Historic Sikh Battles

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for advocating, refusing to renounce, and/ or refusing to advocate a belief or cause, usually a religious one.

This section describes the biographies of Sikh Martyrs who protected the humanity from the onslaught of islamist tyrannical forces. The Sikh Martyrs laid down their lives for religious freedom for all and to protect their own faith.

Martyrdom in Sikhism represents an important element of the faith; Sikh festivals mostly centre around the lives of the Gurus and Sikh martyrs. The first landmark in this field is the sacrifice by the Fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Sahib Ji. Guru Arjan was the first prophet in the religious history of India to be a martyr of faith. Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the Ninth Guru, and Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Guru, both sacrificed themselves for the cause of truth or religion.

The Gurus kept an army and struggled with the oppressive mughal empire involving the loss of life of thousands of Sikhs. The Sikh Gurus demonstrated, during non-violent protests, that not only is martyrdom a religious (and essential) institution but it is also the most potent method of education and training for the cause of righteousness, love and truth. This is amply proved by the capacity of the Sikhs to make maximum sacrifices for the cause of religion and man.

For more on Some memorable historic martyrs, visit Source: https://www.discoversikhism.com/sikhs/sikh_martyrs.html

Sikh Battles

Sikhism was well established by the time of Sri Guru Arjan Sahib Ji, the fifth Guru.

Guru Arjan completed the establishment of Amritsar as the capital of the Sikh world, and compiled the first authorised book of Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth.

However, during Arjan's time Sikhism was seen as a threat by the state. Sikhism was seen as too popular with the masses and the message of equality, truth, honest living and charity was not in keeping with muslim and hindu views. Guru Arjan was therefore tortured and eventually executed for his faith in 1606.

During his captivity, when the Saintly and peaceful Guru Arjan was under the severest torture, he concentrated and relied on God for guidance to save the nascent Sikh Sangat from annihilation. The only solution revealed to him was to guard it through the use of arms. He pondered over the problem again and again and finally concluded that the militarisation of Sikhism had become a necessity. Hence he sent a Sikh disciple to his young son, the eleven year old Hargobind, nominating him as the Guru of the Sikhs (his devotees), giving him Guru Arjan's last injunction; "Let him sit fully armed on his throne and maintain an army to the best of his capacity".

Thus the sixth Guru, Hargobind, started to militarise the community so that they would be able to resist oppression and tyranny. The Sikhs fought a number of battles to preserve their faith.

The Sikhs then lived in relative peace with the political rulers until the time of the Moghal Emperor, Aurangzeb, who used force to make his subjects accept Islam.

Aurangzeb had the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, arrested and executed in 1675.

The Khalsa

The tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, recreated the Sikhs as a military group of men and women called the Khalsa in 1699, with the intention that the Sikhs should forever be able to defend their faith against oppression and tyranny.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji established the Sikh rite of initiation (called khandey di pahul) and the 5 Ks which give Sikhs their unique appearance.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji was the last human Guru. Sikhs now treat their scriptures as their Guru.

After the Gurus

The first military leader of the Sikhs to follow the Gurus was Banda Singh Bahadur, he was appointed by Guru Gobind Singh Ji while the Guru was alive.

In the middle of the century the Sikhs rose up again, and over the next 50 years took over more and more territory.

In 1799 Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, and in 1801 established the Punjab as an independent state, with himself as Maharaja.

The following accounts of Sikh battles are truly amazing. The Sikhs were always outnumbered but showed themselves to be the bravest and fiercest warriors in the world;

 1628 Battle of Amritsar - The first battle of Guru Hargobind and the forces of the Mughal army. Shah Jahan worried over the growing influence of the Sikhs and angered by the loss of a valued Hawk seeks to teach Guru Hargobind a lesson.
 1629 Battle Of Hargobindpur - Guru Hargobind and the creation of a town over Ruhela, revenge by muslims over death of Bhagwan Das.
 1631 Battle Of Gurusar - Guru Hargobind's horses were snatched by Mughals and recovered by Gursikh, Bhai Bidhi Chand.
 1634 Battle Of Kartarpur - Guru Hargobind and muslim Pathan Painde Khan turned traitor.
 1634 Battle Of Kiratpur - Guru Hargobind and the final skirmish fought between the rulers of Ropar.
 1704 Battle Of Chamkaur - was a historic battle fought by a small number Khalsa warriors, led by Guru Gobind Singh and his two eldest sons.
 1897 Battle of Saragarhi - Twenty-one Sikhs fought alone in the Battle of Saragarhi against 10,000 during the Tirah Campaign.

Source: https://www.discoversikhism.com/sikhism/sikh_battles.html

Early Gursikhs

A Gursikh is a Sikh fully devoted to the true Guru. Guru comes from 'gu' meaning darkness and 'ru' meaning light. "dispels the darkness of ignorance ('gu'), and proclaims enlightenment ('ru'). It is the application of the formula to make our life excellently balanced and successful."

Sikh, literally "learner", is the follower of the true Guru who lives his life according to his teachings.

"One who calls himself a Gursikh of the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name."
Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Guru Ram Das Ji in Raag Gauri on Ang 305.

A Gursikh does not cut hair or trim beard. He does not take alcohol. He never bows before anyone other than Guru Granth Sahib. A Gursikh man can be identified as a person with unshorn hair, flowing beard and turban. He visits Gurdwara Sahib regularly and is fond of doing sewa and simran.

Gursikhs are required to walk on the Guru's Path, as described by fourth master, Guru Ram Das: "Gursikha meeth chalahu gur chaalee", O Sikhs of the Guru, O friends, walk on the Guru's Path.

A Gursikh does not add caste as suffix to his name. Gursikh is a person who lives his life according to the tenets of Sikhism. A Gursikh works for the welfare of whole humanity.

The following are articles of prominent early Gursikhs.

 Baba Atal Rai - was son of Guru Hargobind Ji born on 23 October 1619. He died at the tender age of nine years.
 Baba Budha - one of the first Gursikhs.
 Baba Makhan Shah Lubana - and how he found the true Guru.
 Bhai Bala - who was Bhai Bala?
 Bhai Bhagatu - was a devoted Sikh who served the Fifth, Sixth and the Seventh Guru's.
 Bhai Bidhi Chand - was a Sikh warrior and religious preacher of Guru Arjan Sahib Ji and Guru Hargobind Ji for most of his life.
 Bhai Gurdas - was a brilliant scholar, poet and nephew of Guru Amar Das Ji.
 Bhai Jhanda - was grandson of Bhai Bhana, the youngest son of the venerable Baba Budha.
 Bhai Kanhaiya - Sikhi produced Bhai Kanhaiya, more than 100 years before the inception of the Red Cross.
 Bhai Lalo - was known for his association with the first guru of the sikhs, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji.
 Bhai Langha - is a well-known figure in early Sikh history. His father Abu ul-Khair was a Muslim convert.
 Bhai Mani Singh - one of the most famous martyrs in Sikhism.
 Bhai Mardana - was the first follower and longtime companion of Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, the founder of Sikhi.
 Bhai Mati Das - read about the sacrifice of Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Das and Bhai Dyal Das for the Sikh faith.
 Bhai Munj - was a hindu that converted and became Guru Arjan Sahib Ji's Sikh.
 Bhai Nandlal - was a great scholar of Persian and one of the fifty-two poets of Guru Gobind Singh.
 Bhai Tiratha - read about prominent Sikhs by the name of Bhai Tiratha.
 Mian Mir - Mian Mir was a close friend of Guru Arjan Sahib Ji.
 Pir Budhu Shah - was a venerated sufi pir.
 More Gursikhs

A special message to those that allow themselves to be called 'Sants' (Saints) or those that call others 'Sants' (Saints)

Please do not dishonour the memory of those above.

It is not good enough to allow your followers or others to do this on your behalf and is a sign of disrespect.

Source: https://www.discoversikhism.com/sikhs/gursikhs.html

English To Gurmukhi Virtual Transliteration

This page allows you to write your name or a text in English and have it transliterated into Punjabi. To try it out, choose Punjabi as your language and begin typing. Simply write in English, once you press SPACE or hit ENTER you will see the phonetics of what you wrote in Punjabi.

See what your name (or other English phrases) looks like in Punjabi.

Try writing a phrase like 'Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh' or 'Tuhada ki haal hai' (how are you?)

(Please note: copying and pasting a word or sentence does not work, you have to type each word separately)

ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਫਤਿਹ 

Source: https://www.discoversikhism.com/punjabi/punjabi_gurmukhi_transliteration.html

Learn Gurmukhi Alphabet

Punjabi and Gurmukhi

Punjabi is language (what we speak). Gurmukhi is a script (how we write Punjabi).

Source: https://www.discoversikhism.com/punjabi/punjabi_gurmukhi.html

Learn Gurmukhi Alphabet

All letters of a script have three aspects. Every letter has a particular shape, particular name and it represent a particular sound. Sanskrit may have been one of the first languages to group the letters according to their sounds. At one time there were only thirty-five letters in the Gurmukhi script, but later, five more letters were added in order to accommodate other sounds correctly. This need arose because many lone words are used in Punjabi. More recently, an extra character ( ਲ਼ ) was introduced. The shape, name and sound of Gurmukhi alphabet is as above:

Note: ੳ, ਅ, ੲ are only vowel bearers. So they don't represent any sound independently except ਅ as mukta vowel.

It can also be noted that most of the characters have a horizontal line at the upper part. The characters are connected mostly by this line called head line to form a word. A letter in Gurmukhi script can be partitioned into three horizontal zones. The upper zone denotes the region above the head line, where the vowels reside, while the middle zone represents the area below the headline where the consonants and some sub-parts of vowels are present. The middle zone is the busiest zone. The lower zone represents the area below middle zone where some vowels and certain half-characters lie in the foot of consonants.

Listen to the full alphabet as well.

Source: 

https://www.discoversikhism.com/punjabi/punjabi_gurmukhi_alphabet.html

Revealed - The Golden Temple

Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known as Darbar Sahib, and informally referred to as 'The Golden Temple' is one of the most holiest Sikh Gurdwaras. It was built by the Fifth Sikh Guru, Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji, in the 16th Century. In 1604, Guru Arjan Dev Ji completed the Adi Granth, the holy Sikh scripture, and installed it in the Gurdwara. The film looks at a day in the life of Sri Harmandir Sahib. It follows the pre-dawn preparations, the ceremony at dawn and installation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in it's chamber and explores the lives of the people associated. Deeply embedded values of spirituality and selfless service play themselves out in the form of everyday activities like the langar. The use of technology to consolidate and promote the teachings of Sikhi to the rest of the world is also examined.

Source: Discover Sikhism (8 Feb 2015) and Gurdwara Sri Harmandir Sahib-Discover Sikhism

Guide to Discover Sikhism

Learn about the Sikh Beliefs, practices, reasons for the articles of faith, Sikh scripture, philosophy, teachings and more.

Discover Sikhism and Guide To Discover Sikhism