About Sikhism
Guru Nanak Dev
Guru Nanak (1469–1539) was born to Kalyan Das ji (Mehta Kalu) and Mata Tripta, in the village of Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore. Married to Sulakhan ji and father of Siri Chand and Lakhmi Das, he formally attained his Guru hood at about the age of 30.
He died in Kartarpur at the age of 70. Before he left for his heavenly abode, he appointed his disciple, Bhai Lahna, as his successor. He gave him the name of Guru Angad Dev.
Guru Angad Dev
Guru Angad Dev, second of the 10 gurus, compiled the writings of Nanak Dev, and introduced the Gurmukhi script.
Political History
In 1801, a one-eyed Sikh warrior called Ranjit Singh established Punjab as an independent state with him as its maharaja. His empire at that time extended from the Khyber Pass in the west to western Tibet in the east, and from Mithankot in the south to Kashmir in the north.After Ranjit Singh died, the Sikh state crumbled and was annexed to Britain’s Indian territories, but the British were keen to build a good relationship with the Sikhs as they found them brave and full of valour.The tradition began of Sikhs serving with distinction in the British Army and to maintain goodwill the British required that Sikhs joining their regiments be initiated into the Khalsa order and to maintain the five Ks.
Good relations came to a brief end between the Sikhs and British in 1919 with the Amritsar massacre in 1919 but despite the massacre, nearly 300,000 Sikhs fought for the Allies in World War Two.
When Britain withdrew from the subcontinent in 1947, Punjab was divided between Independent India and the Islamic Republic of West Pakistan.
The Sikh ambition for a state of their own was something that the Indian government would not concede. Lahore went to Pakistan, Amritsar to India. The Partition affected the Sikhs greatly and Sikh war veterans lost much of the land they had been awarded for gallantry during the Great War.
In 1966, India divided the region of Punjab into three, leaving the Sikhs as a majority in a much-reduced Punjab state. This was not enough to stop Sikh anger at what they saw as continuing oppression. As Sikh discontent grew, a Sikh preacher called Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale led these protests. In 1983 Bhindranwale and his closest followers took refuge in the Golden Temple Complex at Amritsar. In June 1984 Indian troops launched Operation Blue Star and attacked the Golden Temple complex, killing innocent pilgrims and seriously damaging the buildings. Shortly in October 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa and the then Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.
