Every religion has some articles of faith which its followers sport to represent their beliefs and identity. For instance, a Buddhist monk keeps his head shaved and wears a saffron robe; a Christan wears a cross; a high cast Hindu wears a janeoo (the sacred thread). Similarly a Sikh is recognized by his turban, beard and the five Kakaars which are articles of his faith.

It is a well known fact of history that Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh way of life, had refused to wear the janeoo, the religious symbol of the Hindus while the tenth Nanak, Guru Gobind Singh, prescribed five Kakaars for the Sikhs as a quatrain in Persian, penned by Bhai Nand Lal, a poet of the Guru's court, exquisitely states-

Nishan-e-Sikhi ast in panj harf kaf,
Harqiz na bashad azin panj muaf;
Kara, Kardo, Kachchh, Kangha, bidan,
Bila Kes hech ast jumla nishan.


These five things with initial ‘k’ are the emblems of Sikhism.

None is exempted from these, for all these are meant;

The iron bangle, the sword, the breeches and the comb,

But without uncut hair, all others become insignificant.

(Translated by Sardar Amarjit Singh of Chandigarh)

To some, the rejection of janeoo by Guru Nanak and the prescription of 5k’s by Guru Gobind Singh appears contradictory and therefore needs to be properly explained.

Janeeo represented the caste ideology of the Hindus. It differentiated the High and the low and symbolized exclusivism. There was a different janeeo for the high castes while the low castes and the women had to go without it and were deprived of the privileges that go with it. Furthermore, amongst the high castes too there Brahman wore a silk one, the Khatri a cotton one, and the Bannia wore a janeoo made of wool. Guru Nanak condemned the caste system very strongly and endeavored to raise the so called lowest of lowly to the highest pedestal.

He also equated the status of women with that of men.

“So kio manda aakhia jit jame Rajan”.

Observance of the forms and meaningless rituals were only searing and sapping the spirit of religion and alienating man from fellow men and from God. Guru Nanak, therefore, urged the people to shun the useless rituals that made them forget the Lord and set up barriers among them.

The common social organizations, which took the form of Sangat (Congregation) and langar presented to the people a model of classless society where all could claim an equal status. Guru Nanak adopted Panjabi, the mother tongue of the people of Punjab, as the medium of his expression and thus freed the Sikhs from the priestly class whose domination and autocracy rested on the knowledge of Sanskrit.

As a culmination of Guru Nanak’s religio-social and political revolution Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Nanak, founded the order of the Khalsa on 30th March, 1699. On this day he replaced the old Charan Pahul system of initiation with Khande-ki-Pahul (the baptism of the double-edged sword); gave a new title of Singh ("lion") to the Sikh men and Kaur ("prince") to the Sikh women and bestowed the Five Kakaars (that is, the five things the names of which begin with the sound of the letter ‘K’) on them as the articles of faith and prescribed a code of conduct. The five kakaars are as follows :

Kesh, Kangha, Kada, Kachhehra, Kirpan

It is very important that a Sikh always wears these five essential symbols on his person, without which he can't be recognized as Sikh. Without these five essential symbols no one can be initiated into the order of the Khalsa.

Bhai Nand Lal, a contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh, further described the Khalsa as below:

* Khalsa is one who fights in the front ranks.
* Khalsa is one who conquers the five evils [lust, anger, pride, greed, ego].
* Khalsa is one who destroys doubt.
* Khalsa is one who gives up ego.
* Khalsa is one who does not stray from his spouse.
* Khalsa is one who looks upon all as his own.
* Khalsa is one who attunes himself with God.