When he founded the Sikh faith more than five hundred years ago, Guru Nanak sought a more humane path for a subcontinent wracked by centuries of continuous warfare. A religion that grew out of compassion and tolerance incurred the wrath of other faiths and was forced to transform itself into a community which placed military values alongside the spiritual. Patwant Singh's compelling account traces the history of the Sikhs from their genesis, to the inspiringeadership of the tenth Sikh guru that sowed the seeds of a Sikh state, ultimately resulting in the forging of a Sikh empire.