Why do Sikhs wear turban?

Dear Reader,

Welcome back!!!

I am a Sikh. As you probably already know Sikhs wear a unique turban and also never shed hairs throughout life.

Let me explain the history behind this. The Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is a religion which is based on very simple principles of peace, love and harmony. There are no complicated rituals. It is a religion which denounces all false practices and rituals, there is no Caste system and all people are to be treated equally as they are made by God. Even to this day people from all walks of life are welcome in a Sikh temple which is called as Gurudwara which translated means The house of the Guru.
There is a common kitchen where all people sit together and eat food together which we call as Guru Ka Langar or the Guru's kitchen. The ragee Priests sing beautiful hymns from the holy book Guru Granth Sahib ji.

There are total 10 Gurus in Sikhism in physical form. We consider our Holy book as our eleventh and final Guru. The Sikhism religion is based on very peace loving principles. However, our Gurus have taught us that we should stand up to fight any form of injustice. We should not turn away our faces when we see something wrong. We should courageously defend the weak no matter how badly the odds are stacked against us. As such Sikhs are the among the bravest people in the world. Anyone, in need can without hesitation approach any Sikh and be assured that the Sikh will help the person even without regard for his or her own life.

When Sikhism was spreading in India, Mughals were ruling it. Some of the Mughals were tolerant towards other religions. But, a very barbaric Mughal ruler called Aurangzeb started committing lot of attrocities on Indian people. He used to force people to convert to Islam. Those who opposed were very brutally murdered in open public view. Some people were burnt slowly on hot ovens. Some people were cut into pieces. He also imposed a tax on people who did not follow Islam.

The Hindus in India got fed up with these cruelty and wanted to put and end to this. So, the Kashmiri pandits approached the ninth Sikh guru Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji. The Guru was moved by the plight of the Hindu Brahmins and decided to help them. He said that only the sacrifice of a great man could save the nation. His son, a nine year old boy who would eventually become the tenth Guru overheard this conversation. He bowed down to his father with reverence and said that the greatest person was right before his eyes.
So, our ninth Guru headed to confront Aurangzeb in Delhi. It was not for a battle. He only wanted to reason with Aurangzeb. However, Aurangzeb treacherously imprisoned the Guru and threatned him to convert to Islam. He started torturing the Guru and murdered his followers very brutally in front of him to shake his faith. But, the Guru was a noble and great soul not to be moved by these barbaric acts. Eventually, Aurangzeb beheaded the great Guru.

When news of this act reached his son he asked the person who had brought the Guru's head if no Sikh had dared to confront Aurangzeb. So, the follower replied that though many Sikhs were in crowd nobody had courage to confront the Mughals.

That very moment, the nine year old Guru Gobind Singh ji decided that he would give such a unique identity to the Sikhs such that they are not able to hide themselves even in a crowd of thousands of people. He gathered the people on the holy festival of Baisakhi and baptized five of the bravest men to be the first five Sikhs and gave them the name of Singh meaning Lion. He said each Sikh should have the courage of a Lion. Each Sikh should be equal to an army of 1.25 lakh Mughals. The great Guru fought bravely for the nation and sacrificed all his 4 sons for the holy cause. The sacrifice of the Sikhs still insipires the nation.

The Sikhs form the front line of the Indian army. The tales of the Sikh heroes are popular across the world.

Recently, some ignorant people have started abusing turbaned Sikhs. They do not even know the difference between Sikh and another turbaned person. Also, my message to such people is that irrespective of religion all people are God's children and should be treated with love and respect.

With Love,
Gunjan