SIKHISM. The Sikhs, literally the " disciples," are a body which was founded in India by the great religious teacher Nhnak (1469-1538 A.D.), who was himself a fol lower of Kabir (see KABIR PANTHIS). NAnak's dis ciples idolized him after his death, and, amongst other things, declared that his birth had been proclaimed by all the Hindit gods. He was announced as a saviour of the world. In any case, after studying diligently the religion of Vishnu (q.v.) in the sacred books, lie became an earnest teacher and a zealous reformer. Living in a part of India in which there were many Muhammadans, his ideal seems to have been to unite the Hindus and Muhammadan in a common form of theistic religion. He acknowledged One Supreme Lord, whom he preferred to call Hari (Vishnu), but to whom he gave also other names such as Brahmii, Govinda. The Universe is evolved out of the Supreme Being. It is a kind of extension of himself (cp. SPINOZISM). Separation between God and the human soul or between God and the world is caused simply by Mayn (q.v.) or Illusion. Reduced to a single formula, it has been pointed out that the principles of NSnak amounted to the Unity of God and the Brother hood of Man. The practical application of these principles " led to the formation of a new nationality, the disciples of the great teacher becoming a republican fraternity, which gradually consolidated into a separate nation by the necessity for struggling for the liberty they claimed " (F. Pincott). Instead of Hindfis and Muham madans being drawn together, Sikhs and Muhammadans became bitterly opposed to one another as political bodies with conflicting aims and ambitions. Nanak was suc ceeded by nine other chief Gurus. The fourth Guru, Ram-das, built the lake-temple at Amritsar. The fifth
Guru, Arjun, united the Sikhs more closely by compiling for them their first bible, the Granth or Book, by making Amritsar the centre and metropolis of Sikhism, and by ruling the Sikhs as a kind of pontiff. Arjun was impri soned as a rebel, and perhaps was killed by the Muham madans. From this time the Sikhs began to develop their warlike propensities. When the ninth Guru was cruelly tortured by the Muhammadan Emperor Aurang rib, the Sikhs became, as Monier-Williams says, a nation of fighting men. It was under the tenth Guru, Govind, that the Sikhs became a nation. They now assumed the name Singhs or " Lions of the Punjab." Govind com pleted their organization. He compiled a second bible and wrote a book for it called the Book of the tenth Guru. " In his own supplement Govind adhered to the religious teaching of the Adi-Gran-th, but he introduced precepts the direct object of which was to rouse the martial ardour of his followers" (Monier-Williams). The original Granth came to be called Adigranth, the First Book, to distinguish it from this later and larger compilation. The new Granth was to take the place of the last of the Gurus, to be a Granth-Sahib. The Sikhs have a special objection to the worship of images, but they have made their sacred book into a kind of idol. Monier-Williams found that at Amritsar " the Granth is, in fact, the real divinity of the shrine, and is treated as if it had a veritable personal existence." It is said that many of the Sikhs have now returned to the ordinary practices of the Hindus. See Monier-Williams; E. W. Hopkins; Sir Lepel Griffin in Great of the 'World, 1902; F. Pincott in R.S.W.; J. C. Oman, Gulls.