Sikh History
The lives and times of the Sikh Gurus, told plainly.
Ten Gurus across 239 years, the people around them, and the places where it happened. Every date carries its source. Where the sources disagree, we say so. Scripture is rendered for its meaning, not word for word.
- 1Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji1469–1539
- 2Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji1504–1552
- 3Sri Guru Amar Das Ji1479–1574
- 4Sri Guru Ram Das Ji1534–1581
- 5Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji1563–1606
- 6Sri Guru Hargobind Ji1595–1644
- 7Sri Guru Har Rai Ji1630–1661
- 8Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji1656–1664
- 9Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji1621–1675
- 10Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji1666–1708
Explore
New to Sikh history? A short guide to what is here and how to read it.
What Sikhs believe, how they worship, and the institutions of the Panth.
Route maps of the Udasis and other journeys, with the evidence for each stop.
Births, Guruship days, martyrdoms and festivals through the year.
Each Guru Ji's life, with every episode marked by how well the evidence supports it.
The sakhis and traditions, retold with their sources.
A map of the Takhts and historic sites, with the history of each.
How the Gurus and their families were related.
Banda Singh Bahadur, the misls, the Sikh Empire and modern times.
Manuscripts, edicts and relics, and where they are held today.
Historic paintings, manuscripts and photographs, with credits.
Who wrote what, how far to trust it, and where to read it.
Timeline
105 events, 1469–2025. Filter by kind or person.
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
1469–1539Birth of the faith, the travels, and Kartarpur.
Birth of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji is born at Rai Bhoi di Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib, to Kalu and Tripta.[EoS]
Birth of Sri Guru Amar Das Ji
Sri Guru Amar Das Ji is born at Basarke near Amritsar.[EoS]
BirthSri Guru Amar Das Ji- c. 1499Sultanpur Lodhi
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's experience at the Kali Bein
By the Janamsakhi account, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji disappears for three days in the stream at Sultanpur Lodhi and returns with the message that there is no Hindu and no Muslim. He gives up his post and begins his travels.[EoS][EoS][McLeod]
Birth of Lehna (Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji)
Lehna is born at Matte di Sarai in the Malwa.[EoS]
- c. 1521Kartarpur (on the Ravi)
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji founds Kartarpur
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji settles on the Ravi, farms, and establishes the pattern of early prayer, kirtan, the shared kitchen and honest work that defines Sikh community life.[EoS][EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Nanak Dev Ji - 24 September 1534Lahore
Birth of Jetha (Sri Guru Ram Das Ji)
Jetha is born in the Chuna Mandi quarter of Lahore.[EoS]
BirthSri Guru Ram Das Ji
Building a community
1539–1606Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji to Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji: script, towns, scripture, and the first martyrdom.
Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji succeeds Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Having nominated Lehna on 13 June and renamed him Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji installs him a few days before passing away at Kartarpur on 7 September 1539.[EoS][EoS]
Goindwal founded
At Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji's direction, Sri Guru Amar Das Ji establishes a new settlement at the Beas ferry crossing of Goindwal, which becomes the seat of the third Guru.[EoS][EoS]
Sri Guru Amar Das Ji succeeds Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji
Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji passes away at Khadur after installing Sri Guru Amar Das Ji, aged seventy-three, as the third Guru.[EoS][EoS]
- 1559Goindwal
The stepped well at Goindwal completed
The eighty-four-step baoli gives the Sikhs their first pilgrimage site of their own.[EoS][EoS]
InstitutionSri Guru Amar Das Ji Birth of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji
Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, youngest son of Sri Guru Ram Das Ji and Bhani, is born at Goindwal.[EoS]
Sri Guru Ram Das Ji succeeds Sri Guru Amar Das Ji
Sri Guru Amar Das Ji passes away at Goindwal, aged ninety-five, having chosen his son-in-law Sri Guru Ram Das Ji.[EoS][EoS]
- c. 1577Amritsar
Ramdaspur (Amritsar) founded
Sri Guru Ram Das Ji lays out a town around the pool he has begun digging, inviting traders of fifty-two crafts. The settlement becomes Amritsar.[EoS][EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Ram Das Ji Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji succeeds Sri Guru Ram Das Ji
Sri Guru Ram Das Ji passes away at Goindwal after installing his youngest son Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, eighteen, as fifth Guru. The eldest son Prithi Chand contests the choice.[EoS][EoS]
Foundation of the Harmandir
The foundation of the temple in the centre of the Amritsar pool is laid; by later tradition the stone is set by the Lahore Sufi Mian Mir.[EoS]
InstitutionSri Guru Arjun Dev JiKartarpur (Jalandhar) founded
Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji founds Kartarpur in the Jalandhar Doab on land granted during Akbar's reign.[EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Arjun Dev JiBirth of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji
Sri Guru Hargobind Ji, only son of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji and Mata Ganga, is born at Wadali near Amritsar.[EoS]
Tarn Taran founded
Digging of the great pool at Tarn Taran is completed and construction of Sri Darbar Sahib begins.[EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Arjun Dev JiThe Adi Granth installed in the Harmandir
The scripture compiled by Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, written out by Bhai Gurdas, is ceremonially installed in the Harmandir with Baba Buddha as its first custodian.[EoS][EoS][EoS][Mann]
Taking up arms
1606–1675Sri Guru Hargobind Ji to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji: Miri-Piri, the Akal Takht, and Delhi.
Passing of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji in Mughal custody
Arrested at Lahore on Jahangir's orders after the Khusrau rebellion, Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji passes away after torture. His body is consigned to the Ravi.[EoS][EoS]
Akal Takht raised and Sri Guru Hargobind Ji installed
Sri Guru Hargobind Ji, eleven, is installed as sixth Guru wearing two swords, miri and piri, on the platform of the Akal Takht raised on 15 June facing the Harmandir.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
- c. 1618Gwalior Fort
Sri Guru Hargobind Ji released from Gwalior Fort
After a detention by Jahangir in the fortress-prison of Gwalior, Guru Ji is released and, by tradition, brings fifty-two imprisoned princes out with him. Sikhs mark the event at Diwali as Bandi Chhor Divas.[EoS][EoS]
PoliticsSri Guru Hargobind Ji Birth of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji
Tyag Mal, youngest son of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji and Mata Nanaki, is born at Amritsar.[EoS][EoS]
Kiratpur founded
Ground is broken for Kiratpur in the Shivalik foothills by Baba Sri Chand at Sri Guru Hargobind Ji's request. Guru Ji moves there in 1635.[EoS][EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Hargobind Ji- 16 January 1630Kiratpur
Birth of Sri Guru Har Rai Ji
Sri Guru Har Rai Ji, grandson of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji, is born at Kiratpur.[EoS]
BirthSri Guru Har Rai Ji Battle of Amritsar
A quarrel over a hunting hawk leads to a clash between Sri Guru Hargobind Ji's men and a Mughal detachment near Amritsar, the first of several armed encounters.[EoS]
BattleSri Guru Hargobind JiBattle of Kartarpur
Painda Khan, once Guru Ji's follower, leads a Mughal force against Sri Guru Hargobind Ji at Kartarpur in the Jalandhar Doab and is killed. Guru Ji then withdraws to Kiratpur.[EoS][EoS]
Sri Guru Har Rai Ji succeeds Sri Guru Hargobind Ji
Sri Guru Hargobind Ji passes away at Kiratpur, having anointed his fourteen-year-old grandson Sri Guru Har Rai Ji as seventh Guru.[EoS][EoS]
- 7 July 1656Kiratpur
Birth of Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji
Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji, younger son of Sri Guru Har Rai Ji, is born at Kiratpur.[EoS]
- 6 October 1661Kiratpur
Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji succeeds Sri Guru Har Rai Ji
Sri Guru Har Rai Ji passes away at Kiratpur after anointing his five-year-old son Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji, passing over the elder son Ram Rai who had altered a line of scripture at Aurangzeb's court.[EoS][EoS]
- 30 March 1664Delhi
Passing of Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji at Delhi
Summoned to Delhi, Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji contracts smallpox during an epidemic and passes away aged seven, indicating his successor with the words Baba Bakale.[EoS]
PassingSri Guru Har Krishan Ji Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji recognised as ninth Guru at Bakala
Among many claimants at Bakala, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji is identified and anointed as Guru, by tradition after the trader Makkhan Shah's test.[EoS][EoS]
GurushipSri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji- 1665Anandpur Sahib
Chak Nanaki (Anandpur) founded
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji buys land from the Raja of Bilaspur and founds a settlement named after his mother; it becomes Anandpur.[EoS][EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji Birth of Gobind Rai
Gobind Rai is born at Patna while his father is travelling in the east.[EoS][EoS]
The Khalsa
1675–1708Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Anandpur, 1699, and Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji as eternal Guru.
Martyrdom of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji
Refusing conversion, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji is martyred in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, on Aurangzeb's orders after his three companions are martyred. His head is carried to Anandpur, his body cremated in secret at Rakab Ganj.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
Formal installation of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji
Having succeeded on his father's martyrdom, Guru Ji, aged nine, is formally installed at Anandpur on Vaisakhi.[EoS]
GurushipSri Guru Gobind Singh Ji- November 1685Paonta Sahib
Paonta founded
Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji founds Paonta on the Yamuna on land offered by the ruler of Sirmaur and keeps a court of poets there for three years.[EoS]
FoundingSri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Battle of Bhangani
Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's first battle: his force defeats a coalition of hill chiefs led by Fateh Shah of Garhwal near Paonta.[EoS][EoS]
BattleSri Guru Gobind Singh Ji- 20 March 169122 Chet 1747 Bk
Battle of Nadaun
Guru Ji fights alongside Raja Bhim Chand of Bilaspur against a Mughal tax-collecting force under Alif Khan on the Beas.[EoS]
BattleSri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Creation of the Khalsa
At the Vaisakhi assembly in Kesgarh fort, Anandpur, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji initiates the Panj Piare with amrit, is initiated by them in turn, and gives the community its name, code and the name Singh. The masands are abolished.[EoS][EoS][Src]
Siege of Anandpur
Hill rajas and Mughal detachments from Lahore and Sirhind lay siege to Anandpur. Months of hunger follow; forty Majha Sikhs sign a disclaimer and go home.[EoS][EoS]
Evacuation of Anandpur and the Sarsa crossing
On sworn promises of safe passage Guru Ji leaves Anandpur by night. The promise is broken at the flooded Sarsa; the family is scattered and Mata Gujri and the two younger sons are separated.[EoS]
- 7 December 1705Chamkaur
Battle of Chamkaur
With about forty Sikhs and his two elder sons, Guru Ji holds a mud fortress at Chamkaur against the pursuing army. Ajit Singh, Jujhar Singh and three of the Panj Piare die. The surviving Sikhs order Guru Ji to escape by night.[EoS][EoS]
- December 1705
The Zafarnama sent to Aurangzeb
From Dina in the Malwa Guru Ji writes a letter in Persian verse to Aurangzeb, accusing him of breaking his oath and declaring that when all other means fail it is lawful to take up the sword. Daya Singh carries it to the emperor in the Deccan.[EoS][Src]
- 29 December 1705Muktsar
Battle of Khidrana (Muktsar)
The forty Majha Sikhs who had deserted at Anandpur return under Mai Bhago and die holding off Wazir Khan's force at the pool of Khidrana. Guru Ji tears up their disclaimer and names the place Muktsar.[EoS][EoS]
- 1706Talwandi Sabo
The Damdama recension of the scripture
Resting at Talwandi Sabo for most of the year, Guru Ji by tradition dictates the final text of the Adi Granth, adding his father's hymns, with Bhai Mani Singh as scribe.[EoS][EoS]
ScriptureSri Guru Gobind Singh Ji
Persecution and the Misls
1708–1799Banda Singh Bahadur, the holocausts, and the rise of Sikh confederacies.
- September 1708Nanded
Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji commissions Banda Singh at Nanded
At Nanded Guru Ji initiates the ascetic Madho Das as Banda Singh and sends him to Punjab with five arrows, five Sikhs and authority to act against Sirhind.[EoS][EoS]
Passing of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji; Guruship vested in the Granth and the Khalsa
Stabbed by assassins at Nanded, Guru Ji passes away of his reopened wound. Before passing away Guru Ji declares that Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is to be Guru, and the Khalsa the embodiment of Guru Ji; no further human Guru follows.[EoS][EoS][Src]
- 12 May 1710Sirhind
Chappar Chiri and the sack of Sirhind
Banda Singh Bahadur defeats and kills Wazir Khan at Chappar Chiri on 12 May and takes Sirhind on 14 May. He goes on to strike coins in the Gurus' names and abolish landlords' rights in his territory.[EoS][EoS]
- 9 June 1716Delhi
Martyrdom of Banda Singh Bahadur
Captured at Gurdas Nangal after an eight-month siege, Banda and hundreds of followers are brought to Delhi and martyred in batches after refusing conversion.[EoS]
- 1 July 1745Lahore
Martyrdom of Bhai Taru Singh
Bhai Taru Singh, a young farmer of Puhla who sent his savings to Sikhs in hiding, was arrested at Lahore on an informer's word. He refused to accept Islam and was martyred when the hair and skin were scraped from his head.[EoS][EoS][Gupta]
The Chhota Ghallughara
In 1746 the Lahore minister Lakhpat Rai set out to destroy the Sikhs after his brother's death in a clash with them. The Sikhs of Lahore were martyred, and the main body was hunted from the Kahnuwan swamps to the Basohli hills in what Sikhs remember as the lesser holocaust.[EoS][Gupta]
BattlePassingPolitics- 11 November 1757Amritsar
Martyrdom of Baba Deep Singh
When the Afghan general Jahan Khan razed Ram Rauni and filled in the sacred pool at Amritsar, Baba Deep Singh marched from Talwandi Sabo to restore it. He was gravely wounded near Ramsar and attained martyrdom close to the Harmandir Sahib.[EoS][Gupta]
- 5 February 1762
Vadda Ghallughara, the great carnage
Ahmad Shah Durrani's army falls on the Dal Khalsa and its families near Kup in the Malwa; thousands are killed in a single day. The Sikhs recover within months.[EoS]
BattlePassing The Sikhs take Sirhind
Two years after the Vadda Ghallughara, the Dal Khalsa defeated the Afghan governor Zain Khan and took Sirhind for good. The victory gave the Sikhs lasting control of the province and opened the way to the Yamuna.[Gupta][EoS][EoS]
- 17 April 1765Lahore
The Sikhs take Lahore
With Ahmad Shah Durrani gone from India, the Bhangi chiefs Lahna Singh and Gujar Singh and their ally Sobha Singh took Lahore in 1765. The Sikhs then struck their own rupee at the city in the name of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.[EoS][Gupta][EoS][EoS]
PoliticsKhalsa - 13 November 1780Gujranwala
Birth of Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh, heir to the Sukerchakia misl, is born at Gujranwala.[EoS]
- 11 March 1783Delhi
Sikh forces enter the Red Fort at Delhi
Sikh forces occupied the public hall of the Red Fort at Delhi in March 1783. Emperor Shah Alam II settled with them, allowing Baghel Singh to build gurdwaras on sites linked to the Gurus and to keep a share of the city's duties.[EoS]
Sikh Empire
1799–1849Ranjit Singh’s Lahore and the Anglo-Sikh Wars.
- 7 July 1799Lahore
Ranjit Singh takes Lahore
With his mother-in-law Sada Kaur's Kanhaiya forces, Ranjit Singh occupies Lahore. He is proclaimed Maharaja in 1801 and over the next two decades absorbs the other misls north of the Sutlej.[EoS][Grewal]
- 25 April 1809Amritsar
Treaty of Amritsar
Ranjit Singh and the East India Company fix the Sutlej as the boundary between the Lahore kingdom and British-protected territory.[EoS]
Conquest of Multan
After several earlier attacks, the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh stormed the fort of Multan in 1818, and its governor Nawab Muzaffar Khan fell defending a breach. The victory began the Maharaja's major conquests.[Gupta][EoS][EoS][EoS]
- 14 March 1823Naushehra
Battle of Naushehra and the martyrdom of Akali Phula Singh
Sikh forces defeated Afghan and tribal armies at Naushehra, also called Tihri, between Attock and Peshawar. Akali Phula Singh, leader of the Akali troops, attained martyrdom in the charge.[EoS][Gupta][Web]
- 30 April 1837Jamrud
Battle of Jamrud and the martyrdom of Hari Singh Nalwa
An Afghan army attacked the Sikh fort of Jamrud at the mouth of the Khyber in April 1837. Hari Singh Nalwa, the Maharaja's leading frontier general, rode to its relief, was mortally wounded in the fighting and passed away that evening.[EoS][Gupta][Web]
- 27 June 1839Lahore
Passing of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh dies at Lahore after a series of strokes. Ten years of succession murders, army revolt and two wars with the British follow.[EoS]
- 18 December 1845Mudki
Battle of Mudki
The first battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War was fought at Mudki, near Ferozepur, a week after the Sikh army crossed the Sutlej. The British held the field after a fight that ran into the night, at a cost of 872 killed and wounded.[EoS][Web]
BattleEmpire - 21 December 1845Ferozeshah
Battle of Ferozeshah
Three days after Mudki, British forces attacked the Sikh entrenchments at Ferozeshah in one of the hardest fights the British had in India. By their own account they came close to defeat in the night, but the Sikh army withdrew the next day.[EoS][Web]
BattleEmpire - 10 February 1846Sobraon
Battle of Sobraon
The last battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War was fought on the Sutlej at Sobraon. The Sikh army was broken with its back to the river, and Sardar Sham Singh Atariwala fell in a final charge.[EoS][EoS][Web]
- 9 March 1846Lahore
The Treaty of Lahore
The First Anglo-Sikh War ended with a treaty that took the Jalandhar Doab, imposed a heavy indemnity and cut the Sikh army. Kashmir then passed to Gulab Singh Dogra, and a British force stayed in Lahore.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
Modern era
1849–nowColonial rule, reform, Partition, and after.
- 13 January 1849Chillianwala
Battle of Chillianwala
In the Second Anglo-Sikh War, Lord Gough attacked a Sikh army under Raja Sher Singh in thick jungle near the Jhelum. The British took heavy losses and fell back, and although Gough claimed a win, the result brought an outcry in Britain.[EoS][Web]
BattleEmpire - 21 February 1849Gujrat
Battle of Gujrat
The Second Anglo-Sikh War was decided at Gujrat, where Lord Gough massed his artillery and broke the Sikh line within hours. Sher Singh and Chatar Singh surrendered in March, and the Punjab was annexed before the month was out.[EoS][Web]
BattleEmpire - 29 March 1849Lahore
Annexation of the Punjab
After the second Anglo-Sikh war the East India Company annexes the Punjab; the child Maharaja Duleep Singh is deposed and later taken to England.[Grewal]
EmpirePolitics - 14 April 1857
Baba Ram Singh sets the Namdhari code
On Vaisakhi in 1857 Baba Ram Singh set a rule of life for the Namdharis, who were also called Kukas. The movement called for a simple life and a boycott of British goods, schools and courts.[EoS][EoS]
- 15 January 1872Malerkotla
The Kuka rising and its suppression at Malerkotla
More than a hundred Kukas attacked the treasury at Malerkotla on 15 January 1872. In the following days prisoners were put to death by cannon without trial on British orders, and Baba Ram Singh was exiled to Burma.[EoS][EoS][Arch]
- 1 October 1873Amritsar
The Sri Guru Singh Sabha is founded at Amritsar
Alarmed by missionary conversions and attacks on the Gurus, leading Sikhs at Amritsar founded the Sri Guru Singh Sabha in 1873. Its first formal session met before the Akal Takht and began a reform movement that spread across the Sikh world.[EoS][EoS]
The Chief Khalsa Diwan is established
The Chief Khalsa Diwan held its opening session at Amritsar on Diwali in 1902, uniting the feuding Lahore and Amritsar Diwans. It was the main Sikh council until the Akali bodies overtook it after 1919, and it remains active in education.[EoS][EoS]
- 1908Vancouver
First permanent gurdwara in Canada
Sikhs in Vancouver, led by the Khalsa Diwan Society, build the first permanent gurdwara in Canada. It becomes the centre of community life and of the campaign against immigration restrictions.[EoS][EoS]
FoundingInstitutionModern - 24 October 1912Stockton
Stockton gurdwara opens
The first gurdwara in the United States opens at Stockton, California.[Web]
FoundingInstitutionModern - 1914
Sikh soldiers in the First World War
Sikhs go to war in large numbers in the British Indian Army. A community of about two per cent of India's people supplies about a fifth of the army, serving on the Western Front, at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia.[Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web]
BattleModern - 29 September 1914Budge Budge
Clash at Budge Budge
The Komagata Maru reaches Budge Budge near Calcutta. Passengers who refuse a special train to the Punjab clash with police and troops, and about twenty of them are killed.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
- 13 April 1919Amritsar
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
On Vaisakhi, Brigadier-General Dyer's troops fire without warning on a crowd in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. The official count is 379 killed and 1,200 wounded, and many of the crowd are Sikhs in the city for the festival.[EoS]
PoliticsModern - 20 February 1921Nankana Sahib
Nankana Sahib massacre
Armed men hired by Mahant Narain Das attack a band of about 150 Sikh reformers inside Gurdwara Janam Asthan, the birthplace of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The attack shocks the country and hardens the campaign to take back the gurdwaras.[EoS]
MartyrdomInstitutionModern - 10 April 1921
Sepoy Ishar Singh and the first Sikh Victoria Cross
Sepoy Ishar Singh of the 28th Punjabis, badly wounded in Waziristan, recovers his Lewis gun and tends the wounded under fire. He is described as the first Sikh recipient of the Victoria Cross.[Src][Web][Web]
BattleModern - 9 August 1922Guru ka Bagh
Guru ka Bagh morcha
Police arrest five Sikhs for cutting firewood for the langar on land at Guru ka Bagh, which the mahant claims as his own. The SGPC sends volunteers to court arrest, and police beatings of unresisting men draw wide attention.[EoS][EoS]
- August 1922Hoshiarpur
Babbar Akali movement
Two secret bands in the Doaba merge as the Babbar Akali Jatha, a group that rejects the non-violence of the main Akali movement and targets British officers and those it regards as informers. It is suppressed by 1924.[EoS][EoS]
PoliticsModern - 25 August 1923Jaito
Jaito morcha
A diwan at Jaito protests the forced abdication of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha. Arrests and the interruption of an unbroken reading of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji turn it into a long campaign over the right to worship.[EoS][EoS]
InstitutionPoliticsModern - 1925Amritsar
Sikh Gurdwaras Act
After the Akali agitation of 1920-25, the Punjab legislature passes the Act placing historic gurdwaras under the elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.[EoS]
ModernInstitution - 1939
Sikh soldiers in the Second World War
Sikh soldiers serve in North Africa, Italy and Burma. Four Indian Army men named here receive the Victoria Cross in Burma between 1943 and 1945, and the evidence that each was a Sikh is set out below.[Src][Src][Src][Src][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web]
BattleModern - 15 August 1947Lahore
Partition of the Punjab
The province is divided between India and Pakistan. Nankana Sahib, Kartarpur and Lahore fall on the Pakistani side; millions move, and Sikhs are concentrated in Indian Punjab.[EoS]
ModernPolitics - 1 November 1966Chandigarh
Creation of the Punjabi Suba
The reorganisation of the Punjab takes effect after two decades of Akali campaigning. A Punjabi-speaking state and the new state of Haryana are formed, with the status of Chandigarh and some Punjabi-speaking areas left in dispute.[EoS][EoS]
- June 1984Amritsar
Operation Blue Star
The Indian Army enters the Harmandir complex at Amritsar to remove armed militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The Akal Takht is badly damaged and the Sikh Reference Library is lost, though what became of its collection is disputed. Indira Gandhi's assassination and anti-Sikh massacres follow in the autumn.[Web][Web]
ModernPolitics - 1 November 1984Delhi
November 1984 massacre of Sikhs
After Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards on 31 October 1984, mobs attack Sikhs in Delhi and other places, and an official count finds 2,733 Sikhs killed in Delhi alone. The Nanavati Commission describes an angry outburst becoming organised carnage.[Src][Src][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web]
PoliticsModern - 23 June 1985Air India Flight 182 crash site
Bombing of Air India Flight 182
A bomb destroys Air India Flight 182 off the south-west coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard, most of them Canadian citizens. A second bomb kills two baggage handlers at Narita Airport in Tokyo the same day.[Web][Web][Web][Web]
PoliticsModern - 1992
First Sikh MP in the United Kingdom
Piara Singh Khabra is elected for Ealing Southall and becomes the first Sikh member of the UK Parliament.[Web]
PoliticsModern - August 2012Oak Creek
Shooting at the Oak Creek gurdwara
A shooting at a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in the United States, leaves six Sikhs dead.[Web]
Modern - 18 May 2016Vancouver
Canada apologises for the Komagata Maru
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes a formal apology in the House of Commons for the Canadian government's role in the Komagata Maru incident of 1914.[Src][EoS]
PoliticsModern - 9 November 2019Kartarpur (on the Ravi)
Kartarpur corridor opens
India and Pakistan open a visa-free corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, where Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent the last years of life. It opens before Guru Ji's 550th birth anniversary.[Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web]
InstitutionTravelModern - 7 May 2025Kartarpur (on the Ravi)
India suspends the Kartarpur corridor
India closes its side of the Kartarpur corridor during the crisis with Pakistan that followed the Pahalgam attack. As of early November 2026 it remains closed from the Indian side, while Pakistan says its side is open.[Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web][Web]
PoliticsTravelModern