Sikhism
Sikhism · 10 Gurus · Adi Granth · Khalsa · Singh Sabha movement
12 min read · Updated 2026-05-25
What is Sikhism?
Sikhism is the monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak Dev in fifteenth-century Punjab and developed through ten Gurus down to Guru Gobind Singh, who died in 1708. It centres on Ik Onkar, honest work, sharing through langar and the rejection of caste and ritual. Guru Arjan compiled its scripture in 1604; the Khalsa was founded at Anandpur Sahib in 1699.
The story
Baisakhi, 1699. Anandpur Sahib in the Sivalik foothills. Thirty thousand Sikhs have gathered for the spring harvest festival. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, walks out of his tent with an unsheathed sword. He asks, point blank, "Who will give me his head?"
The crowd freezes. After a tense silence, Daya Ram, a Khatri from Lahore, stands up. The Guru takes him into the tent. Moments later he returns alone, sword dripping. He asks again. Dharam Das from Delhi stands. The same exit. Then Mokham Chand from Dwarka, Sahib Chand from Bidar, Himmat Rai from Jagannath Puri.
Then Gobind Singh draws the curtain back. All five stand alive, clothed in saffron. He has chosen the Panj Pyare — the Five Beloved Ones — from five different regions, five different castes. He initiates them with amrit (water stirred with the khanda sword while reciting the Japji Sahib), then asks them, in turn, to initiate him. The Guru becomes a disciple of his own disciples.
In that single ceremony, Sikhism becomes the Khalsa — a community of equals, kesh-dhari (uncut hair), bearing the five Ks, defined not by birth but by initiation. The fluid, pacifist, devotional movement of Guru Nanak (1469-1539) has hardened into a militarised panth (path), prepared to defend the dharma against Mughal persecution. The journey from Nanak's Ik Onkar to Gobind Singh's Khalsa is the central arc of Sikh history — and one of the most heavily tested in UPSC.
Why this matters for UPSC
Sikhism appears in Prelims almost every year — Guru-event pairings, Khalsa formation, Adi Granth compilation, Singh Sabha movement. It shows up in Mains GS-I roughly once every three years as a syncretism question (bhakti-sufi to Sikhism), and increasingly in GS-II / Ethics on minority rights and the trustee model of religious authority. Interview boards probe it for the langar tradition, contemporary Sikh contributions to the freedom struggle, and the diaspora's political relevance.