Sikhism places no statues in its places of worship and does not bow before pictures. Since 1708 the Guru of the Sikhs has been the scripture, called the Guru Granth Sahib. So at the heart of a gurdwara there is no statue but the scripture, enthroned on a small bed under a canopy, with cloths to cover it and an attendant waving a whisk over it. This page shows these things in real photographs, together with the Nishan Sahib flag, the Khanda emblem, the Ik Onkar character, the five Ks, the Golden Temple and the five takhts. Two old paintings of the Gurus appear here as historical and artistic records, not as sacred images. The content follows the Sikh Rehat Maryada published by the SGPC and Sikh organizations, and any other source is named. The only drawing on the page is a text diagram.
IWhy Sikhism does not worship images
The Sikh Rehat Maryada is the code of conduct and rites drawn up and published by the SGPC, the committee that manages gurdwaras, based in Amritsar. Drafting began in 1927, the draft was approved in 1936, and the final revision was accepted on 3 February 1945. Its first article defines a Sikh as a person who believes in one Immortal Being, in the ten Gurus from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh, in the Guru Granth Sahib, in the teachings of the ten Gurus, and in the Amrit rite handed down by the tenth Guru, and who follows no other religion.
Source: SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee), Sikh Rehat Maryada, English version page. Wikipedia, Sikh Rehat Maryada. Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section One: definition of a Sikh.On worship, the Rehat Maryada says that worship is given only to the One Timeless Being and to no god or goddess. The ten Gurus, the Guru Granth Sahib and the word of the Gurus are what Sikhs revere. Idolatry is on its list of things Sikhs do not believe in.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Four: living by the Guru's tenets.For the gurdwara, the code states three things clearly. No book is to be installed on a par with the Guru Granth Sahib. The worship of any idol is not to be allowed inside the gurdwara. Making or installing statues in the gurdwara, and bowing before pictures of the Gurus or of elders, are all held to be contrary to gurmat, the way of the Guru.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites.The fifth Guru, Guru Arjan, compiled the first version of the scripture in Amritsar in 1604. Britannica records that in 1704 Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last Guru, added the hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur and directed that after his death the scripture would hold the office of Guru. Wikipedia gives 6 October 1708 as the date on which he affirmed the scripture as his successor. Since then the Sikhs have had no living Guru in human form. Their Guru is the scripture, called the Guru Granth Sahib.
Source: Britannica, Adi Granth. Wikipedia, Guru Granth Sahib.An outsider who sees the scripture placed on a throne, shaded by a canopy, with someone waving a whisk over it, may think that Sikhs worship a book. Harvard's Pluralism Project records how Sikhs themselves explain it: the Guru Granth Sahib is never the object of worship. In the gurdwara only God is worshipped, through the sacred word. These marks of respect are the treatment given to a Guru who is present.
Source: Harvard University, The Pluralism Project, The Guru Granth Sahib.
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In 1999 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London opened the exhibition The Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms. The museum's article explains that the exhibition did not take a religious theme, because Sikhism rejects religious imagery, and because the scripture holds such a sacred status that putting it on display was considered inappropriate. The library follows the same practice: this page uses photos of old manuscripts only as historical records and does not treat them as images for devotion.
Source: Victoria and Albert Museum, Conservation Journal issue 31, The Art of the Sikh Kingdoms.IIWhat is in the main hall of a gurdwara
Gurdwara means the door that leads to the Guru. According to Britannica, a gurdwara holds a copy of the scripture placed on a small cot under a canopy, and has a communal kitchen called the langar. People entering a gurdwara cover their heads, go barefoot, bow until the forehead touches the floor before the scripture, and then sit on the floor with the congregation. Wikipedia puts it briefly: gurdwaras have no idols or statues.
Source: Britannica, Gurdwara. Britannica, Sikhism: Sikh practice. Wikipedia, Gurdwara.The Rehat Maryada describes the place where the scripture is installed in some detail. It must be absolutely clean. A canopy is put up above it. The Guru Granth Sahib is placed on a small cot of matching size, laid with a clean mattress and sheets, with cushions to support it. There are covering cloths called rumalas. When it is not being read, the scripture must stay covered. A whisk stands beside it. Sikhs call the small cot the Manji Sahib, the canopy the chanani or chandoa, and the whisk the chaur. The covered palanquin that houses the scripture is called the palki.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites. Wikipedia, Guru Granth Sahib.
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The Pluralism Project describes the chaur as a whisk of white yak tail hair. The granthi waves it over the scripture during the service. The scripture is covered with brightly coloured cloths, often with silver or gold fringes.
Source: Harvard University, The Pluralism Project, The Guru Granth Sahib._waving_the_Sikh_scripture_to_show_respect.jpg)
The code lists practices held to be contrary to the way of the Guru: arti with incense and lamps, offering food to the Guru Granth Sahib, ritual burning of lamps, beating gongs, pressing the legs of the cot on which the scripture rests, rubbing the nose against walls or platforms, and placing water under the seat of the scripture. Flowers, incense and scent to perfume the place are not forbidden. Lamps to light the room are not forbidden either.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites.The langar is the communal kitchen of the gurdwara, serving free meals to everyone regardless of religion, caste, gender or wealth. Wikipedia records that Guru Nanak introduced it and Guru Amar Das made it an established institution. The meal is always lacto vegetarian, and people sit in rows on the floor. Britannica writes that in the langar everyone must sit in a straight line, to remove distinctions of high and low.
Source: Wikipedia, Langar (Sikhism). Britannica, Sikhism: Sikh practice. Sikh Coalition, Frequently asked questions about Sikhs.
IIIPrakash in the morning and Sukhasan at night
The Rehat Maryada teaches that the Guru Granth Sahib must be ceremonially opened in the gurdwara every day without fail. As a rule the scripture is not left open overnight but is ceremonially closed after the evening recitation, Rehras. It stays open as long as a granthi or attendant can remain in attendance. The Ardas prayer is said before opening it, and once it is open a hymn from the scripture is read.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites.The morning opening is called Prakash. Putting the scripture to rest at night is called Sukhasan. The Pluralism Project describes how, when the service ends, the granthi carries the Guru Granth Sahib on his head from the main hall to a separate room. There it is laid on a soft bed and covered with satin, and the next morning it is carried out again on the head. Britannica puts it more briefly: the scripture is ceremonially opened in the morning, and wrapped and put away at night.
Source: Harvard University, The Pluralism Project, The Guru Granth Sahib. Britannica, Adi Granth. Wikipedia, Guru Granth Sahib.At the Golden Temple, according to Wikipedia, at dawn the scripture is carried in a flower decked palki, with chanting, from its resting room to the sanctum. A page is opened at random, and the hymn on that page is the teaching of the day. At night, after the kirtan hymns and the Ardas prayer, the scripture is closed, carried on the head and placed in the palki with its cushions and flowers. The resting room of the scripture is on the first floor of the Akal Takht.
Source: Wikipedia, Golden Temple.
Whenever the Guru Granth Sahib is brought in, every Sikh stands up. The person carrying the scripture walks barefoot. The Ardas prayer is said before the scripture is taken from one place to another.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites._at_Umritsir_(Amritsar)_-_Reading_the_Grunt'h_(Guru_Granth_Sahib),_from_a_drawing_by_W._Carpenter_Jun.,%22_Illustrated_London_News,_1858.jpg)
IVThe scripture and its old manuscripts
According to Britannica, the scripture contains nearly 6,000 hymns, by the Gurus and by a number of Hindu and Muslim saints, among them the poet Kabir. It opens with the Mul Mantar, followed by the Japji of Guru Nanak. Wikipedia records that the standard printed edition has 1,430 pages, called angs, written in the Gurmukhi script and mostly arranged by 31 ragas. The Sikh Coalition stresses that it is the only major scripture that includes the words of teachers of other faiths.
Source: Britannica, Adi Granth. Wikipedia, Guru Granth Sahib. Sikh Coalition, Frequently asked questions about Sikhs.Before there were printed editions, the scripture was copied by hand. Many surviving manuscripts are elaborately decorated. According to Wikipedia, those of the early 17th century use many geometric designs, and by the later 17th century floral motifs took their place. Also according to Wikipedia, some illustrated manuscripts depict the Gurus, and some depict Hindu deities, and these may have been made for Hindu patrons. The four photos below are records of old manuscripts. According to their Commons file pages, one is kept at Takht Keshgarh Sahib, one belongs to a family in Delhi, one was digitized by the Panjab Digital Library and one is in the Schøyen Collection.
Source: Wikipedia, Guru Granth Sahib. Wikipedia, Sikh art.
_from_a_Guru_Granth_Sahib_manuscript_housed_at_Takht_Keshgarh_Sahib,_Anandpur_and_dated_to_1771_B.S._(1714_C.E.).jpg)
The dates and holders of the four manuscripts are given as on their Wikimedia Commons file pages. The library has not yet checked them against the catalogues of the holders.
VNishan Sahib, Khanda and Ik Onkar
Sikhism has symbols but does not bow before them. The three signs below are the ones a visitor is most likely to see at a gurdwara.
Source: Sikh Coalition, Frequently asked questions about Sikhs.Nishan Sahib
the Sikh flagHow to recognize: A triangular flag on a tall cloth covered pole, usually with the Khanda in the middleThe Rehat Maryada teaches that every gurdwara should raise the Nishan Sahib at a high point. The cloth is basanti yellow or surmai greyish blue. On top of the pole is a spearhead or a Khanda. According to Wikipedia, the pole is wrapped in cloth of the same colour as the flag, and for many years saffron, kesri, was the most common colour. Also according to Wikipedia, in July 2024 the Akal Takht decided to accept only basanti and surmai, and the SGPC then issued a circular to the same effect. The Nihangs usually fly a dark blue flag. The twin flagpoles beside the Akal Takht stand for Miri and Piri, temporal authority and spiritual authority.
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Khanda
the Sikh emblemHow to recognize: An upright double edged sword, a circle, and two curved swords on either sideAccording to the Sikh Coalition, the double edged sword in the middle stands for divine knowledge, the circle, the chakar, for the eternity of God, and the two curved kirpans for Miri and Piri. The emblem appears on flags, on the railings around the place of the scripture and on gurdwara gates. On when the emblem took its present form, the Wikipedia pages disagree, see the section on what the library is not sure of.
Ik Onkar
ੴHow to recognize: The Gurmukhi numeral one joined to a letter with a looping tailIk Onkar are the first words of the Mul Mantar and also the opening of the Guru Granth Sahib, affirming that there is only one God, the Creator. It is writing, not a picture of any being. It is seen in gurdwaras, in homes, on the pages of the scripture and on some flags.
_at_entrance_of_the_Kartarpur_Sahib_Corridor_(or_Nanak_Marg)_from_Dera_Baba_Nanak_side_of_Indian_border_01.jpg)
VIThe five Ks: worn on the body, not objects of worship
The five Ks are five articles that Sikhs who have taken Amrit wear on their person. The Rehat Maryada says that the person about to be initiated must wear all five: Kesh, Kirpan, Kachhehra, Kanga and Karha. Wikipedia records that Guru Gobind Singh gave this command in 1699, at the first Amrit ceremony at Vaisakhi. The Sikh Coalition calls them articles of faith and compares them to a wedding ring: their value lies in the commitment, not in their use. None of the five is placed on a table to be worshipped.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Six: the Amrit ceremony. Wikipedia, The Five Ks. Sikh Coalition, Sikh identity.
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The four photos above show present day articles belonging to a believer, not museum objects. The library has not yet found photos of old examples under a suitable licence.
VIIPaintings of the Gurus: history and art, not sacred images
Paintings of the Gurus do exist and have a long history. According to Wikipedia, the Janamsakhis, the stories of the life of Guru Nanak, were illustrated from the 17th century: a manuscript of the Bala tradition dated 1658 has 29 paintings, and the B40 manuscript dated 1733 has 57. Scholars regard the Janamsakhis as semi legendary biographies. From the late 19th century into the 20th, popular Sikh pictures were made by lithography and woodcut. In the 20th century the painter Sobha Singh (1901 to 1986) painted a portrait of Guru Nanak for the 500th anniversary of his birth in 1969. His paintings of the first and the tenth Gurus now hang in a great many Sikh homes.
Source: Wikipedia, Sikh art. Wikipedia, Janamsakhis. Wikipedia, Sobha Singh (painter).These paintings are the artists' imagination. The SikhNet question and answer page tells a young reader that a painting is the artist's own expression and does not necessarily match how the Gurus really looked, and that there are no photographs of the Gurus because photography was invented about a hundred years after the time of the tenth Guru.
Source: SikhNet, youth question and answer page: pictures of the Gurus.The clearest text is the Rehat Maryada published by the SGPC: no making of statues, no installing statues in the gurdwara, no bowing before pictures of the Gurus. The code does not forbid having pictures. The SGPC itself founded the Central Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple complex in 1958 and commissioned many painters, among them Sobha Singh, to paint the Gurus, saints and warriors for display there. In May 2019, when a statue of Guru Nanak was put up in Gujarat, the SGPC chief secretary, Roop Singh, said that idol worship is prohibited in Sikh tradition and called the statue a serious lapse. Some organizations go further. In December 2017 the Kendri Sri Guru Singh Sabha called for pictures of the Gurus to be set aside altogether, saying that they draw attention away from the teaching and onto a figure, and criticized the SGPC for distributing Sobha Singh's painting of Guru Nanak in 1969. The library records all sides and does not choose between them.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites. Wikipedia, Central Sikh Museum. The Tribune (India), May 2019: SGPC objects to a statue of Guru Nanak in Gujarat. The Tribune (India), 27 December 2017: Kendri Sri Guru Singh Sabha calls for setting aside pictures of the Gurus.This is why the library shows only two old paintings held in museums, so that readers know this kind of painting exists in the history of art. The two paintings are not placed in the library's Main Hall and are not used as images for devotion. The library does not use Sobha Singh's paintings because they are still under copyright.
Source: Museum Rietberg, Zürich, object RVI 1394. The San Diego Museum of Art, collection Flickr page, object 1990.1347.
VIIIThe Golden Temple, the five takhts and other holy sites
The Rehat Maryada names the five takhts, the five seats of high authority in Sikhism: the Akal Takht in Amritsar, Takht Patna Sahib, Takht Kesgarh Sahib at Anandpur, Takht Hazur Sahib at Nanded and Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo. According to Britannica, the historic gurdwaras include Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, the five takhts, and Nankana, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, now in Pakistan.
Source: Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites. Britannica, Gurdwara.Amritsar: Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple)
According to Wikipedia, Guru Ram Das completed the pool in 1577. Guru Arjan began the temple in 1581, finished it in 1589, and in 1604 installed the first copy of the scripture there. The temple has doors on all four sides, a sign that people of every group and every caste are welcome. It stands in the middle of the pool, joined to the shore by a causeway, with the Darshani Deorhi gate at its head. After it was destroyed by Afghan forces, it was rebuilt in the second half of the 18th century. In 1809 it was renovated in marble and copper. In 1830 Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave gold to cover the sanctum, which is how it came to be called the Golden Temple. The UNESCO file, submitted by India to the Tentative List on 5 January 2004, describes the sanctum in the middle of the sacred pool with a gilded dome and ornament on marble and metal. There is no statue inside. At its centre is the Guru Granth Sahib.
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Amritsar: Akal Takht
Akal Takht means the Throne of the Timeless One. It stands facing the entrance to Harmandir Sahib. Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, founded it. For the year of its founding, Wikipedia gives both 1606 and 1609. The UNESCO file calls it the highest seat of authority in the religious hierarchy of the Sikhs. The present building was completed in 1995. It has five storeys and a gilded dome.
India: the other four takhts
Takht Patna Sahib in Bihar marks the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh in 1666. Takht Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib is where the Khalsa was born at Vaisakhi in 1699. Takht Hazur Sahib at Nanded, on the Godavari river, is where Guru Gobind Singh died in 1708. The building was raised by Maharaja Ranjit Singh between 1832 and 1837. Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo is where Guru Gobind Singh stayed and completed the scripture. It was recognized as the fifth takht on 18 November 1966. Only Sikhs who have taken Amrit and keep the discipline may enter the hallowed enclosures of the takhts.
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Pakistan: Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur
Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib, about 65 km from Lahore, marks the birthplace of Guru Nanak. The present building was raised by Ranjit Singh and completed around 1819 to 1820. Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur is where Guru Nanak settled after his travels and lived the last 18 years of his life, until his death on 22 September 1539. The present main building was put up in 1925 with money given by the Maharaja of Patiala.
The Himalaya: Hemkund Sahib
Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib stands beside a lake in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, at an altitude of 4,572 metres. The place is linked with Guru Gobind Singh: the Dasam Granth says that in a former life he meditated at Hemkund. Design and construction of the present gurdwara began in the mid 1960s. The path is under snow from October to April, and pilgrims come from May.
Britain: Southall, London
Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southall opened on 30 March 2003 after three years of building and holds 3,000 people. Its cost of 17.5 million pounds was raised by the local Sikh community. The main hall follows the common arrangement: a gilded palki on a platform, a canopy above, stained glass behind, and no statue.
Canada: Abbotsford, Calgary, Mississauga
The Gur Sikh Temple in Abbotsford, British Columbia, opened on 26 February 1911 and is the oldest surviving gurdwara in North America. From outside it is a two storey wooden building like the houses of the small towns of that time: the lower floor holds the kitchen and the langar dining hall, the upper floor the prayer hall. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on 26 July 2002. The photos alongside also show a gurdwara in Mississauga with a white dome and a tall Nishan Sahib, and the main hall of a gurdwara in Calgary.
For countries outside India and Pakistan, this page so far covers only Britain, Canada and one photo from Australia.
The Sikh Coalition, a Sikh organization in the United States, estimates that there are more than 25 million Sikhs in the world.
Source: Sikh Coalition, About Sikhs.IXThe Khalsa mainstream and the Udasi, Nirmala and Namdhari branches
What the sections above describe is the practice of the mainstream according to the Rehat Maryada. Britannica estimates that those who have taken Amrit make up only about 15 to 18 percent of all Sikhs, and states plainly that any such figure is guesswork. Many more keep their hair, wear the turban and keep the Rahit to varying degrees. Alongside the mainstream there are several branches and orders in which images, or the idea of a living Guru, are understood differently. The library records them only as the sources do and does not judge which branch is right.
Source: Britannica, Sikhism: Sects and other groups.Udasi
How to recognize: An ascetic, celibate order, with images in some of its shrinesAccording to Britannica, this order was founded by Srichand, the elder son of Guru Nanak. The Udasis value celibacy and renunciation of the world, and worship the image of Srichand in their temples. In the 18th century, when the Sikhs were persecuted by the Mughals, the Udasis looked after a number of gurdwaras. Wikipedia records that they do not shun images as the mainstream does and often keep images of Srichand, Guru Nanak, Vishnu or Shiva. During the Akali movement of the early 20th century they were removed from the gurdwaras, and the Gurdwara Act of 1925 gave the management back to the Sikhs. Since then the Udasis have increasingly regarded themselves as Hindus. Their largest centre is at Haridwar.
Nirmala
How to recognize: An order of scholars in ochre robes who keep their hairAccording to the order's own tradition, in 1686 Guru Gobind Singh sent five Sikhs to Varanasi to study Sanskrit and Indian scriptures. Wikipedia cites the historian W.H. McLeod, who considers this story hard to verify because Sikh writings before the 19th century scarcely mention the Nirmalas. Nirmalas wear ochre robes, keep their hair, and believe in the ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib as the mainstream does, but interpret the words of the Gurus in a Vedantic way. Their central body is the Panchayati Akhara Nirmal, founded at Patiala in 1862. The library has not yet read any source saying that the Nirmalas use images in their places of worship.
Namdhari (Kuka)
How to recognize: White handwoven clothes, a turban wound straight across the forehead, a living GuruAccording to Britannica, the Namdharis believe that the line of living Gurus continued after Guru Gobind Singh, which the mainstream does not accept. The order was founded by Balak Singh (1797 to 1862), followed by Ram Singh (1816 to 1885), who made Bhaini Sahib its centre. They wear only handwoven white clothes, wind the turban straight across the forehead, are strictly vegetarian and have their own places of worship. They hold the Adi Granth and the Dasam Granth in equal regard. The library has not yet read any source describing how a Namdhari place of worship is arranged, so there is no photo for this branch.
Source: Britannica, Namdhari. Britannica, Sikhism: Sects and other groups. Wikipedia, Namdhari.Not every mainstream site is exactly alike. A version of the Wikipedia page on Hazur Sahib from before July 2026 recorded that Takht Hazur Sahib at Nanded keeps some old customs: the officiants and local devotees still apply a sandalwood tilak to the forehead, and the takht houses both the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dasam Granth, following the practice of Takht Patna Sahib. The Rehat Maryada, for its part, says that no book is to be installed on a par with the Guru Granth Sahib. The library records both as the sources state them.
Source: Wikipedia, Hazur Sahib. Sikhs.org, Sikh Rehat Maryada in English, Section Three: the gurdwara and congregational rites.XWhat the library is not sure of
If you are a Sikh or a scholar of Sikhism and see anything on this page that is not right, please let the library know so it can be corrected.
XIPhotos and licences
Every photo on this page comes from Wikimedia Commons, under Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences. Authors and licences are given exactly as on the original file pages, read on 07/10/2026. The photos have only been reduced in size, with no change to their content. Click the name of a photo to go to its original file page. If you are an author and see an incorrect credit, please let the library know so it can be corrected.
XIISources
The pages above were read in October 2026. If a page has changed its address, please let the library know so it can be updated.
?Quick Questions
Do Sikhs worship statues or pictures
No. The Sikh Rehat Maryada says that worship is given only to the One Timeless Being, that the worship of idols is not allowed in the gurdwara, that no statues are to be made or installed there, and that no one should bow before pictures of the Gurus.
Then what do Sikhs place at the centre of a gurdwara
The Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture regarded as the Guru. It rests on a small cot called the Manji Sahib, under a canopy, often inside a roofed palanquin called the palki. It is covered with a rumala when not being read, and a chaur whisk stands beside it.
Do Sikhs worship the book
Sikhs explain that the Guru Granth Sahib is not an object of worship. Only God is worshipped, through the sacred word. The throne, the canopy and the whisk are the respect given to a Guru who is present.
What are the pictures of Guru Nanak in Sikh homes
They are paintings imagined by artists, the best known being those by Sobha Singh in the 20th century. There are no photographs of the Gurus, and according to SikhNet the paintings do not necessarily match how they really looked. The Rehat Maryada does not allow bowing before pictures. Some Sikh organizations even call for setting pictures aside altogether.
What is the triangular flag in front of a gurdwara
It is the Nishan Sahib. The Rehat Maryada teaches that every gurdwara should raise it at a high point, in basanti yellow or surmai greyish blue cloth, with a spearhead or a Khanda on top of the pole. It tells people from afar that there is a gurdwara there, and it is not an object of worship.
Why does this page still show two paintings of the Gurus
Because paintings of the Gurus are a real part of the history of Punjabi art and are held in museums. The library shows two of them as historical records, states clearly that they are not sacred images, and does not place them in the Main Hall.