When marching into battle, the Sikhs would use drumming to boost their morale and increase excitement.

According to Sikh tradition, Guru Angad is said to have invented the script, and popularised its use among the Sikhs.

It was later adopted into Sikhism in 1699 as per the instructions of Guru Gobind Singh, the use of Singh as a last name is mandatory for all baptized male Sikhs since 1699, regardless of their geographical or cultural binding.

Another practise among Sikhs is to use village / town / city / country lineage after middle name Singh to avoid using the caste lineage, e. g., Parkash Singh Badal ( 1: First Name, 2: Singh, 3: Village / town / country lineage ).

A Kangha is a small wooden comb that Sikhs use twice a day.

The most common usage of the word " Waheguru " is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other:

Sikhs use the term () for the holy water used in the baptism ceremony known as Amrit Sanskar or Amrit Chhakhna.

The tenth guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, made it mandatory for Sikh females to use the name Kaur and for Sikh males to use the name Singh, when he administered Amrit ( baptism ) to both males and female Sikhs.

All female Sikhs were asked to use the name Kaur after their forename and males were to use the name Singh.

While addressing Sikhs in particular, non Sikhs would use this greeting to approach them.

Sikhs use a set of several hundred given names, all or nearly all meaningful, usually with a religious or moral theme.

For Sikhs, the word Dharm means the " path of righteousness ".

In the Sikh's holy book Granth Sahib which Sikhs revere as their 11th guru contains this word more than 8500 times.

The Akali Dal members demanded that the constitution should remove any ambiguous statements that uses the word Hindu to refer to the Sikhs.

Linguistically, however, " Eckankar " derives from Ekankār or Ik Oankār ( Sanskrit Eka Omkāra ), a name for God given by Guru Nānak and the very first word of the Mūl Mantra ( recited everyday by Sikhs ), the Japjī Sahib, and the Sri Guru Granth Sahib ( Sikh holy scriptures ).

He was born while his father was on a tour of the neighbouring state of Assam, spreading God's word. There is a famous saying that a ruler was destined to be born in a land where, intelligent and strong he would lead the Sikhs as a brave warrior and so it was that he was born by the side of the Holy Ganges ( present day Patna Sahib ) where he learned Persian and Sanskrit when he was a child and was also trained to become a warrior.

A symbol of permanent bonding to the community-being a link in the chain of Khalsa Sikhs ( the word for link is ' kari ').

Another source said that in 1851, the river was usually called the " Sikhs River " after the Chinook Jargon word for " friend ", and on maps it was called the " Sequalchin River ".

Taking the various derivation of the word Ardās into account, the basic purpose of this prayer is an appeal to Waheguru for his protection and care, as well as being a plea for the welfare and prosperity of all mankind, and a means for the Sikhs to thank Waheguru for all that He has done.

Some believers maintain that this practice of naming without using the word Singh or Kaur is manmat ( Against the will of the Guru ) and is prohibited in the Rehat Maryada ( The way of living of Sikhs ).

The Sikhs became particularly troublesome, and after several unsuccessful efforts to subdue them, Zaman Shah made the mistake of appointing a forceful young Sikh chief, Ranjit Singh, as his governor in the Punjab.

In 1838 Auckland, Ranjit Singh, and Shuja signed an agreement stating that Shuja would regain control of Kabul and Kandahar with the help of the British and Sikhs ; he would accept Sikh rule of the former Afghan provinces already controlled by Ranjit Singh, and that Herat would remain independent.

Not only had Durrani invaded the Punjab region many times, but had destroyed the holiest shrine of the Sikhs – the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, defiling its sarowar with the blood of cows and decapitating Baba Deep Singh in 1757.

The Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, eventually wrested a large part of the Kingdom of Kabul ( present day Pakistan, but not including Sindh ) from the Afghans.

That year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir.

In 1819, the Kashmir valley passed from the control of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan, and four centuries of Muslim rule under the Mughals and the Afghans, to the conquering armies of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh of Lahore.

With the help of his officer, Zorawar Singh, Gulab Singh soon captured for the Sikhs the lands of Ladakh and Baltistan to the east and north-east, respectively, of Jammu.

Most male Sikhs have Singh ( lion ) and most female Sikhs Kaur ( princess ) as their middle names.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the 10th and final living Guru, gave Sikhs their outer physical form and established a new order called the Khalsa.

At the peak of their political power the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh controlled a large kingdom centered in Lahore which was also secular and egalitarian.

This resulted in an explosion of violence against the Sikh communities in the anti-Sikh riots which resulted in the massacre of thousands of Sikhs throughout India ; Khushwant Singh described the actions as being a Sikh pogrom in which he " felt like a refugee in my country.

The Dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh Ji at the request of his Sikhs.

Sikhs are represented in Indian politics by the current Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is the head of the government ( the nominal head is the President of India ) and wields the supreme authority, including the nuclear button, and the Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected as MPs during the 2008 general elections ; Karpal Singh ( Bukit Gelugor ) and his son Gobind Singh Deo ( Puchong ).

Two Sikhs were elected as assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo ( Datuk Keramat ) and Keshvinder Singh ( Malim Nawar ).

The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, however, prohibited " Amritdhari " Sikhs, or those that follow the Sikh Rehat Maryada ( the Official Sikh Code of Conduct ) from eating Kutha meat, or meat which has been obtained from animals which have been killed in a ritualistic way.

** Guru Gobind Singh becomes the tenth Guru of the Sikhs.

* The Sikhs adopted the name Singh in 1699 during the Birth of the Khalsa.

Wearing a turban forms a distinct identity and also makes the Sikhs very easily recognizable.

The proponents of Khalistan saw this as a Hindu conspiracy to deny the Sikhs their distinct identity.

However, he did consider Sikhs as " a distinct nation ", where nation means a community united by common history, geography and culture.

The audio and video archives of his speeches would reveal a very common saying of his " Sikhs are a distinct nation.

The vast majority of Hindus and Sikhs follow an alternative sect which is more egalitarian and quite distinct from that followed in India and are found in the south eastern province of Sindh.