Humour in Sikhism refers to the relationship between Sikhs and humour. In Sikhism, devotion is not seen as being antithetical to comedy but rather the two can be conjoined together.
History Many hagiographical Sikh stories involve humour. One sakhi (tale) linked to Sikhs having a sense of humour is when Guru Nanak visited Haridwar. In the morning, whilst people were tossing water in the direction of the Sun, instead Guru Nanak took some water and began tossing it toward his field in Kartarpur, located very far away. Onlookers, including the pundits, questioned Guru Nanak on what he was doing, with Guru Nanak rebuking that his fields in Kartarpur were much closer than the Sun and that if tossing the water at the Sun would reach it, then tossing the water at Kartarpur would definitely help irrigate his crops. The reasoning behind this action was to rebuke the prevailing belief that throwing water to the east would reach ancestors beyond the grave. Modern Sikhs find humour in this story but it is unknown if the pilgrims and local clergy who met Guru Nanak and were exposed to this incident at the time found humour in it. Whilst at Mecca, another tale narrates that Guru Nanak pointed his feet toward the Kaaba whilst laying down at night. When he was reprimanded for doing so by the local Islamic clergy, he replied that they should then turn his feet in the direction where God is not present. A story of Guru Nanak visiting Baghdad says that in the morning time, the Guru wanted to gather his own congregation, so he created his own Azaan call and performed it by yelling at a high-altitude location. People became curious upon hearing this new kind of call to prayer and came to see him. Another legend narrates that once Guru Nanak came upon happy children who were playing, jumping, and having fun in the street whilst he was travelling. Upon seeing the children, Guru Nanak also began to jump, shout, and sing like them. A funny story also involved Guru Nanak and a pundit named Kalyug. Kalyug claimed to have the power to see the spiritual realm of Shivapuri, Brahmpuri, and other Indic mythological abodes. Kalyug would instruct devotees to meditate with him by closing their eyes, claiming to guide them through a celestial astral projection. At one of these meditation events whilst everyone's eyes were closed, Guru Nanak told Bhai Mardana to take Kalyug's donation bowl and hide it behind a bush. When Kalyug's meditation event finished, he exclaimed that someone had taken his donation bowl and asked where it was, until a large crowd had gathered. Guru Nanak then told him that he claims to be able to see celestial realms yet he cannot meditate and search the Universe for where his donation bowl had gone. A story, involving miracles, related to Guru Angad and Amar Das, on the topic of tolerating things seen as offensive, tells that Amar Das once became irritated at a perceived transgression against Guru Angad by farmers and a holyman. In the midst of a drought, a holyman convinced a group of farmers that they should abandon their following of Guru Angad and instead follow him if they hoped for their crops to receive rain. The farmers started following this man instead of Angad, yet the drought did not cease as they had hoped for. Amar Das heard of what was happening and instructed the farmers to drag the holyman wherever they wished to receive rain. The farmers dragged the holyman to their fields, where it then rained. Guru Angad found out about this and rebuked Amar Das for performing a miracle and that even grave insults to Sikhs, such as one targeting a Sikh guru, should be tolerated by Sikhs. Another tale tells of Guru Amar Das, in his elderly years, being kicked whilst seated by an upset relative of his predecessory guru. Instead of getting upset, Guru Amar Das started massaging the relative's foot and said the old bones in the foot must have hurt when he kicked him. This tale instructs Sikhs to even take serious and offensive actions in a light-hearted manner. Guru Arjan, knowing the power and effectiveness of humour, inserted a humorous hymn attributed to Bhagat Dhanna into his compilation of the first edition of the Adi Granth:
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