Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #132

by Eleanor Nesbitt

The Sikh religion has a following of over 20 million people worldwide and is one of the largest religions in the world. However, events such as the verbal and physical attacks on Sikhs just after September 11 indicated that Sikhs were being mistaken for Muslims, and suggests that the raising of sufficient and appropriate awareness about Sikhism still needs to be addressed. This book will introduce newcomers to the meaning of Sikhism, and its practices, rituals, and festivals. The key threads in the fascinating history of the religion will be highlighted, from the Gurus and the development of the Sikh look, to martyrdom and militarization in the 17th and 18th Centuries and the diaspora. Eleanor Nesbitt brings the subject completely up to date with an examination of gender and caste, referring to contemporary film, such as Bend It Like Beckham, and media reports.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Philosophy, India, Spirituality, Theology

144 pages, ebook

First published August 12, 2005

Reviews

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book before a trip to Amritsar. While Sikhs are arguably the most visually distinct religious adherents, it’s one of the least understood world religions with respect to internal aspects like beliefs and practices. And a major religion, it is. With 23 million followers, it’s between the fifth and eighth most widely practiced religion in the world (depending upon whether one aggregates traditional religions in China or Africa.)

This book offers a 150 page overview of what it means to be Sikh, and it explains it not only in religious, but also in cultural, political, and historical, terms. If one needs deep insight and great detail about Sikhism, this may not be the book for you. But it gives one the big picture quite nicely, and with a scholar’s balanced view (as opposed to that of a theologian.)

There are eight chapters in the book. The first chapter introduces one to Sikhism. Besides the basics, this chapter discusses what makes Sikhism a distinct religion, and how it has been influenced by other religions—most significantly Hindu and Islam, in that order. It also discusses what it means to be Punjabi, in contrast to what it means to be Sikh. To understand the subject of the second and third chapters, one has to know how the leadership of this religion unfolded. There were ten human teachers (Guru), and then a book of scriptures assumed the mantle of Guru. The second chapter is about the human Gurus (and mostly about the first one—Guru Nanak, with a little about the next four, and almost nothing about the last five.) The third chapter is about the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the book of scriptures that has served as the religion’s guide since the early 18th century.

Chapter four discusses Sikh religious practices--including the five K’s that serve to give Sikhs such a distinct physical appearance. The 5 K’s are: kesh (uncut hair), kanga (comb), kirpan (sword), kachh (cotton breeches), and kara (steel braclet.) While only the Khalsa (i.e. the community of initiated) necessarily practice all of these, it’s common to see at least some of these features among the community at-large. The wearing of turbans, beards (though often not completely uncut), and steel bangles are ubiquitous in Punjab. The chapter also delves into turbans, ethics, symbols, and the controversial question of vegetarianism (some Sikhs are and some aren’t.)

The fifth chapter offers a history of Sikhism over the past few centuries from the era of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early 19th century to the dire events of early 1980’s (there was a massacre of Sikhs by government forces in 1982 and in 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh bodyguards, leading to yet more violence.) Chapter 6 discusses the topic of Sikhs abroad. While Punjab is consider the Sikh homeland, there are Sikhs around the world—but particularly in a few areas where there numbers are sufficient to constitute a community—e.g. in the United Kingdom. Chapter 7 investigates the theory and practice of Sikhism with regards to a few key issues of life on the Indian subcontinent including: the caste system, gender, and attitudes toward other religions. (In many regards, Sikhism is comparatively progressive, but practice hasn’t always followed the scripture—e.g. high girl child infanticide rates.) The last chapter considers the future of Sikhism moving forward.

There are graphics of several types throughout the book—most notably black-&-white photographs. There are a few helpful ancillary features including a “Further Reading” section, a timeline, and a glossary of terms.

I found this book useful, and would recommend it for anyone seeking background on Sikhism.

[Justin Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solidly fine, but that's about it; this book is very strangely structured, and uninterested in answering even the most basic questions about the beliefs that feed into Sikh practices. It's nice to know about those practices, of course, but without any context, it's hard to see why anyone is doing them. It's as if someone wrote about the various rituals of communion in Christianity without bothering to explain that Jesus is the son of God. Why are these people so obsessed with these little wafers of bread? It doesn't even taste good.

[Amirography · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather boring book, about a relatively boring subject.
This book offered a review of what Sikhs believe. But it was explained in a monotonic voice. It does not give any useful information if one is not just about to meet a Sikh!

[Einzige · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a short introduction in an area I have no familiarity with, I can’t really speak to its accuracy but generally it provides a broad overview of this large and relatively unknown religion though it (unfortunately in my view) is far more focused on the history and lives of Sikh people at the expense of the theology and doctrines of the Religion.

The picture this book paints of the Sikh faith is one that reflects the problems with the Book namely doctrinally – it is a universal faith founded upon a rejection of rituals and religious trapping but in practice is an ethno-religion (and not in the sense of being an “Indian” but specifically Punjabi) where ritual and religious trappings are central features.

Still it’s definitely something that has gotten me interested in reading more on the subject.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 3 out of 5]

My interest in Religion stems primarily from the desire to learn about faith and beliefs, and their metaphysical underpinnings. So when I pick up a book in order to learn about a religion that is different from my own, I have an expectation that the major part of that book will deal with the subject matter of those beliefs. Regrettably, that is not the case with this very short introduction. The Sikh beliefs are dealt with briefly and in a very superficial way. Most of the book deals with Sikhism as a social and ethnic category. Of course, those considerations should not be neglected either, but this was not why I decided to pick up and read this book. If, on the other hand, you are interested in those "demographic" aspects of Sikhism, this very short introduction will provide you with plenty of information. This, however, makes for a very boring read.

[Saige · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting and clearly well-researched book introducing Western readers to the Sikhism. I appreciated that the author traced history and religious figures all the way from the religion's creation to the present. My main frustration with this book is that, in part due to covering such a huge topic in so short a volume, it felt mostly like a barrage of names. Religious terms, people's names, place names, etc. I almost wish I had read a much longer book, because the short nature of this one means that once I felt I had a grasp on a certain batch of names, the book moved forward.

[John San Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a very short introduction. On Sikhism.

[Lukas Stock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been introduced.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information about a religion I knew very little about beyond the assassination of Ms. Ghandi. There's a lot more there (obviously), and I found the development of the religion and its mythos fascinating. The book is fairly well organized and easy to read.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Guru Nanak and his successors
Chapter 3: Guru Granth Sahib
Chapter 4: Turban, Khalsa, and codes of conduct
Chapter 5: The shaping of modern Sikhism
Chapter 6: Sikhism outside India
Chapter 7: Attitudes to caste, gender, and other faiths
Chapter 8: Sikhism and the third millennium

[Nikki Mcgee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful introduction to Sikhism that taught me a lot. The historical and religious context information is particularly useful for teachers and helps us trace the influences on Guru Nanak. I particularly found the brief sections on caste, gender and other faiths interesting.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminded me why I like Sikhism, and why I like the Very Short Introduction series.

There is this thread of philosophy in Hinduism, most obviously in the Bhagavad Gita, in which people are encouraged to be renunciates while simultaneously living in the world and fulfilling the duties which that entails. Sikhism takes that idea even more seriously than Hinduism (it as no sanyasi stage of life). The commitment to be detached from the consequences of action, but also live in the world. is very nice. It cultivates a meditative and industrious culture, and a strong community (since work is done for the community and the family, not for the self.) These strong communitarian and mutual-aid-type values also make Sikhism awesome. They also believe strongly in generosity, most obviously exhibited in the Langar, where free food is distributed to anyone who stands in line for it. Since its militarization, protecting the weak and standing up to injustice are also Sikh virtues.

Thats just the values and philosophical undercurrents though. The book also talks about the history of Sikhism, from the life of Guru Nanak, till the Khalistan movement. It notes the British role in fomenting the Sikh identity as distinct from Hinduism, but this was just one step in a gradual process whereby Sikhs have tried very hard to distinguish themselves from Hindus and Muslims.

It also gives attention to parts of the Panth which lay outside the Khalsa. Sant gurudwara, and others like namdharis, and nirakaris are given much attention. It describes how Jati (caste/ethnicity) and ethnicity play into sikh beliefs and political affiliation.

Pretty comprehensive and informative for such a little volume. These things are basically extended wikipedia articles.

[Kate F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of my OU set books but unlike some of the others that I have had to read, this has explained Sikhism to me in an easy to understand format given the complexities of the subject. It is indeed a very short introduction but it is a very good one too.

[Joseph Schrock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book on Sikhism, because I had a significant interest in learning about that religion. I regard the book as informative. However, it contained so many details of what I considered to be ritualistic trivia that it got to be, at times, almost nauseating.

I realize that most religions make huge deals out of proper ritual practice, and that is just one of my complaints against organized religion. It seems a bit strange to me that organized religion fails to focus on righteous living, above all else, with emphasis on character development, and humble obedience to the Divine Will. Even though I realize that Sikhism, like most other organized religions, emphasizes a lot of ritual keeping, I think that Eleanor Nesbitt’s book might take the discussions of ritualistic and historical trivia to an extreme.

Suffice it to say that the book was informative enough to enable me to rediscover the fact that organized religion tends to thrive on ritualistic demands, divisiveness, in-fighting, developments of splits and schisms, and the willingness to fight to the death for the preservation of the religion’s status and dignity. Humility tends to show up in short supply in such religions. Sikhism, though, is probably no worse than the majority of human-built, human-validated, and human-perpetuated religious organizations that tend to gravitate toward ritual observances rather than humble and righteous living. I want to point out, though, that notwithstanding my rather harsh evaluation of organized religion, I am still convinced that Divine inspiration is the "fuel" that drives religions and religious people -- regardless of how imperfectly practitioners live in humble obedience to the Divine Will.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As stated, this is a very short introduction to a major world religion. So one should not assume that it is comprehensive. All readers should be aware that when reading a work like this, one is only 'scratching the surface' of a subject. However, Nesbitt does a superb job in so short a work of providing an academic look at a religious worldview that also takes seriously the spirituality and lived experience of the people who cherish it. Learning about their faith inspired me to think more deeply about aspects of my own belief and devotion. For example, the story of Baghat Puran Singh was very touching and inspired me to reevaluate my own commitment to caring for those in need. I wish more authors could achieve this balance.
The chapters were very well organized to cover historical and theological background of the Sikhi tradition, as well as discuss its passage into modernity and the issues it has faced in the last century with gender, politics, etc. This work superbly demonstrates that model of religious literacy proposed by Diane Moore and promulgated by many others (including the American Academy of Religion) showing how religions are internally diverse, change over time, and are embedded in culture.
Sikhism is a growing world religion (some estimates place their numbers as high as 30 million), with an increasing population in North America (more than 1 million in the United States and Canada). Good citizens and leaders of the world will need to know something about this worldview and its adherents. I highly recommend this book as a very good place to start!

[Matt Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's important to restate my rating rationale here; I try to make the lion's share of my rating based on how well a book achieves what it intends to achieve. So there's a sliding scale, in a sense. This very short introduction has very limited aims, but I found that it executed them well. The introduction clearly lays out the fact that this is not merely an overview of religious beliefs and practices; it also addresses the historical events that made the religion what it is today and the many manifestations of the community worldwide. In a sense, it's as much sociological as it is theological. This is all by design, as the author refutes the idea of treating religious beliefs as unchanging, abstract ideas unimpacted by the people who practice them.

As a well-rounded summary of the faith and its adherents, then, this was quite good. I was reading other material that consistently referred to the Sikhs, but I didn't have a good grasp on what made them unique, aside from the oft-cited physical manifestations. I feel much more conversant in the basics of what makes the community what it is, as well as how they differentiate themselves from the broader religious landscape of India. The purpose of the book is in the title, and if that's what you're looking for, this is a great place to start.

[Natú · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly serviceable introduction to Sikhism, though more accurately put, it is more of a primer of the faith followed by a sort of multidisciplinary survey, looking at the subject in terms of historical development, internal differences, dialect relationships with foreign cultures, and the overarching theme of Sikh self-identification and community construction.

I felt like I was the target audience for this book, namely, more knowledgeable than the lay reader of popular nonfiction vis-a-vis the subcontinent and its philosophy and religion, but new to this particular topic. It fell comfortably between explaining potentially new ideas while assuming a basic knowledge on other questions of Indian/Pakistani history and culture.

I look forward to reading more about the history Sikhs in the context of Punjab and India/Pakistan, as well as Sikh philosophy, with the grounding and context this book provided.

[Scott Goddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely learnt a lot about Sikhism as a multifaceted belief system - and how it is indelibly connected to its historical timeline. It is certainly an appealing religion, since it does not belief in a God per se, but instead, adherents emulate the values and practices of immortalised gurus that existed throughout history.

So its a thumbs up to the content. What would've made this book an even more enjoyable read was if it was written less haphazardly. I understand it is a Very Short Introduction, but to play the role of an introduction means to provide the reader with a on-the-surface understanding. Instead, the author dived deep into Sikhism and the outcome was that you're overwhelmed with so much information about so many different topics and issues. Less it better, sometimes.

[Mihael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has clearly, even though this whole topic is complicated, laid down a foundation for my understanding of this subject. As a westerner, who did not have a clue about this religion, except the fact that it existed, I have learned a great deal about Sikhism, including it's history, practices, diaspora, and contemporary existance in scope of today's world religions.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking to start learning about this subject.
I have given 3 stars purely for the fact that the vocabulary was a bit hard for me, a non-native English speaker, and the fact that it was too much information for a subject, and no reasoning as to why, but then again I guess there is no space for such explanations in such a small amount of pages.

[Ms. Arca]

I love learning about Sikhism and there is some interesting background embedded in this one. That being said, I found the organization / format of this one sort of clunky and in need of rethinking... at least for my brain. I do really like the concept of these short books on all the topics you’d want to know more about though .. it feels very Pokémon gotta catch em all but about these big daunting concepts you didn’t get to take a class in college about but wanted to.

[Jenn Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was only able to get my hands on the 2005 edition, so I can only say that this was pretty good up til that point. Simple informational books on Sikhism were surprisingly few and far between from what I could find, and I know that this author is an academic expert but I would have liked even more if this "Very Short Introduction" had been written in collaboration with a person from a Sikh background

[TheTeapot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by Sikhism but this managed to dull my interest entirely.

There are snippets of engaging content (history, customs, the "five k's") but it was all presented in such a tedious manner with way too much political backstory, focusing more on the community power squabbles than anything else.

This perfectly exemplifies the principle of _how_ something is written being far more important than the subject matter.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does what it says on the cover

Did a good job of acknowledging the inseperability of historical events and the rest of the context within which religions develop from the teachings and practice which they espouse.

However, even while understanding that this was a very short introduction, I was hoping for more of a solid dealing with the actual teachings and concepts of the Religion. For this I will continue reading elsewhere.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

These "very short introductions" are perfect to read to get an overview of a topic, and Sikhism is no exception. It was a bit more difficult to listen to than it would have been to read, but I also felt like some of the order could have been clearer. It definitely added to my understanding of Sikhism, however, and I am glad I listened to it!

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many of the Oxford "Very Short Introductions" books, this is no different.

While it gives a basic overview of some of the more spiritual aspects of Sikhism, the book is mostly composed of history, major historic events and markers in Sikh history, and the like. The chapters on the Three most influential Gurus offers great insight

[Nestor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informational although it would have been nice if fewer concepts were explored at deeper levels. It felt as if the author was trying to fit a novel into an essay. Nonetheless loved learning about the history of Sikhism and expanding my admiration and respect for Sikh people.

[Connor Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with a lot of the sentiments on this page. The book gave some helpful insights into the history of Sikhism, but didnt delve to much into the depth of practices or beliefs, which was a little disappointing. Tended to be a bit dry at times, but on the whole, not a bad read.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very superficial and quick reference, but can I blame the book?

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative introduction to this fascinating spiritual tradition.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is stellar. Not one that I hav rad or skimmed has disappointed.