Sikh professions

[capybara]

Ok, I hope this doesn’t sound like an odd question-- I didn’t grow up living anywhere with much of a Sikh population and Vancouver seems to have a pretty good number so it’s a new cultural experience for me.
Unless I am totally imagining things, I am having the impression that there is a disproportionately large number of sikh men working in . . . uniformed professions, for lack of a better term: police, security, public transit, military and such. Is there something cultural/ historical/ pragmatic that might account for this, or is this an illusory product of the fact that these are the people in my neighborhood, the people that you meet each day (i.e. I don’t run into Sikhs not in these professions as frequently)?

[Hemlock]

There’s a famous painting of Canadian Scottish Highlanders charging in WWI - they’re all Sikh.

Here in HK, there’s definitely a tendency for Sikhs to be security guards. The British hired Sikhs as soldiers during days of empire, and some were among the first British troops based in HK in the mid 19th C. Before long, the colonial authorities started to hire them as police and prison guards. Even today, there are still some. I see a guy in a turban in uniform at Victoria Prison near where I live.

The UK forces also used an all-Sikh detatchment at their ammunition/explosives depot - an arrangement going back a long time and based on the fact that Sikh religion bans smoking.

Also, there might be an element of social discrimination at play - ie, they find it hard to get other jobs - though there are Sikh accountants, designers, etc here in HK.

[Little_Nemo]

One of the religious principles of the Sikh religion is that they should protect and defend all people. So being a soldier, police officer, or security guard is an obvious way to combine making a living with practicing their faith.

[capybara]

Ah, that makes it all very clear. I wasn’t sure if it was 'jobs in which it’s ok to pack around a big, curvy knife" or what. Thanks.

[tomndebb]

I have met realtively few, but in each case, most of the men have been involved in a military or police careers.

(For a while, I thought they might be drawn to dog breeding as I kept hearing people talk about Sikh puppies, but I later discovered they meant something else.)

[Colibri]

There is a very strong Sikh tradition of miliatancy, going back to the early foundations of the religion.

From here:

They are . . . a highly militant religion and society; the community has to be protected with the highest martial vigilance and ability. Since the seventeenth century, Sikh fighters have been feared throughout India for their ability and sheer courage. The British, who employed them in their army in the nineteenth century, referred to them as the greatest of the “martial races.” It’s an odd mixture. On the one hand, Sikhism is one of the most deeply spiritual and profoundly mystical religions of the world, advocating a social harmony and egalitarianism unrivalled by any other major religion, with the possible exception of Buddhism. On the other hand, the Sikh community is a militant, warrior community, willing to fight, sacrifice, or assassinate to protect or further the community.

The most important of the early Gurus . . . was Arjan, who led the Sikh community as Guru from 1581 to 1606. . . . Arjan was the first Sikh Guru to fall afoul of the Mughal authorities, thus setting the tone for the remaining history of the Mughal Empire. When Prince Khusrau rebelled against his father, Jahangir, Arjan helped him. Jahangir, growing suspicious of the steady growth of the Sikh community and Arjan’s increasing influence over the region, arrested him in 1606 and tortured him to death.

This event more than any other converted the Sikh community into a militant community. Arjan was succeeded by his son, Hargobind (1606-1644), who built the Sikh community into a military power. He elevated martyrdom to an ideal of the religion; this was not merely dying for the faith, but being killed while fighting for the Sikh community.

[Tamerlane]

@Colibri

There is a very strong Sikh tradition of miliatancy, going back to the early foundations of the religion.

Though not quite the earliest. What that article doesn’t explicitly mention is that the founder was a pacifist. The Sikh faith took on a more militant face only after some persecution by later Mughal authorities - Akbar was somewhat tolerant, his successors less so ( though partly this can be explained by Sikh authorities repeatedly backing the wrong horse in succession struggles - for example Khusrau vs. Selim/Jahangir or Dara Shikoh vs. Auranganzeb/Alamgir ).

• Tamerlane