Sikh Religion and Hair 55

1 Rough Draft Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 HAIR AND TURBAN 5 INTRODUCTION 5 CHAPTER 1 7 NATURE’S GIFT 7 1.1 GROWTH OF HAIR 8 1.2 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF HAIR 9 1.3 FOOD OF THE HAIR:- 9 1.4 THE STRUCTURE OF HAIR 10 1.5 TYPES OF HAIR 10 1.6 FUNCTIONS OF HAIR 11 1.7 COMMERCIAL USES OF HAIR 13 1.8 SHAVING 14 CHAPTER 2 16 HAIR AND CULTURE 16 2.1. BALDNESS 18 2.2 BEARDS AND MOUSTACHES 19 2.3 BEARD AND MOUSTACHE FASHIONS 20 2 2.4 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS 20 (A)HAIR AND MALE CULTURE 20 (B)HAIR AND FEMALE CULTURE 22 (C)HAIR IN ARMY CULTURE 23 CHAPTER 3 26 HAIR AND RELIGION 26 3.1 HAIR IN HINDUISM 26 3.2 HAIR IN BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 29 3.3 HAIR IN CHRISTIANITY 30 3.4 HAIR IN JUDAISM 35 3.5 HAIR IN ISLAM 35 3.6 OTHER INSTANCES 37 CHAPTER 4 39 HEADGEARS 39 4.1 HEADGEARS IN THE WEST 41 4.2 HEADGEARS IN THE EAST 41 4.3 TURBAN IN CHRISTIANITY 42 4.4 TURBAN IN JUDAISM 42 4.5 TURBAN IN ISLAM 43 4.6 TURBAN IN HINDUISM 45 4.7 TURBAN IN WORLD CULTURE 46 CHAPTER 5 48 3 POLITICS OF HAIR AND TURBANS 48 CHAPTER 6 55 SIKH RELIGION AND HAIR 55 6.1 WILL OF GOD 55 6.2 KESHAS AND THE SIKH GURUS 57 6.3 BAISAKHI 59 6.4 SACRIFICES FOR THE HAIR 60 6.5 KESHAS AND SIKH WOMEN 67 6.6 SEJAH DHARI SIKHS 67 6.7 THE SIKH TURBANS 70 6.8 THE STYLES OF SIKH TURBANS 71 6.9 THE TURBAN AND THE SIKH GURUS 72 6.10 TURBANS IN BRITAIN 74 6.11 APOSTASY 74 CHAPTER 7 78 QUESTIONS 78 Q1. MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT HAIR IS A DEAD AND USELESS PART OF THE BODY.IT HAS NO CONNECTION WITH THE BRAIN.HOW DO THE SIKHS JUSTIFY HAIR? 78 Q2 WHY DO THE SIKHS CUT THE NAILS BUT DO NOT LET THE SCISSORS TOUCH THEIR HAIR? 81 Q3 WHY DO HAIRS ON THE HEAD GROW LONGER THAN HAIRS ON THE OTHER PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY? 82 Q 4. ISN’T IT WISE TO REMOVE THE HAIR BECAUSE THEY CAN CAUSE INFECTIONS WHEN SURGERY IS PERFORMED? 84 Q5 HAIRS ARE SIMPLY WEIGHT ON THE HEAD AND HAVE NO USEFUL FUNCTION.THEY USUALLY ATTRACT VERMIN INFECTION. 85 4 Q 6 THE NORTH KOREAN GOVERNMENT PREACHES THAT HAIR CONSUMES OXYGEN AND ENERGY AND HAMPERS BRAIN ACTIVITY BY TAKING OXYGEN AWAY FROM THE NERVES. WHAT IS THE POINT IN KEEPING LONG HAIR? 86 Q7. ACCORDING TO DARWIN ONLY THE FITTEST SPECIES SURVIVE.WHO IS FITTER TO SURVIVE THE SHAVEN HUMANS OR THE UNSHAVEN ONES? 88 Q8 IF HAIR ATTRACTS SUNLIGHT TO PROVIDE VITAMIN D WHY COVER IT WITH A TURBAN? 89 CHAPTER 8 91 HUMAN RIGHTS 91 5 Hair and Turban Introduction Ever since the humans started keeping historical records, hair has been evoking considerable interest in its symbolic and evocative properties. It has been an object of beliefs indicating established tradition, which may or may not have appealed to certain individuals. In many cases, it has also been the means of projecting self-image in the society. In certain societies of the world it has been the subject of art, language, poetry and folklore for ages. Reading through the pages of history one comes to the irrefutable conclusion that at one time the whole world treated hair as a necessary and useful part of the human body. As the human society entertained the idea of fashion, everything began to be looked at from the angle of making the human appearance what it was not. In this process the laws of nature were the first casualties. No proof of the utility of hair was necessary and no natural law was considered more advantageous than self-indulgence. In course of time politics too began to play its part. Those in authority foisted their half-baked opinions on the gullible subjects. Their position of authority was enough to coax or compel the people to tow their line of thinking. Fortunately a lot of research has these days gone into finding what hair is. On the basis of this research we are now in a better position to understand hair and can make educated choices. In India there were numerous cultural values associated with the hair and they were dying away. The Sikhs were the first people to restore the imbalanced thinking about the hair. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion, never shaved and his follower Gurus continued the tradition. Lastly their tenth Guru made it compulsory for the Sikhs to retain their God- given appearance and treat the hair with respect they deserved. Honouring the hair meant honouring all that the Indian society (and the Sikh idealogy)considered desirable. Since the saints of India never shaved, the Sikhs came to be known as the saint-soldiers. Their moral excellence and bravery soon became a bye word. Soon after the Second World War the Sikhs began to emigrate to the West and came face to face with the difficulties of getting employment unless they conformed to the Western ways in personal appearance. There were many Englishmen who out of narrow mindedness and Xenophobia argued for cultural correctness and expected the Sikhs to tow the English cultural line. Many Sikhs succumbed to the pressure. Their degradation was bound to affect the next generation of the Diaspora Sikhs. The chain reaction spread like wild fire because there was no religious organization in the West to stem the tide of apostasy among the Sikhs. Sikh youngsters are today taking their apostate parents as their roll models and have patchy or little knowledge of their religion and culture. This book is an attempt at providing them with some basic facts about hair and the expectations of their religion. It is hoped that it will afford an opportunity for the Sikh youngsters to see 6 how their ancestors respected mother nature and what moral and ethical nuances they had attached to the hair and the turbans. The book starts with the description of facts about hair and how it has been looked at in various countries, religions, cultures and political circles. Then it explains why the Sikhs do not remove their hair and why do they tie turbans. Towards the end of the book some commonly asked questions have been answered. I hope that my attempt will prove helpful in understanding the background of the Sikh thinking behind the hair and turbans. Suggestions for the improvement of the book will be gratefully acknowledged. G.S.Sidhu August, 2007 7 Chapter 1 Nature’s Gift air is an important God-given natural characteristic coating of the body of all Hmammals.1 Humans or the Homo sapiens are the important members of this category. They have various kinds of hair. (1) Long hair as on the head and male chin etc. (2) bristles in the nose, ears, eyelashes etc and (3) fine short hair on the skin. The hair of the non-human species is known as fur. Hairs cover the whole body of the mammals with the exception of soles of the feet palms of the hands, and the lips.2 The most noticeable hairs are on the heads of the humans. They grow longer than those of most other mammals and are also comparatively denser3. Of all the hair on the human body 25% grow on the head. On the average a person has 90,000 to 1,40,000 hairs on the head. Some anthropologists think that the significance of long head hair may be nature’s gift of adornment.4 This may be true because the long lustrous hair is a visible sign of healthy individual. It can provide useful information about the symptoms of human health. Although some biologists argue that humans might have been born without hair, the fact remains that humans have brought hair with them from the womb.5 There is no fossil record of human hair to establish how the feature evolved outside the womb if it did. There is no denying the fact that throughout the human history hair has existed in one form or the other. It is a general belief that hairand nails continue growing for some days even after death but it appears to be a myth because no empirical evidence has so far substantiated it. 6 The impression appears to be the result of the retraction or shrinking of the skin around the hair roots. The tissue dehydrates making the hair and nails appear longer. 1 Examinations through microscope have proved that even plants have hair all over them. They appear in various forms, help them breathe and secrete and protect them from the effects of frictions. M. Guetard, Mr. Grew (1682AD) and Malpighi (1686AD) have written a lot about the hair on plants and hair in general. 2 Amatus Lusitanus mentions a person who had hair on his tongue. 3 Hair density also depends on race. Caucasians have the highest hair density. Asians have less dense hair but their hair grow faster. Temperatures and weather conditions seem to affect hair growth. The colour of the hair and the skin depends partly on these and partly on the genes known as Mclr and SLC24A5. Red haired people have the least density of hair. 4 hr cIz myN hY qyrI kwrIgrI tpkqI [ iXh kwrKwnw qU ny kb rwiegW bnwieAw ] 5 According to Dr.

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