24/10/2024
Sword-carrying Sikhs roaming the Indian city of Amritsar are a normal sight; but white people wearing turbans definitely are not. The strangeness lies in the fact that they are non-Indians who converted to Sikhism.
Most of them attend the Miri Piri Academy (MPA), an International boarding school in Amritsar where foreigners who converted to Sikhism leave their children to immerse themselves in the religion. And donโt let the teacherโs name, Mahan Atma Kaur, mislead you. She is Svetlana, a Russian-American national who has been teaching there for two years.
The 34-year-old white Sikh converted in 2004 and changed her name to Mahan Atma, which means โgreatest soulโ in the Indian language.
Why? โIt feels to me that I did not 'choose' to be a Sikh. We all are Sikhs, as 'seekers of the truth'. As soon as I felt my heartโs yearning for the guruโs word, I knew it was my path. It is my life,โ Mahan told RTV during an interview.
The current student body represents 13 countries and 8 languages from various countries in Asia, Europe and America.
Although Sikhism does not have missionaries around the world, more white people are converting to Sikhism in the 21st century. Sikhism as a faith has never actively sought converts, thus the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous racial group.
Why Sikhism?
After the September 11 attacks, some people associated Sikhs with terrorists or members of the Taliban. Research suggests there has been an increase in hate-crimes against Sikh men in America and England. Still, there has been an increase in the number of foreigners who convert to Sikhism. Why?
Gurusewak Singh Khalsa, who was born to parents of American/European descent, told RTV via email, โSome might say Sikhism is a strict religion. At first glance this makes sense โ physically, men have beards, wear turbans and kirpans (knives), and women don't cut their hair.โ
โBut once one sees past the physical I have found that there is a lot more openness, freedom, and acceptance in the Sikh teachings compared to other religions,โ he added.
Amrit Kaur does not look like a Punjabi in any way, but practices Sikhism. Born in Toronto, Canada, her mother was an atheist and her father was Catholic.
โI researched many religions and practiced different onesโฆ but nothing 'belonged' to me. It wasn't until the summer of 2004, when I first met a Sikh, that I learned about the existence of Sikhism,โ she writes in her blog ( amritkaur.blogspot.com).
We talked to Dana Singh, who calls herself "gora (white) Sikh" and is dedicated to the cause of Sikhism. Born in Latvia (former USSR), she met her Sikh husband in Ireland, and he introduced her to his culture and religion. Though she has not formally converted to Sikhism, she still considers herself a Sikh.
โEarlier I had never heard about Sikhism and wasn't aware that this is the fifth largest religion in the world. We married in Amritsar in a traditional ceremony. It was so different from European weddings โ like a fairy tale,โ she revealed in an interview.
Ask her why she chose to live her life as a Sikh and she replies, โI didn't convert formally but just live and learn everyday more and more about Sikhism.โ