SI GUMPAR

[s. 697] : A village in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, situated on the W. coast of Toba Lake. Station of the Rhenish Mi ionary Society, with 2 mi ionaries and their wives, 82 native workers, 13 outstations, 14 day schools, and 1,997 profe ed Christians, of whom 953 are communicants. SIH-CHAU. SI-HSIANG. See Hst-chau See Hsi-hsiang-hsien SIKHS: A sect of British India, numbering (in 1901) 2,195,268, of whom 2,102,896 were resident in the Punjab, where they form about 8 per cent, of the population, and where six tributary states are under Sikh rulers. Their founder, Baba Nanak (1469-1539), born near Lahore, was a contemporary of Luther, and, like him, a religious reformer. As a youth he was of a pious, contemplative disposition, and devoted his early manhood to a study of the rival creeds prevailing in India the Hindu and Mohammedan. Not finding satisfaction, he became a pilgrim in search of truth, but returned to his own country in the conviction that he had failed to find God in any of the creeds. Laying aside the character of an ascetic, he led an ordinary life, reared a family, and preached the one invisible God, the Creator, calling upon people of all religions to: seek knowledge of God, to worship Him, to find salvation in living righteously, and in doing good works, as God desires, and to be tolerant of the failings of others. By what he deemed unimportant conce ions, he endeavored to reconcile the e entially diverse Monotheistic and Pantheistic creeds of Muslim and Hindu, thus showing He that he had never really mastered either. left behind him an unsullied reputation, and a company of zealous followers, whom he called Sikhs, i. e., Disciples, mostly of Jat origin, like but with an admixture of Hindus and He was succeeded by nine other Gurus, or teachers, the first of whom, Angad, was of Nanak’s own choosing, and was the author of the first of the sacred books of the Sikhs, the Adi Grunth, made up of the life and sayings of Nanak, with additions by Angad. The fourth Guru, Ram Das, gave permanent expre ion to Sikhism by establishing Amritsar as its central seat, and building there its Golden Temple in the So midst of the Tank or Pool of Immortality. far the counsel of Nanak, to avoid political complications, had been followed, but Arjun, the fifth Guru, systematized the theocracy, collected taxes, and a umed something of the state of a himself, Mohammedans. The unity of the Sikhs was further cemented and strengthened by the growing enmity with the Muslim power, which persecuted them bitterly. Finally, their tenth and last Guru, secular ruler. Govind, at the close of the 17th century, organized the Sikhs into a military brotherhood, the Khalsa, and said his followers should no longer be called Sikhs, but Singhs, i. e., lions, or fighters. He relaxed the restrictions regarding food, per- Slang-cli’ens Slkba mitting them to eat meat, instituted an initiatory rite of baptism, forbade the cutting of hair or beard, gambling and smoking, taught disregard Hindu and Mohammedan Scriptures, priests, and ceremonies, and instilled into the people a spirit of hostility which made the Punjab, durmg the next hundred years, an arena of bloodshed. The fortunes of the Sikhs were various until the decline of the Mogul dynasty, and the rise, at the beginning of the 19th century, of of their great leader, Runjeet Singh, who brought the region from the Sutlej to the Him a lay as under his sway. He abandoned fierce intolerance for indifference to religion, except in so far as religious zeal was useful to his political ends. Every male Sikh was enrolled as a soldier. He was ever true to his alUance with the English, and the Sikh regiments were an invaluable aid in putting down the Sepoy rebellion. After Runall jeet Singh’s death, the Sikhs entered with upon war and, being defeated, Sikh in English sovereignty over the Punjab. The Sikh regiments, true to their history, now constitute the best and bravest soldiers in the Anglo-Indian army, but the majority of the Sikhs have returned to agriculture and other peaceful pursuits, and are the most industrious race in the Punjab, where, despite their relatively small numbers and their lagging behind other races in taking advantage of educational opportunities, they exercise a leading influence. They are a people marked by their symmetry, comeline , and courage; simple, sincere, and warm-hearted; lovable, receptive to kindne , and they render loyal service to those whom they trust. They are on a par with the rest of the population in morality, and are free from caste prejudice. Drunkenne is a prevalent vice, especially among the upper cla . The subjugation and pacification of the Punjab, which ended the Sikh dominion, was accomplished by that company of great Christian soldiers and civilians, Hardinge, Edwardes, Cust, William Martin, and It pre the brothers John and Henry Lawrence. sents the one conspicuous instance in Indian history of a body of British rulers going to work definitely as Christian men, confe ing Christ before the world, and not shrinking from energetic action for the evangelization of the people, tho never false to those great principles of religious tolerance which the government profe es. It was they who first established the Church Mi ionary Society in the Punjab, the officers raising a subscription as a thank-offering for victory, and supporting, with large contributions, their appeal Amritsar wag to the CMS to enter the field. occupied as a station in 1852, and other points building church, the officers school, soon after, and mi ion house, and two converted Sikhs At the time of being employed as evangelists. the mutiny, Lawrence sent to the siege of Delhi a regiment made up of Sikhs of the sweeper caste, much despised by their coreligionists, and usually When the of a turbulent, degraded character. city was taken, some of them found Christian books among the spoils, and on reading them, asked the English officers for Christian instruction. They were referred to the CMS mi ionaries at Amritsar, and as a result several received bap It looked at one time as tho a whole tism. regiment, and perhaps two, would become Christians, but the opportunity was lost through the interference of the Calcutta authorities, who forbade the officers to further the conversion of the English, dominion disappeared Sipolkolon After the first Sikh war the mi ion of the Presbyterian Church (North) in the U. S. advanced from its Cis-Sutlej station at Ludhiana to Jullundur and Lahore in the Punjab, and There are, however, other societies followed. no mi ions specifically to the Sikhs, and cannot be, since they are thinly scattered among the other populations, especially in the country districts, and are indefinitely divided among them They are selves into various kinds of Sikhs. often, however, not separated by a very sharp The breaking of their line from other Hindus. national unity and their wide dispersion, the diminishing grants by the government for the support of their temples, their reverence for the natives. Brahman priests, who are employed to officiate at birth, marriage, and death, coupled with the fact that Sikhism is not a hereditary but an elective religion, being entered by a rite of baptism, seldom taken till adult years, are influences tending steadily to le en the number of Sikhs, and bring about a general reversion to dominant In districts remote from Amritsar Sikh from little to distinguish Hindu. This transition period is an opportunity that should be made the most of in the effort for Baptisms among them their evangelization. have not been frequent, tho probably as large in proportion to their numbers as among other They average well as Christians in com cla es. parison with other converts, and have produced some fine specimens of Christian manhood. Hinduism. there is now Cunning ham, History of Sikhs, 1849; Hughes (T. P.), Dictionary of Islam, (article on Sikhs), London, 1885. 698