Sikhs are not only followers of the Sikh religion – that is neither Hinduism nor Islam – but also are a nation, a distinct nation. They are Sui generis, a free and sovereign people.
A nation has been defined by social psychologists:
“..as a social group bound together by a consciousness of kind which springs from the traditions evoked by the
group’s historic past and is directly related to a definite home country.” 1.
Various other factors, such as language, common allegiance, culture, religion, etc., might be relevant, but are really non-essential to a sense of nationality.
“But by universal agreement one factor is of fundamental importance, viz., common traditions and customs, memories of a common past and aspirations for a common future.” 2.
Resistance to oppression and struggle with a foreign foe are said also to further nationhood.
A glance at the history of Sikhs will readily show that in all these respects Sikhs stand out as a nation. Not only have they a common language, Punjabi or Gurmukhi, a common religion and culture and geographic proximity of their numbers in the Punjab area, but also when the acid test is applied to them as a group,
Common traditions and customs, memories of a common past and aspirations for a common future,” they clearly stand out as a nation.
In fact so pre-eminent is the quality of Sikh nationhood that every day their memories of a common past and aspirations for a common future are routinely recited in their Ardas and litany.
Thus the tyrannical persecution of Sikhs in the Punjab of the 17th and 18th centuries when the Mughal rulers of Delhi and the Afghan invaders were being challenged by the rising organization of Sikhs, and the equal treachery and guile practiced by Hindus of the
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- Morris Ginsberg, The Psychology of Society, 6th. Edition, Methuen and Company, London.
- Morris Ginsberg, Supra.
- Gill, Pritam Singh, Supra, Heritage of Sikh Culture, (preface): The author observes, “Nationalism has been connected with Hindi, Hinduism and Hindu culture” so far as Indian nationalism goes.
