FIVE Ks, TURBANS AND SIKH SYMBOLS

FIVE KS

The Khalsa Panth (community of initiated Sikhs) are expected to observe the "Five K's” as signs of allegiance with the Sikh community. They are: 1) kesh (having uncut hair); 2) kangha (holding the hair in place with a comb to remind Sikhs of their stewardship responsibilities and to symbolize cleanliness); 3) kirpan (wearing a dagger to symbolize the fight against injustice); 4) kara (wearing a steel bangle to represent the unbroken link with God and to symbolize responsibility); and 5) kachh (wearing a special underwear that resembles breaches that don't go below the knee to symbolize cleanliness, physical activity and sexual fidelity). Modern militant Sikhs have added a revolver and bandoliers to this outfit.

The last of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh, is responsible for the "Five Ks" and the turbaned appearance of Sikh males. He introduced the customs of carrying a large curved dagger in a silver sheath, wearing a turban, carrying a comb and never cutting the hair or beard in 1699 founded Khalsa militant fraternity to energize Sikhism in the face of Muslim invasions.

The "Five Ks" were — and are — expected to be observed at all times. Male Sikhs took on the surname Singh (meaning lion), and women took the surname Kaur (princess). All made vows to purify their personal behavior by avoiding intoxicants, including alcohol and tobacco. In modern India, male Sikhs who have dedicated themselves to the Khalsa do not cut their beards and keep their long hair tied up under turbans, preserving a distinctive personal appearance recognized throughout the world. [Source: Library of Congress]

The Five Ks are associated most with the Khalsa military fraternity of orthodox Sikhs, which dominates Sikh public life. They strictly follow the Sikh code of conduct and undergo a baptism. Their community is known as amritdhari (“those who have undergone baptism”). Khalsa initiates are required to drink a cup of sweetened, sacred water called amrit (literally “undying,” the nectar of immortality) and take the surname Singh. During the initiation ceremony, which usually takes place in the morning during the Baisakhi Festival, initiates dress in orange and white are recite certain hymns. The initiatives are usually adults. See the SIKHISM: BASICS, TEXTS, STRUCTURE, LEADERS, SECTS factsanddetails.com

“These five K's have become an essential part of their individual and communal identity. Furthermore all Sikh men have the surname Singh, meaning "lion," and all women have the surname Kaur, meaning "princess." Thus Sikh men and women abandon their former castes, hereditary occupations, belief systems, and rituals and join the new family. Women are liberated from tracing their lineage to their father or adopting a husband's name after marriage. |~|

Meaning of the Five Ks

All Sikhs initiated into the order of the Khalsa must observe the Sikh Rahit Maryada (Sikh Code of Conduct) as enunciated by Guru Gobind Singh and subsequently elaborated. The most significant part of the code is wearing Five Ks (panj kakke).

1) Kesh (uncut hair). Hair is seen as a gift from God, and growing hair is seen as a sign of God's will. By keeping hair in its natural state, Sikhs bow to the will of God. The practice of allowing the hair to grow was started by Guru Nanak. Male [Source: “World Religions Reference Library”, Thomson Gale, 2007]

2) Kungha, (wooden comb) is used to keep the hair neat. Devout Sikhs groom their hair with the kungha twice each day. The kungha, in combination with the kesh and the turban, is symbolic of the group solidarity of Sikhs.

3) Kasha (or kachh, undergarmet) is similar to shorts. It is worn by Sikh soldiers and suggests chastity and cleanliness. The kasha not only allowed freedom of movement for Sikh warriors but served as a constant reminder of the need to overcome earthly passions. |~|

4) Kara (steel bracelet) shaped in perfect circle with no beginning or end, symbolizes a connection with God. It also serves as a reminder to avoid doing evil deeds, especially with the hands. The kara is always worn on the right wrist.

5) Kirpan (sword or dagger) is carried in readiness to defend the weak or uphold the right. It symbolizes the dignity of Sikhs and their readiness to fight injustice. In the words of Guru Gobind Singh, "When the affairs are past other remedies, it is justifiable to unsheathe the sword." The kirpan in modern life is not an actual weapon but a small symbolic reminder. |~|

According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”: Among Sikhs the five Ks are outer symbols of the divine word, implying a direct correlation between bani (divine utterance) and bana (Khalsa dress). The five Ks, along with a turban for male Sikhs, symbolize that the Khalsa Sikhs, while reciting prayers, are dressed in the word of God. Their minds are thus purified and inspired, and their bodies are girded to do battle with the day's temptations. In addition, Khalsa Sikhs are prohibited from the four cardinal sins (char kurahit): "cutting the hair, using tobacco, committing adultery, and eating meat that has not come from an animal killed with a single blow." [Source: Pashaura Singh,“Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]

Turbans Worn by Sikhs

Male Sikhs are generally recognizable by the long turbans carefully wrapped around their hair. The most visible symbol of Sikh pride and identity, the turban is made from an eight-meter (26-foot) -long piece of cloth , used by Sikh men to manage the long hair which their religion forbids them from cutting. It is so important that observant Sikhs in the Indian military wear them instead of helmets even in frontline combat situations. Most turbans are worn in the peaked "Patiala" style. They can be pink, yellow, red, saffron or green — any color. Saffron symbolizes persecution or martyrdom. White is often worn at a time of mourning, pink at weddings, and yellow at the spring Basant festival when the mustard crop is flowering. On a daily basis, Sikhs often pick a turban color to match their clothes.”

According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”: Most Sikhs normally wear turbans of three colors — deep blue, white, and saffron — all of which have religious significance. For Khalsa Sikhs the significance of deep blue lies in the "highest ideals of character" (nili siahi kada karani) and in the "deepest urges in the life of spirituality" (Adi Granth, p. 16), since the blue sky stands for the highest horizon and the blue ocean stands for the depth. The color white stands for purity, while saffron represents the spirit of sacrifice in Sikh mores. They commonly wear a peaked turban to cover their long hair, unshorn out of respect for its original, God-given form. [Source: Pashaura Singh,“Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]

Elderly men tend to prefer white turbans, signifying wisdom. Middle-aged men tend to prefer saffron or deep blue, signifying a fighting spirit, while young men often prefer brighter, flashier colors.Rama Lakshmi wrote in the Washington Post: Turbans come in a variety of colors and styles, including polka-dotted and tie-dyed. Shops even sell ready-made turbans. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh who was educated at Oxford University, wears a blue turban, and a popular cricket player started a fad by matching his turbans and ties. [Source: Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, March 29, 2009]

A rite of passage for adolescent boysis learning to tie the turban. The boy is taken to the gurdwara, and after the recitation of prayers, a Sikh elder ties the boy's turban, which is made of fine cotton or muslin cloth and can be up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) in length. The process is difficult, and it can take years for a young man to learn to tie his turban well. [Source: “World Religions Reference Library”, Thomson Gale, 2007]

Why Sikhs Wear Turbans and Don't Cut Their Hair

The turban is supposed to always be worn by a Sikh in public. His uncut, hair is tied into a topknot underneath. He is also supposed to have an uncut, full beard. Th turban and hair are part of the five "Ks," along with the comb, bracelet, sword, and shorts. Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Sikh guru, said in 1699 that Sikhs must cover their hair. This was done, in part, to reduce the use of turbans as a status symbol. In his time people from higher classes used to wear turbans, while those from lower classes did not. Guru Gobind Singh used the turban to show that all Sikhs are equal. [Source: “World Religions Reference Library”, Thomson Gale, 2007; D. O. Lodrick, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life”, Cengage Learning, 2009]

Sikh boys are expected to tie and wear the turban by the time they reach adolescence. The turban-tying ceremony may be understood as a young male's passage into manhood. Sikhs regard hair as a symbol of God's creative beauty. Devout Sikhs believe that no hair on any part of the body is to be cut. Beards are uncut and turbans are necessary to cover the uncut hair. In the old days, since so many Sikh men didn’t cut their hair or beards very often, the Sikh caste of barbers often had to seek work in other fields such as fortunetelling and wedding arrangements. Their wives often work as midwives.

Avtar Singh, president of the trust that runs Sikhdom’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, told AFP that forsaking the turban was tantamount to a rejection of the Sikh way of life. “The turban is the Sikh identity, it is a sign of our self-respect, our pride,” the bearded 71-year-old told AFP at his offices near the temple. “No Sikh is complete without his turban,” insisted Singh, who blames increasing exposure to western influences for undermining religious traditions among India’s 20 million-plus Sikhs. [Source: AFP, August 13, 2012]

Sikhs Cut Their Hair and Abandon Their Turbans

in India, and among the diaspora, young Sikh men are increasingly putting fashion before tradition are cutting their hair short and tossing off their turbans AFP reported: Shop worker Manjinder Singh cut his hair for the first time seven years ago, when he was 15. “I cut it because it was more fashionable to keep it short. It’s more modern,” he told AFP, as he sat down for a trim at a local barber’s. “My parents weren’t pleased, but they just gave up trying to change my mind,” he said. According to some sources fewer than half of all Sikh youths in Punjab state wear turbans today..[Source: AFP, August 13, 2012]

Jeremy Page wrote in The Times: In a discreet corner of the northwest Indian town of Amritsar, Harkirat Waraich is about to do what would have been sacrilege to his father and every other male ancestor for the past 300 years. He is sitting in front of a cracked mirror in the inappropriately named Modern barber’s shop. And he is about to have a haircut. As a 34-year-old baptised Sikh man, Mr Waraich is supposed to grow his beard and his hair long and to wear the turban in public at all times — one of the five core tenets of Sikhism. A growing number of young Sikh men are now unfurling their turbans, shaving their beards and trimming their locks into crew cuts, mullets, spikes and other more exotic coiffures. [Source: Jeremy Page, The Times, November 24, 2006]

Reporting from Chandigarh, India, Rama Lakshmi wrote in the Washington Post: Spiky-haired Amandeep Singh Saini, 27, recalled the year-long battle he waged against his traditional Sikh parents to cut his hair. The act was blasphemous to his father, who tied his long hair in a turban. "I was 14 then. I wanted to jump into the village pool and play in mud. The long hair and the turban were always in the way. It took half an hour to tie the turban every morning," said Saini, a student pursuing a doctorate in Punjabi literature. After he cut his hair and discarded the turban, his two brothers followed suit. "My mother wept, my father was angry, but I was stubborn," he said. "At that age, you don't think about right and wrong. I look around the campus today, and there are so few turbaned Sikhs."[Source: Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, March 29, 2009]

The rapidly shrinking number of young Sikhs who wear turbans and have unshorn hair has alarmed Sikhs. Although there are no formal surveys, community groups say that only 25 percent of Sikhs younger than 30 follow the practice. Mr Waraich told The Times and a dozen other young Sikhs estimated that 20 to 30 per cent of their friends had done so. Most barbers in Amritsar were reluctant to talk about it, although one said that up to 15 per cent of his customers were Sikhs. “The thing is, everyone wants to look good these days,” said Mr Waraich, who is “in the gas station business” in Amritsar. “It’s a person-toperson thing now. I just find the turban heavy and uncomfortable. I put one on for weddings, but otherwise I choose not to.”

Why Sikhs Are Abandoning Their Turbans

Rama Lakshmi wrote in the Washington Post: Many young Sikhs say the daily tedium of combing and tying up their long hair and a desire to assimilate are pushing them to give up the turban, a sacred symbol of a religion founded in the 15th century. Now, a court case about college admission quotas for Sikhs is threatening to alienate hundreds of thousands of short-haired, un-turbaned youths.

In August, 2008, four students petitioned the high court after they applied to a medical college under a Sikh quota but were denied admission. The college said the students, who had cut their hair, did not fit in the category of Sikh. In the ongoing legal proceedings, religious bodies and scholars have testified about the importance of uncut hair to Sikhism. [Source: Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, March 29, 2009]

"The case is about college admission quotas, but it has become part of dinner table conversations everywhere. People are asking, 'What am I? What will I be after the judgment?' It is unsettling," said Gurminder Singh Gill, an attorney for the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, an elected forum of the Sikh clergy that runs the college and whose rules are designed to prevent the dilution of Sikh symbols. "The court ruling will impact future interpretations of the word 'Sikh.' "

In the early 1980s, Sikh religious extremists insisted on turbans and beards as an assertion of pride. Then, in 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards after she sent the army to the Golden Temple, a revered Sikh shrine, to rout radicals holed up inside. Angry Hindus retaliated by targeting turbaned Sikhs, killing and burning thousands alive on the streets of the capital, New Delhi. In the following years of armed militancy and bloodshed, Indian police crushed the movement.

"There were widespread human rights violations. Young men with turbans or with Sikh names were more vulnerable to being picked up and thrown into illegal detention. Many Sikhs cut their hair and discarded their identity to escape police brutality," said Ishwinder Singh Chadha, a member of the Institute of Sikh Studies. "In the 1990s, turbaned Sikhs were caricatured in TV shows and movies, and young Sikhs lost pride in their identity."

Rajvinder Singh Bains, a human rights lawyer, said that like many Sikhs, he responded with jubilation when Gandhi was assassinated and mourned when Sikhs were massacred. But he wears his hair short. "Why fuss over external symbols?" Bains asked. "They say Sikh men have to grow their hair and wear turbans, and women cannot remove their body hair or trim their eyebrows. Is that what we want to reduce Sikhism to?"

Back in the college cafeteria, Saini and a turbaned friend, Sukhjeet Singh Sandhu, discussed their faith over another round of tea. "I am a Sikh because my faith runs deep in my heart," Saini said. "Every fold of the turban of a devout Sikh is like a historical chapter of his blood-soaked history, which every Sikh carries with him with great pride and dignity," said Sandhu, 26. But he trimmed his beard, he said, because "campus life demands it."

Attacks and Discrimination Against Turban-Wearing Sikhs

Western intolerance of religious symbols and a series of street attacks are prompting young men to shed their hair and turbans Jeremy Page wrote in The Times: Many young Sikh men who have cut their hair say that they did so to escape the humiliation of turban searches at Western airports or to avoid being mistaken for Muslims. They cite Balbri Singh Sodi, a petrol station owner shot dead in Arizona on September 15, 2001. His American killer, bent on revenge for 9/11, thought that Mr Sodi’s turban indicated that he was an Arab. [Source: Jeremy Page, The Times, November 24, 2006]

The Sikh community was shocked again in November 2006 when a gang of youths shouting racial abuse beat up a 15-year-old boy and cut off his hair in a public park in Edinburgh. In 2012, six worshippers were killed at a Sikh temple in the US state of Wisconsin by a gunman with alleged white supremacist links “It’s stupid, but the fact is most Westerners don’t know the difference between us and other turban wearers,” said one 31-year-old lawyer, who lives between Delhi and London and no longer wears the turban. “I’d rather blend in and not allow people to tell my religion on sight.”

But worrying as racist attacks are, Sikh elders are even more concerned by a broader official crackdown on overt expressions of religious identity in the West, especially in Europe. Turbans have been banned from French state schools, as have Muslim headscarves, under a “secularity” law that came into effect in 2004. In October 2006, a court in Denmark upheld a ruling that an Indian Sikh had broken the law by carrying his ceremonial dagger, the kirpan, in public.

Efforts to Stop Sikhs From Abandoning Their Turbans

Page wrote: Whatever the exact numbers, the issue is serious enough to have prompted the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the community’s top decision-making body, to speak out. “This is a challenge to the traditional Sikh identity,” Avtar Singh Makkar, president of the SGPC, said. “Young boys are doing this because they want to look smart. They think this because of the influence of modern culture through the Western media,” he said. “It is our task to educate them about the sacrifices that have been made for their religion and to bring them back to their faith.” [Source: Jeremy Page, The Times, November 24, 2006]

Lakshima wrote: Faced with the recent decline in turban-wearers, the community is thinking up ways to draw young people back to the tradition. A group called Akal Purakh Ki Fauj, or the Army of the Timeless Being, organizes the annual Turban Pride Day in April, sends volunteers to schools to teach turban-tying and has introduced a software program called the Smart Turban that helps people pick a style that suits them.

Since 2005, the group has held Mr. Singh International, a beauty pageant for turbaned Sikhs. Among other talents, contestants must demonstrate their turban-tying skills. The winners have won modeling contracts and movie roles. "We need more turbaned role models for our young," said Navnit Singh, a member of the group. To this end, he recently launched a 6-year-old turbaned cartoon character, Rony Singh. [Source: Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, March 29, 2009]

Turban Pride

AFP reported in 2012: The evening turban-tying class in Amritsar is packed with pre-teen boys learning a centuries-old tradition — that religious leaders fear is under threat. Over the next 90 minutes, the instructors unfurl long strips of cloth in vibrant hues from indigo to burgundy, and proceed to knot, pleat and finally tie them carefully around the boys’ heads. Twelve-year-old Upneet Singh began attending the “turban clinic”, as the classes in Amritsar are popularly known, about two weeks ago. “I go to a religious school where the turban is compulsory at my age, so I come here to learn how to tie it,” he says. [Source: AFP, August 13, 2012]

The clinice is part of Turban Pride movement started by Jaswinder Singh. Singh witnessed the riots and attacks on Sikhs after Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 when 15, told AFP that experience was a personal turning point that reinforced his faith. “So many Sikhs died when I was young, it made me realise that I wanted to grow up and do something for my faith, for my community,” he told AFP.

In 1997, when he began to notice young Sikhs frequenting hair salons, he knew he had found his cause, and in 2003 the Amritsar-based advocate established his “turban pride” movement, including regular tying clinics. According to Singh, fewer than half of all Sikh youths in Punjab state wear turbans today, and he set up the clinic as part of a multi-pronged effort to bring them back into the religious fold.

Singh says his classes, held six days a week, are often full and have been a major success, paving the way for around 50 similar clinics to be set up by other Sikhs in Punjab. In addition, Singh organises turban-tying competitions, turban-themed poetry readings, and a beauty contest called “Mr Singh International” open only to Sikhs who don the headgear. He also stages mass turban-tying ceremonies known as “dastar bandi”, traditionally held to mark male Sikhs’ coming of age.

Although the dastar bandi used to be a key event in every Sikh male’s life, its popularity has waned as families have abandoned the tradition. Under Singh’s scheme, dozens of boys are initiated in monthly ceremonies during which priests and other religious figures tightly wrap turbans around their heads to the sounds of the congregation chanting.

In a bid to ensure that the boys do not shed the headgear for more exciting options as they get older, Singh has developed a computer programme — Smart Turban 1.0 — which showcases 60 different ways to tie a turban. “If a Sikh youth loses the turban today, then maybe tomorrow he will abandon the religion all together, that is what I am afraid of,” he told AFP. “That’s why we need to save the turban. This is not just about the turban, it is about what it means to be a Sikh.”

Sikh Daggers

Devout Sikh men are given a “kirpan” (dagger, symbolizing the fight against injustice) when they are five or so and not supposed to take it off even when they sleep. The kirpan symbolizes the sovereignty of man and serves as a reminder to help others in times of distress. A 12-year-old Sikh boy who moved from a Punjab village to Montreal, Canada caused a big stir when he was told by his school that he couldn’t wear the knife. He chose to leave school, setting off a debate over which has precedence religion freedom and the school’s zero tolerance policy towards weapons. A court ruled the boy could bring is kirpan to school as along it was secured in its sheath and tucked inside his shirt.

According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices” Normally a kirpan with a a total length of 15 centimeters (six inches), with a blade of about seven centimeters (two and a half inches), is regarded as satisfactory. The constitution of India specifically protects the right of Sikhs to wear and carry a kirpan as a symbol of their faith. Many Canadians and Americans, however, perceive the kirpan to be a weapon and object to it on the grounds of public safety. Again and again, whenever the question of the kirpan as a religious symbol or a weapon has arisen, Sikhs have had to fight legal cases. [Source: Pashaura Singh, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]

In January 1994 three Sikh students wearing kirpans were excluded from school in Fresno, California. In June 1994 a federal court judge turned down a request by the children that they be allowed to attend school wearing their kirpans while the lawsuit was being resolved. The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, however, ruled in September 1994 in favor of the Sikh children, overruling a lower-court decision that had backed the school district. The appellant court ruled that the school district had not tried to compromise with the children, who said they were willing to wear shorter, blunt kirpans sewn securely into a sheath. Thus, the children returned to school with their kirpans, and through mediation it was agreed to limit the length of the blade of the kirpan to the legal limit of two and a half inches.

Khanda, Ek Onkar and the Sikh Flag

Other Sikh symbols include an insignia called the Khanda and Ek Onkar, the first two words of the Granth Sahib — the Sikh Holy Book. “Ek Onkar” mean "There is only one God." The words are a prominent symbol of Sikhism's firm belief in a single God.

The Khanda is the universal symbol of the Sikh religion. The double-edged sword in the middle (also called a Khanda) symbolizes the divine power of the One, Infinite, Omnipresent, Formless, Fearless, Angerless, Omnipotent God. The circle is called the Chakar and symbolizes the perfection of God. The two swords that surround the Chakar represent those worn by the sixth Sikh Guru, Hargobind (1595–1644), symbolizing his spiritual (piri) and temporal (miri) authorities. Sikhs place an equal emphasis on spiritual aspirations and obligations to society. [Source: Pashaura Singh, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]

The Khanda is made up of several symbols, but it takes its name from the central one, the Khanda itself. The Khanda is a double-edged sword, or dagger, with a triangular point at the top. The Khanda was used by Guru Gobind Singh to stir the amrit in the first amrit ritual used to create the Khalsa, the Sikhs' seventeenth-century fighting force. While the Khanda was a dagger used in battle, it also has spiritual significance. The right edge symbolizes freedom; the left, divine justice. In the center of the Khanda is a circle called a chakkar. This is actually a circular iron weapon with a sharpened outer edge (popularized in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess). As with many circular religious symbols, it represents the eternity of God, who is without beginning and end. Finally, two crossed swords encircle the insignia. The left sword, called Piri, represents spiritual freedom; the right sword, called Miri, represents political freedom. [Source: “World Religions Reference Library”, Thomson Gale, 2007]

Piri and Miri were the names Guru Hargobind, the sixth guru, gave to his personal weapons. Guru Hargobind also developed the Sikh flag, called Nishan Sahib, which depicts the Khanda on a triangular piece of saffron or ochre (yellow, yellowish-brown, or orange) colored material. This flag is flown outside of all Sikh temples.

Image Sources:

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated December 2023