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RELIGION SETS THEM APART FROM FOLLOWERS OF HINDU AND MOHAMMED. GOOD WORKS INSISTED UPON “Trouble over Sikh Shrines, cable dispatches continue to inform us, is the greatest immediate danger to the peace of India. “Does ‘Sikh’ mean a religion or a nationality? is apt to be the first question asked in a discussion of the subject. “While Sikhism primarily is a re ligion it has placed its mark strong ly on its adherents who inhabit north west India,” says a bulletin from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic Society. “Even today, when the Sikh com monwealth no longer exists, their re ligion sets Sikhs apart practically as a distinct people from the follows of the Hindu and Mohammedan religions who surround them. “Sikhism originated in the impor tant plains country of the Punjab in northwestern India, not far from the great Indus river and the mountains which form the boundary between In dia and Afghanistan; and this has re mained the region of its greatest strength. It arose toward the close of the 15th century. The immediate cause for the birth of Sikhism seems to have been the need for a protest against the idolatry, caste system, and cruel practices of Hinduism, the fa naticism of Mohammedanism, and the subjection of women practiced by both those dominant religions. “Nanek, the ‘Guru’ or Teacher, who founded Sikhi say oscuck out boldly against abuses in the religions about him. He taught there is one God, though He may be called by many names. Simplicity was emphasized Unlike Hindus, Sikhs could eat meat, though beef was excepted. “A phase of Sikhism far-reaching in its results, was its insistence on the observance of rules of health. In addi tion to eating what most Westerners regard as a more strengthening diet than the vegetarian fare of the Hindu, Sikhs were to ban alcoholic beverages and tobacco, were to bathe daily in cold water, and were not to make pil grimages to Hindu holy places. The practice of making pilgrimages is considered an important factor in the spreading of disease in India. “The five great virtues stressed by the Sikh teachers were contentment, compassion, piety, patience, and mor ality. The five deadly sins to be shun ned were lust, anger, covetousness, wordly love, and pride. The Sikh faith could almost be condensed into the injunction: Love God and your fellow man; keep a pure heart; lead a tem perate, wholesome, normal life. Be cause of these simple fundamentals it has been called the most occidental and the most pragmatic of Eastern re ligions. “At first Sikhism developed peace fully. After several generations the Mohammedan Mogul emperors in con trol of northern India began to perse cute the new sect. Under persecution the Sikhs were knitted together more firmly and finally about the close of the 17th century, after one of their Gurus was martyred, their future was changed by a new leader, Guru Go bind Singh, from a peaceful to a mili tant religion. “All men who were willing to die for their religion were given this day Usm, with holy water, sprinkled from a@ two edge sword. These, the picked men of the Sikhs were trained as sol diers, not for purposes of aggression or to extend their faith by force, but to protect their religion. After a while the Sikhs, in spite of their wonderful army, were driven from the Punjab plains by the Mohaumedans, but hid den away in the hills and held to gether by their militant religion, they prospered. When the Mogul empire collapsed the Sikhs again took pos session of the plains country and by about 1800 had built up a great Sikh commonwealth under the rule of a Sikh Maharaja with his capital at La hore. “In the early part of the 19th cen tury, the Sikhs came into collision with the British. After two wars which constituted the most serious military opposition which the British encount ered in India, the Sikhs were defeat ed and their territory was made a part of British India. The Sikhs then be came adherents of the British, and thanks to military ability, their most valuable supporters among the Indian peoples. They remained loyal and as sisted with their armies during the Indian Mutiny in 1857 and are credit ed with having saved India to Great Britain during that trying period.” A classified of. wii oof
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Shelbyville Republican
Shelbyville, Indiana, US
Mon, Jun 25, 1923
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