Word: sikhs
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...than the occurrence of violence in any part of the country. It is of prime importance at this moment that every step we take be in the correct direction." But already he must have known that even as the storming of the Golden Temple had produced a wave of Sikh anger that had led to the assassination, so the murder of his mother would precipitate a terrible reaction in Hindu India...
...succession was by no means over. Into the political arena stepped Sanjay's rebellious Sikh widow Maneka, a onetime model who had won Sanjay's hand when she was only 18. Maneka's strongest political credentials seemed to consist of her illustrious name and her acquired lineage...
...Sikh, a member of a casteless religion that combines elements of Hinduism and Islam but scorns both the caste system of the Hindus and the historic expansionism of the Muslims in favor of monotheism, unembarrassed materialism and, where necessary, militarism. Though the 15 million Sikhs represent only about 2% of India's polyglot population, their influence is considerable. They account for 15% of the nation's army and an almost equally high proportion of its civil servants. Their efficient farming in Punjab, India's richest state, has helped make the country virtually self-sufficient in food production...
Together with their language and literature, the Sikhs cherish their religious customs and institutions. A newcomer is initiated by being anointed with sweet water that has been stirred in an iron bowl with a double-edged dagger. Sikhs pray together on equal footing in gurdwaras, or temples, through which reverberate chanted verses from the sacred book known as the Granth Sahib. The holiest of holies is the Golden Temple at Amritsar, some 250 miles northwest of Delhi, the shrine that was stormed by government troops five months ago. Rejecting all idols as false, the Sikh (the name means disciple) draws...
...Guru Nanak forged a path between the two warring religions, drawing followers from both, when he created Sikhism in Punjab at the end of the 15th century. Two centuries later, however, Guru Nanak's teaching of religious tolerance was radically redirected by the tenth and last of the Sikh gurus, a skilled horseman and dauntless fighter named Gobind Singh. With his people being persecuted by Mogul warlords, Gobind formed a fierce fraternity of "warriors of God" known as the Khalsa (Pure...