Sikhism Trivia
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48 free Sikhism trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Sikhism trivia for students of world religions, interfaith quiz nights, RE teachers and anyone curious about the faith of 25-30 million people. The quiz starts with the basics - Guru Nanak's birth in 1469 near Lahore, Ik Onkar and Waheguru, why Sikhs do not proselytise, what a gurdwara and a langar are - and moves through the ten gurus: Angad and the Gurmukhi script, Amar Das and Ram Das founding Amritsar, Arjan compiling the Adi Granth and dying a martyr, Hargobind's two swords, Tegh Bahadur's execution in Delhi. It then covers Guru Gobind Singh, the Vaisakhi of 1699, the Panj Piare and the Khalsa, the five Ks and the names Singh and Kaur, the Guru Granth Sahib as eternal guru, and the Golden Temple from Ram Das's pool to Ranjit Singh's gold leaf and Operation Blue Star. There are also questions on Sikh festivals, the Nishan Sahib, the kirpan, Sikh Canada and the partition. Roughly a third of the questions are easy and the rest climb steadily. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Guru Nanak's hymns describe the sack of Saidpur by the armies of which invader?
Babur
Babur's armies sacked Saidpur, and Nanak, who witnessed the violence, recorded it in four hymns known as the Babur Vani.
Q 02In which region of the Indian subcontinent did Sikhism originate?
Punjab
Punjab was split between two countries in 1947, and most Sikhs living on its western side fled east amid communal violence.
Q 03Which Indian leader apologised in Parliament in 2005 for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots?
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh apologised days after an inquiry's report on the riots had led a minister, Jagdish Tytler, to resign.
Q 04The sixth Sikh guru's release from a Mughal prison is celebrated during which festival?
Diwali
Diwali, for Sikhs, marks the day the sixth guru walked free, and tradition says 52 imprisoned princes left with him by holding on to his cloak.
Q 05Which famous diamond did the British take from the boy Maharaja Duleep Singh?
The Koh-i-Noor
The Koh-i-Noor was surrendered to Queen Victoria under the 1849 treaty, and it has since been set in the crowns of British queens consort.
Q 06What Sikh phrase, opening the scripture, expresses the oneness of God as 'One Creator'?
Ik Onkar
Ik Onkar also opens the Japji Sahib, the hymn devout Sikhs recite first thing every morning.
Q 07What is the Sikh word for God?
Waheguru
Waheguru: Guru Gobind Singh introduced the salutation 'Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh', meaning the Khalsa belongs to God and victory belongs to God.
Q 08What does the word 'Sikh' mean?
Student or disciple
Student or disciple: the tenth guru later named the scripture as the guru Sikhs learn from, ending the line of human gurus.
Q 09What is a langar?
A free vegetarian community meal open to all
A free vegetarian community meal open to all, langar serves only vegetarian food so that people of every faith, whatever their dietary rules, can eat it.
Q 10What does the word gurdwara, the name for a Sikh place of worship, mean?
Door to the guru
Door to the guru: on walking in, Sikhs first bow to the Guru Granth Sahib, touching the floor with their foreheads as a sign of respect.
Q 11Which of the five Ks is uncut hair?
Kes
Kes: by leaving their hair uncut, Sikhs accept it as God's gift, keeping their bodies as God intended.
Q 12Which of the five Ks is a small wooden comb?
Kangha
Kangha: Sikhs use the small wooden comb twice a day, and it reminds them that their lives should be tidy and disciplined.
Q 13What is a kirpan?
A blade worn as an article of faith
A blade worn as an article of faith, the kirpan stands for the defence of the weak and the struggle against injustice.
Which prime minister was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards months after the army stormed the Golden Temple?
Q 21Which Mughal emperor had the fifth Sikh guru tortured and killed in 1606?
Jahangir
Jahangir had the guru tortured, and Sikh tradition says he was then led into the river and never seen again.
Q 22Which sixth guru carried two swords representing spiritual and temporal power, the doctrine of Miri Piri?
Hargobind
Hargobind wore the two swords after his father's execution, turning the Sikhs into an armed community for the first time.
Q 23Which Sikh guru was beheaded in Delhi in 1675 on Aurangzeb's orders?
Tegh Bahadur
Tegh Bahadur's severed head was carried to Anandpur by a disciple, Bhai Jaita, in defiance of the Mughals, so that it could be cremated.
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi was shot on 31 October 1984, and her killing set off anti-Sikh riots in which thousands of Sikhs were killed.
Q 15On which harvest festival did Guru Gobind Singh found the Khalsa?
Vaisakhi
Vaisakhi 1699: Guru Gobind Singh asked for Sikhs willing to give their heads, led five into a tent, and brought them out alive as the first Khalsa.
Q 16What does the name Singh, given to Sikh men, mean?
Lion
Lion: at a Sikh naming ceremony the scripture is opened at random, the baby's name starts with the hymn's first letter, and a boy also gets Singh.
Q 17What does the name Kaur, given to Sikh women, mean?
Princess
Princess: in the traditional account, Guru Gobind Singh gave Sikh women the name Kaur partly to replace caste-revealing surnames.
Q 18Which script is used to write the Sikh scriptures?
Gurmukhi
Gurmukhi: Sikh tradition credits the second guru with reworking older letters into its simpler alphabet.
Q 19Which fifth guru compiled the first edition of the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth, in 1604?
Arjan
Arjan included hymns by Hindu and Muslim saints, and he installed the finished scripture in the Golden Temple, which he had built.
Q 20What does an attendant wave over the Guru Granth Sahib as a sign of royal respect?
A whisk
A whisk, the chaur, is waved over it as over royalty, and each night the scripture is carried to a bedroom of its own.
Q 24What is the name of the holy pool that surrounds the Golden Temple's sanctum?
Sarovar
Sarovar: the fourth guru, Ram Das, began digging the pool, and the fifth guru built the shrine in its middle.
Q 25Which Sikh ruler overlaid the Golden Temple's sanctum with gold leaf in 1830, giving it its popular name?
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh vowed to rebuild the temple in marble and gold after invading Afghan armies had desecrated it.
Q 26What do the Golden Temple's four entrances symbolise?
Equality
Equality: the four entrances signal that people of all four traditional castes, and of every faith, are equally welcome.
Q 27What was the name of the 1984 Indian Army assault on militants inside the Golden Temple complex?
Operation Blue Star
Operation Blue Star wrecked the Akal Takht, and Sikhs later pulled down the government's repairs and rebuilt it themselves.
Q 28What is the Akal Takht?
The supreme seat of temporal authority in Sikhism
The supreme seat of temporal authority in Sikhism, the Akal Takht was built by the sixth guru facing the Golden Temple's shrine, to balance worldly power with spiritual.
Q 29What is the Nishan Sahib?
The Sikh flag flown at gurdwaras
The Sikh flag flown at gurdwaras, the Nishan Sahib, flies from a tall pole so travellers can spot a gurdwara from a distance.
Q 30Which vices does Sikhism call the five thieves?
Ego, anger, greed, attachment and lust
Ego, anger, greed, attachment and lust are vices that, Sikhs believe, make people self-centred and separate them from God.