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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sikhism</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13789a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The religion of a warlike sect of India, having its origin in the Punjab and its centre in the holy City of Amritsar, where their sacred books are preserved and worshipped"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="13789a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/s.htm">S</a> > Sikhism</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Sikhism</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>The religion of a warlike <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> of <a href="../cathen/07722a.htm">India</a>, having its origin in the Punjab and its centre in the holy City of Amritsar, where their sacred books are preserved and worshipped. The name Sikh signifies "disciple", and in later times the strict observants or elect were called the Khalsa. The founder of the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>, Nanak (now called Sri Guru Nanak Deva), a Hundu belonging to the Kshastrya caste, was born near Lahore in 1469 and died in 1539. Being from childhood of a religious turn of mind, he began to wander through various parts of <a href="../cathen/07722a.htm">India</a>, and perhaps beyond it, and gradually matured a religious system which, revolting from the prevailing <a href="../cathen/12223b.htm">polytheism</a>, ceremonialism, and caste-exclusiveness, took for its chief doctrines the oneness of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a> by <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">works</a>, and the equality and brotherhood of man. The new religion spread rapidly and, under the leadership of nine successive <em>gurus</em> or teachers, soon became an active rival not only to the older <a href="../cathen/07358b.htm">Hinduism</a>, but also the newer <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mohammedanism</a> of the reigning dynasties. The "disciples" were therefore somewhat ill-treated by the governing powers. This <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> only gave fresh determination to the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>, which gradually assumed a military character and took the name of Singhs or "champion warriors"; under Govind Sing, their tenth and last <em>guru</em> (b. 1660; d. 1708), who had been provoked by some severe ill-treatment of his <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a> by the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Moslem</a> rulers, they began to wage active <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> on the Emperor of Delhi. But the struggle was unequal. The Sikhs were defeated and gradually driven back into the hills. The profession of their <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> became a capital offence, and it was only the decline of the Mogul power, after the death of Aurungzeb in 1707, which enabled them to survive. Then seizing their opportunity they emerged from their hiding places, organized their forces, and established a warlike supremacy over a portion of the Punjab round about Lahore.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>A reversal took place in 1762, when Ahmed Shah badly defeated them and defiled their sacred temple at Amritsar. In spite of this reverse they managed still to extend their dominion along the banks of the Sutlej and the Jumna Rivers, northwards as far as Peshawar and Rawalpindi, and southwards over the borders of Rajputana. In 1788 the Mahrattas overran the Punjab and brought the Sikhs under tribute. Upon the Mahrattas supervened the British, who received the allegiance of a portion of the Sikhs in 1803, and later on, in 1809, undertook a treaty of protection against their enemy Runjeet Singh, who although himself a prominent Sikh leader, had <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> overbearing and intolerable to other portions of the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>. Various other treaties between the British and the Sikhs, with a view of opening the Indus and the Sutlej Rivers to trade and navigation, were entered into; but as these agreements were not kept, the British declared <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> on the Sikhs in 1845. By 1848, partly through actual defeat, partly through internal disorganization and want of leaders, the Sikh power was broken; they gradually settled down among the rest of the population, preserving only their religious distinctiveness intact. According to the census of 1881 the number of Sikhs was reckoned at 1,853,426, which in the census of 1901 rose to 2,195,339. At the time of writing the census of 1911 is not yet published.</p> <p>Their sacred books, called the "Granth" (the original of which is preserved and <a href="../cathen/05188b.htm">venerated</a> in the great temple of Amritsar) consists of two parts: "Adi Granth", the first book or book of Nanak, with later additions compiled by the fifth <em>guru</em>, "Arjoon, and with subsequent additions from later <em>gurus</em> down to the ninth, and contributions by various disciples and devotees; secondly, "The Book of the Tenth King", written by <em>Guru</em> Govind Sing, the tenth and last <em>guru</em>, chiefly with a view of instilling the warlike spirit into the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>. The <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a> contained in these books is distinctly <a href="../cathen/10499a.htm">monotheistic</a>. Great and holy men, even if divinely inspired, are not to be worshipped-not even the Sikh <em>gurus</em> themselves. The use of images is tabooed; ceremonial worship, asceticism, and caste-restrictions are explicitly rejected. Their dead leaders are to be saluted simply by the watchword "Hail guru" and the only material object to be outwardly reverenced is the "Granth", or sacred book. In practice, however, this reverence seems to have degenerated into a <a href="../cathen/14339a.htm">superstitious</a> worship of the "Granth"; and even a certain vague divinity is attributed to the ten <em>gurus</em>, each of whom is supposed to be reincarnation of the first of the line, their original founder  for the <a href="../cathen/07358b.htm">Hindu</a> <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of transmigration of <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a> was retained even by Nanak himself, and a certain amount of <a href="../cathen/11447b.htm">pantheistic</a> language occurs in parts of the sacred <a href="../cathen/07595a.htm">hymns</a>. Salvation is to be obtained only by <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">One True God</a> through the <em>Sat Guru</em> (or <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> spiritual guide), reverential fear, <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and purity of mind and <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>  the main principles of which are strictly inculcated as marks of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> Sikh; while such prevailing crimes as <a href="../cathen/08001b.htm">infanticide</a> and <em>suttee</em> are forbidden. They place some restriction on the killing of animals without necessity, but short of an absolute prohibition. Peculiar to the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> is the abstention from tobacco, and in part from other drugs such as opium  a restriction introduced by <em>Guru</em> Govind Sing under the persuasion that smoking was conducive to idleness and injurious to the militant spirit. At the present time an active religious revival is manifesting itself among the Sikhs, having for its object to purge away certain <a href="../cathen/14339a.htm">superstitions</a> and social restrictions which have gradually filtered in from the surrounding <a href="../cathen/07358b.htm">Hinduism</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">CUNNINGHAM, "A History of the Sikhs" (Calcutta, 1904; MACGREGOR, "History of the Sikhs" (2 vols., London, 1846); COURT, "History of the Sikhs"' GOUGH, "The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars" (London, 1897); SAYED MOHAMED LATIF, "History of the Punjab" (Calcutta, 1891); SEWARAM SINGH THAPAR, "Sri Guru Nanak Deva" (Rawalpindi, 1904); BHAGAT LAKSHMAN SINGH, "A short Sketch of the life and Work of Guru Govind Singh" (Lahore, 1909); MACAULIFFE, "The Sikh Religion" (6 vols., Oxford, 1909); TRUMPP, "The Adi Granth, the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs" (London, 1877), stigmatised by Macauliffe as an unreliable translation.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Hull, E.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Sikhism.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13789a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Hull, Ernest.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Sikhism."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 13.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13789a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by John Looby.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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