Monday, June 14, 2010

Sikhism


Sikhism- with over 20 million followers and ranking 5th in the worlds largest religion. Sikhism preaches a message of devotion and remembrance of God at all times, truthful living, equality of mankind and denounces superstitions and blind rituals. Sikhism is open to all through the teachings of its 10 Gurus enshrined in the Sikh Holy Book and Living Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib according to http://www.sikhs.org/

Hinduism- Over a billion followers, ranked 3rd in the worlds largest religion. Hinduism is a conglomeration of religious, philosophical, and cultural ideas and practices that originated in India, characterized by the belief in reincarnation, one absolute being of multiple manifestations, the law of cause and effect, following the path of righteousness, and the desire for liberation from the cycle of births. If you would like to read more on Hinduism check out
http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/p/hinduismbasics.htm.

In India, Sikhs are considered the minority group because they constitute 2% and is out numbered by the Hindus. Sikhism has influences from Hinduism, arose a seperate religion over some 500 yrs ago.

According to http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/29825 it is stated that Hindus belived in many god(polytheistic) while Sikhs recognises one holy book which is the Granth and believe in only one god
Hindus-worship murti (idol), some emphazises on strict vegetarian,
Sikhs-do not belive or worship physical idol, picture, statue or symbol, do advocate a stance for vegetarian or consumption of meat. Hindus believe in the cast system which is linked to ones past, on the contrary, Sikhs believes ones previous lives Karma do not matter, but what does in this life determines ones status.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_and_Sikhism#Cultural_differences for more indept information.

Operation Blue start was formed in 1984 when Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (which later resulted for her assasination) ordered the military to wipe out Sikh separatist who was amassing weapon in the Golden Temple. This triggering the anti-Sikh riot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Blue_Star

9/11 plays a major part on Sikh discrimation here in the West, because they appear to be Muslim alike and is proving to be a persistant problem. The following link are actuall stories of discrimination against sikhs after 9/11 http://www.sikhspectrum.com/112006/denise.htm

Sikhs do face horrible cases of racial discrimination, they also deal with issues regarding stereotyping that arise from radical behavior, attitudes and actions differing from the "norm" of any one society, and religious discrimination which pit them against individuals in their own homeland.
The caste system has been abolished by the indian constitution, but discrimination tend to exist in the smaller villages in India. In the Indian community an individual last name represented their cast but in 1699 Sikh women were given the last name Kaur and men Singh which initiated the end of the caste system social stratification and much of the Hindu rituals and legalism. The link below has more detailed information http://www.sikhwomen.com/equality/kaursignificance.htm

Sikhs today are part of the indian government, engineers, doctors, lawyers and most of are in agriculture, sportsment. They are also statiscally the wealthiest in the state of Punjab actually India's largest company Ranbaxy Laboratories is ran by the Sikhs.

2 comments:

  1. I know almost nothing about Sikhism, this was very informative. I was wondering, how are Sikh people represented in Canada? And is there anywhere in the world where Sikh's aren't the minority?

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  2. I got some insights from my friend who is a sikh and he said that here in canada they are treated fairly and he has never had a problem. He did say here they are more likely to consume alcohol, parties, indulge in sexual relationships while still wearing a turban. The cloth like hat around thier head which is very sacred in their religion. I think the same goes to Europe where the Sikh population is higher.

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