It began with a disappearance in a river
Guru NANAK was born in 1469 in the PUNJAB, in what is now Pakistan. According to Sikh tradition, when he was about thirty he went to bathe in a river and vanished for three days. When he came back, his first words were that there is no Hindu and no Muslim — meaning that God sees people, not the labels they give themselves.
He spent the rest of his life travelling and teaching that there is one God, that all people are equal, and that faith should be lived through honest work, sharing with others and remembering God. Nine more human Gurus followed him over the next two centuries. Today there are around 25 to 30 million Sikhs, the majority in the Punjab, with large communities in the UK, Canada and the United States.
The last Guru is a book
Before he died in 1708, the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, declared that there would be no more human Gurus. Authority passed to the scripture, the Guru GRANTH Sahib, which Sikhs treat as a living Guru. It rests on a raised platform under a canopy, is covered when not being read, and at night is carried to its own room.
It is written as poetry meant to be sung, arranged by musical measure rather than by author or date, and it contains hymns by Hindu and Muslim holy men alongside the writings of the Sikh Gurus — a deliberate statement that truth is not owned by one faith. ARDAS is the prayer said standing, at the end of worship.
Everyone eats at the same level
Every GURDWARA has a LANGAR, a free kitchen that serves a meal to anyone who comes, of any faith or none. Guests traditionally sit together on the floor in rows, so nobody sits higher than anyone else, whatever their wealth or caste. The food is vegetarian so that everyone can eat it.
The kitchen at the GOLDEN TEMPLE in Amritsar, the holiest Sikh site, serves tens of thousands of meals every day, and on festival days far more, cooked and served by volunteers. That volunteering is SEVA, selfless service, and it runs through Sikh life. The congregation who worship and serve together is the SANGAT.
The Five Ks
In 1699 Guru Gobind Singh founded the KHALSA, the community of initiated Sikhs, at a ceremony where the first members drank AMRIT, sweetened water stirred with a double-edged sword. Initiated Sikhs keep five articles of faith, each beginning with K in Punjabi: KESH, uncut hair, usually worn under a TURBAN; the KANGHA, a small wooden comb; the KARA, a steel bracelet; the KIRPAN, a small sword standing for the duty to protect others; and the KACHERA, cotton undershorts.
The symbol of the faith is the KHANDA: a double-edged sword in the centre, a circle around it, and two curved swords on either side.
Two surnames against caste
Guru Gobind Singh gave all Sikh men the name SINGH, meaning lion, and all Sikh women the name KAUR, often translated as princess. In a society where a surname revealed a person's caste, a shared name was a way of wiping that out. Many Sikhs still use them, so a great many people share the same two names.
Sikh soldiers fought for Britain in large numbers in both world wars — our world war one page covers that conflict — and the turban was worn in place of a helmet by many who served.