Articles

The first troops to land in France were, in fact, the XV (Ludhiana) Sikhs, part of the 8th (Jullundur) Brigade, themselves part of the 3rd (Lahore) Division, whose other battalions were the 47th Sikhs, 59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force) and 1st Manchesters. They were on the convoy which had reached Marseilles on 26 September 1914, the Indian Corps disembarking the same day and proceeding to camp. This was the first…

Panjab had a rich tradition of arts and craftsmanship that reached its zenith during the rule of Ranjit Singh. Mural Arts had become common in Panjab from the 18th century onwards, but flourished in the 19th century. Ranjit Singh patronised the arts, especially in Amritsar, and taking cues from the most powerful ruler and the most important city, the mural arts permeated throughout society and graced almost every important building.…

  Since ancient times mankind has formulated customs for the different phases of life. Thus every society/culture has followed the customs prescribed for various events in life. These can be correlated to birth, death, wedding, and other aspects of life. The Sikhs have distinct customs for these aspects of life. One of these, the customs adopted for weddings has been analyzed in the following paragraphs. The Sikh wedding ceremony is…

By: Bhupinder (Bo) Singh The earthen lamp Deewa has become antiquated, thanks to the invention of electricity. Still one time of the year during Diwali, it makes a comeback as a gentle reminder of its earlier thriving heydays. But 550 years back it was ubiquitous, as well as a daily essential, providing illumination after darkness. The continued fast pace of technological advancement is soon going to relegate this icon of…

Guru Gobind Singh had prepared his people well for the 90 years of strife with the Mughals and their satraps, the Afghans, the Persians and other marauders from the north, who regularly invaded India, between his death in 1708 and the founding of the Sikh kingdom by Ranjit Singh in 1801. The fellowship of the Khalsa, the principle of meeri-peeri (the temporal and spiritual underpinnings of the faith), and the…

There are several drawbacks to emigrating, as well as a major gain. One has to recast one’s assumptions and cultural framework in terms of the new, host culture and in a new language. Such transformation is not easy. Since culture and language are inseparably intertwined, many of the religious and cultural concepts cannot be adequately or accurately expressed in a different language. Yet, effective communication requires that we try. The…

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…

This is about an institution in New Delhi, India which has been doing amazing service for our Sikh community for nearly 30 years.   This is a wonderful charity that I have been lucky enough to be involved with my whole life and I wanted more people in the UK, the US and Canada to know what fantastic seva is being done on behalf of the Panth at the Sri Guru…

There is a Norwegian TV-show by the name of “Der ingen skulle tru at nokon kunne bu” and it can roughly be translated to “Where you would not believe anyone could live”. The show is about people living in the most remote places of Norway, often with very little connection to the outside world.  Every time we watched this show, we would be surprised that anyone could actually live at…