Substantial communities of Sikhs live in the Indian states or union territories of Chandigarh where they form 13.11% of the population, Haryana (over 1.2 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. The Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent has been the historic homeland of the Sikhs, having even been After the annexation of the Sikh kingdom by the British, the latter would begin recruiting from that area once recognizing the martial qualities of the Sikhs and Punjabis in general. The recitation of the eighteenth century The gurdwara is also the location for the historic Sikh practice of "Vaisakhi is one of the most important festivals of Sikhs, while other significant festivals commemorate the birth, lives of the Gurus and Sikh martyrs. "Time and religion-making in modern Sikhism." Sikh definition, a member of a monotheistic religion, founded in the Punjab about 1500 by the guru Nanak, that refuses to recognize the Hindu caste system or the Brahmanical priesthood and forbids magic, idolatry, and pilgrimages. "Making the Scripture a Person: Reinventing Death Rituals of Guru Granth Sahib in Sikhism", pp. Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. "Sikhism rejects the view that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly regarding Absolute Truth. He built the first Guru Har Rai is famed to have met Dara Shikoh during a time Dara Shikoh and his younger brother Aurangzeb were in a bitter succession fight. The history of Sikhism started with Guru Nanak Dev Ji.He was the first Guru of the fifteenth century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.The religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh Ji on 13 April 1699. Historically, these festivals have been based on the moon calendar Khalsa Sikhs have also supported and helped develop major pilgrimage traditions to sacred sites such as Harmandir Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patna Sahib, Hazur Nanded Sahib, Hemkund Sahib and others.Upon a child's birth, the Guru Granth Sahib is opened at a random point and the child is named using the first letter on the top left hand corner of the left page. The creation of a The last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire Duleep Singh converted to Christianity in 1853, a controversial but influential event in Sikh history. 'The Sikh Religion' by Max Arthur Macauliffe. This reprisals on Sikhs were not one sided, because as Sikhs entered the Indian side, the Muslims in East Punjab experienced reprisals and they moved to West Pakistan.Between March and August 1947, a series of riots, arson, plunder of Sikh property, assassination of Sikh leaders, and killings in Jhelum districts, Rawalpindi, Attock and other places made Tara Singh call the situation in Punjab as "civil war", while When the partition line was formally announced in August 1947, the violence was unprecedented, with Sikhs being one of the most affected religious community both in terms of deaths, as well as property loss, injury, trauma and disruption.The early 1980s witnessed some Sikh groups seeking an independent nation named Estimates state that Sikhism has some 25 million followers worldwide.Sikhism was founded in northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent in what is now Pakistan. The Guru Granth started as a volume of Guru Nanak's poetic compositions. The daily recitation of the divine name of God VaheGuru and from memory of specific passages from the Gurū Granth Sāhib, like the Worship in a gurdwara consists chiefly of singing of passages from the scripture. Then, at the rising of the sun, he is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, he is to meditate on the Lord's Name. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that GurSikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. 188–190 in Mahinder Gulati (2008), Comparative Religious And Philosophies : Anthropomorphism And Divinity, Atlantic, Christopher Shackle and Arvind Mandair (2005), Teachings of the Sikh Gurus, Routledge, William Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi (1995), The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, William Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi (1995), The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, E. Nesbitt (2014), in The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (Editors: Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech), Oxford University Press, Mahinder Gulati (2008), Comparative Religious And Philosophies : Anthropomorphism And Divinity, Atlantic, Anna S. King and JL Brockington (2005), The Intimate Other: Love Divine in Indic Religions, Orient Blackswan, Christopher Shackle and Arvind Mandair (2005), Teachings of the Sikh Gurus, Routledge, Torkel Brekke (2014), Religion, War, and Ethics: A Sourcebook of Textual Traditions (Editors: Gregory M. Reichberg and Henrik Syse), Cambridge University Press, Arvind Mandair (2008), Shared Idioms, Sacred Symbols, and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia (Editor: Kelly Pemberton), Routledge, Jane Bingham (2007), Sikhism, Atlas of World Faiths, William Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi (1995), The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, Kristina Myrvold (2016).