Sikhs, a religious sect of Northern India, which became a great military confederacy. The sect was founded by Baba Nānak (born in 1469), who rejected the institution of caste, idolatry, and superstition, preached the existence of One spiritual God, and inculcated a higher moral life. He was followed in the headship of the sect—'Sikhs' means 'followers' or 'disciples'—by ten 'gurus' or chief-priests. The third of these excavated the sacred tank at Amritsar; and his son, Arjun Mal, built, towards the end of the 16th century, the holy temple, in the tank at Amritsar, which became the headquarters of the Sikh religion. The same guru first edited the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. As time went on the adherents of the sect, principally Jats by race, gradually becoming conscious of their numbers and their growing power, began to adopt something of a military organisation in addition to their religious discipline. This end—converting them into a powerful military community—was deliberately pursued by the guru Govind Rai (1675–1708); he adopted the appellative Singh (or Sing; better Sinh, 'lion') as a generic family-name for all members of the sect, strengthened the bonds of personal discipline, and revised the sacred book so as to bring it into harmony with the altered aims and position of the Sikhs. See INDIA, Vol. VI. p. 107.
On the downfall of the Mogul power, shortly after the middle of the 18th century, the Sikhs formed themselves into a number of tribal and territorial confederacies, some of which were virtually independent states. Their religious fanaticism was fanned by a body of devotees, who dedicated themselves to warlike pursuits; and the Sikhs greatly extended their possessions. It was, however, Ranjit Singh (q.v.), a young and warlike chieftain, who converted the Sikh confederacies into a powerful and formidable military power, by welding the separate confederacies into one organic whole and carrying his arms westwards, northwards, and southwards. On the east alone he made no conquests; he had in 1809 concluded a treaty of peace with the British, whose authority reached to the Sutlej, which was the eastern boundary of the Sikh dominions. This agreement Ranjit faithfully kept; but at his death he left an army of 124,000 men, animated by a warlike spirit and inspired by religious enthusiasm—a force that had been thoroughly organised and drilled by French officers on the European system. But there was none amongst his immediate descendants capable of taking up the sceptre he let fall, and wielding it with the same energy and skill. Amid the anarchy that followed his death, the soldiers of his armies clamoured to be led against the forces of the British; and accordingly in December 1845 they crossed the Sutlej and invaded British territory.
Their advance guard was, however, routed by Sir Hugh Gough at Mudki (18th December), though not without heavy loss to the British, 'Fighting Bob' Sale being amongst the slain. The main body entrenched themselves at Firozshah, 12 miles east of the river; but their camp was stormed, after two days' desperate fighting, by Sir Hugh Gough and Sir Henry Hardinge (governor-general) on December 21st and 22d. Another Sikh army that crossed the river was defeated and driven back by Sir Harry Smith, at Aliwal (28th January 1846); and on 10th February Gough and Hardinge totally crushed and dispersed the Sikh forces at Sobraon. The British at once captured Lahore, and on the 9th March following peace was signed between the combatant parties, the Sikhs ceding the districts between the rivers Sutlej and Ravi, and subsequently, in lieu of a money indemnity, Cashmere, the hill-country of Hazara, and some other portions of territory.
Two years later war broke out again, caused, as the first conflict was, by Sikh fanaticism: two British officers were massacred at Multan in April 1848. And although Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes attempted to check the movement at its beginning, the war became general. Multan was taken; but the battle of Chillianwala (13th January 1849) was left undecided, in spite of very heavy losses on the British side. At Gujrat, however, on 21st February, Gough finally crushed the Sikhs and effectually broke their power. After this the Punjab was annexed to British India. And so successfully was its government organised and administered by Lord Dalhousie and John and Henry Lawrence that on the outbreak of the Mutiny the Sikhs not only refrained from joining the rebel sepoys, but lent very material assistance in quelling that formidable outbreak. The Sikhs still constitute about 6 per cent. of the population of the Punjab; and there are connected with the Punjab government fifteen protected Sikh states, of which Patiala is the principal. In 1891 the Sikhs numbered 1,907,836.
See J. D. Cunningham, History of the Sikhs (1849); Sir J. Malcolm, Sketch of the Sikhs (1812); Trumpp, The Adi Granth (Lond. 1877), and Die Religion der Sikhs (Leip. 1881); Gough and Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh War (1897).