Guru Nanak and the Origins of Sikhism

Sikhism began in the Punjab region of northern South Asia with Guru Nanak (1469–1539), born in Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. Punjab was a meeting place of Hindu and Muslim traditions, and Nanak's teaching responded to both. According to Sikh tradition, after a spiritual experience while bathing in a river, he declared, 'There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim,' meaning that God is beyond religious labels.

He taught devotion to one formless God, remembered through meditation on the divine name (nam simran), and rejected caste distinctions, idol worship and empty ritual. Nanak traveled widely and later founded a community at Kartarpur, where followers worked, prayed and ate together. He set out a practical ethic summed up as nam japna (remembering God), kirat karni (honest work) and vand chhakna (sharing with others). Sikhism is not a blend of Hinduism and Islam, Sikhs stress, but a distinct revelation.