ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KA&#7770&#256H PRAS&#256D</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="KAZH,PRASD"> <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">&#65279KA&#7770&#256H PRAS&#256D. <i>Ka&#7771&#257h</i>, soft sweetened food made of flour or semolina and ghee, which placed before the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib as offering gets transubstantiated for Sikhs into <i>pras&#257d</i>, i.e. a mark of Ak&#257lPurakh's grace. <i>Ka&#7771&#257h Pras&#257d</i> is thus the sacrament which is distributed among the <i>sa&#7749gat</i> after <i>ard&#257s</i> at all Sikh religious services and ceremonies. The word <i>ka&#7771&#257h</i> is derived from Sanskrit <i>ka&#7789&#257h</i> which means a large boiling pan, and what is cooked therein by the specific formula has, by transference of meaning, come to be called <i>ka&#7771&#257h</i>. In Sikh parlance, this communion food is also known by several other names such as <i>deg, tih&#257val</i> or <i>tribh&#257val&#299</i> (lit. made of three ingredients of equal quantity, viz. ghee or clarified butter, wheatflour and sugar) and <i>pañch&#257mrit</i> (most blessed sacrament). <i>Ka&#7771&#257h</i> is common to some other religious traditions as well. Muslims, who call it <i>halv&#257</i>, prepare it in large quantities on the occasion of <i>Eid. Ka&#7771&#257h</i> was also offered among the ancient Aryans to the deities and idols as <i>l&#257pas&#299</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For <i>ka&#7771&#257h pras&#257d</i> meant for offering at a Sikh assembly, its main ingredients, ghee, wheatflour and sugar, must be weighed out in equal measures. The cookingplace or kitchen must be cleaned to ensure sanctity as well as hygienic standards, and a person cleanly dressed should be ready to take charge of the proceedings in the prescribed manner. Reciting the holy hymns, water, four times the weight of one of the ingredients, will be heated and sugar poured into it to dissolve and the mixture brought to boiling point in an open pan, called <i>ka&#7771&#257h&#299</i> or <i>ka&#7771&#257h&#257</i>, more ceremonially <i>deg</i>, then ghee is heated and the wheat flour is fried and roasted brown in it. The syrup of sugar is then poured down into the pan and stirred. The preparation, properly made, will show ghee floating around the sweet substance. It is then transferred to some other pan, generally a large salver, and is covered with a clean white piece of linen, and taken to the presence of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib in <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> or site of the assembly, before the service is concluded with <i>ard&#257s</i>. The <i>ka&#7771&#257h pras&#257d</i> is touched with the tip of a <i>kirp&#257n</i> or sword before it is distributed. Then, the <i>granth&#299</i>, or any other pious Sikh, puts in a saucer, the symbolic 'shares' of Pañj Pi&#257re, i.e. the Five Beloved and distributes it among five <i>amritdh&#257r&#299</i> Sikhs of approved standing from among the assembly. After this, some volunteers, generally led by the <i>granth&#299</i>, distribute the holy sacrament among the <i>sa&#7749gat</i>, without any distinction of status or caste. Every one, whatever his worldly position or station, must receive <i>pras&#257d</i> while sitting on the floor, with both hands piously cupped. It is partaken of as a mark of receiving divine grace. This tradition of offering <i>ka&#7771&#257h pras&#257d</i> in a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> is traced back to Gur&#363 Arjan, who himself went to the Harimandar to offer <i>pras&#257d</i> on certain occasions.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ordinarily, <i>ka&#7771&#257h pras&#257d</i> is prepared in the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> itself, but people are free to prepare it, in the prescribed manner and with due care, at home and bring it to be offered at the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>. In the larger <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> which are under the control of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, there are set counters from which readymade <i>ka&#7771&#257h pras&#257d</i> is available on cash payment, generally in multiples of one and a quarter of a rupee. The devotees then carry it reverentially into the sanctuary.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>deg</i> or <i>ka&#7771&#257h pras&#257d</i> is compulsory offering at all Sikh ceremonies and observances. However, on less important occasions or if the devotee at whose instance the <i>d&#299v&#257n</i> takes place cannot afford it, other and less expensive types of <i>pras&#257d</i> can be offered. These substitutes are limited to four commodities, viz., <i>pat&#257s&#257s</i> (sugar crystals), <i>gu&#7771</i> (unclarified sugar), <i>phal</i> (fruit) and <i>makh&#257&#7751&#257s</i> or <i>l&#257ch&#299d&#257&#7751&#257</i> (sugar plums). Other sweets are not ordinarily offered as <i>pras&#257d</i>, but are not forbidden.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>Sikh Rahit Mary&#257d&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> K&#257hn Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Gurmat Sudh&#257kar</i>. Amritsar, 1922<BR> <li class="C1"> Prakash Singh, <i>The Sikh Gurus and the Temple of Bread</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Teja Singh, <i>Sikhism : lts ldeals and Institutions</i>. Bombay, 1937<BR> <li class="C1"> Cole, W. Owen, and Piara Singh Sambhi, <i>The Sikhs :Their Religious Beliefs and Practices</i>. Delhi, 1978<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">T&#257ran Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>