List of Sikhs

KHANDA a symbol of pride

Sikh (/ˈsiːk/ or /ˈsɪk/; Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ, sikkh IPA: [ˈsɪkkʰ]) is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term śiṣya, meaning "disciple, learner" or śikṣa, meaning "instruction".

Historical importance to Sikh religion

• Bebe Nanaki (1464-1518) is known as the first Sikh. She was the elder sister of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder and first Guru (teacher) of Sikhism. Bebe Nanaki was the first to realize her brother's spiritual eminence.
• Sri Chand ( ਸ੍ਰੀ ਚੰਦ )(1494–1629) ^[1] was the first son of Guru Nanak, raised by his sister. Sri Chand was a renounciate yogi. After his father left Sri Chand stayed in Dera Baba Nanak and maintained Guru Nanak's temple. He established the Udasi order who travelled far and wide to spread the Word of Nanak.
• Mata Khivi ( ਮਾਤਾ ਖੀਵੀ ) (1506–1582) is the only woman mentioned in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. She was the wife of Guru Angad, and established the langar system, a free kitchen where all people were served as equals. Only the best possible ingredients were used, and everyone was treated with utmost courtesy. Her hospitality has been emulated over the centuries and has become the first cultural identity of the Sikhs. She helped her husband to establish the infant Sikh community on a stronger footing, and is described as good natured, efficient, and beautiful.
• Baba Buddha (6 October 1506–8 September 1631) was one of the earliest disciples of Guru Nanak. He lived an exemplary life and was called on to perform the ceremony passing the guruship on to five gurus, up to Guru Hargobind. Baba Buddha trained the sixth Guru in martial arts as a young man to prepare him for the challenges of the guruship.
• Bhai Gurdas ( ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰਦਾਸ ) (1551–1637) is one of the most eminent literary personalities in the history of the Sikh religion. He was a scholar, poet and the scribe of the Adi Granth. He was an able missionary and an accomplished theologian. Being well versed in Indian religious thought, he was able to elaborate profoundly the tenets of Sikhism.
• Mata Gujri (1624–1705) joined the ninth Guru in his long meditation at Baba Bakala before he assumed the guruship. She gave birth to and raised the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Mata Gujri accompanied her youngest grandsons, Baba Fateh Singh and Baba Zorawar Singh to their martyrdom at Sirhind-Fategarh, and subsequently passed as well.
• Mai Bhago (ਮਾਈ ਭਾਗੋ)^[2] is one of the most famous women in Sikh history. She is always pictured on horseback wearing a turban with her headscarf gracefully flowing in the wind, courageously leading an army into battle. A staunch Sikh by birth and upbringing, she was distressed to hear in 1705 that some of the Sikhs of her village who had gone to Anandpur to fight for Guru Gobind Singh had deserted him under adverse conditions. She rallied the deserters, persuading them to meet the Guru and apologize to him. She led them back to Guru Gobind Singh Ji in the battlefield at Muktsar (Khidrana) Punjab. She thereafter stayed on with Guru Gobind Singh as one of his bodyguards, in male attire. After Guru Gobind Singh left his body at Nanded in 1708, she retired further south. She settled in Jinvara, where, immersed in meditation, she lived to an old age.
• Bhai Mani Singh (1644-1738) was an 18th-century Sikh scholar and martyr. He was a childhood companion of Guru Gobind Singh[1] and took the vows of Sikhism when the Guru inaugurated the Khalsa in March 1699. Soon after that, the Guru sent him to Amritsar to take charge of the Harmandar, which had been without a custodian since 1696. He took control and steered the course of Sikh destiny at a critical stage in Sikh history. The nature of his death in which he was dismembered joint by joint has become a part of the daily Sikh Ardas (prayer).
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780 –1839) was the leader of the Sikh Empire which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. Ranjit Singh's reign introduced reforms, modernization, investment into infrastructure, and general prosperity. His government and army included Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Europeans. Ranjit Singh's legacy includes a period of Sikh cultural and artistic renaissance, including the rebuilding of the Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar as well as other major gurudwaras, including Takht Sri Patna Sahib, Bihar and Hazur Sahib Nanded, Maharashtra under his sponsorship. He was popularly known as Sher-i-Punjab, or "Lion of Punjab".
• Bhagat Puran Singh( ਭਗਤ ਪੁਰਨ ਸਿੰਘ )(1904–1992) was a great visionary, an accomplished environmentalist and a symbol of selfless service to humanity. He was the founder of the All India Pingalwara charitable society which imparts service to the poor, downtrodden, the dying, and the mentally and physically handicapped people.
• Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (1929-2004) spread awareness of Sikhism in the West. Through his influence, thousands of young people adopted the Sikh faith. Harbhajan Singh's interfaith work included meetings with popes and archbishops in the 1970s and 80s, when Sikhism was little known outside of India. A number of scholars have concurred that Harbhajan Singh Khalsa's introduction of Sikh teachings into the West helped identify Sikhism as a world religion while at the same time creating a compelling counter-narrative to that which identified Sikhs solely as race with a shared history in India.^[3]

Martyrs

• Guru Arjun Lahore, 1606
• Bhai Dayala Delhi, 1675
• Bhai Mati Das Delhi, 1675
• Bhai Sati Das Delhi, 1675
• Guru Tegh Bahadur Delhi, 1675
• Sahizada Fateh Singh Sirhind, 1705
• Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Sirhind, 1705
• Bhai Mani Singh Amritsar, 1738
• Bhai Taru Singh Lahore, 1745
• Fauja Singh Amritsar, 1979
• Jaswant Singh Khalra Amritsar, 1995

Other Religious Figures

• Bhai Kanhaiya
• Bhai Daya Singh
• Bhai Dharam Singh
• Bhai Himmat Singh
• Bhai Mohkam Singh
• Bhai Sahib Singh
• Bhai Nand Lal
• Randhir Singh
• Babaji Singh

Gurbani Keertan

• Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa performer of Sikh Keertan at Harimandir Sahib
• Singh Kaur gifted composer and performer of Sikh Keertan and New-age music
• Snatam Kaur prolific performer of Sikh Keertan and New-age music

Entertainment

Internet celebrities

• Lilly Singh
• Jasmeet Singh

Pop and western Bhangra

• Adx (Amandeep Singh)
• B21 (Bally and Bhota Jagpal)
• Bally Sagoo
• Gippy Grewal
• Amrinder Gill
• Jassi Gill
• Jaz Dhami
• Jazzy B
• Diljit Dosanjh
• Bobby Friction
• Dr. Zeus
• Hard Kaur
• Jas Mann (with Babylon Zoo)
• Jay Sean^[12][13]
• Juggy D^[14]
• Navtej Singh Rehal of Bombay Rockers
• Panjabi MC
• Rishi Rich^[15][16]
• Sahotas
• Sukhbir
• Taz

Bhangra and other Punjabi Legends

Gurdas Mann

• Amar Singh Chamkila
• Amrinder Gill
• Asa Singh Mastana
• Babbu Mann
• Balkar Sidhu
• Daler Mehndi
• Gippy Grewal
• Gurdas Mann
• Harbhajan Mann
• Harshdeep Kaur
• Jagmeet Bal
• Kamal Heer
• Kuldeep Manak
• Lal Chand Yamla Jatt
• Lehmber Hussainpuri
• Malkit Singh
• Manmohan Waris
• Mika Singh
• Rabbi Shergill
• Ravinder Grewal
• Sangtar
• Snatam Kaur
• Sukhwinder Singh
• Surinder Kaur
• Surinder Shinda
• Surjit Bindrakhia
• Uttam Singh

Sikh nationalist leaders

Indian revolutionaries and freedom fighters

• Baba Gurdit Singh
• Baba Gurmukh Singh
• Baldev Singh
• Bhagat Singh, also known as "Shaheed-e-Azam",^[17] was a charismatic Indian socialist revolutionary whose acts of dramatic violence against the British in India and execution at age 23 made him a folk hero of the Indian independence movement
• Bhai Parmanand
• Captain Mohan Singh
• Gurdan Saini
• Kartar Singh Sarabha^[18][19], an Indian Sikh revolutionary and the most active member of the Ghadar Party
• Labh Singh Saini
• Teja Singh Samundri
• Udham Singh^[20]
• Harnam Singh Saini
• Sardul Singh Kavishar
• Sardar Ajit Singh, was an Indian revolutionary, he was the uncle of sardar Bhagat Singh
• Dharam Singh Hayatpur was an Indian revolutionary, he was a prominent member of the Sikh political and religious group the Babbar Akali Movement in India
• Kartar Singh Jhabbar, was an Indian revolutionary, he was a Sikh leader known for his role in the Gurdwara Reform Movement of the 1920s
• Ripudaman Singh, an Indian revolutionary
• Baba Kharak Singh
• Bhai Balmukund was an Indian revolutionary freedom fighter
• Ram Singh, He is credited as being the first Indian to use non-cooperation and boycott of British merchandise and services as a political weapon.
• Kishan Singh Gargaj
• Sewa Singh Thikriwala
• Sohan Singh Bhakna, was an Indian revolutionary, the founding president of the Ghadar Party
• Sohan Singh Josh, was an Indian communist activist and freedom fighter
• Diwan Mulraj Chopra
• Gulab Kaur
• Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, was a General of Akali Movement
• Maya Singh Saini
• Jagbir Singh Chhina
• Achhar Singh Chhina
• Sadhu Singh Hamdard, a well-known freedom fighter and the journalist of Punjab
• Darshan Singh Pheruman, an Indian freedom fighter, Sikh activist and politician
• Jaswant Singh Rahi
• Giani Ditt Singh
• Ganda Singh, was a prominent member of the Ghadar Party
• Teja Singh Swatantar

Politicians

Athletes

Athletics

Milkha Singh

• Milkha Singh,^{[27][28][29][30]}
• Gurbachan Singh Randhawa
• Kamaljeet Sandhu
• Fauja Singh,^[31] a 100-year-old marathon runner

Business

Historians

• Harbans Singh
• Jodh Singh
• Rattan Singh Bhangu

Journalists

• Khushwant Singh
• Tavleen Singh
• Sathnam Sanghera

Writers

Models

• Jesse Randhawa
• Sunny Leone

Humanitarians

• Narinder Singh Kapany,^[49][50] worked with optical fibers
• Bhagat Puran Singh,^[51][52] founder of Pingalwara, Home of Disabled, Amritsar
• Bhai Trilochan Singh Panesar, devoted his life to sewa (service to community and God) and simran (remembrance of God), the two tenets of Sikh life.
• Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK

Painters and artists

• Amrita Sher-Gil^[53][54]
• Sobha Singh
• S. G. Thakur Singh
• Sohan Singh
• Prem Singh

Architects

• Ram Singh (architect), one of pre-partition Punjab's foremost architects

Health and wellness

• David Shannahoff-Khalsa, prolific researcher on the psychiatric applications of Kundalini Yoga based at the Biocircuits Institute at the University of California, San Diego.
• Dharma Singh Khalsa, widely published researcher and author on healthy lifestyle, specializing in Alzheimer's disease.
• Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Harvard University-based researcher of Kundalini Yoga and an authority on the field of yoga research.

Science and technology

Corporate Professionals

Military leaders

Military Gallantry Award Winners

References