360 silver in the Americas all forms of rituals and proclaimed that there was neither Hindu nor Muslim, emphasizing brotherhood and peaceful coexistence between the followers of the two religions Nanak’s message against caste distinctions, ritualism, superstition, and idol worship attracted adherents and he mixed freely with low-class people during his travels He distributed money among the poor and maintained a common kitchen where all could dine together Nanak identified himself with the downtrodden and declared that he was the lowliest of the low He held woman in high esteem and once exclaimed, “Why denounce her from [of] whom even kings and great men are born?” Nanak advocated an honest livelihood, life of purity, and shared earnings He believed in rebirths and taught that good deeds and chanting God’s name could end the cycle of rebirths Finally he settled as a farmer in a place called Dera Baba Nank in Punjab, attracting large number of disciples with his simple and universal message The followers of Nanak were called Sikhs (disciples) and he was their guru, the first of nine gurus The second guru was his son Guru Angad (1504–52) The three essential elements in Nanak’s teaching were Nam Simran (thought about God), Kirt Kaara (living a normal life), and Wand Chhako (sharing with needy) In time, guru, shabad (ideology), and sangat (organization) also became important Sikhism emphasized the necessity of family life and all gurus, except for the eighth, were married, leading normal family lives Work was emphasized and the gurus earned their livelihoods in different vocations There was no place for ascetics in Sikhism The Adi Granth that forms the basis of Sikh theology is the record of Nanak’s teaching and the holy book of Sikhism It was transcribed by Bhai Gurudasin in the 16th century in Punjab, a vernacular language of northern India The Sikh way of life became popular among many people, and Sikhism was a dynamic and growing religion The third Mughal emperor, Akbar, gave a grant of land to the Sikhs as a sign of approval The fifth guru, Arjan Dev (1563–1606), who had compiled the Granth Sahib, built Amritsar as a holy city for all Sikhs and laid the foundation of Harmindar Sahib (the Golden Temple) The martyrdom of the Sikh leader during the revolt of Emperor Jahanair transformed Sikhism into a militant religion and long conflict with imperial power began The militarization of the Sikh community became marked under fifth guru, Hargovind (1595–1644), at the time of Shah Jahan (1592–1666) Sikhs rose up against the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb (1618–1707), who executed Guru Tegh Bahadur (the ninth guru) His son Govind Singh (1666–1708) then fought against Aurangzeb by founding a military brotherhood called Khalsa (pure) Govind Singh was the last guru As the Mughal Empire disintegrated, the Sikhs established a state and strove for regional independence Further reading: Bhattacharyya, Narendra Nath Medieval Bhakti Movements in India New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1999; Chandra, Satish Medieval India: From Sultanate to the Moghuls Delhi: Har Anand, 1999; Majumdar, R C., ed The Delhi Sultanate Bombay, India: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1989; Mann, Gurinder Singh The Making of Sikh Scripture New York: Oxford University Press, 2000; Mishra, Patit Paban “India—Medieval Period,” Levinson, D., and K Christensen, eds Encyclopedia of Modern Asia New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002 Patit Paban Mishra silver in the Americas The discovery of massive deposits of silver in New Spain and Peru from the mid-16th century set in motion a chain of events that reverberated across the globe Large-scale silver production in Spanish America not only transformed local, regional, and colonial economies across large parts of the Americas It also fueled a price revolution in Europe, accelerated the growth of the nascent African slave trade, and heightened imperial competition between Europe’s early modern nation-states, particularly Spain and England American silver proved crucial in providing the Spanish imperial state with the fiscal base necessary to build and defend its overseas empire, while also sparking keen interest in American exploration and colonization by Spain’s European rivals At every level—local, regional, colonywide, and global—the economic, social, and political transformations wrought by large-scale silver production in Spain’s New World holdings were enduring and profound Two main centers of silver production emerged in 16th-century Spanish America: the region north and west of Mexico City, centered on the provinces of Zacatecas and Guanajuato, and the “mountain of silver” at Potosí in the Peruvian Andes (Silver production at Potosí is treated elsewhere in these pages.) The development of New Spain’s silver industry, with its epicenter at Zacatecas, followed a very different trajectory Unlike Peru’s, the silver deposits of New Spain had not been systematically mined by pre-Columbian