, who did not emerge as a distinct cultural and religious entity until the 15th century, are the descendants of semi-nomadic tribes from Central Asia of mostly Aryan and Caucasoid origins who began settling in about 1500-1200 B.C. in the northwestern area of India, which became known as Punjab. Until modern times, Sikhs were primarily farmers and soldiers. In Punjab, especially its upper regions, "the moderate rainfall and the irrigation based on its rivers support an extensive agriculture" (Brown 9). Historically, Punjab occupied a critical crossroads between the traditional civilizations of the Indian subcontinent to the south and the east and Greek, Mongol, Persian, Afghan, Arab and other invaders from the northwest. Consequently, its inhabitants developed a strong martial tradition, what Glastris calls "a certain comfort with weapons and violence" (13), and became the "defenders of India's Hindus against Muslim tyranny" (Gupte Vengeance 121).
Sikhism was founded by a Hindu reformer and mystic, Guru Narak (1469-1539). His new religion contained incarnation, karma and other elements of Hinduism. It also incorporated Islamic concepts of monotheism and brotherhood and rejected the Hindu caste system. The Sikhs were persecuted by the Mogul (Muslim) rulers of India. To survive, they established in 1699 under the loth guru, Gobind Singh (lion), and his disciples (Sikhs) "an army of righteous soldier-saints to fight for the righteous cause" of the pure (Khalsa) (Mehta 466). They were commanded not to shave their hair or cut their beards and to follow other distinctive customs. Their battle cry was "The Khalsa shall rule!" and they adopted the central tenet that "spiritual and temporal power, religion and politics are indivisible," which is at the root of the Sikhs' conflict with states based on other religions and secular states (Tully and Satish Amritsar 20).
For a brief period in the late 18th century and early 19th cent...