FACTBOX: Key facts about Sikhism

(Reuters) - Two people died in protests and demonstrators set fire to vehicles and shops in the Indian state of Punjab Monday after a Sikh preacher was killed in an attack in a temple in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Following are some facts about Sikhism

* Sikhism, which believes in one god, was established in Punjab in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak. Sikh means "learner" in Punjabi. The Sikh holy scripture is called the Guru Granth Sahib.

* There are nearly 25 million Sikhs in the world, the majority of whom live in Punjab. Sikhs comprise less than two percent of India's 1.1 billion-plus population.

* One of the core beliefs of Sikhism is Guru Nanak's teaching against discrimination and prejudice due to religion, race, caste or status.

* Devout Sikh males commonly do not cut their hair, wear a turban and adopt the surname "Singh," meaning "lion," as a way of ridding society of identities such as caste that can be determined by a surname.

* Manmohan Singh is India's first Sikh prime minister and was elected for a second term in May.

* India's first woman prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984, sparking riots in which thousands of Sikhs were killed. She had ordered the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar where Sikh militants fighting for a separate homeland were holed up.

* Sikh rights activists have lobbied unsuccessfully for the right to wear turbans in schools in officially secular France. Sikhs say the ban on conspicuous religious symbols violates their human rights and took their case to the United Nations.

(Sources: Reuters; Encyclopaedia Britannica; CIA World Factbook; www.Sikhiwiki.org)

(Compiled by Matthias Williams; editing by Tim Pearce)