Debunked — The Sikhism Series
The claims made about Sikhi, and the claims Sikhs make about themselves — each one traced to its source, tested against Gurbani and the historical record, and answered in plain language.
This is a different book to write. The previous eleven parts of Debunked were about claims made by other people about another tradition — I was an outsider examining a neighbour’s house, and an outsider’s care has a particular shape. This series is about my own house. I am a Sikh. I love this tradition the way a person loves a parent: the love is not in question, but the love does not exempt the parent from the truth. Two kinds of claim need careful undoing here. The first are claims made about us, often by Hindutva writers, that try to absorb Sikhism back into the tradition we deliberately walked out of in 1469. The second are the claims we make about ourselves — supernatural sakhis presented as history, scientific properties invented for the Five Ks, inflated battle figures repeated at school assemblies as if numbers were a measure of valour. Both kinds are debunked here, in the same plain language, with the same Gurbani citations, with the same care for the named source. I do not believe that loving Sikhi requires us to defend every claim that has been attached to her. I believe it requires us to remove the claims that diminish her.
3 / 13 parts published · 25,567 words · June 2026 · by Lovepreet Singh
Contents
- 01IdentityOrigin and IdentityWe are not what they say we are. Nor what we sometimes say we are.
- 02Guru NanakMiracles and TravelsGuru Nanak Dev Ji — what actually happened is deeper than the miracle.
- 03The Eight GurusThe Eight Silent GurusFrom Guru Angad Dev Ji to Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji — what actually happened is deeper than the miracle.
- 04The Tenth GuruGuru Gobind Singh Ji and the KhalsaVaisakhi 1699 and what the sources say about the five who stood up, the arithmetic of the battles, Chamkaur, the Five Ks and the sciences invented for them.
- 05Part 5
- 06Part 6
- 07Part 7
- 08Part 8
- 09Part 9
- 10Part 10
- 11Part 11
- 12Part 12
- 13Part 13