By IANS
Kuala Lumpur : Sikhs in Malaysia have begun month-long prayers to commemorate Guru Nanak’s 538th birthday at one of the oldest Sikh temples in Rawang.
Thousands of devotees flocked to the Nanaksar Temple Wednesday to attend prayers for the founder of the Sikh faith.
“Hundreds of devotees came to attend the prayers and volunteered to cook for devotees throughout the month,” temple president Mahinder Kaur said.
During the month, the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, would be recited non-stop while religious hymns would be sung during the evenings.
Other activities held were a blood donation drive and a procession of the holy book through Serendah town, New Straits Times reported.
Guru Nanak, born in Punjab, preached the equality of all human beings including women and the concept of one god.
Malaysia has a little less that 100,000 Sikhs, according to the Sikhphilosophy.net web site.
The Sikh community in Malaysia owes its beginnings to the British connection and in particular the recruitment of Sikhs for the paramilitary and police units, which formed the nucleus from which the modern police and military forces of the nation derived.
The first of these units was the Perak Sikhs, said the virtualmalaysia.com website.