Q 01/05

What did Guru Gobind Singh, sword drawn, ask volunteers at the 1699 Vaisakhi gathering to sacrifice?

A) Their turban

B) Their head

C) Their land

D) Their sword

Answer · why

B) Their head

Their head: the Guru called for a volunteer willing to sacrifice his head, and the five who stepped forward one by one became the first members of the...

Q 02/05

Guru Arjan built the Golden Temple lower than the city around it to emphasise which virtue?

A) Courage

B) Patience

C) Humility

D) Charity

Answer · why

C) Humility

Humility: Guru Arjan set the shrine on a lower level so that even the humblest had to step down to enter, and gave it entrances on all four sides to s...

Q 03/05

Which US rapper featured on the 2003 remix of Panjabi MC's bhangra hit 'Mundian To Bach Ke'?

A) Nelly

B) Ludacris

C) Snoop Dogg

D) Jay-Z

Answer · why

D) Jay-Z

Jay-Z rapped on the 2003 remix, released as 'Beware of the Boys'; Panjabi MC had built the 1998 original on the bassline of the Knight Rider TV theme,...

Q 04/05

Which river goddess, in one tradition, descended from heaven on Vaisakhi, a day of ritual bathing?

A) Yamuna

B) Saraswati

C) Ganga

D) Kaveri

Answer · why

C) Ganga

Ganga, the Ganges, came down from Svarga on Vaisakhi in one telling, so Hindus bathe in sacred rivers, visit temples and give charity of water pitcher...

Q 05/05

Whose 1801 coronation as Maharaja of the Sikh Empire was timed to coincide with Vaisakhi?

A) Banda Singh Bahadur

B) Ranjit Singh

C) Jassa Singh Ahluwalia

D) Duleep Singh

Answer · why

B) Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh was proclaimed Maharaja on 12 April 1801, with Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of the first guru, conducting the coronation that created a...