A Return to the Ritual of Sacrifice: Creation in the Sikh Tradition

This paper asks how the inauguration of the Khalsa, a sacred military-spiritual order in the Sikh tradition, can be understood from the standpoint of human sacrifice. Conventional approaches construe this order from the standpoint of identity, as if the purpose of its institution were to create a distinct sense of self. However, a concern with identity violates other commitments to ego-loss that are replete in the tradition. This paper instead argues that a logic of sacrifice better voices a key aspect of this military-spiritual order — a psycho-social transformation of self. In doing so, this paper turns to the sacrality of sacrifice for a more ethically rich engagement with Sikh thought, tradition, and religion.