Sikhi

Sikhi or Sikhism is a monotheistic religion with a revolutionary and community-based tradition. It originates from the Punjab in India/Pakistan.

"Sikh" means student. Sikhs follow the Ten Gurus (teachers), starting from Guru Nanak, an ex-Hindu who conversed with holy men of various faiths in the region, such as Islam (especially Sufis), Buddhism, and Hinduism. The eleventh and eternal Guru is the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, a collection of poetry about God (by various authors - including Muslims - in various languages).

Sikhi is essentially communist, like Islam and Christianity (see section below). Sikhs are also being targeted in the Green Scare, as British and Canadian cucks fear the Sikh rule of always carrying a sword or knife.

Core beliefs

Sikhi upholds one benevolent monotheistic God, called Ik Onkar - "one creator".

Sikhi respects Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, considering them as paths to unity with God. It advises Muslims to become true Muslims:

Becoming a true Muslim, a disciple of the faith of Mohammed, let him put aside the delusion of death and life. As he submits to God's Will, and surrenders to the Creator, he is rid of selfishness and conceit. And when, O Nanak, he is merciful to all beings, only then shall he be called a Muslim.

- Guru Granth Sahib

Thus, Sikhi is not evangelistic (seeking conversions) like Christianity and Islam.

Sikhi believes that this world is temporary (Maya), and delusional attachment to it causes our souls grow apart from God. Attachment to Maya manifests primarily as ego (haumai), as well as pride, greed, lust, possessive love rather than understanding, etc.

Sikhi discarded worldly rituals like sacraments and criticized existing religious leaders as Pharisees, using religion as a pretext for their corruption.

Sikhi rejects the need for miracles as public proof of a prophet's divinity, since the message is more important. But it does maintain that God can and (in most interpretations) did perform miracles through his prophets. (Islam believes the same.)

The pillars of Sikh practice are

• naam simran - remembering God's name (naam)

Meditation with music in raag (traditional melody)

• seva - selfless service
• sangat - community

By upholding sangat, Sikhi rejects the reclusive asceticism of monks, pointing out that it relies on donations. Instead, Sikhi upholds kirat karni, meaning honest work, living by the sweat of one's brow, and supporting one's community, since God is found in every person. (See also Be Normal.)

Practices

All the above core beliefs come from the Guru Granth Sahib. However, this book of poetry contained no code of conduct. For this, Sikhs follow the Gurus, who ultimately passed down their authority to the community of initiated Sikhs, the Khalsa (meaning "pure"). Initiation involves taking amrit, a nectar of baptism; the initiated are amritdhari, the uninitiated sahajdhari.

The 10th Guru Gobind Singh established the practice of keeping the Five K's:

• kesh (hair): never shave the head or beard. Hair is a gift of God, and a public marking of oneself as a Sikh. Often wrapped in a turban.
• kangha (comb): always keep the hair tidy.
• kara (steel bracelet): a reminder for one's hand to follow God, and historically a melee weapon.
• kachera (cotton underwear): a protection against lust and infidelity.
• kirpan (sword): to exercise justice.

Amritdharis abstain from alcohol and smoking, wake up early and pray 5 times a day, as per the Guru Granth Sahib.

Sikhi as a revolutionary people's movement

Though favored by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar, his successors Jahangir and Aurangzeb provoked a conflict, martyring three of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikh community took up arms and fought a Maoist-style guerrilla Protracted People's War based in the peasants and workers. This is when Sikhs began to avoid cutting their hair and wear a turban, openly marking themselves as rebels.

The Sikh teaching of equality (their effort to reconcile Hinduism and Islam) became the ideology of the peasant movement against the Indian feudals and Afghan invaders in the late 17th century.

- Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CC of the CPSU(p. 186)

As the war intensified, the 10th Guru Gobind Singh abolished the Guruship, transferred his religious authority to the holy book, and his political authority to the Sikh community. In 1708 he established a twice-yearly mass assembly called the Sarbat Khalsa, an institution of people's democratic dictatorship.

The Sarbat Khalsa established the Sikh Confederacy, consisting of 11 misls (army divisions). Within the army, commanders were chosen democratically, and soldiers had the right to join and switch to whichever misl they wanted. There was a culture of social equality, democracy, and "every man a king". (See below: Sikhi#Sikh Confederacy).

The Sarbat Khalsa eventually declined and was last convened in 1805, being replaced with a monarchy, which eventually turned corrupt. Still, the soldiers' organizations persisted and enforced the people's will on the Sikh Empire's government. Reactionary, revisionist elements feared the power of the army.

The soldiers’ organizations ... exerted a democratic influence on the policies of the Sikh Government. Hence the Sikh feudal lords were intent on breaking the power of the Khalsa.

- IML of CC of CPSU

The most difficult problem for [the Sikh Prime Minister] was curtailing the number or curbing the power of the Sikh, or Khalsa, army, which indeed was the dominant power in the state. [He] fell (done in) as victim of a conspiracy of its officers.

- Karl Marx

The proto-Dengist Khalsa harnessed the bourgeois to accelerate the productive forces. However, the reactionary classes betrayed the Khalsa to the British Empire, destroying Sikh socialism.

In 1845, the British colonialists enlisted the support of traitors among the Sikh gentry to provoke a conflict with the Sikhs, and in 1846 succeeded in turning the Sikh state into a vassal principality. In 1848 the Sikhs revolted, but were totally subjugated in 1849. With the conquest of Punjab all India became a British colony. (p. 186)

In spite of the fine organisation of their army, which fought against the British with stubborn bravery, the Sikhs were defeated.... The chief cause of the defeat was treachery on the part of their supreme command. (p. 195)

- IML of the CC of the CPSU

The Khalsa army had been stockpiling guns for decades and put up a fierce fight against the British, but its movements and defensive layouts were leaked to the British by its corrupt leaders. (See below: Sikhi#Anglo-Sikh Wars.)

The Sikhs are remembered by Punjabis, British, Russians, and historians universally as ferocious enemies of the British.

The Sikhs were always the most formidable opponents of the British among the natives of India; they have formed a comparatively powerful empire...

- Marx and Engels(p. 163)

Full history

The 10 Gurus

Sikhs got along with the great Mughal Emperor Akbar. In this time, the 4th Guru Ram Das built the city of Amritsar and its Golden Temple.

In 1605, Akbar's son Jahangir took the throne, promising orthodox Muslims he would be conservative.

Jahangir was secular, but he came into conflict with the Sikhs. In 1606, Jahangir's son Khusrau Mirza rose up against Jahangir, and was defeated, imprisoned, tortured, and blinded before being set free. The 5th Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, helped Khusrau and consequently was executed.

As a result, the 6th Guru, Hargobind, at 11 years old, began to militarize the Sikhs, ordering them all to take up arms. He declared the "miri-piri" slogan, meaning world and spirit, representing the Sikhs' decision to command worldly and not just spiritual authority. He began to offer employment (naukari) rather than just organizing service (seva).

In 1609, Guru Hargobind was imprisoned. Two years later, he was released. While redoubling efforts at militarization, he mended ties with Jahangir and helped him defeat a local Chand warlord. In 1621, Hargobind fought and routed a Mughal regiment at Rohilla.

Meanwhile, in 1622 Jahangir's other son Shah Jahan launched a rebellion against Jahangir, and murdered the blind Khusrau Mirza. In 1625, Shah Jahan was subdued.

In 1627, Jahangir died. His youngest son, Shahryar Mirza, tried to seize the throne, but he was defeated by Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan began religious repression.

In 1628, a hunting conflict led to war between Shah Jahan and Guru Hargobind. At one point, the Sikhs captured the official who had ordered the torture of Guru Arjan, and the torturer of Guru Arjan, who had converted to Sikhi, poured hot sand down that official's throat.

Shah Jahan attempted to undermine the Sikh state by promoting the pro-Mughal grandson of Guru Hargobind, but it failed. Guru Hargobind's son Har Rai became 7th Guru.

In 1657, Shah Jahan tried to appoint his son Dara Shikoh as his successor, who was more tolerant and allied with the Sikhs. But Dara Shikoh was defeated by Aurangzeb. This began a period of intense repression of the Sikhs and full on war. 8th Guru Tegh Bahadur fell to Aurangzeb in 1675. The 10th Guru, Gobind Singh, established the holy book, the Granth Sahib, as the eternal Guru, preparing for his own death.

In 1705 Guru Gobind Singh began negotiations with Aurangzeb. But in 1707 Aurangzeb died and his successor, Bahadur Shah, refused to concede to the Sikhs. In 1708 Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated by the Mughals.

The Sikhs then led a serious rebellion against the Mughals, capturing key cities, but Bahadur Shah recovered them.

The revisionist Bandai Khalsa

After the death of Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Singh Bahadur achieved a series of victories against the Mughals, and began a series of heretical changes. He required vegetarianism, changed the Khalsa salute from "Waheguru ji ka khalsa, Waheguru ji ki fateh" (God's khalsa, God's victory) to "Fateh darshan" (facing victory), and made his followers treat him as a Guru. Thus was formed the Bandai Khalsa, which persisted even after Banda's death.

The opposition to this was known as the Tat Khalsa. After the assassination of the Mughal Emperor in 1719, the Bandai Khalsa demanded 50% of income from the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple), which the Tat Khalsa refused. The matter was settled by a wrestling match, which the Tat Khalsa won.

Sikh Confederacy

Guru Gobind Singh established a direct democratic assembly known as the Sarbat Khalsa (meaning "whole khalsa"), a twice-yearly mass meeting. It was presided over by the Panj Pyare (Five Beloved), who were chosen by the people.

European travellers such as George Forster (A Journey from Bengal to England) and John Malcolm (Sketch of the Sikhs), both of whom visited the Punjab, the former in 1783 and the latter in 1805, have left vivid accounts of the functioning of [the Sarbat Khalsa]. According to these accounts, Sikhs gathered twice a year, on the occasions of Baisakhi and Divālī, at Akāl Takht to take stock of the political situation, to devise ways and means to meet the common danger, to choose men to lead them in battle, and so on. The procedure was democratic. All those who attended these assemblies of the Sarbatt Khālsā, the entire Sikh people, had an equal say in the deliberations. “All private animosities ceased" and everyone present “sacrificed his personal feeling at the shrine of general good." Everyone was actuated by "principles of pure patriotism" and considered nothing but "the interest of the religion and the commonwealth” to which he belonged. After the [decision] was passed, everyone, irrespective of whether he had spoken for or against it when it was debated considered it his religious duty to abide by it.

Thus it was a democratic centralist people's democratic dictatorship. It was held before the Guru Granth Sahib and accompanied by Sikh meditative prayers.

In 1748, the Sarbat Khalsa established the Sikh Confederacy, or Dal Khalsa, consisting of 11 misls (army divisions).

[All the misls] put their loot in a common coffer and shared their exploits. There was no selfishness and no 'mine' and 'ours'. Whenever they assembled at Amritsar during Diwali and Baisakhi, they never sat under their flag but under that of Dal Khalsa. ...

Secondly, there was no high or low in the misl. ... All were equal. A Jathedar [commander] was a soldier first and a soldier was as important as a Jathedar. He who enjoyed the confidence and trust of all was normally appointed as Jathedar. Yet his wish was never final. Every soldier could reach his views up to the Jathedar. ...

Thirdly, every soldier had a right to leave a misl and join any other misl of his choice. This attitude was never looked down upon. It clearly establishes that the ultimate objective of all the misls was the same.

Cunningham calls the misls by the name of Theocratic Confederate Feudalism. But Sikhs do not hold any one as Maharaja or Emperor. The Sikhs of the misls never acknowledged the obedience and loyalty of any king. Cunningham himself has written that they considered God as their helper and support and regarded Him as their Master. Every Sikh was free. ... They call themselves Emperor, is what had been acknowledged by [Mughal Emperor] Zakaria Khan and then by [Durrani Emperor] Abdaly. Then when Capt. Murrey asked Rattan Singh Bhangu as to by what treaty were the Sikhs ruling? Rattan Singh replied, "Sikhs obey no one nor are they subservient to anyone."

Sikh Empire

After Mughal influence waned in the Punjab, misls began to grow corrupt and pursue private wealth and territory, and the Sarbat Khalsa declined in power, attendance, and frequency. By the 1770s, misls were acting independently and conflicting over territory.

Divided, they were weak, and were defeated in 1787, 1790, and 1796, shamefully forced to pay tribute.

In 1799, Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia Misl annexed all the Misls into the Sikh Empire. Maharaja (Great King) Ranjit Singh built a formidable army including Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, and even hired Europeans. Sensing a future confrontation with the British, he stockpiled guns and hired military experts.

After Ranjit Singh died in 1839, his son Dhuleep Singh was appointed Maharaja, with his mother Jind Kaur as Maharani (Queen). Around the child, an aristocratic power struggle ensued. Several leaders were assassinated in quick succession.

Among the aristocrats was the Dogra family, converts from Hinduism. Marx described them as "Rajput, known to the English to be at heart great enemy of the Sikhs." Hira Singh Dogra attempted to usurp power from the Maharani, and she maneuvered to kill him. However, both the Dogras and the Maharani ultimately betrayed the Khalsa for the British Empire.

After Hira's death, the Wazir (chief) was the Maharani's brother Jawahir Singh, and then Lal Singh, who was sponsored by the Dogra.

Emergence of panchayats

In 1841, Sikh army panchayats, or regimental committees, arose spontaneously to exercise the will of the people. Their formation has been compared to the rise of the Soviets on the eve of the Russian Revolution.

A Sikh Encyclopedia states: "The emergence of the army Panchayats as a new centre of power greatly perturbed the British authority who termed it as “unholy alliance between the republican army and the Darbar.” ... It worked through elected regimental committees declaring that Guru Gobind Singh’s ideal of the Sikh commonwealth had been revived, with the Sarbatt Khalsa or the Sikh as a whole assuming all executive, military and civil authority in the State. The British decried this as “the dangerous military democracy of the panchayat system.”"

Anglo-Sikh Wars

The Sikhs were stocked up on guns and experienced in battle. But they would be betrayed by their own leaders, the Maharani and Lal Singh.

In 1845, the Khalsa executed the Maharani's brother, Jawahir Singh, in a Cultural Revolution-style assault. The Maharani never forgave them.

"She was determined to see her own army destroyed. She delayed every military order, to give the British a chance to mass their forces, while sending [British] agents secret intelligence on the Khalsa’s intentions and strength." - Historian Ian Hernon

Marx says Lal Singh "found that the only way to pacify the Khalsa was war against England." Lal Singh was actually on the British payroll, and the Khalsa would be "pacified" by destruction.

On February 10, 1846, the Sikh army was defeated at the bloody battle of Subraon. Marx noted: "The Sikh army completely shattered after excellent, most courageous resistance, with great loss on part of English. (Much hand-to-hand fighting, one of the hottest actions in which the English ever engaged.)"

This momentous battle was thrown by Lal Singh, who gave a sketch of the Sikh trenches to British agent Henry Lawrence. Sikh commander Tej Singh was also treacherous and fled the battle. Some rumors say he destroyed the bridge that the last Sikhs tried to flee on. No Sikh surrendered, and the river they fell into ran red.

Surrender was arranged by Maharaja Dhuleep Singh and Gulab Singh (Dogra) leading influential chieftains.

Unable to pay the war indemnity of 1.5 million pounds, the Sikhs handed over Jammu and Kashmir to the British. Gulab Singh then bought them for half price (750,000 pounds).

Dhuleep Singh would move to England and convert to Christianity in 1856.

In 1848, the Sikhs rebelled, sparking the Second Anglo-Sikh War.