SikhRoots is the creation from a team of volunteers based in the United Kingdom. This website has been setup to encourage and inspire people to learn more about the Sikh faith, its history, its teachings and to encourage a simple, honest and spiritual life.

Background

SikhRoots has gone through many changes in the past decade to become one of the most visited and talked about Sikh websites in the world.

In 2002, Sikhifm.com was launched on the success of a local community based radio station in Wolverhampton, England. At that time, there were not many quality Sikh websites on the web despite a rapidly growing online community and the ones that did exist charged for downloads. We were the first to offer a huge collection of Gurbani keertan and katha MP3's for free. It was a controversial move as many record companies who sold Gurbani CD's were claiming that we infringed their copyrights. However, we always argued the fact that Gurbani, in any form, should not be sold for profit and should be made available to all.

In 2005, the name was changed to EKTA ONE. Ekta, in its simplest context, means "unity" and the name was also an abbreviation for “Everyone Keeping Together As One”. The change was to give the name more meaning especially as the Sikhi FM radio station ceased broadcast. It became hugely popular and we made the site even more unique and diverse. Ekta One became the first Sikh website in the world to feature content from all jathebandhis (Sikh groups) and published recordings and photos from events regardless of who they were organised by. It was endorsed and commended by AKJ (UK), AKJ (International), Damdami Taksaal, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sevak Jatha, Nihangs and Nanaksar.

Discover Your Roots

In 2007, we decided to revamp the project and give the website a more mature presence. We renamed the site to SikhRoots and launched with a larger team and more volunteers to help keep up with huge growth the website had seen. In such a short space of time, SikhRoots has worked with local congregation in the United Kingdom and recruited volunteers worldwide as far as America and Canada. We work with other organisations and groups to help organise large events such as the Sanjha Smagams and Atam Ras Keertan Darbaars, as well as liasing with media organisations such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sikh Channel.

Achieving unity is never an easy thing. It takes blood, sweat and tears to build a united nation and our Sikh history is evident of this. We are a nation built by saint soldiers and martyrs – those who fought against tyranny, oppression and injustice even when they were small in numbers. The sevadars at SikhRoots will never be able to match what so many great men and women in the past and present have achieved for Sikhi, but we try our best with what we have been given by Vaheguru Jee has given us. We are not perfect - only Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee is perfect.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have and do help us with what we are trying to achieve. With your help, we have not only had the the energy to keep going and overcome these obstacles we face, but with your love and support we have managed to spread the love of Vaheguru throghout the world and we pray that you continue to support us always. These websites and this seva has been going since the volunteers behind it were young teenagers. In light of this, we realize we may have made some mistakes and so we would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any wrong doing or any mistakes and pray that Maharaj gives us the strength and wisdom to not repeat them again.

Thank you

SikhRoots Team