Sikhism

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ink alcoholic beverages. When Guru Gobind Singh founded (1699) the martial fraternity Khalsa ("pure"), his followers vowed to keep the five K's: to wear long hair (kesh), a comb in the hair (kangha), a steel bracelet on the right wrist (kara), soldier's shorts (kachha), and a sword (kirpan). The tradition persists to the present day. Some of India's Sikhs favor the establishment of a separate Sikh nation. In the early 1980s Akali Dal, a Sikh nationalist party, provoked a confrontation with the Indian government by demanding greater autonomy for Punjab. Unassuaged by the election of a Sikh, Zail Singh, to the largely ceremonial office of president of India in 1982, the militants continued to stage violent demonstrations. As fighting between Sikhs and Hindus became widespread in Punjab, the central government took direct control of the state in 1983. By April 1984 50,000 troops occupied Punjab and the neighboring state f Haryana. Sant Jarnail Bhindranwale, leader of Akali Dal's most intransigent faction, sought refuge from arrest in the Golden Temple.
Guru's
Like Buddhism and Jainism, Sikhism has developed out of Hinduism into a distinct
religion with belief in the ten Gurus, and reverence for the Holy Book Guru Granth Sahib and also for certain symbols, ceremonies, shrines and places of pilgrimage. Yet the lines, which distinguish Sikhism from Hinduism, are not sharp and clear-cut, the basic ethical values in the two are more or less the same. The most distinguishing feature of Sikhism is its emphasis on not renouncing worldly activities. A Sikh believes implicitly in the teachings of the ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib. of the ten Gurus, three in particular-Nanak, Arjan and Guru Gobind Singh- have left a deep impression of their personalities on Sikhism. Guru Nanak (1469-1539), Founder of the Sikh religion, preached the unity of Godhead, the obligation of leading a pure life, the abolition of caste and the futility of ritual a...