ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>JHA&#7788K&#256</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="JHAlK"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279JHA&#7788K&#256, the Sikh mode of killing an animal for food, also stands for the meat of an animal or bird so killed. Derived, etymologically, from <i>jha&#7789</i>, an adverb meaning instantly, immediately or at once, <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> signifies a jerk, snap, jolt or a swift blow. For Sikhs <i>jha&#7789k&#257 karn&#257</i> or <i>jha&#7789k&#257u&#7751&#257</i> means to slaughter the animal instantaneously, severing the head with a single stroke of any weapon or killing with gunshot or electrocution. The underlying idea is to kill the animal with the minimum of torture to it. <i>Jha&#7789k&#257</i> is opposed to <i>ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i>, that is meat of an animal slaughtered by a slow process in the Muslim way known as <i>hal&#257l</i> (lit. legal, legitimate, lawful). <i>Ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i> is a participle derived from the Punjabi verb <i>koh&#7751&#257</i> (lit. to torture). While slaughtering for food, a Muslim must incise the throat of the animal to the accompaniment of the exclamation of the <i>kalim&#257</i>, the Islamic formula meaning "By the name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate." For <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i>, a Sikh while delivering the blow may utter Sat Sr&#299 Ak&#257l (lit. True is the Timeless Lord), which is both a Sikh war slogan and a salutation, but there is no idea of sacrifice or ritual involved in such utterance, and it is not mandatory either. Sikhism does not sanction sacrificial or ritual killing.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Historically, there is no positive injunction enforcing <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> mode of slaughter laid down by the Gur&#363s. However, Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, when manifesting the order of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 in 1699, enjoined upon Sikhs to abstain from <i>ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i> or <i>hal&#257l</i> meat introduced by the Muslim ruling class. That many high-ranking Hindus had succumbed to the practice of eating <i>ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i> is evidenced from a verse of Gur&#363 N&#257nak's in <i>&#256s&#257 k&#299 V&#257r</i>: "They eat <i>ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i> of goats killed with the pronouncement of alien words, i.e. <i>kalim&#257</i>, but do not allow anyone to enter their cooking square (to guard against pollution by touch&#8230" Instructions regarding <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> mode of slaughter are contained in various <i>Rahitn&#257m&#257s</i> or codes of conduct for the Sikhs, and the Sikh chronicles written during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They all affirm that Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh made the taking of <i>ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i> one of the four major <i>kurahits</i>, or violations of the Sikh code of conduct. However, two of these sources say positively : "Kill the male goat in the <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> way if you want to eat, but do not ever look at any other type of meat" (<i>Rahitn&#257m&#257</i> of Bh&#257&#299 Des&#257 Si&#7749gh), and "Slaughter male goats through <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> and eat; do not go near carrion or <i>ku&#7789&#7789h&#257</i>" (Ratan Si&#7749gh Bha&#7749g&#363, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>). <i>Rahitn&#257m&#257</i> of Bh&#257&#299 Des&#257 Si&#7749gh also enjoins the slaughtering to be carried out away from the kitchen. Traditionally, it is also to be away from a holy spot. The mention of male goat in the chronicles is only illustrative and does not exclude other animals or birds the flesh of which the Sikhs usually eat.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Not many Sikhs are habitually meat-eaters. Their staple diet mainly consists of cereals, pulses, vegetables and milk products. Some of their sects even practise strict vegetarianism. The Sikh religion however neither recommends nor prohibits the eating of flesh. During their own rule in Punjab, the Sikhs practised tolerance and never tried to enforce <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> on their Muslim subjects. But during the British rule, the predominating Muslim community in western Punjab opposed <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i>. Even at government level, <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> was not allowed in jails and Sikh detenues during the Ak&#257l&#299 movement and after had to resort to protests and agitations to secure this right. One of the terms in the settlement between the Ak&#257l&#299s and the Muslim-dominated Unionist government in the Punjab in 1942 was that the use of <i>jha&#7789k&#257</i> meat would be permissible in public institutions.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>&#346abad&#257rth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib</i>. Amritsar, 1959<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Sikh Rahit Mary&#257d&#257</i>. Amritsar, n.d.<BR> <li class="C1"> Padam, Pi&#257ra Si&#7749gh, ed., <i>Rahitn&#257me</i>. Amritsar, 1989<BR> <li class="C1"> Bha&#7749g&#363, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Amritsar, 1962<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Pi&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh S&#257mbh&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>