Guru Teg Bahadur Ji's Self Portrait

A Turning Point in Sikh Art

- 

In early Sikhism like Islam, it was forbidden to paint the portraits of the Gurus.

The first five Gurus discouraged idolatry and the trappings of image-worship, and therefore we do not find realistic portraits made during their lifetimes. Sikh teachings emphasized devotion to one formless Divine and warned against rituals that could become mechanical idol-worship. Because of this, the Gurus did not encourage producing or venerating images of themselves while alive. Gurus believed that divine presence is not bound by form or image. Portraits of the Gurus exist today, painted much later and are imaginative rather than eyewitness likenesses.