Sikhism suits the needs of modern life since it is open to everyone who is willing to embrace its practices and doctrines. Sikhism, one of the most scientific and modern religions in the world, is the fifth largest religion. One distinctive characteristic of the Sikh religious practice in comparison to other faiths is the vibrant Sikh identity, which is culturally, spiritually, and visually, able to be noticeable within the crowd. Sikhism has become principally and identifiably a way of appearance, which is the decisive threshold between being a “Sikh” or not, between being someone and being anyone. A Sikh’s identity is known as the “Khalsa”, which means the “community of the pure” (Takhar, 2005). The Khalsa is an example of a transnational religious community, which its sole purpose was to institute a military charge of “saint soldiers.” The Khalsa refers to the baptized Sikhs, who have taken “amrit paul” (Nesbitt, 2002). The Khalsa was responsible for both protection and administration of the community. According to Sikhism, a Sikh should be a scholar, saint, and soldier for God, who must live by an example as the Guru Granth Sahib outlines. Sikhs have their own real identity, which is vividly growing substantially since it possesses its separate religion, institutions, martial traditions, history, and territory. The Khalsa Sikhs could be recognized by the given five articles of Sikhism, the Five Ks (McLeod, 2008). However, how is it possible that a turbaned and bearded portrait of a Sikh comes to embody a religion whose antipathy to the worship of a sacred idol image is the character of its difference from Hinduism? This research paper, argues that the theoretical accounts of the role of the outer appearance relative to the rel...
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7. McLeod, W. H. (2000). Exploring Sikhism: Aspects of Sikh identity, culture and thought. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
8. McLeod, W. H. (2003). Sikhs of the Khalsa: A history of the Khalsa rahit. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
9. McLeod, W. H. (2004). Sikhs and Sikhism. Oxford India paperbacks. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
10. McLeod, H. (2008). The Five Ks of the Khalsa Sikhs. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 128.2 : 325-331.
11. Nesbitt, E. (2002). The body in Sikh religion. In S. Coakley (Eds.), Religion and the Body (pp. 289-305). UK: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
12. Takhar, O. K. (2005). Sikh identity: An exploration of groups among Sikhs. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
13. Uberoi, J.P.S. (1991). Five Symbols of Sikh Identity. In T.N. Madan (Eds.), Religion in India (pp. 320 - 333). Delhi: Oxford University Press.
members.home.net - Locus of resources for this Indian religion and philosophy features QuickTime movies of important events in Sikh culture.
Finally, Puar uses the misguided attacks on the Sikh community within the US to show how the body of the “terrorist” the locus of the use of power, is utilized. To illustrate, Sikh men, following the 9/11 attacks were singled out in hate crimes for wearing Turbans, their bodies were assaulted for simply being different. Puar notes the slur “monster-terrorist-fag” to note the interconnected nature of sexuality and power and the consequences for the “queered body” that are similar, if not identical to the attacks on queered “native” sexual groups.
...es.” Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. New York: Macmilla Reference USA, 2005. 2845-8. Print.
1.) Intro: I decided to focus my Religious Ethnography on a friend whom I recently have become close with. Adhita Sahai is my friend’s name, which she later told me her first name meant “scholar.” I choose to observe and interview Adhita, after she invited me to her home after hearing about my assignment. I was very humbled that she was open to this, because not only was it a great opportunity for this paper, but it also helped me get to know Adhita better. I took a rather general approach to the religious questions that I proposed to the Sahai family because I didn’t want to push to deep, I could tell Hinduism is extremely important to this family. Because this family does not attend a religious site where they worship, I instead listened to how they do this at home as a family instead.
Cynthia Mahmood’s book, on the Sikh militant teaches us an important lesson, that is, the Sikh were not always as violent as they’re portrayed to be. The book teaches us that these are religious people, who have been oppressed for over 500 years and have now reverted to violent ways due to social, political, cultural, and economic inequality committed against by...
Fisher, Mary Pat. "Chapter 5: Buddhsim." Living Religions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2005. 150-62. Print.
"Sikh Awareness." Sikh Awareness. © 2002-2012 THE SIKH COALITION, 12 Oct. 2001. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
"God Willed that as a true Sikh I should look upon all religions with one eye".
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Asani, Ali. “In Praise of Muhammad: Sindhi and Urdu Poems.” Religions of India in Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.
“Once the games is over the king and the pawn goes in the same box.” (picture quotes) Hair and beard are my legacy which stands for justice. My turban, traditionally crowned right. My temple has four doors open to religion, caste, race, and color. I proudly call myself a Sikh. Sikhism started five hundred years ago.
...ality. But together, Sikhism and Shakti Hinduism form a happy medium in which women have the power they have never had before.
For the purposes of this study I have defined cultural identity as the feeling of self-definition an individual has which is formed through a sense of belonging to a certain group. In this presentation I will be looking specifically at the effects of religion to this sense of cultural identity.
Kenneth Jost. 2005. “Understanding Islam.” Annual Editions: Anthropology 11/12, 34th Edition. Elvio Angeloni. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
...shown through Lenny’s point of view. Prior the partition, Lahore was a place of tolerance that enjoyed a secular state. Tension before the partition suggested the division of India was imminent, and that this would result in a religious. 1947 is a year marked by human convulsion, as 1 million people are reported dead because of the partition. Moreover, the children of Lahore elucidate the silences Butalia seeks in her novel. The silence of survivors is rooted to the nature of the partition itself; there is no clear distinction as to who were the antagonists. The distinction is ambiguous, the victims were Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims, and moreover these groups were the aggressors, the violent. The minority in this communal violence amongst these groups was the one out-numbered. This epiphany of blame is embarked in silence, and roots from the embodiment of violence.