PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: Sikhism

Tara Singh was a Sikh leader known chiefly for his advocacy of an autonomous Punjabi-speaking Sikh nation in the Punjab region. He was a champion of Sikh rights against the dominant Hindus, Muslims, and...

Sant Fateh Singh was a Sikh religious leader who became the foremost campaigner for Sikh rights in postindependence India. Fateh Singh spent most of his early career in social and educational activities...

Guru Nanak was an Indian spiritual teacher who is revered as the founder and the first Guru of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that combines Hindu and Muslim influences. His teachings, expressed through...

Bhai Vir Singh was a Sikh writer and theologian who was chiefly responsible for raising the Punjabi language to a literary level never before attained. He wrote at a time when Sikh religion and politics...

Kabir was an iconoclastic Indian poet-saint revered by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. The birth of Kabir remains shrouded in mystery and legend. One tradition holds that he was born in 1398, which would have...

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was a Sikh religious leader and political revolutionary whose violent campaign for autonomy for a Sikh state in Punjab and armed occupation of the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib)...

Guru Gobind Singh was the 10th and last of the personal Sikh Gurus (1675–1708), known chiefly for his creation of the Khalsa (Punjabi: “the Pure”), the military brotherhood of the Sikhs. He was the son...

Guru Hargobind was the sixth Sikh Guru (1606–44), who developed a strong Sikh army and gave the Sikh religion its military character, in accord with the instructions of his father, Guru Arjan, the first...

Guru Tegh Bahādur was the ninth Sikh Guru (1664–75) and second Sikh martyr. He was also the father of the 10th Guru, Gobind Singh. After the eighth Guru, Hari Krishen, the “child Guru,” told his followers...

Guru Amar Das was the third Sikh Guru (1522–74), so named at the advanced age of 73. He is noted for his division of the Punjab into administrative districts and for encouraging missionary work to spread...

Guru Arjan was the Sikh religion’s fifth Guru (1581–1606) and its first martyr. One of the greatest of the Sikh Gurus, Arjan took over the leadership of the Sikh community from his father, Guru Ram Das,...

Guru Hari Krishen was the eighth Sikh Guru (1661–64), who was installed at five years of age and reigned for only three years. He is said to have possessed vast wisdom and to have amazed visiting Brahmans...

Banda Singh Bahadur was the first Sikh military leader to wage an offensive war against the Mughal rulers of India, thereby temporarily extending Sikh territory. As a youth, he decided to be a samana (ascetic),...

Guru Angad was the second Sikh Guru (1539–52) and standardizer of the Punjabi script, Gurmukhi, in which many parts of the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs, are written. While on a pilgrimage to...

Guru Har Rai was the seventh Sikh Guru (1644–61). Guru Har Rai’s grandfather was Hargobind, the sixth Guru and a great military leader. Guru Har Rai traveled in the Malwa area, where he converted the local...

Gurdās, Bhāī was the most famous of all Sikh poets and theologians apart from the 10 Gurūs (the founders and early leaders of the Sikh community). Bhāī is an honorific title meaning “brother.” Bhāī Gurdās’...

Guru Ram Das was the fourth Sikh Guru (1574–81) and founder of Amritsar, the centre of Sikhism and the site of the Sikhs’ principal place of worship—the Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple. Guru Ram Das...