nishaan@magazine

Bhai Mardana (1459-1534), Guru Nanak’s longtime Muslim, who also accompanied him throughout those extensive Udassis (journeys) across the country and abroad, was born as the son of a Mirasi couple, Badra and Lakkho, of Talvandi Rai Bhoe, now Nankana Sahib in Sheikhupura district of  present Pakistan. The Mirasan were a caste of hereditary minstrels and genealogists. Guru Nanak and Mardana were both born and raised in the same village. The…

The clarion call of the Universal Brotherhood of Mankind (raised by Guru Nanak) is verily the quintessence of the vedantic, biblical, koranic and bhakti (sufi) traditions. The successive alchemy of sacrifice for social equality and generation of self-confidence to oppose tyranny over the next two centuries made the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh transform an oppressed people into fearless saint-warriors on the Baisakhi of 1699. Three hundred years after that…

This wonderful and historic Gurdwara in the high Himalayas is at Chungthang, in North Sikkim at the confluence of two rivers Lachen and Lachung Chu, both tributaries of the River Teesta. The thumb-shaped state of Sikkim borders Nepal in the west, the Chinese Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and east, Bhutan in the south-east and the state of West Bengal to its south. Chungthang is some 95 kilometres from Sikkim’s…

There is something unique and central in the faiths that the men-in-arms professed to have made it incumbent upon men of different religions Christian, Sikh, Muslim and Hindu to have lived and fought and died together”. Thus wrote Major General Mohindar Singh Chopra, founder of The Jullundur Brigade Association in 1989, at the 75th anniversary of the first battle of Neuve Chapelle. 25 years later, those emotive words were recalled…

23rd December 2022 is in historic day for the Sikh Community in the United States of America, as 24  million students can now learn about Sikhism or Sikh faith, in their school curriculum for the first time ever. In spite of  Sikhism being the fifth largest religion in the world and the Sikh community has contributed immensely to American society in the fields of civil rights, politics, agriculture, engineering, and…

This subject has become the clarion call for Sikhism. Numerous scholars have written on it; dozens of articles are being written and published about this all over the world. I am not re-visiting this subject for the sake of it but want to share some ‘Case Histories’ which are important as they become the mirror of daily life. They either confirm the application of what the scholars deduce or highlight…

Speech by HRH the Prince of Wales I must say that I am enormously grateful to Harbinder Singh, for not only his marvelous works – I always enjoy listening to him because I learn a great deal from him about the great history of the Sikhs – but I am particularly grateful to him for having helped put together such a marvelous gathering of the Sikh community here today. Harbinder…

It might be the undisputed food capital of North India today, but once upon a time, Amritsar was a major textile trading centre too, as Jasvinder Kaur writes: Around 200 years ago, as Maharaja Ranjit Singh, aided by his legendary French generals, was consolidating his kingdom, the latter were introducing rich northern Indian textiles to Europe. At the heart of this trade was Amritsar, the undisputed food capital of North…

In his prolific writings, Dr IJ Singh has drawn attention to a very vital issue of Sikhism and re-structuring. The training, employment and wages of Granthis have been neglected for far too long. Any type of training, more so of Granthis or Katha Vachaks, requires a professional approach, to ensure consistency of quality. This quality is achieved by building a body of knowledge, careful training of people in that knowledge…