Key Words

Question 1

Amritsar

Answer 1

Literally “pool of nectar”. City located in the northern Indian state of Punjab, where the Harmandir Sahib complex is located.

Question 2

Animal rights

Answer 2

The belief that animals should be treated with respect, so have rights to adequate food/water/shelter/rest/freedom.

Question 3

Bandi Chhor Diwas

Answer 3

A festival where Sikhs celebrate the release of Guru Hargobind from prison.

Question 4

Caste

Answer 4

A ranked, birth-ascribed group which determines social standing and occupation.

Question 5

Gatka

Answer 5

The Sikh martial art form.

Question 6

Gurpurb

Answer 6

A festival to mark the birth or death of a Guru.

Question 7

Hola Mohall

Answer 7

A Sikh adaptation of the Hindu spring festival of Holi; involving military displays

Question 8

Pilgrimage

Answer 8

A journey taken to a place of religious importance.

Question 9

Vaisakhi

Answer 9

The Sikh festival marking the start of the new year; it also remembers the foundation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699

Question 10

Zafarnama

Answer 10

A letter written by Guru Gobind Singh to the Mughal emperor; it is the basis of many Sikh beliefs about war.

Question 11

Dominion

Answer 11

Belief that humans have been given control/change of the world.

Question 12

Stewardship

Answer 12

Duty given by god to mankind to look after the created world, and all life within it.

Question 13

Conventional warfare

Answer 13

War fought using “ordinary” weapons, i.e. those covered by the Geneva Conventions.

Question 14

Just war

Answer 14

Set of rules for fighting a war in a way acceptable to God, used in Christianity as well as Sikhism.

Question 15

Pacifism

Answer 15

The belief that all violence is wrong, which then affects all behaviors.

Question 16

Dharam Yudh

Answer 16

War in defence of righteousness

Question 17

Mughal Empire

Answer 17

An empire that extended over large parts of the Indian subcontinent and Afganistan, established and ruled by the Muslim Persianate.

Question 18

Sant Sipahi

Answer 18

Literally means “saint soldier”. Guru Hargobind decreed that Sikhs should be devoted to the teaching of the Gurus and prepared to take up arms and in self-defence and defence of the oppressed

Question 19

Atma

Answer 19

The “divine spark”; our soul.

Question 20

Ethics

Answer 20

This term comes from the Greek word ethikos, meaning custom or habit. It refers to a branch of moral philosophy that aims to determine the meaning of right and wrong.

Question 21

Principle of utility

Answer 21

This states that an action is right if it produces “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”

Question 22

Mukhti

Answer 22

Ultimate goal of human life- liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth

Question 23

Reincarnation

Answer 23

The belief that when you die you are reborn into another physical being.

Question 24

Rahit Maryada

Answer 24

Sikh code of conduct

Question 25

Vivisection

Answer 25

Vivisection includes the latin root sect, meaning cut. The practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research.

Question 26

Akhand Path

Answer 26

Unbroken 48-hour reading of the entire GGS

Question 27

Moh

Answer 27

Being too attached to the world

Question 28

Lobh

Answer 28

Greed

Question 29

Pacifist

Answer 29

A person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable.

Question 30

Conscientious objector

Answer 30

An individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion