Tuesday, April 14, 2026, marks the birthday of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and the Sikh religious festival of Baisakhi. Both, B R Ambedkar and the Sikh Gurus fought against caste discrimination. But caste in Sikh history has been complicated terrain.
The Sikh faith was founded on the cornerstone of brotherhood, equality and fraternity. The founder of the faith, Guru Nanak was born in 1469 Common Era, a time when the Punjab and Northern India were witness to invasions, inter-religious conflict and caste atrocities.
Nanak, through his life and teachings, sought to bring religious communities closer and end caste discrimination.
“Guru Nanak belongs to the Bhakti tradition (although Sikh scholars disagree) of Medieval North India, which was highly inspired by monotheistic, anti-caste rhetoric. He, however, along with Mirabai is unique in the sense that they did not belong to lower castes unlike other Bhakti saints. But the entire set of teachings that he propagates is highly inspired by saints like Kabir. Therefore, it is not surprising that he presents a critique of caste-based inequalities. This is a powerful metaphor within the broader Bhakti tradition,” scholar and historian Yogesh Snehi, who works at Ambedkar University, Delhi, told Down To Earth (DTE).
The best way to know about the life and times of Guru Nanak are the Janamsakhis or ‘lifestories’. These popular hagiographies started to develop within his lifetime and continued to be composed well into the early 19th century.
The Janamsakhis are classified by ‘tradition’ and the four traditions that have survived are the Miharban, Adi, Bala and Puratan.
The most popular of the janam-sakhi traditions among ordinary Sikhs is the Bala tradition. “For more than two centuries the janam-sakhis of the Bala tradition have appealed to the popular imagination because of the extent to which they feature the grossly miraculous and the bizarre. They have enjoyed this reputation in spite of the fact that the tradition probably had its origins among a schismatic group, the Handalis. The tradition takes its name from Bhai Bala, who figures very prominently in most of the anecdotes,” writes noted western scholar of Sikhism, W H McLeod in his 2005 work, Historical Dictionary of Sikhism Second Edition.
In the Bala tradition is the sakhi of Bhai Lalo, which gives an idea of the encounter between Sikhism and caste.
Lalo was a humble carpenter from the town of Saidpur or Sayyidpur, today Eminabad in Gujrawala district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
“The tradition relates that while Guru Nanak was staying with this person of low caste a certain Malik Bhago gave a feast to which the Guru was invited. The invitation was, however, refused and eventually Malik Bhago had to resort to constraint. When the Guru was brought to him he demanded an explanation for the refusal. Guru Nanak in reply took in one hand a quantity of Malik Bhago’s rich food, and in the other a piece of Lalo’s coarse bread. He then squeezed both. From Lalo’s bread trickled milk, but from Malik Bhago’s food there issued blood. The point of the miracle was obviously to demonstrate that Lalo’s food had been earned by honest labour, whereas Bhago’s was the product of extortion and oppression,” writes McLeod in his 1968 book, Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion.
He also controversially says, “The story itself must be dismissed, in spite of modern efforts to rationalize it, but there remains the question of whether there may in fact have been a carpenter in Saidpur around whom this and other lesser legends have gathered. The answer must be that it is extremely unlikely…”
Snehi notes that there is a popular memory of Guru Nanak and an academic one. “In popular memory, he lives many lives which means he evolves in his Janamsakhis, new stories get added over a period of time. In all religious tradition, this is part and parcel of what is called as the hagiographic process.”
He adds that as a social historian, “I would see these stories as representing a moral universe imagined in an existing template. By such a template I mean the way in which saint figures before Guru Nanak were remembered and how his story began to be remembered in a similar manner.”
He points to the similarities in the way the followers of both Kabir and Nanak reacted after their death, with Hindus wanting to cremate him and Muslims wanting a burial.
“And it carries on till the Sai Baba of Shirdi. So, we have a spectrum of the Medieval Era starting from the Delhi Sultanate to the Mughal Empire to the Modern Period as these are social templates in which the moral universe gets created. It is in this sense that we should look at the Janamsakhis,” says Snehi.
However, it is the caste angle that instantly catches one’s attention in Lalo’s parable.
Ronki Ram, currently Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chair Professor of Political Science at Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, member State Higher Education Council, UT Chandigarh, and Visiting Prof University of Ladakh, told DTE, “Guru Nanak believed very strongly about the futility of caste and by dining with Bhai Lalo, he makes clear his assertion about doing away with caste and working towards a casteless society. He then reinforces his point by not dining with Malik Bhago.”
Ram also points to the famous shabad (Ang 15 of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture) recited by Nanak, when Bhago asks him as to why he would not dine with him but would do so readily with a ‘low caste’ man like Lalo:
Neechaa andar neech jaat neechee hoo at neech
Naanak tin kai sang saath vadi-aa si-o ki-aa rees
Jithai neech samaalee-an thithai nadar tayree bakhsees
This translates to:
Naanak seeks the company of the lowest of the low class, the very lowest of the low. Why should he try to compete with the great? In that place where the lowly are cared for-there, the blessings of Your Glance of Grace rain down.
“Guru Nanak thus makes clear, his affirmation in humanity and the Brotherhood of Man and his disdain for the caste system,” says Ram.
However, Snehi cautions that, “The important point is that the Sikh religious tradition definitely presents a critique of caste-based hierarchies. But there is a catch. Sikh teachings do not subscribe to caste-based inequalities. But they do not give up caste. In simple terms it does denounce caste but social custom dominates practices.”
Scheduled Castes in Sikh Community A Historical Perspective, the 2003 paper by Harish K Puri from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, sheds light on caste in Sikh society.
“Sikhism did not lead to the creation of an egalitarian community or end of caste hierarchy and discrimination. But the caste pattern had undergone a change. Scholars have pointed to the construction of a Sikh caste hierarchy, parallel to that of the Hindu caste hierarchy,” writes Puri.
He adds, “In Sikhism, there is no scriptural sanction for caste distinctions. The emphasis has been on the brotherhood of all under one god – equality among all human beings. The problem is with the practice, not the ideals.”
Puri also cites the instance of Babasaheb Ambedkar deciding in 1936 to convert to Sikhism after declaring in October 1935 that he would not ‘die a Hindu’.
But that did not happen. Instead, 20 years later, Ambedkar converted with his followers en masse to Buddhism.
Puri’s paper suggests various reasons.
“(Dhananjay) Keer tends to suggest that the reason for postponing the idea of conversions related to his anxiety about the fate of the Depressed Classes’ share in political power after conversion to Sikhism. (L R) Bally, who has been a leading Ambedkarite activist, writer and editor of Bhim Patrika, provided another explanation. According to him, the untouchables of Punjab had conveyed to Ambedkar the atrocities they suffered at the hands of the dominant community of jat Sikhs and appealed to him to ensure that the untouchables never become Sikhs.”
But most damning of all could be the reason that the move drew opposition from the Sikh political class, dominated by ‘higher castes’.
“However, a part of the reason why they failed to hit it off may well be related to a rethinking and opposition to the move among the Sikh political class. It was inevitable that the leading men would consider the fate of their leadership and position in the SGPC and Gurdwaras, after six crore (60 million) untouchables became Sikhs. Such is the evidence offered by Sardar Kapur Singh in his well-known but controversial book, Saachi Sakhi. According to him there was an apprehension that once Ambedkar became a Sikh with all his followers, no one from the existing Sikh leaders like Baldev Singh would be nominated to the Viceroy’s executive council as a representative of the Sikh community. Master Tara Singh and his supporters had to consider their position and that of other leaders in the Sikh community and the Shiromani Akali Dal, the SGPC and control of gurdwaras,” writes Puri.