Sikhism, which is one of the youngest religions of the world, in the late 15th century. There are 18 million Sikhs in India, the maximum number of who stay in the Punjab. Sikhs are an enterprising lot and large numbers of them can be found in other parts of India and the world.

Core
The word Sikh has been derived from sishya (disciple) or siksha (learning). The Sikhs consider themselves disciples of the ten Gurus.
Sikhism is not an ethnic religion and welcomes converts and many people from other faiths have converted into Sikhism. Guru Nanak was born in 1469 AD and preached of The One God whose name is True. He condemned idolatry and distrusted all rites and ceremonies. Sikhs believe in one supreme eternal reality, The Ik Omkar, the God who is the Truth that is immanent in all things in creation and that is the creator of all things. This Truth is without fear and without hatred it is not subject to time, it is beyond birth and death and is self-revealing. They believe that God (Waheguru), who is omnipresent, omnipotent and immanent as well as transcendent, is the creator of the universe and everything in it. By recognising divine self-expression and truth one can form a relationship with the Creator because he is formless, inscrutable, and beyond the reach of human intellect. By meditating on God's Name (nam) and Word (shabad) which have been given by the Guru one can form a relationship with God and attain Moksha.
According to Khuswant Singh, a noted historian, The roots of Sikhism lie deep in the Bhakti form of Hinduism. Guru Nanak picked what he felt were its salient features: belief in one god who is undefinable, unborn, immortal, omniscient, all-pervading and the epitome of Truth; belief in the institution of the Guru as the guide in matters spiritual; unity of mankind without the distinction of caste; rejection of idol-worship and meaningless ritual; sanctity of Sangat (congregation), which was expected to break bread together at the Guru ka Langar; the gentle way of Sahaj to approach god while fulfilling domestic obligations; hymn singing (kirtan); emphasis on work as a moral obligation. Nanak felt he had a new message that needed to be conveyed after him, as he nominated his closest disciple Angad to be his successor in preference to his two sons.

Faith & Practices
The Guru guides a Sikh to Moksha or salvation. Sikhism is often described as Nama Marga (the way of the nam or name) as it emphasizes the constant repetition of the name of God and the Gurubani (from the mouth of the Guru). Nam cleanses the soul of sin and conquers the source of evil - the ego. Once subjugated, the ego becomes a weapon with which one overcomes lust, anger, greed, attachment and pride. Nama restrains the wandering mind and induces a super-conscious stillness (divya dristi) which opens the gateway through which divine light enters into ones being.
Guru Nanak lay emphasis on social equality and rejected all forms of caste distinctions. The collective welfare of all, and the concept of seva (service) to the community are the central themes of Sikhism. In essence, Guru Nanak's social vision teaches one to love the divine name, to work hard, and to share the fruits of one's labour with others.
The tenth and last guru Guru Gobind Singh selected five of his disciples and sent them to Varanasi to learn Sanskrit and Hindu religious texts. These five began the school of Sikh theologians known as the Nirmalas (the unsullied). The Nirmalas chiefly perform the duties of priests in Sikh temples.
After Baisakhi celebrations in early 1699, Guru Guru Gobind Singh asked people to volunteer to be sacrificed for God. Five youths came forward who were called Panj Piyare (five beloved) formed a new community, the Khalsa, or the pure. They were to observe four rules of conduct (Rahat Maryada). Chewing and smoking of tobacco, drinking alcohol cutting off of hair from any part of the body was forbidden under these rules. The Khalsas also use the tile of Singh or lion after their names. The Khalsa celebrate 300 years of existence in 1999.
Guru Gobind Singh, at the time of his death made the Guru Granth Sahib the book of religious conduct of the Sikhs. This stopped the practice of selecting a religious head. He proclaimed this in his Dasam Granth. After his death Mughal governors constantly persecuted the Sikhs. The Sikhs organised themselves under twelve different Misls or militias.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780- 1839) consolidated all the misls and established a homeland of the Sikhs after numerous bloody battles. Control of the Punjab went to the British after Ranjit Singh's death.
Most Sikh children are considered to be born Sikhs. All Sikhs who follow the Rahat Maryada and wish to become Khalsas can be baptised into the sacred order. Initiation is done in a ceremony known as khande di pahul (tempered with steel) performed by the Panj Piare (the symbolic representation of the five beloved ones who were first baptized, and who subsequently, in turn, baptized Guru Gobind Singh). The Khalsa are required to keep the five ks. Khalsa males are renamed as Singh (lion) and females as Kaur (lioness).
Unity of the Godhead is emphasised in the Sikh religion as the very basis of this religion is monotheism. In the event of disputes, a conclave is summoned to meet at the Akal Takht (Throne of the Timeless) which has spiritual sanction.

Sects
The Sikh community consists of the Jats (agricultural tribes), non-Jats (consisting of the erstwhile Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas) and the Mazhabis (the untouchables).

Literature
The Guru Granth Sahib is the sacred text of the Sikhs. It was compiled by Guru Arjan Dev in 1604 and is 1,430 pages long. It contains nearly 6000 hymns composed by the first five Gurus; Nanak (974); Angad (62); Amar Das (907); Ram Das (679) and Arjan (2218).
Besides these compositions, the Adi Granth contains hymns of the Bhakti Saints and Muslim Sufis, mainly Kabir and Farid, and a few bards in the courts of the Gurus. It is the only canonical work in the Sikh literature and is basically a distillation of the Vedantas in Punjabi.
The Janam-Sakhis (life stories) written around 50 to 80 years after the death of Guru Nanak are the earliest source materials on Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak's compositions are also incorporated in the Adi Granth and the Vars (Heroic Ballads) written by Bhai Gurdas. The Dasam Granth (tenth book) written by Guru Gobind Singh, contains traditions of the Khalsa in the form of Rahatnamas. It also is a compilation of tales of valour of Hindu Goddesses.

Festivals
Sikhs celebrate festivals that commemorate the life and times of the gurus, events in Sikh history, and the popular traditions of Punjab. The birth and death of a guru is referred to as a gurpurb.
Baisakhi is the celebration of the New Year and the harvest season in Punjab.
Sikhs also celebrate Diwali (which marks the release of the Guru Hargobind from confinement in Gwalior Fort).

The 10 Gurus
Guru Nanak
Nanak Dev , founder of the Sikh religion was born in 1469, in Rai Bhoi di Talvandi (now Nankana Sahib), 65 kilometres fom Lahore (now in Pakistan). He associated with holy men of both Hindu and Islamic beliefs and the influences of both religions are evident in Sikhism. For some time, Nanak worked as an accountant of Nawab Daulat Khan Lodhi, the Afghan chief at Sultanpur. There he started associating with Mardana, a Muslim family servant. Nanak started composing hymns to which Mardana set music and the two started community singing. They organised a kitchen wherein both Hindus and Muslims ate together as if belonging to the same community.
At Sultanpur he had his first vision of The One God Whose Name Is True. He went around preaching in different towns of Punjab and finally settled down with his family at Kartarpur (Abode of His Creator), on the banks of river Ravi.
Guru Angad
Guru Nanak Dev nominated Guru Angad to be his successors. He remained the religious head for thirteen years from 1539 to 1552. Angad left Kartarpur and lit the Guru's lamp in Khadur. He spread the message of Guru Nanak and recruited more disciples. He initiated the practice of Langar, or free distribution of food. He started a regular system of collecting offerings to meet their expenses including that of Langar. He made copies of Guru Nanak's hymns and distributed one to each centre. Angad took the 35 letters of the poems and hymns composed by Nanak, selected the appropriate letters from other scripts of northern India and invented the Gurumukhi script (from the mouth of the Guru). Angad's compilations became the centre point of the sacred writings of the Sikhs.
He was a keen admirer of physical fitness. He ordered his disciples to take part in drill and competitive games after the morning service.
He nominated a seventy-three-old disciple, Guru Amar Das, to succeed him as the third Guru.
Guru Amar Das
Amar Das was born in 1479 and belonged to the Bhalla sub-caste. He made 'Langar' an integral institution of the Sikhs by insisting that anyone who wanted to meet him should first accept his hospitality by sharing a meal with the disciples. He made more copies of the works of Nanak and Angad and added his own hymns and that of other Hindu Bhaktas whose teachings were in conformity with the Guru's words.
He lived to the age of 95 and chose his son-in-law, Guru Ram Das to succeed him as the fourth Guru.
Guru Ram Das
Soon after his nomination as the fourth Guru, Ram Das established a religious capital of the Sikhs around an artificial tank. This capital was known as Guru-ka-Chak or Chak-Ram-Das. He encouraged tradesmen and merchants to set up business in the town and with the revenue, spread his activities to different parts of the country.
Ono of the most distiguished disciples of Ram Das was Bhai Gurdas, who preached for some years in Agra.
Like his predecessors, Ram Das composed hymns that were later incorporated into the Adi Granth, sacred book of the Sikhs.
Guru Arjun
Arjun's first task as the Guru was to construct a temple in Chak-Ram-Das. He asked all the Sikhs to donate a tenth of their income. After the temple was completed and the tank filled with water, he renamed this religious capital of the Sikhs as Amritsar (pool of nectar). This city is now an important commercial centre of the Punjab and also the most important pilgrimage for the Sikhs.
In 1590 AD he had another tank dug about 15 kilometres from Amritsar. He named this pool as Taran-Taaran (pool of salvation). This is yet another place of pilgrimage, and the water here is believed to possess healing properties.
He compiled the writings of all the earlier Gurus together with his own compositions in the Guru Granth Sahib, sacred book of the Sikhs. He formally installed the holy volume in the temple at Amritsar in August 1604. Bhai Buddha was appointed as the first Granthi (reader).
Jehangir, Akbar's successor put an end to the growing popularity of Guru Arjun by charging him with treason and torturing him to death.
Guru Har Gobind
The murder of Guru Arjun came as a shock to the Sikhs. Guru Har Gobind, the sixth Guru was only eleven but with the help of Bhai Buddha and Bhai Gurdas, he vowed to avenge the death of his father.
The young Har Gobind took the seat of his father with two swords tied around his waist, one to symbolise spiritual power and the other for temporal. He armed the Sikhs and taught martial exercises to his disciples. Across the Hari Mandir (famous today as the "Golden Temple") in Amritsar, he built the Akal Takht (Throne Of The Timeless), where heroic ballads were recited and plans of military conquests replaced religious discourses.
Jehangir ordered the disbanding of Hargobind's army and imprisoned him at Gwalior. After the death of Jehangir, Hargobind faced difficult times as his men clashed twice with the Mughal army under the leadership of Shah Jahan.
Guru Har Rai
Guru Har Rai lived in Kiratpur at the time of his accession but had to leave the place within a year. After spending thirteen years in a small village in Sirmoor district, he returned to Kiratpur and formed a friendship with Dara Shikoh, who was a Sufi and also Shah Jahan's son. Aurangzeb, the younger brother of Dara Shikoh killed him to ascend to the throne in Delhi, and asked Har Rai to explain his friendship with Dara Shikoh. Har Rai sent his eldest son Ram Rai to represent him at Delhi. Ram Rai's flattery at the Mughal court won over Aurngzeb but turned Har Rai's mind against him. The seventh Guru then nominated his five-year-old son, Hari Kishen as the next Guru.
Guru Har Kishen
Aurangzeb did not like the nomination of Har Kishen as the Guru and called him to Delhi. Guru Har Kishen was put up with Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Raisina, where he contracted Small Pox. Before his death, Har Kishen nominated Teg Bahadur as the ninth Guru.
Guru Teg Bahadur
Religious priests of his community constantly persecuted the ninth Guru of the Sikhs, Teg Bahadur. Many contenders like Dhirmal and Ram Rai were baying for his blood. They hired assassins to kill Guru Teg Bahadur, but could not succeed in their endeavour. The masses loved Guru Teg Bahadur for his innocent and forgiving nature. Teg Bahadur left Bakala for Amritsar but the doors of the Harimandir were shut for him. He then moved to Kiratpur but was not accepted there too. He bought a hillock near the village Makhowal, five miles from Kiratpur and established a settlement there. He named this village Anandpur (Haven Of Bliss) in the hope of finding peace and solitude but eventually had to leave Punjab to escape from persecutions.
Wherever Teg Bahadur went, the masses acclaimed him as their Guru. When he reached Delhi, Ram Rai, who was in attendance at the Mughal court, had him arrested on the charges of being an impostor and a disturber of peace. But the charges were dropped on the intervention of Raja Jai Singh.
Teg Bahadur was blessed with a son on the 26th of December 1666 at Patna. But he could not stay long with his son as Aurangzeb had unleashed a reign of terror on Hindus and Sikhs. Teg Bahadur was sentenced to death and executed on November 11, 1675.
Guru Gobind Singh
Gobind Rai was only nine years old when his father Teg Bahadur was executed. In order to prevent him from being taken to Delhi, the Guru was shifted from Anandpur to Paonta. In his childhood the Guru learnt the art of riding and shooting along with hunting. He studied Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi and Punjabi. He introduced military overtones and started the dharma yuddha (a battle for righteousness) against sin and evil. Guru Gobind Singh's life was earmarked with numerous battles. He wrote in the Zafarnama, When all other means have failed, it is permissible to draw the sword.
He fought his first battle with the ruler of Bilaspur in 1686 at Bhangani, in which the Sikhs were victorious. After this victory, the Sikhs went to Anandpur. He fought his second battle at Nadaun in 1687 with the Mughal commander Hussain Khan. Again the Mughals were defeated.
Althogh not very successful in the battles that he fought, he fired his followers with a martial fervour. He said, I will teach a sparrow to hunt the hawk, one man to fight 1,25,000 (Sava lakh).
Guru Gobind Singh selected five Sikh theologians who were known as the Nirmalas (the unsullied).
In April 1699, during Baisakhi celebrations, he asked for five volunteers to be sacrificed on the altar of God. One young man came forward and the Guru took him inside the tent. When he came out his sword was dripping with blood. Then he took the other volunteers and did the same thing until all were sacrificed. Later he came out with the heads of five goats (he had slaughtered five goats instead of sacrificing the five volunteers). These courageous men came to be known as the Panj Piyare (five beloved)formed a new community called the Khalsa (the pure). He also introduced a new kind of greeting as "Wahe Guru Ji ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji ki Fateh" (the Khalsa are chosen for our God, Victory be to our God)
All four of Guru Gobind's sons were killed in a bloody battle between the Sikhs and Hill Rajas supprted by the Mughals. One evening two Pathans entered the tent of Gobind Rai at Nanded and stabbed him in the abdomen. The Guru died on October 7, 1708. At the time of his death, the Guru invested the 'Guru Granth Sahib' as the supreme leader of the Sikhs.
He created a new breed of warriors who possessed a do-or-die spirit.

The 5 K's
The five K's are an integral part of the Sikh religion mentioned in the Rahatnamas. These were institutionalised by Guru Gobind Singh. The most important among these is Kesh(hair), which the Khalsa must retain unshorn. The one who cuts his hair is a patit (renegade). Many earlier Gurus had earlier kept long hair and beards. The other four K's are Kangha (comb); Kaccha (shorts); Kirpan (Sabre); and Kara (bracelet). The Kara is believed to be a charm against evil.
A true Sikh must always follow these five rules.