About

The Ten Gurus

Ten teachers over 239 years shaped a faith built on equality, service, and courage. Scroll to walk through each of their lives — and meet the Guru who presides today.

Traditional painting of Guru Nanak Dev Ji meditating under a banyan tree beside a river

Chapter 01 · 1469–1539

ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ

Guru Nanak Dev Ji

Founded the Sikh faith

Born in Talwandi, Punjab, Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught that there is one creator and one human family — no caste, no ritual, no divide. He travelled for over two decades across South Asia and beyond, sharing this message, then settled in Kartarpur where he founded a community built on honest work, shared food, and remembrance of the divine.

Lived 1469–1539

Traditional painting of Guru Angad Dev Ji teaching children the Gurmukhi alphabet

Chapter 02 · 1539–1552

ਗੁਰੂ ਅੰਗਦ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ

Guru Angad Dev Ji

Standardised the Gurmukhi script

Guru Angad Dev Ji gave the community its own script — Gurmukhi, "from the Guru's mouth" — so ordinary people could read sacred poetry for themselves. He opened schools for children, championed physical fitness through wrestling grounds, and grew the langar so that no visitor ever left hungry.

Lived 1504–1552

Traditional painting of Guru Amar Das Ji presiding over a langar where all sit as equals

Chapter 03 · 1552–1574

ਗੁਰੂ ਅਮਰ ਦਾਸ ਜੀ

Guru Amar Das Ji

Made langar the doorway to the Guru

Becoming Guru at 73, Guru Amar Das Ji made equality something you practise before you preach: everyone — emperor or farmer — sat on the same floor and ate the same langar before meeting him. He spoke against sati and the veil, trained women as preachers, and organised the growing faith into teaching districts.

Lived 1479–1574

Traditional painting of Guru Arjan Dev Ji compiling scripture with the Harmandir Sahib behind

Chapter 05 · 1581–1606

ਗੁਰੂ ਅਰਜਨ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ

Guru Arjan Dev Ji

Compiled the scripture, built Harmandir Sahib

Guru Arjan Dev Ji compiled the Adi Granth — the first edition of Sikh scripture — including the words of Hindu and Muslim saints alongside the Gurus'. He completed the Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple, with doors on all four sides to welcome all. In 1606 he became the faith's first martyr, accepting torture with the words "sweet is Your will."

Lived 1563–1606

Traditional painting of Guru Hargobind Ji wearing the two swords of miri and piri at the Akal Takht

Chapter 06 · 1606–1644

ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਜੀ

Guru Hargobind Ji

Miri-piri — the saint-soldier ideal

After his father's martyrdom, Guru Hargobind Ji wore two swords: miri for worldly duty and piri for spiritual authority — the saint-soldier ideal. He built the Akal Takht, the throne of temporal justice facing the Harmandir Sahib, and on his release from Gwalior prison refused to leave unless 52 imprisoned princes walked free with him.

Lived 1595–1644

Traditional painting of Guru Har Rai Ji walking through a herbal garden with deer resting nearby

Chapter 07 · 1644–1661

ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿ ਰਾਇ ਜੀ

Guru Har Rai Ji

Healing, compassion, and stewardship

Guru Har Rai Ji kept a standing army yet never drew it into battle. He planted herbal gardens and ran free clinics — once sending rare medicine to heal the son of the very emperor whose family had persecuted the Gurus. Gentle with all living things, he taught that the Guru's word must never be altered, not by a single letter.

Lived 1630–1661

Traditional painting of the child Guru Har Krishan Ji offering water and comfort to the sick in Delhi

Chapter 08 · 1661–1664

ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿ ਕ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਨ ਜੀ

Guru Har Krishan Ji

Selfless service as a child Guru

Guru Har Krishan Ji became Guru at five years old. When smallpox and cholera swept Delhi, the child Guru went among the sick and dying, tending to them regardless of faith or caste, until he contracted the illness himself and passed at eight. Delhi's Gurdwara Bangla Sahib stands where he served.

Lived 1656–1664

Traditional painting of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji meditating at dusk at Anandpur with an oil lamp beside him

Chapter 09 · 1664–1675

ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ ਬਹਾਦਰ ਜੀ

Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji

Gave his life for another faith's freedom

When Kashmiri Pandits facing forced conversion sought his protection, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji went to Delhi knowing the price. He was publicly executed in 1675 for defending a religion that was not his own — an act remembered as "Hind di Chadar", the shield of India. He founded Anandpur, the city of bliss, in the Himalayan foothills.

Lived 1621–1675

Traditional painting of Guru Gobind Singh Ji on horseback with a white falcon before Anandpur

Chapter 10 · 1675–1708

ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ

Guru Gobind Singh Ji

Founded the Khalsa, ended the human line

Guru Gobind Singh Ji became Guru at nine, after his father's martyrdom. In 1699 he founded the Khalsa — a community of initiated saint-soldiers bound by the Five Ks and the names Singh and Kaur, erasing caste at a stroke. Having lost his four sons to the struggle, he declared before his passing that the scripture itself would be Guru forever.

Lived 1666–1708

Traditional painting of the Guru Granth Sahib resting on a golden palki inside the Harmandir Sahib

The eternal Guru · 1708 – forever

ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ

Guru Granth Sahib Ji

The eternal Guru

In 1708, Guru Gobind Singh Ji closed the line of human Gurus and vested the guruship in the scripture itself. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji — 1,430 pages of poetry set to music, in many languages and by many hands — presides over every gurudwara today. Sikhs bow not to a book, but to the living word it carries.

Keep exploring

The Gurus' teachings live on in the three pillars, the Five Ks, and the langar served every week.

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