Sikhism

History

Guru Nanak was born into an educated, landowning, influential Hindu family that lived in Talwandi, a village near Lahore, the cultural and political center of the Punjab. While in his late 20s, he underwent a powerful experience in which he describes having visited the divine court (darbar) and having been entrusted with the mission of spreading the divine word (nam). Leaving his domestic life behind, he embarked on a period of extensive travel.

In 1521, Guru Nanak witnessed large-scale violence wrought by the invasion of Babar, the Mughal chief from Central Asia. This experience resulted in a new turn in Guru Nanak's life. He acquired a piece of land in the lush plains of the central Punjab, founded a town, and named it Kartarpur (“City of God”). As the founder of the community, Guru Nanak served as the central authority at Kartarpur, and his beliefs provided structure to the lives of those who gathered there. We now know that after some years, Guru Nanak renewed his travels, seeking followers in other places.

Guru Nanak provided the early Sikh community with rudimentary institutional structures. He composed hymns of great beauty and had them recorded in a distinct script called Gurmukhi (script of “the Gurmukhs/Sikhs”). These hymns formed the core of the Sikh sacred text, which later came to be known as the Guru Granth (the book manifested as the Guru). He also instituted the communal recitation of three daily prayers at sunrise (Japji), sunset (Rahiras), and before going to sleep (Sohila) and established a community kitchen (langar) where all Sikhs ate in a manner that embodied their Guru's belief in human equality. Guru Nanak also created an initiation ceremony [Page 1175](Charanpahul) with which people could enter the Sikh fold. At the time of his death in 1539, Guru Nanak appointed one of his followers, Angad, to be his successor and, by doing so, institutionalized the office of Guru, which continued until the death of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru (1675–1708).

By the end of the 16th century, the Sikhs had become powerful enough to be seen as a threat by the Mughal administration in both Lahore (the provincial headquarters) and Delhi. A phase of tension culminated in the execution of Guru Arjan (1561–1606), the fifth Sikh Guru. The Sikh community, under the leadership of his successor, Guru Hargobind (1595–1644), responded by declaring the Guru to be both their temporal (duniya/mir) and spiritual (din/mir) leader. In consequence, the Mughal authority forced the Sikhs to move to the Shivalik foothills, where they remained throughout the 17th century. An attempt to revive the community in the Punjab plains during the leadership of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru (1621–1675), ended with his execution/martyrdom in Delhi.

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