Culture & Heritage
Beyond belief and history lies a living culture — the sound, language, hospitality and craft through which Sikhi is practised day to day, in the Punjab and across a global diaspora. Like everything here, each topic is cited.
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The Gurdwara and the Langar
The gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship, open to all; attached to almost every one is the langar, the free community kitchen where everyone eats together as equals.
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Sacred Music
Sikh worship is sung: kirtan, the singing of scripture, is central to devotional life, and the Guru Granth Sahib is itself organised by raag.
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Language and Script
Sikh scripture is written in Gurmukhi, the script standardised by Guru Angad, closely tied to the Punjabi language.
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Symbol and Dress
The Nishan Sahib flies over every gurdwara, and initiated Sikhs keep the five articles of faith, of which uncut hair, usually covered by a turban, is the most recognised.
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A Martial Tradition
From Guru Hargobind's doctrine of miri-piri onward, Sikhi has held together the spiritual and the martial — a heritage that survives in the Nihang orders and in gatka.
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A Global Community
Around 26 million Sikhs live worldwide, roughly nine in ten of them in India. The rest — in Canada, Britain, the United States, Australia, Italy, Malaysia and dozens of smaller communities — make up one of the most widely dispersed religious populations of its size.
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Art and Architecture
The Harmandir Sahib is a building with an argument in it — four doors, a lower floor than the ground around it, and gold added by a Maharaja three centuries after it was founded.
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The Sikh Calendar
Sikh dates have been argued over for thirty years. The dispute is about whether the anniversaries of the Gurus should move with the moon or hold a fixed date — and it is still unresolved.