SikhNet is a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

-centric website operated by the

3HO 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization), also known as Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere or Sikh Dharma International, is a controversial American organization founded in 1969 by Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, also called "Yogi Bhajan". SikhNet is a tax exempt 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation in the U.S.A. It caters to what it has termed as the "cyber ''sangat''" ("cyber congregation").

History

Bulletin board system

The origins of SikhNet can be traced back to a

bulletin board system A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running list of BBS software, software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user perfor ...

(BBS) created by Guruka Singh, launched in 1983. Harbhajan Kaur and Mahan Singh in Millis, Massachusetts were the coordinators of the early SikhNet BBS. The server operated through

GEnie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

with a 300

baud In telecommunications and electronics, baud (; symbol: Bd) is a common unit of measurement of symbol rate, which is one of the components that determine the speed of communication over a data channel. It is the unit for symbol rate or modulat ...

connection. In February 1986, the SikhNet BBS server was upgraded and went online with a 10 Mhz IBM XT clone computer with a 1200 baud (later 9600 baud) modem. The SikhNet BBS was an early version of the open-source BBS software (RBBS v.15) that was hacked for customization purposes. There were around 100 users, with 20 of them being regulars. The SikhNet BBS's log-on screen contained artwork of a

Khanda Khanda may refer to: Places * Khanda, Sonipat, a large historical village in Sonipat district of Haryana, India * Khanda, Jind, a village in Jind district of Haryana, India * Khanda Kheri, a village in Hansi Tehsil of Hisar district of Haryana, ...

symbol made using

ASCII art ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) character (computing), characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCI ...

. A Clipper program was created by Ravi Har Singh Khalsa for accessing SikhNet, it was known as SikhNet-Zapper. The BBS contained a prototype-discussion forum and announcements from 3HO & Sikh Dharma International were posted for the users to view. There were also transcript recordings of

Yogi Bhajan Yogi Bhajan (born Harbhajan Singh Puri) (August 26, 1929 – October 6, 2004), also known as Siri Singh Sahib to his followers, was an American entrepreneur, yoga guru, and putative spiritual teacher. He introduced his version of Kundalin ...

's lectures and talks stored on the BBS and daily quotations of the

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...

were displayed. The host-computer of the server shifted from Columbus, Ohio to Yosemite, California to Espanola, New Mexico, mirroring the moves of Guruka Singh and his family. The SikhNet BBS became defunct in October 1994 after Guruka Singh could no longer serve as the Sysop (System Operator), thus the SikhNet BBS was taken offline.

Website

The SikhNet website was founded by Gurumustuk Singh Khalsa on 15 April 1996, coinciding with the

Vaisakhi Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi or Mesadi, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April or sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Punjab and Northern In ...

celebrations for that year. The website was founded for the purpose of education both Sikhs and non-Sikhs on the tenets of the Sikh religion in a user-friendly, peaceful, accessible, and faith-friendly manner. The website adopted the same name as the predecessor BBS system. Gurumustuk created the original

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

SikhNet website pages whilst in his early 20's for the purpose of providing a cyber space where Sikh youth from around the world could interact, hold dialogue, and support one another. The website sees itself as an avenue outside of the traditional familial and gurdwara spaces where Sikh communities could engage with each-other. The website currently has 16 employees, whom are based in the United States, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and Peru. The website relies on donations, from its userbase, sponsors, and grantors, to operate. The website serves as a clearing house for news articles and information on Sikh topics. The website hosts many features where Sikh liturgical texts can be examined by users. Furthermore, turban-tying tutorials can be found on the site. The website contains

histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust) ...

and

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

dating to the period of the

Sikh gurus The Sikh gurus (Punjabi language, Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ; Hindi: सिख गुरु) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established the religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year ...

, recordings of ''kirtan'' (sacred hymns) and '' katha'' (interpretation), and positive stories of Sikhs from the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. In 2011, the website launched an online game called ''Karma: the Ogre's Curse'', whereby the player must maintain their Sikh religion when tempted by

vices A vice is a practice, behaviour, habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit. Vices a ...

through meditation, good actions, and maintaining a Khalsa appearance.

Change in organizational structure

In April 2022, the founder Gurumustuk stepped down as CEO of SikhNet. This came as a result of serious allegations against 3HO leader Yogi Bhajan and Gurmustuk's drastic change from being a baptised Sikh to a clean-shaven man. Former bodyguard of Yogi Bhajan and 3HO critic, Gursant Singh, claimed Gurumustuk was paid a six-figure annual salary from SikhNet donations.

Statistics

The website claims to have 900,000 visits per month, making it one of the largest Sikh websites globally.

Services operated by SikhNet

* SikhiWiki * SikhNet Play – the most popular service * Daily Hukamnama * SikhNet News * SikhNet Animated Stories * Siri Guru Granth Sahib online * Matrimonial service * Downloadable content, such as '' bani'' files, ''

kirtan Sikh ''kirta''n with Indian harmoniums and '' Kenya.html" ;"title="tabla'' drums (a common and popular pairing), in Kenya">tabla'' drums (a common and popular pairing), in Kenya (1960s) ''Kirtana'' (; ), also rendered as ''Kiirtan'', ''Kirt ...

'' audios,

Gurmukhi Gurmukhī ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official scrip ...

fonts, etc.

Commentary

SikhNet is operated by 3HO (Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere), an organization mostly composed of American-Sikhs of European-descent whom were influenced by Yogi Bhajan. These White Sikhs emphasize strongly upon the Khalsa's outward form by promoting the 5 Ks, wearing traditional Punjabi clothing that is white in-colour, and the wearing of a turban, for both men and women. Whilst the website was founded by White Sikhs, many users of SikhNet are of a traditional, mainstream Punjabi Sikh-background, in-addition to the 3HO Sikhs. SikhNet promotes an image of Punjabi Sikhs who may or may not cut their hair or tie a turban or White Sikhs who keep their hair uncut and wear a turban. The website has been described as Khalsa-centric, a phenomenon described as "Khalsa-ism" by Sikhologist Doris Jakobsh. Doris Jakobsh states that the Sikh Internet is disproportionately influenced by White Sikhs of 3HO. For example, many of the freely available images of Sikhs online is of White Sikh women who converted to the 3HO sect of Sikhism. These portrayals may be misleading as 3HO White Sikh women usually wear turbans but the vast majority of

Punjabi Sikh Punjabi Sikhs are ethnic Punjabis who adhere to Sikhism. They are the second-largest religious group amongst Punjabis after the Punjabi Muslims, who predominantly inhabit Pakistani Punjab. Punjabi Sikhs form the largest religious community in ...

women, whom constitute the vast majority of Sikh women, rarely wear turbans. Furthermore, 3HO websites often depict Sikhs as those who wear turbans, even though many Sikh youth in the Punjab cut their hair and do not don a turban. Jakobsh states that even though 3HO White Sikh make-up a tiny percentage of the overall Sikh population, they dominate the Sikh Internet realm, stating that this minority acting as representatives for the wider faith has large ramifications. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, the SikhNet homepage featured a collage with the wording “SIKHS” showcasing Sikh men, women, and children with American flags, and “Proud to be AMERICANS” written beneath. Conner Singh VanderBeek contrasts websites like SikhNet with

Khalistani The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno-religious sovereign state called Khalistan () in the Punjab region. The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different gro ...

-affiliated websites that once existed in the early decades of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

. SikhNet promotes a peaceful, non-threatening, authority-abiding, and respect for politics, in its relationship with the concept of a nation-state, with websites like SikhNet serving as a "positive optic" for Sikhs in

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

References

{{Reflist Internet properties established in 1996 Sikh organizations based in the United States Sikh mass media Religious websites