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Khalistan
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Punjabi:
Khalistan, “Land of the Khalsa,” meaning “pure”
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Khalistan

Sikh political ideology
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Last updated
•History

Khalistan, in Sikh political ideology, autonomous Sikh homeland.

The declaration of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 and the religio-political vision that came with it fired the Sikh imagination with the belief that it was their God-given right to rule Punjab. In 1710, under the leadership of Banda Singh Bahadur (d. 1716), Sikh forces captured Sirhind, the most powerful Mughal administrative center between Delhi and Lahore, and established a capital in nearby Mukhlispur (“City of the Purified”). They struck coins, designed an official seal, and issued letters of command invoking the authority of God and of the Gurus. The belief that “the Khalsa shall rule” (raj karega Khalsa) was formally added to Sikh liturgical prayer at the time, and it remains an indivisible part of it. Although the Khalsa Raj under Banda Singh was short-lived, the idea found its realization in the early 19th century in the form of the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjīt Singh (1780–1839). Though the subsequent rapid decline of the Khalsa Raj and its final loss to the British (1849) was a painful experience, it failed to extinguish many Sikhs’ hope that the Khalsa Raj would yet return in some form.

In the protracted negotiations that preceded the partition of the Punjab in 1947 the idea of an independent Sikh state figured prominently. The Sikh population’s lack of numerical strength in relation to other residents of the Punjab made this an unviable proposition, but it has resurfaced in various forms since. In the 1970s and ’80s a violent secessionist movement to create Khalistan paralyzed the Punjab for a decade. It received support from the All India Sikh Students’ Federation and was led most effectively by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The movement failed for a complex set of reasons, but the idea of a state of the Khalsa continues to be invoked twice a day in gurdwaras (temples), as Sikhs mention in prayer their responsibility to rule.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Tamanna Nangia.