Culture & Heritage

Beyond belief and history lies a living culture — the sound, language, hospitality and craft through which Sikhi is practised day to day, in the Punjab and across a global diaspora. Like everything here, each topic is cited.

• The Gurdwara and the Langar

  The gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship, open to all; attached to almost every one is the langar, the free community kitchen where everyone eats together as equals.

• Sacred Music

  Sikh worship is sung: kirtan, the singing of scripture, is central to devotional life, and the Guru Granth Sahib is itself organised by raag.

• Language and Script

  Sikh scripture is written in Gurmukhi, the script standardised by Guru Angad, closely tied to the Punjabi language.

• Symbol and Dress

  The Nishan Sahib flies over every gurdwara, and initiated Sikhs keep the five articles of faith — of which the turban and uncut hair are the most recognised.

• A Martial Tradition

  From Guru Hargobind's doctrine of miri-piri onward, Sikhi has held together the spiritual and the martial — a heritage that survives in the Nihang orders and in gatka.

• A Global Community

  Around 26 million Sikhs live worldwide, roughly nine in ten of them in India. The rest — in Canada, Britain, the United States, Australia, Italy, Malaysia and dozens of smaller communities — make up one of the most widely dispersed religious populations of its size.

• Art and Architecture

  The Harmandir Sahib is a building with an argument in it — four doors, a lower floor than the ground around it, and gold added by a Maharaja three centuries after it was founded.

• The Sikh Calendar

  Sikh dates have been argued over for thirty years. The dispute is about whether the anniversaries of the Gurus should move with the moon or hold a fixed date — and it is still unresolved.