 0.24% Meghalaya 3,045 0.1% Ladakh 2,263 0.83% Nagaland 1,890 0.1% Sikkim 1,868 0.31% Manipur 1,527 0.05% Goa 1,473 0.1% Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1,286 0.34% Tripura 1,070 0.03% Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 389 0.07% Puducherry 297 0.02% Mizoram 286 0.03% Lakshadweep 8 0.01% India 20,833,116 1.72% Notable Indian Sikhs Main article: List of Sikhs Though Sikhs are a minority in India, the community occupies a significant place in the country. The former Chief Justice of India, Jagdish Singh Khehar, and the former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh[30] are Sikh, as is former President of India Gyani Zail Singh. Almost every council of ministers in India has included Sikh representatives. Sikhs are also conspicuous in the Indian army, primarily because of their history as defenders of righteousness, they formed the sword arm of the British empire. The Late Indian officer with a 5 star rank, Arjan Singh, is a Sikh. Sikhs have also led the Indian army through JJ Singh and the Indian Air Force was led by Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh. Sikhs have been prominent in Indian sports, with the Indian individual gold medalist in Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, being a Sikh. Similarly they occupy important official positions, like Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia;[31] governor Surjit Singh Barnala. Sikhs are also known for entrepreneurial business in India. Milkha Singh, also known as The Flying Sikh, is a former Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. One reason for visibility of Sikhs in the Indian spectrum is the disproportionate role played by the Sikh community during the Indian freedom struggle, with Bhagat Singh remaining a youth icon to Indian youth.[32] See also flag India portal List of famous Sikhs Religion in India Cochin Sikhs Sikhism Sikhism in Pakistan Sikh culture The Sikhs are adherents to Sikhism, the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with around 25 million adherents.[1] Sikh History is around 500 years and in that time the Sikhs have developed unique expressions of art and culture which are influenced by their faith and synthesize traditions from many other cultures depending on the locality of the adherents of the religion. Sikhism is the only religion that originated in the Punjab region with all other religions coming from outside Punjab (with the possible exception of Punjabi Hinduism since the oldest Hindu scripture – the Rig Veda – was composed in the Punjab region. Some other religions, like Jainism, may also claim to have originated in Punjab since Jain symbolism has been found among artifacts of the Indus Valley Civilization). All the Sikh gurus, many saints, and many of the martyrs in Sikh history were from Punjab and from the Punjabi people (as well as other parts of the Indian Subcontinent). Punjabi culture and Sikhism are mistakenly considered inseparably intertwined. "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, strictly not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhism has seldom sought converts, most Sikhs share strong ethno-religious ties, therefore it is a common stereotype that all Sikhs share the same ethnicity. Many countries, such as the U.K., therefore misconcievingly recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses.[2] The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikhs included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".[3] Cultural societies of the Sikhs True-colour photograph - ‘Group of Tibetans at the “Golden Temple” of the Sikhs’, 15 January 1914 There is a common misconception that all Sikhs belong to the Punjab region. The religion's birthplace of Punjab itself has been called "India’s melting pot",[4] and many other parts of Northern India due to the heavy influence of invading cultures, such as Mughal and Persian, that mirrors the confluence of rivers from which the region gets its name(from Persian, "panj" پنج meaning "five" and "-āb" آب meaning water thus meaning land of the five waters). Thus, Sikh culture is to a large extent a result of groups of various cultures uniting together, thus forming a unique one. Sikhism has forged a unique form of architecture which Bhatti describes as being "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" such that Sikh architecture "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".[5] The keynote of Sikh architecture is the Gurdwara which is the personification of the "melting pot" of Indian cultures, full of Mughal, Aryan and Persian influences. The reign of the Sikh Empire was the single biggest catalyst in the creation of a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Maharajah Ranjit Singh patronising the building of forts, palaces, bungs (residential places), colleges, etc. that can be said to be of the Sikh Style. The "jewel in the crown" of the Sikh Style is the Harmandir Sahib. Sikh culture and identity are heavily influenced by militaristic motifs, with Khanda being the most obvious; thus it is no surprise that the majority of Sikh artifacts, independent of the relics of the Gurus, have a military theme. This motif is again evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vasakhi which feature marching and practicing displays of valor, respectively. The art, culture, identity, and society of the Sikhs have been merged with the different localities and ethnicities of different Sikhs into categories such as 'Agrahari Sikhs', 'Dakhni Sikhs' and 'Assamese Sikhs'; however there has emerged a niche cultural phenomenon that can be described as 'Political Sikh'. The art of prominent diaspora Sikhs such as Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra,[6] and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (The Singh Twins),[7] is partly informed by their Sikh spirituality and influence. Culture of Sikh communities Dusenbery (2014) states that Punjabi Sikhs form the majority of the Sikh population. He notes that "some Sindhis and other South Asians have been affiliated at the margins as Nanakpanthis (‘followers of Nanak’s path’) or Sehajdhari (‘slow adopter’) Sikhs" but in the main, "the Sikh Panth has remained largely a Punjabi affair".[8] However, the Sikh community is varied and includes people who speak the Pashto language, the Sindhi language, the Telugu language and many more. The many communities following Sikhism are detailed below. Afghani Sikhs Main article: Sikhism in Afghanistan The Sikhs of Afghanistan have a unique culture which has elements of the culture of Afghanistan. Tatla (2014) states that there were 3,000 Sikhs in Afghanistan in his book The Sikh Diaspora which was published in 2014.[9] American Sikhs Main article: Sikhism in the United States Yogi Bhajan is credited with raising awareness of Sikhism amongst the non-Asian community of the United States of America. This community is known as the white Sikh community which practices Sikhism and maintains a distinct culture.[10] Assamese Sikhs See also: Sikhism_in_India § Assamese_Sikhs The presence of Sikhism has existed in Assam[11] for over 200 years. The community traces its origins to the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who took his army to Assam and put some influence of the religion towards the locals. According to the 2001 census, there were 22,519 Sikhs in Assam,[12] out of which 4,000 are Assamese Sikhs.[13] Assamese Sikhs follow the Sikh religion and celebrate Sikh festivals. They also celebrate cultural festivals such as Magh Bihu and wear traditional Assamese dress. Their language is the Assamese language.[13][14] Agrahari Sikhs Main article: Agrahari Sikh Agrahari Sikh is a Sikh community found in eastern India including the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. Agrahari Sikhs, also known as Bihari Sikhs, have existed for centuries in Bihar and Jharkhand.[15] Bihari Sikhs share their culture with the local Bihari community. The men generally wear the local dhoti and women wear the sari. They also celebrate cultural festivals such as the Chath festival.[16] Dakhni Sikhs See also: Sikhism_in_India § South_Indian_Sikhs Painting depicting the wedding of Guru Nanak from a 19th century illustrated manuscript of the Janamsakhi from Maharashtra Dakhni Sikhs are from the Deccan Plateau in India located within the states of Maharashtra, Telegana and Andhra Pradesh.[17] The traditional dress of women is the sari. The native languages of Dakhni Sikhs include Marathi and Telugu.[18] Kashmiri Sikhs Ethnic Kashmiri Sikhs speak the Kashmiri language and observe Kashmiri culture. They trace their religious heritage to the influence of Sikh soldiers who settled in Kashmir under Maharaja Ranjit Singh's rule in 1819. However, the soldiers permanently settled in Kashmir.[19] Punjabi Sikhs Main article: Punjabi Sikhs See also: Punjabis, Sikhism in Pakistan, and Religion in Punjab Punjabi Sikhs follow the Punjabi culture. Their traditional dress includes the Punjabi Salwar Suit, Punjabi Tamba and Kurta, Punjabi juti and Patiala salwar. In addition to the Sikh festivals using the Nanakshahi calendar, Punjabi Sikhs observe traditional Punjabi festivals using the Punjabi calendar. Sindhi Sikhs Main article: Sindhis in India See also: Sikhism in Pakistan In addition to celebrating Sikh festivals, Sindhi Sikhs celebrate cultural festivals such as Cheti Chand, the Sindhi new year. Sindhi Sikhs speak the Sindhi language. Khalsa Sikhs historically had a stronghold in Kandhra, Khairpur during the reign of the Talpur Mirs (1775–1955).[20] However, most Sikhs in Sindh are followers of the Udasi, Sewapanthi, and Nanakpanthi sects.[21][22] Only around 8,000–10,000 people in present-day Sindh are mainstream, orthodox Khalsa Sikh. The vast majority belong to the aforementioned sects whom may practice varying degrees of religious kinship and syncretism with Hinduism and Sufism.[23][24][25][26] Udasis are generally concentrated in northern Sindh whilst Nanakpanthis can be found throughout the region except in areas of the Rajasthani cultural sphere (Dhatki-speaking areas) who practice a more mainstream, non-syncretic, and differentiated form of Hinduism.[27] Nanakpanth and Udasipanth are different sects of Sikhism, with a major difference being that Udasis adopt a life-hood of celibacy whilst Nanakpanthis freely marry and bear children.[22] Another Sikh sect, the Jagiasi, who claim to have been founded by the younger son of Guru Nanak named Lakhmi Das, were also historically prevalent in Sindh, especially during the period of Baba Gurupat, who was a descendant of Guru Nanak.[28][29][30][31] Baba Gurupat conducted missionary works in Sindh and founded many Jagiasu tikanas (seats; a term for a place of worship in many Sikh sects) in the region, specifically in Khairpur, Hyderabad, Halani, and Kandyaro.[28][29][30][31] Sindhis may have been converting to Sikhism ever since the time of Guru Nanak, who traveled to the region.[32] Janamsakhi literature narrate that Guru Nanak traveled to Shikarpur, possibly as far as Sukkur.[32] Sindhi women learnt the Gurmukhi script in-order to understand the Guru Granth Sahib.[32] A lot of converts to Sikhism came from the Amil caste.[32] The Chief Khalsa Diwan sent out orthodox Sikh missionaries to Sindh in the 1930s to preach towards Sehajdharis (literally "slow adopters"), which dominated the landscape of Sikhism in Sindh.[32] The result was the number of Keshdhari (those who keep uncut hair) Sikhs recorded increasing from 1,000 in the 1901 census to over 39,000 in the 1941 census.[32] Sant Thahriya Singh was a prominent Sindhi Sikh saint of the 20th century, and many gurdwaras are constructed in his name in the region.[32] South Indian Sikhs See also: Sikhism_in_India § South_Indian_Sikhs Tanjore-style painting of a Sikh couple from South India, circa 1805 There are Sikh communities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra who converted to Sikhism centuries ago. The Sikhs comprise Banjara and Satnami. The process of blending the religion into southern India for the Sikligars began at the time of the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who came to the Deccan and died in 1708 at Nanded (Maharashtra). It all came by the Sikligars as they came to southern India as expert arms-making camp followers of the tenth Guru. Sikligar is a compound of the Persian words `saiqal` and `gar` meaning a polisher of metal.[17] The traditional occupation of the Sikligars is crafting kitchen implements. Banjaras are a nomadic tribe who traditionally travelled with merchandise and are found across a large swathe of northern India, as well as in the south. Sikh Banjaras too travelled with armies of the past supplying them with provisions.[17] Gallery A frontispiece to the Dasam Granth. A frontispiece to the Dasam Granth. The Bardari of Ranjit Singh, built in the Hazuri Bagh. The Bardari of Ranjit Singh, built in the Hazuri Bagh. Gateway of the Ram Bagh, North-East of Amritsar; built by Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Gateway of the Ram Bagh, North-East of Amritsar; built by Maharajah Ranjit Singh. A Sikh helmet from the late 18th century. Note the adaptation on the helmet's crown to allow for a Sikh's uncut hair. A Sikh helmet from the late 18th century. Note the adaptation on the helmet's crown to allow for a Sikh's uncut hair. One of the gates at the Sikh temple called Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, in Delhi. One of the gates at the Sikh temple called Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, in Delhi. Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (autograph or signature) of Guru Gobind Singh. Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (autograph or signature) of Guru Gobind Singh. Detail from Gurdwara Baba Atal. Detail from Gurdwara Baba Atal. A Opaque Watercolour on paper copy of Nakashi 1880c A Opaque Watercolour on paper copy of Nakashi 1880c Harmandir Sahib or the Golden Temple, Amritsar, India. Harmandir Sahib or the Golden Temple, Amritsar, India. Interior of the Akal Takht. Interior of the Akal Takht. Painting of the durbar of Maharaja Dalip Singh Sukerchakia. Painting of the durbar of Maharaja Dalip Singh Sukerchakia. Painting of Ranjit Singh and Hira Singh of Nabha. Painting of Ranjit Singh and Hira Singh of Nabha. The Sikh Order of Merit with a Portrait of Ranjit Singh, directly inspired by the French Légion d'honneur The Sikh Order of Merit with a Portrait of Ranjit Singh, directly inspired by the French Légion d'honneur Ceiling fresco of female figures from an abandoned Gurdwara located in Mangat village in Pakistan Ceiling fresco of female figures from an abandoned Gurdwara located in Mangat village in Pakistan Guru Granth Sahib manuscript housed at Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur and dated to 1803 B.S. (1746 C.E.) beautifully decorated with gold and floral arabesques Guru Granth Sahib manuscript housed at Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur and dated to 1803 B.S. (1746 C.E.) beautifully decorated with gold and floral arabesques Equestrian portrait of Guru Gobind Singh attended upon by a Nihang, circa 1850 Equestrian portrait of Guru Gobind Singh attended upon by a Nihang, circa 1850 Guru Nanak engaged in an interfaith dialogue, Janamsakhi painting Guru Nanak engaged in an interfaith dialogue, Janamsakhi painting Holy men visiting Guru Nanak in a mountainous forest, Mewar painting Holy men visiting Guru Nanak in a mountainous forest, Mewar painting Illustrations of female figures on a chola (chogha) robe that is said to have belonged to Guru Nanak which was made by and given as a gift by his sister, Bebe Nanaki Illustrations of female figures on a chola (chogha) robe that is said to have belonged to Guru Nanak which was made by and given as a gift by his sister, Bebe Nanaki See also Sikh art Indian art Turban training centre Sikh architecture Sikh scriptures History of Sikhism Punjabi culture Shastar Vidya Sikh chola Sikh Ajaibghar Mehdiana Sahib Punjabi culture grew out of the settlements along the five rivers (the name Punjab, is derived from two Persian words, Panj meaning "Five" and Âb meaning "Water") which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE.[1] Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership.[1] The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan".[1] Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land.[1] Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.[1] Music Main article: Music of Punjab Bhangra is one of the many Punjabi musical art forms that are increasingly listened to in the West and becoming a mainstream favourite.[2] Punjabi music is used by western musicians in many ways, such as mixing with other compositions to produce award-winning music. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practiced in Pakistani Punjab; are other important genres in the Punjab region.[3][4] Dance See also: Punjabi dance Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with traditional musical instruments. Bhangra is one of the most famous dances originating in the Punjab by farmers during the harvesting season. It was mainly performed while farmers did agricultural chores. As they did each farming activity they would perform bhangra moves on the spot.[5] This allowed them to finish their job in a pleasurable way. For many years, farmers performed bhangra to showcase a sense of accomplishment and to welcome the new harvesting season.[6] Traditional bhangra is performed in a circle[7] and is performed using traditional dance steps. Traditional bhangra is now also performed on occasions other than during the harvest season.[8][9] Ghidda is also a famous dance from Punjab. This dance is for women and originates thousands of years ago, it resembles femininity and beauty.[citation needed] Art Painting in the Punjab developed during the reign of Iltutmish of the Khilji dynasty, who had patronized it.[10] A historical reference to this was made in the Tarikh-I-Ferozeshi.[10] Sikh art, including Sikh painting, is mostly derived from Punjab's art traditions.[10] B.N. Goswamy argues that painting in the Punjab goes back to the 16th century and became influenced by the Mughal school in the early half of the 18th century.[11] Punjabi Sikh forays into painting were mostly limited to wall paintings decorating the walls of religious sites up until the early 19th century.[12] Miniature painting depicting Hindu religious scenes and themes was popular in the Punjab Hills amongst the various Pahari Rajput states.[12] Between 1810–1830, the Sikhs began to commission these Pahari artists to paint Sikh subjects and settings, mostly Sikh royalty and nobility.[12] After Sikhs began to progressively come into more and more contact with Europeans after 1830, the main influence on Punjabi Sikh art shifted from Pahari styles and methods to European ones.[12] The Punjabi form and localization of Company paintings would be born out of this increased interaction between European and Punjabi artists.[12] Thus, Pahari-influenced traditional miniature paintings began to be surmounted by European-influenced Company school paintings.[12] Lahori and Amritsari artists increasingly abandoned using the traditional Indic medium of gouache for watercolour techniques.[12] In 1838–39, a British visitor hired local Punjabi artists to produce pictures covering the various kinds of inhabitants of northern India using British-supplied paper and bound into an album.[12] Images of the Sikh royals and military were documented in these British-patronized local paintings.[12] Many Europeans were employed by the Lahore Durbar, such as the Frenchman Jean-François Allard, and were sponsors of the local arts.[12] A few European artists who visited the Sikh court of Lahore and left a deep impact on the local art were: G. T. Vigne (visited in 1837), William G. Osborne (visited in 1838), Emily Eden (visited in 1838 alongside her brother), and August Schoefft (arrived in 1841).[12] Eden had a large impact, as her published work Portraits of the Princes and People of India (which included lithographic depictions of Sikhs and Punjabis) was a big success and many copies of the work made their way to Punjab where they ended up giving further shape to the emerging Punjabi Company School.[12] Schoefft spent over a year in Punjab painting various local scenes and subjects.[12] During the Anglo-Sikh Wars, many of the British officials and soldiers who made their way to Punjab were artists.[12] An example is Henry Lawrence, who painted local residents of various walks of life.[12] Many Indian artists who followed the Company school were hired to paint Punjabi subjects and settings.[12] When the Sikh Empire was annexed in 1849, local Punjabi artists working in the Company style created works based upon stock sets for the purpose of selling them to European tourists in the local bazaars.[12] These Punjabi paintings geared towards a European audience depicted "Sikh rulers, heroes, occupations, and costumes".[12] Wall paintings Murals (including frescoes) feature prominently in Punjab and showcase various themes.[13] Punjabi murals differ from Punjabi miniature paintings in that the wall paintings were far more readily accessible and viewable by the general masses rather than being mostly an affair restricted to the privileged classes of the society, as in the case of miniatures.[13] Since murals could be seen by all walks of society, the things depicted in them were commonly understood subjects that required no specialized knowledge.[13] Punjabi murals can depict religious or secular settings.[13] Religious themes Mural depicting a scene from Indic mythology, located within the Samadh of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore, ca.1840's. The mythological scene depicted is likely a Vaishnavist scene from the Mahabharata or Ramayana epics. Religious-themed murals are often found at religious shrines, such as Hindu and Sikh temples.[13] Scenes from Indic mythology, such as the Mahabharata, are commonly found, an example being the unveiling of Draupadi.[13] Religious murals depicting female figuratives were often Shaktist in-nature.[13] A prevailing theme of the divine (the Shakti) incarnating in feminine form (these unique forms are given various names, such as Kali) to battle with negative forces (that are hostile to the deities and mankind), including demons (such as Mahishasura) and giants (such as Shumbha and Nishumbha), is a commonly witnessed scene of Punjabi murals.[13] The scenes depicted by this category of wall paintings are seemingly drawn from the Markandeya Purana, which promotes the reverence of Shakti as the divine-mother figure.[13] Other scenes found in Punjabi wall paintings seem to stem from the stories of the Bhagavata Purana.[13] An example of a type of mural scene derived from it is Radha being surrounded by youthful gopis.[13] Krishna is also commonly depicted alongside gopis in this sort of mural.[13] Krishna is sometimes shown playing his flute whilst the gopis perform the ras-lila around him or he is shown stealing clothes from the gopis, an episode known as chira-harana.[13] Aside from Hindu themes, there are also depictions based upon Sikh history and themes, such as Sikh gurus, martyrs (shaheeds), and religious figures (an example being bhagats).[13] Secular themes Fresco depicting a hunting scene from a Punjabi Muslim khangah (Khangah Dargani Shah at Dhun Dhaewal) located on the right bank of the Beas River near Chola Sahib, Tarn Taran district Amid the murals based on profane subjects, depictions of scenes from traditional Punjabi folklore are commonplace, such as Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiban, Sohni Mahiwal, Sassi Pannu, Laila Majnun, Raja Rasalu, and more.[13] A lot of the depicted stories are ultimately based upon bardic literature, such as the legends of Shah Behram and Husan Banu.[13] There are also paintings based upon traditional folk ballads, such as Puran Bhagat.[13] Additionally, there are paintings of various Nayika themes, including the Ashta-nayika (eight heroines).[13] There also exists wall paintings based upon the Sat Sai of Bihari.[13] There are further depictions of various royal figures, such as Rani Jindan.[13] Many Punjabi wall paintings depict women and girls in the process of a variety of actions, such as feeding parrots, peacocks, or bucks.[13] Women are also depicted fondling pets or writing love letters in these wall paintings.[13] Fresco depicting a dalliance scene from Jandwal temple in Hoshiarpur district Usually displayed less conspicuously, there were also wall painting depicting sexual or erotic themes.[13] It was a common practice to decorate the walls of Islamic and Hindu palaces with erotic scenes.[13] The Sikh royality and nobality during the reign of the Sikh Empire had their residences embellished with these erotic wall paintings. General Paolo Avitabile had his private residence quarters decorated with figures of scantily clad dancing girls and Indic deities in the act of making love.[13] At the Rani Mahal of erstwhile Nabha State, there are wall paintings of couples having sex in various positions, settings, and emotions based upon the Koka Shastra treatise.[13] However, it is important to note that these erotic-based murals were limited mostly to the areas frequented by the upper-classes of the Punjabi society at the time.[13] Weddings See also: Punjabi wedding traditions Punjabi wedding traditions and ceremonies are traditionally conducted in Punjabi and are a strong reflection of Punjabi culture. While the actual religious marriage ceremony among Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians may be conducted in Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Hindi or Pali by the Qazi, Pundit, Granthi or Priest, there are commonalities in ritual, song, dance, food, and dress. The Punjabi wedding has many rituals and ceremonies that have evolved since traditional times and itself have evolved in Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab. Cuisine See also: Punjabi cuisine Tandoori chicken is a popular dish in Punjabi cuisine. The local cuisine of Punjab is heavily influenced by the agriculture and farming lifestyle prevalent from the times of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Dishes similar to tandoori chicken may have existed during the Harappan civilization during the Bronze Age of India. According to the archeologist Professor Vasant Shinde, the earliest evidence for a dish similar to tandoori chicken can be found in the Harappan civilization and dates back to 3000 BC. His team has found ancient ovens at Harappan sites which are similar to the tandoors that are used in the state of Punjab. Physical remains of chicken bones with char marks have also been unearthed.[14][15][16] Harappan houses had keyhole ovens with central pillars which was used for roasting meats and baking breads.[17] Sushruta Samhita records meat being cooked in an oven (kandu) after marinating it in spices like black mustard (rai) powder and fragrant spices.[18] According to Ahmed (2014), Harappan oven structures may have operated in a similar manner to the modern tandoors of the Punjab.[19] Basmati rice is the indigenous variety of Punjab, and various meat- and vegetable-based rice dishes have been developed using it.[20][21][22] Language and literature Main articles: Punjabi language and Punjabi literature Baba Farid, considered the first major Punjabi poet.[23] The Punjabi language is written with the Gurmukhi alphabet in India and with the Shahmukhi alphabet in Pakistan. Approximately 130 million people speak the Punjabi language.[24] The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to Nath Yogi era from 9th to 14th century.[25] They referred to God with various names such as "Alakh Nirajan" which are still prevalent in Punjabi vernacular.[25] The Punjabi literary tradition is popularly seen to commence with Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1173–1266).[23] Roughly from the 12th century to the 19th century, Punjabi Sufi poetry developed under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1628–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), Bulleh Shah (1680–1757), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (1747–1826), Mian Muhammad Baksh (1830–1907) and Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845–1901). In contrast to Persian poets, who had preferred the ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi poets tended to compose in the Kafi.[26] Punjabi Sufi poetry also influenced other Punjabi literary traditions particularly the Punjabi Qissa, a genre of romantic tragedy which also derived inspiration from Indic, Persian and Quranic sources. The Qissa of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah (1706–1798) is among the most popular of Punjabi qisse. Other popular stories include Sohni Mahiwal by Fazal Shah, Mirza Sahiba by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–1707), Sassi Punnun by Hashim Shah (1735?–1843?), and Qissa Puran Bhagat by Qadaryar (1802–1892). Dress Main article: Punjabi clothing Dastar Main article: Dastar A Dastar is an proud of headgear associated with Sikhism and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the dastār is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The Khalsa Sikh men and women, who keep the Five Ks, wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair (kesh). The Sikhs regard the dastār as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was sentenced to death by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru created the Khalsa and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the dastār covers.[27] Prior to Sikhi, only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.[28] Punjabi suit Main article: Shalwar kameez Punjabi traditional dress in India A Punjabi suit that features two items - a qameez (top), salwar (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people.[29][30][31] Shalwars are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[32] The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic.[33] The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the chaak[note 1]), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The combination garment is sometimes called salwar kurta, salwar suit, or Punjabi suit.[35][36] The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn,[37][38] and national dress,[39] of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck.[40] The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders.[41] Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.[42] Festivals See also: Punjabi festivals, List of Sikh festivals, List of Hindu festivals in Punjab, and Festivals in Lahore The Punjabi Muslims typically observe the Islamic festivals.[43][44] The Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus typically do not observe these, and instead observe Lohri, Basant and Vaisakhi as seasonal festivals.[45] The Punjabi Muslim festivals are set according to the lunar Islamic calendar (Hijri), and the date falls earlier by 10 to 13 days from year to year.[46] The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar or Punjabi calendar and the date of the festival also typically varies in the Gregorian calendar but stays within the same two Gregorian months.[47] Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals,[48] and they being declared haram (forbidden in Islam).[49] Preservation of Punjabi Culture In recent years, efforts have been made to preserve and promote Punjabi culture and heritage. One notable example is the Panjab Digital Library (PDL), founded by Davinder Pal Singh. The library's mission is to digitize and preserve historical manuscripts, books, and other materials related to Punjabi language, history, and culture. This initiative has helped to safeguard and promote Punjabi culture for future generations.[50] See also image Punjab portal icon Society portal Punjabi Culture Day Punjabi calendar Punjabi festivals Folk practices in Punjab Punjab Punjabi people British Punjabis Punjabi Americans Punjabi Australians Punjabi Canadians Punjabi diaspora Punjab (India) Punjab (Pakistan) Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago List of Punjabi language poets Livestock show Vaisakhi Sikh art and culture
- Condition: Used
- Type: Photograph
- Year of Production: 1956
- Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
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