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Summary of Question:	Monogamy
Category:	Love & Marriage
Date Posted:	Monday, 8/05/2002 11:02 PM MDT

To my understanding, sikhism believes in monogamy, but then why did the sixth and tenth guru each have three wives?

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Sat Siri Akal.

That's a really good question and one that stumps me, as well. Why the heck DID they have more than one wife, anyway? I've heard lots of answers on this one. First, that fathers offered their daughters as "gifts" and, out of respect, Guru Hargobind ji couldn't politely turn them down. Also there's the tried and true response, "The Gurus knew what they were doing and we just have to trust their wisdom on this." But I think for all of us who believe in monogamy, it would be nice if we could understand why our Gurus taught monogamy, but in rare instances, didn't keep to it, themselves.

Also- I don't believe that it is historically accurate that the Tenth Guru had three wives. I believe he had two wives and only one of those wives had any children - leading to the belief among some historians that, while Guru Gobind Singh had a second wife, he never consumated that particular relationship.

The important thing to note is that eight of our Gurus did keep with monogamy and this is a very primary teaching in the Sikh tradition. So it may just be that we need to be comfortable with not knowing the answer on this one.

If there's a Sikh historian reading this, we invite your input on the subject.

God bless.

GPK