ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KES&#256DH&#256R&#298</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="KESDHR*"> <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">&#65279KES&#256DH&#256R&#298, a term defining a Sikh as one who carries on his head the full growth of his <i>kes</i> (hair) which he never trims or cuts for any reason. Anyone, Sikh or non-Sikh, may keep the hair unshorn, but for a Sikh <i>kes</i>, unshorn hair, is an article of faith and an inviolable vow. The <i>Sikh Rahit Mary&#257d&#257</i> published by the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee, statutory body for the control and management of Sikh shrines and by extension for laying down rules about Sikh belief and practice, issued in 1945, after long and minute deliberations among Sikh scholars and theologians, defines a Sikh thus :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Every Sikh who has been admitted to the rites of <i>amrit</i>, i.e. who has been initiated as a Sikh, must allow his hair to grow to its full length. This also applies to those born of Sikh families but [who] have not yet received the rites of <i>amrit</i> of the tenth master, Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All codes and manuals defining Sikh conduct are unanimous in saying that uncut hair is obligatory for every Sikh. One of them, Bh&#257&#299 Chaup&#257 Si&#7749gh's, records, "The Gur&#363's Sikh must protect the hair, comb it morning and evening and wash it with the curd. And he must not touch it with unclean hands."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bh&#257&#299 N&#257nd L&#257l quotes Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My Sikh shall not use the razor. For him the use of razor or shaving the chin shall be as sinful as incest... For the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 such a symbol is prescribed so that a Sikh cannot remain undistinguishable from among a hundred thousand Hindus or Muslims; because how can he hide himself with hair and turban on his head and with a flowing beard?</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bh&#257&#299 Des&#257 Si&#7749gh, in his <i>Rahitn&#257m&#257</i> imparts a theological edge to his statement :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;God created the whole universe and then he fashioned the human body. He gave men beard, moustaches and hair on the head. He who submits to His Will steadfastly adheres to them. They who deny His Will how will they find God in this world?</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trimming or shaving is forbidden the Sikhs and constitutes for them the direst apostasy. The truest wish of a true Sikh is to be able "to preserve the hair on his head to his last breath." This was the earnest prayer arising out of Sikh hearts in the days of cruel persecution in the eighteenth century when to be a Sikh meant to be under the penalty of death. The example is cited from those dark days of Bh&#257&#299 T&#257r&#363 Si&#7749gh, the martyr, who disdainfully spurned all tempting offers of the Mu<u>gh</u>al persecutor if only he would convert to Islam :</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "How do I fear for my life? Why must I become a Musalm&#257n? Don't Musalm&#257ns die? Why should I abandon my faith? May my faith endure until my last hair --- until my last breath," said T&#257r&#363 Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Naw&#257b tried to tempt him with offers of lands and wealth. When he found T&#257r&#363 Si&#7749gh inflexible, he decided to have his scalp scraped from his head. The barbers came with sharp lancets and slowly ripped Bh&#257&#299 T&#257r&#363 Si&#7749gh's skull. He rejoiced that the hair of his head was still intact.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The importance of <i>kes</i> (Sikhs' unshorn hair) has been repeatedly demonstrated to them during their history. The hair has been their guarantee for selfpreservation. Even more importantly, the prescription has a meaning for them far transcending the mundane frame of history.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A term which has had parallel usage in the Sikh system is <i>Sahajdh&#257r&#299</i>. A <i>sahajdh&#257r&#299</i> is not a full Sikh, but one on his way to becoming one. He is in the Gur&#363's path, but has not yet adopted the full regalia of the faith. He fully subscribes to the philosophy of the Gur&#363s; he does not own and believe in any other Gur&#363 or deity. His worship is the Sikh worship; only he has not yet adopted the full style of a Si&#7749gh. Since he subscribed to no other form of worship or belief than the one prescribed for Sikhs, a concession was extended to him to call himself a Sikh --- a <i>sahajdh&#257r&#299</i> Sikh, a gradualist who would gradually tread the path and eventually become a full-grown <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i>. One venerable instance from among the contemporaries of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, who introduced the order of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, was Bh&#257&#299 Nand L&#257l, who composed beautiful poetry in honour of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh and who had the privilege even of laying down a code for the Sikhs.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The more recent Gurdw&#257r&#257 enactment, passed by Indian Parliament in 1977, at the instance of Sikhs providing for the control and management of the Sikh places of worship in the territory of Delhi, apart from the Punjab, further tightened the definition of a Sikh and made it more explicit laying down "untrimmed hair" as an essential condition for him to be treated as a Sikh under the Act.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Jogendra Singh, <i>Sikh Ceremonies</i>. Chandigarh, 1968<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Sikh Rahit Mary&#257d&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Padam, Pi&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Rahitn&#257me</i>. Amritsar, 1989<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>