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RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Sikhs Silos= Inscription

enlightened devotion of its language (in H. A. Giles and others, Great Religions of the World, New York, 1901). This book, like other sacred books, had its period of persecution at the hands of enemies of the religion. While the founder of the religion and writer of a considerable part of the Granth disclaimed special sanctity, he asserted his authority in matters of faith and practise.

Sikh theology is naturally based on established and current Hindu conceptions. Thus the reason for the existence of the Sikh religion is that which explains the avatars of Vishnu-when

2. Belief the world needs it, God vouchsafes a and new revelation. The new worship is

Practise. based on the old Hindu idea of the efficacy of repeating devotionally the name of God. God is one, but in the Hindu-pan theistic sense. He alone is real, all the world is un real. He is formless, yet diffused throughout crea tion. God and his worshiper are in some sense one; yet the Hindu distinction between paramatman (supreme soul) and jivatman (individual soul) is maintained, the latter being an emanation of the former. Attempts have been made to show the in fluence of Christianity upon Sikh concepts and teachings. Many of the ideas are very similar and may possibly be of Christian origin; yet it must be said that all can be paralleled from pre-Christian Hindu or Buddhistic sources. How similar these ideas are to Christian teaching may be shown by a few examples. Nanak resisted the tempta tion of the devil who offered him the wealth of the worid to abandon his mission (cf. Matt. iv. 8-10). He used to complain because when he was silent the Brahmans called him an idiot, and when he talked they said he chattered (cf. Matt. xi. 18-19). Among the figures he used was the dis parity between the size of the seed of the Indian fig-tree and the tree itself (cf. Matt. xiii. 31-32). The incident of the needle related above (I., § 2) reminds of Matt. xix. 21. Angad made the purity and simplicity of children the quality of believers which endeared them to the Creator. However, the thoroughly Hindu foundation is unmistakable. The doctrines of reincarnation and of karma are held in their entirety; constantly in the teachings of the Gurus inequality of fortune to desert is ex plained as the result of deeds done in a former in carnation. Belief in Nirvana is a tenet of the faith, and the word is used in the twofold sense familiar to students of Buddhism-absorption into the Ab solute with resultant loss of personality, and a sense cognate with that of " paradise." The sacred num ber is that of the Hindus-five, and true Sikhs are distinguished by reception of fivefold baptism and by the wearing of five article-long hair, comb, sword, short drawers, and steel bracelet. The essen tials of Sikh practise are abstention from Hindu pilgrimages, from idolatry and from offerings to idols, from wine and tobacco; women are not to be secluded nor is infanticide to be practised; the de nunciation of suttee (concremation of a widow) is emphatic; observance of the caste system with its load of defilements and purifications is prohibited; and the duty of earning one's living is enforced. Stress is laid upon the virtues of truth, honesty, loyalty to the Guru and the religion, gratitude, char ity to members of the faith, evenhanded justice, filial duty, humility, patience, distrust of self, free dom from superstition, and the recompensing of good for evil. Most of the Granth is taken up with metrical homilies upon these subjects and on the duty of avoiding the corresponding vices. The Sikh is to rise before day, to bathe, repeat part of the scriptures, and meditate on the divine name. He is to bear in mind that true sacrifice consists in be ing charitable to those who repeat God's name and practise humility. His ordinary acts are to become acts of devotion, and he is to pray for the extension of the religion. GEO. W. GILMORE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: As a source incomparably the best work is M. A. Maeauliffe, The Sikh Religion; its Gurus, sacred Writings and Authors, 6 vols., Oxford, 1908 (this translates the Granth, placing the separate compositions after the accounts of the Gurus to whom they are credited. In the lives of the Gurus the author has used the native sources, and the flavor of the originals is preserved; unfortunately, the matter is rather poorly arranged. The point of view is sympathetic to the religion). Next best is Adi Granth, transl. by E. Trumpp, London, 1877 (the transl. is inferior in its English-the translator was a German -and is said to be inadequate from the point of view of fidelity to the original; its value is that it translates consecutively; the introduction is extensive and has value). For the history of the Sikhs consult: J. D. Cunningham, A Hist. of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej, London, 1849; L. Griffin, The Rajahs of the Punjab, ib. 1873; idem, Ranjit Singh, ib. 1892; E. Trumpp, Nanak der Stifter der Sikh Religion, Munich, 1876. On the religion consult: H. H. Wilson, Religious Sects of the Hindus, Calcutta, 1846; Sakhi Namah. Sakhee Book, or the Description of Gooroo Gobind Singh's Religion and Doctrines, transl. . . by Sirdar Attar Singh, Benares, 1873; A. Barth, Religions of India, pp. 242 sqq., London, 1881; E. Trumpp, Die Religion der Sikhs each der Quellen, Leipsie, 1881; F. Pincott, in Religious System of the World, London and New York, 1893; A. S. Geden, Studies in Eastern Religions, London, 1900 (excellent); P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Religionsgeschichte, ii. 155-157, Tabingen, 1905. Some magazine literature is indicated in Richardson, Encyclopedia, p. 1013.

SILOAM INSCRIPTION: An inscription found in the conduit in Jerusalem leading from the Virgin's Fount (or Virgin's Spring or Fountain of Steps) to the Pool of Siloam (see JERUSALEM, II.). The inscription was incised in the right-hand wall of the conduit as one enters from the pool, and about nineteen feet from the entrance. It occupied the lower part of an artificial niche so hewed as to form a rectangular cartouche, and the upper part of this niche was left vacant. The inscription was discovered in the summer of 1880 by two boys. Dr. Schick, a German architect then resident in Jerusalem, having heard of the find, examined it, and had the water lowered in order to make a copy of the inscription. His efforts were not very successful, owing in part to his lack of skill as an archeologist, and in part to the fact that there was a deposit of lime over the place, and further because of confusion made by chance marks or cracks in the rock. Dr. A. H. Sayce of Oxford made the next copy in Feb., 1881, which was more nearly correct. In April of the same year a correct copy was secured by Dr. Hermann Guthe, who removed the lime deposits by chemical means, made a cast from which squeezes were taken, and in this way removed all doubts as to the actual contents of the iLScription.