How is it possible for India, as in the Nations of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to be majority Sikh, or at least follow a religion similar to that that merges Islam and Hindu thinking. PODs must be between the years 1000 and 1900, preferably later. Bonus points for adding Pakistan, Iran, and Indonesia into this "sphere".
Sikh Majority India?
- Thread starter Baconheimer
- Start date
It's very close to ASB to get ALL of them to be Sikh, additionally your PoD should only start with the founding of Sikhism itself in the 16th century.
The problem is that Sikhism is really only going to be popular in the region it developed (where I'd point out it's always been followed by a minority of the population), that is on the borders between the Islamic World and the Hindu World; Muslims are not going to convert to it since conversion is very difficult in Islam and is viewed very badly and in most cases was punishable by death in the tradtionally Muslim-majority areas while the Hindu areas were fighting to retain their own beliefs, so converting to a new religion is a no go.
Additionally the big thing to remember is that religion was a major part of the cultural identity of many areas, so in alot of areas expecting the population to convert to a different religion would be like expecting Russians to start speaking German and become Protestant in some case where Germany defeated and annexed a large chunk of Russia.
The problem is that Sikhism is really only going to be popular in the region it developed (where I'd point out it's always been followed by a minority of the population), that is on the borders between the Islamic World and the Hindu World; Muslims are not going to convert to it since conversion is very difficult in Islam and is viewed very badly and in most cases was punishable by death in the tradtionally Muslim-majority areas while the Hindu areas were fighting to retain their own beliefs, so converting to a new religion is a no go.
Additionally the big thing to remember is that religion was a major part of the cultural identity of many areas, so in alot of areas expecting the population to convert to a different religion would be like expecting Russians to start speaking German and become Protestant in some case where Germany defeated and annexed a large chunk of Russia.
Flocculencio
Donor
As Iori has pointed out Sikhism was very punjabi specific and even then only comprises a (large) minority of punjabis. Culturally speaking it's the product of very specific regional tensions between Islam and Hinduism. In different parts of India different issues are going to apply
Rstone4
Banned
is sikhism even evangelical? Do they go convert people?
The one way to make india a majority would be a conquer, breed, repeat system starting in the 1600s.
but by the 1700s england is there... and france...
so you would need to get those sikhs to be in with the english and the BEIC and then they can breed their way through india.
But this might need an ASB aphrodisiac (human horn anyone
)
The one way to make india a majority would be a conquer, breed, repeat system starting in the 1600s.
but by the 1700s england is there... and france...
so you would need to get those sikhs to be in with the english and the BEIC and then they can breed their way through india.
But this might need an ASB aphrodisiac (human horn anyone
)A Sikh majority India is very interesting. However I agree with the other posts that it will need to happen through conquest since apostasy is punished by death in Islam.
Perhaps the Sikhs become the British/French proxy in their exploitation of India and the Europeans see them as very useful to unite the country that way.
Perhaps the Sikhs become the British/French proxy in their exploitation of India and the Europeans see them as very useful to unite the country that way.
Is this really a thing? The other religions of the time were that much more permissive when it came to their members converting to the opposition that Muslim's get a kind of special protection?
Islam and Christianity have historically been very opposed to people leaving the faith, however in the case of Christianity with the split into three major groups that ere constantly competing and never united against other religions, it diminished over time and eventually stopped being anything more than looked down upon, discouraged and made really, really hard to officially leave the Church(es); in Islam there was only ever the split between Sunni and Shi'a, with Sunni remaining the large majority, which meant there cotinued an focus against it, additionally geography and emographics plays into it, Christianity spread across a demographically and geographically diverse area early on while Islam for a very long time was centered on rural, tradtional and conservative areas.
Now with that said execution was not practiced everywhere, but it was in the areas where Muslims were the established majority in the region we're talking about.
Last edited:
There has actually been at least one executon for apostasy in post-revolutionary Iran...
If Sikhism will only be possible in the region where it comes from, then what about some sort of other religion merging Hinduism and Islam with a wider scope?
It would still only be popular in the region it developed; Sikhism was the result of very specific circumstancea and its growth was because of those.
If you want Sikhism to grow it's not terribly hard overall, but that growth would not be in India or the Muslim world, but would rather be where Islam and Christianity converted people in the 19th and 20th centuries, that being among societies with little or no established religious hierarchy and centralization.
Muslims did in fact convert to Sikhism- which is why Jahangir was quite incensed towards Guru Arjan (though his execution was more because of Khusrau being given shelter). And I believe during the time of the Sikh Empire, it had an evangelical bent- in any case, I don't think a greater population of Sikhs is impossible even if a majority is. In that case, you'd have to look directly at Guru Arjan, who created the Adi Granth- if, during Akbar's rule, he begins to ingratiate himself within the court (he was formally a Mughal landholder, being given Amritsar), then you might see more Sikh ideas growing throughout the Empire. That might mean that, while Sikhism is still more or less limited to Panjab, its ideas gain a broader scope throughout northern India.
All in all, Sikh-majority Panjab is possible IMO, but beyond that, you can get other areas to host Sikh populations, but it won't become a majority.
Sorry, I should've specified more, I mean Muslims outside of the area, like say in Iran.
Again, if Sikh ideas flourished more within the Empire as a whole, then you might see it being picked up- even by other Muslims.