SikhiWiki 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 online encyclopedia 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 SikhNet is a Sikh-centric website operated by the 3HO organization. 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 b ...

umbrella.

History

The idea of creating an online Sikh encyclopedia is attributed to Ash Singh after he had a television interview where the importance of documenting Sikh history, from both the distant past and present, was discussed. Ash Singh partnered with Gurumustuk Singh Khalsa, then webmaster of SikhNet, to create SikhiWiki. SikhiWiki was launched in 2005. The website was inspired by Wikipedia and claims to cover "Sikh philosophy, history, culture and lifestyle". The website is open to the wider community who can freely edit its pages. The operators used the term 'encyclomedia' to describe their website. SikhiWiki is maintained by SikhNet and most of the individuals maintaining it are volunteers.

Statistics

As of March 2012, there were nearly 6,000 articles hosted on SikhiWiki. As of July 2024, the website contains 6,359 articles and 10,123 uploaded files, with 93,526 registered members.

Commentary

According to Conner Singh VanderBeek, SikhiWiki provides "... the most comprehensive resource on basic terms, tenets, and histories of the Sikh faith". SikhiWiki does not absolve Sikh separatists as guiltless in its article covering the

Khalistan movement 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 gr ...

. Doctrinal discussions and debates also occur on SikhiWiki, such as on the practice of vegetarianism. SikhiWiki promotes a mainstream, normative, orthodox, Khalsa-orientated narrative of the Sikh religion. An example of this is on their article covering the heterodoxical

Namdhari The Namdharis or Namdhari Sikhs (Gurmukhi: ਨਾਮਧਾਰੀ; Devanagari: नामधारी; ''nāmadhārī'', meaning "bearers of the name"), also known as Kuka (Gurmukhi: ਕੂਕਾ; ''kūkā'' (''sing.)''; ਕੂਕੇ; ''kūkē'' (''p ...

sect, which contains a disclaimer warning about sects and cults that evolved after the timeline of the Sikh gurus. This disclaimer is followed by a further explanation warning about

sects A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

, cults, "fake" '' babas'', deras, "fake" Nihangs, Sanatan Dharmis, "pseudo" Akalis and

Mahants Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in Indian religions. James Mallinson, one of the few westerners to be named as a mahant, describes the position of a mahant as a combination of an ...

, "pseudo" intellectuals and historians, leftists, and agnostics, which it claims are "not considered a part of Sikhism". SikhiWiki asserts that these above groups are distortions of ''Gurmat'' (the true teachings of Sikhism) created to damage Sikhism. It further claims that none of the above groups were created by a

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

bhagat Bhagat is a term used in the Indian subcontinent to describe religious figures who have obtained high acclaim in their communities for their acts and devotion. It is also a term ascribed to one of the clans in the Mahar caste, with their clan ...

. This leads to Sikhs belonging to heterodoxical, non-normative Sikh sects to go elsewhere for information.

References

{{Reflist Internet properties established in 2005 Sikh organizations based in the United States