Sikhism
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Sikhism comes from the word Sikh which means a disciple. A Sikh is a person who believes in One God and the teachings of the Ten Gurus, enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
While both Buddhism and Jainism were inspired by religious and social ideas that emerged from an exclusively Hindu (or, technically speaking, pre-Hindu) background, Sikhism, a more recent development, has similar links to Islamic ideals.
Sikhism shares beliefs with both Islam (e.g. monotheism) and Hinduism (e.g. Bhakti). Sikhism should not, however, be regarded simply as two older religions blended into one, but rather as a genuinely new religion. Its followers believe it to have been authenticated by a new divine revelation.
[edit] Sikhs today
Today, Sikhs can be found all over India and also elsewhere in the world. The observant men can be identified by their practice of always wearing a turban to cover their long hair. The turban is quite different from the ones worn by the muslim clergy. (in some countries, laws requiring motorcyclists to wear crash helmets had to be modified to accommodate them) and their almost universal use of the surname Singh1 (meaning lion).
Of course, not all people named Singh are necessarily Sikhs! Sikh men are also supposed to have the following items on them at all times: a comb ( Kangha), short breeches ( Kacchha] , a steel arm bracelet( Kara} and a sword or dagger( Kirpan }. In modern society, of course, one cannot really carry a sword or even a large dagger, but even a good penknife or a miniature dagger is sufficient to express the symbolic meaning.
By carrying a weapon, the Sikh is reminded of the persecution his religion has experienced and the need to defend the weak against the mighty. The breeches are a symbol of chastity and monogamy. The steel bracelet, the Kara, indicates bondage to God. A corollary being that a Sikh does not bow before anyone except his master i.e God. A sikh is supposed to never cut his hair, both to indicate a lifelong search for spirituality and aceptance for God's gifts to man. A comb is to keep the hair tidy, a symbol of not just accepting what God has given, but also an injunction to maintain it.
Sikh women would generally wear typically North Indian dress. Ideally they should use the surname Kaur (traditionally believed to mean "princess", but actually means "lioness" to match the singhs as lions), rather than the name Singh that is actually meant only for the men, but few countries allow this.
In the late 1970s and 1980s a separatist movement began to create a separate Sikh state, called Khalistan, in the Punjab area of India and Pakistan.
Currently, there are about 23 million Sikhs in the world, making it the 5th largest world religion. Approximately 19 million Sikhs live in India with the majority living in Punjab. Large populations of Sikhs can be found in the United Kingdom, Canada, and USA. They also comprise a significant minority in Malaysia and Singapore, where they are sometimes made fun of for their distinctive appearance and are very subjected to stereotypes, but are respected for their drive and high education standards, as they dominate the legal profession.
