The rise of the Sikhs

In 15th-century Punjab (the large region now split between India and Pakistan), Guru Nanak spread the message of equality, compassion and the oneness of God, Ik Onkār. His followers came to be called Sikhs.

The chapter is careful about the beginning: Sikhism began purely as a spiritual movement. What changed it was what happened to it.

Emperor Jahangir found that Guru Arjan had supported his rebellious son, and had the Guru tortured to death.

In response, Guru Arjan's son and successor, Guru Hargobind, began martial (fighting) training and formed a Sikh army, which fought several battles against Mughal forces.

The Guru Granth Sahib, first put together by Guru Arjan, with Guru Tegh Bahadur's hymns added later, teaches one God for all and asks for truthfulness, compassion, humility and self-control. One line sums it up: "Truth is high but higher still is truthful living."

In 1675 a group of Kashmiri Pandits came to Guru Tegh Bahadur asking for protection from religious persecution. He chose to stand with them, knowing it could cost his life.

Arrested, he was ordered by Aurangzeb to convert to Islam. Despite torture, and despite seeing three of his disciples tortured to death, he refused, and was publicly beheaded in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib marks the spot, and the Sikh Regiment has saluted it in the Republic Day parade every year since 1979.

In response, his son Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th and last Guru, founded the Khalsa: a fighting brotherhood committed to justice, equality and defence of the faith. Later, as the Mughal Empire declined, Sikh groups (confederacies) rose in Punjab, and Maharaja Ranjit Singh united them at the turn of the 19th century. His military skill, diplomacy and religious tolerance built a strong, centralised Sikh Empire that resisted both what was left of the Mughals and, later, British expansion.