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Amrit Sanskar (Punjabi:ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸੰਸਕਾਰ,romanized: Amrita sansakāra, pronunciation:[ãːmɾʱɪt̪sә̃nskäːɚ], lit. "nectar ceremony") is one of the four SikhSanskars.[1] The Amrit Sanskar is the initiation rite introduced byGuru Gobind Singh when he founded theKhalsa in 1699.[2][3]
ASikh who has been initiated into the Khalsa ('pure'; the Sikh brotherhood) is considered to beAmritdhari (baptised,lit. 'amrit taker') orKhalsa ('pure'). Those who undergo initiation are expected to dedicate themselves toWaheguru (Almighty God) and work toward the establishment of theKhalsa Raj.[2][4][5]
The Amrit Sanskar ceremony has many alternative names, such asAmrit Parchar,Amrit Sanchar,Khande di Pahul,Khande Batte di Pahul (Punjabi:ਖੰਡੇ ਬਾਟੇ ਦੀ ਪਾਹੁਲ,romanized: Khaḍē bāṭē dī pāhula), orkhande-baate da amrit.[1][6]
Amrit Sanchar was formally initiated in 1699 whenGobind Singh established the order of theKhalsa atAnandpur Sahib.[7] The day is now celebrated asVaisakhi. This tradition had come to replace the prior Sikh initiation ceremony,[8] in which the initiate would drink water that theGuru or a masand (designated official representing the Guru) had dipped his foot in.[9][10]
Guru Gobind Singh addressed the congregation from the entryway of a tent pitched on a hill (now calledKesgarh Sahib). He drew his sword and asked for a volunteer who was willing to sacrifice his head. No one answered his first call, nor the second call, but on the third invitation, a man by the name of Daya Ram (later to be known as Daya Singh) came forward and offered his head to the Guru. Guru Gobind Singh took the volunteer inside the tent, and emerged shortly, with blood dripping from his sword. The Guru then demanded another head. One more volunteer came forward, and entered the tent with him. The Guru again emerged with blood on his sword. This happened three more times. Then the five volunteers came out of the tent unharmed. Everyone was very confused.
The Guru caused his five faithful Sikhs to stand up. He put pure water into an iron vessel and stirred it with akhanda or two edged sword. He then repeated over it the sacred verses which he appointed for the ceremony, namely, theJapji, theJaap,Guru Amar Das'sAnand,Chopai Sahib andTwe Parsad Swaiyas or quatrains of hisown composition.
— Max Arthur Macauliffe,The Sikh Religion, volume 5 (1909), page 94[11]
The ceremony involves stirring water in an iron bowl with a double-edged sword whilst reciting religious hymns, along with an admixture of sugar.[1]
These five men came to be known as thePanj Pyare (the "beloved five"). The five men, who would be initiated into theKhalsa by receiving Amrit, includedDaya Singh,Mukham Singh,Sahib Singh,Dharam Singh, andHimmat Singh. From then onward, Sikh men were given the nameSingh ("lion"), and the womenKaur ("princess").
The next five (out of a total of ten) to undergo thePahul were Ram Singh, Desa Singh, Tehal Singh, Ishar Singh, and Fateh Singh.[12] This group is termed as thePanj Mukte.[12]
According to theGuru Kian Sakhian, after the first ten baptisms (Panj Piare andPanj Mukte), around 20,000 men were ready to accept the baptism whilst a few rejected it.[12] The list of men in-sequence who then underwent thePahul were:Mani Ram, Diwan Bachittar Das, Ude Rai, Anik Das, Ajaib Das, Ajaib Chand, Chaupat Rai, Diwan Dharam Chand,Alam Chand Nachna, and Sahib Ram Koer.[12] This group was then followed by Rai Chand Multani, Gurbakhsh Rai, Pandit Kirpa Ram Dutt of Mattan, Subeg Chand, Gurmukh Das, Sanmukh Das, Amrik Chand, Purohit Daya Ram, Ratna, Gani Das, Lal Chand Peshauria, Rup Chand, Sodhi Dip Chand, Nand Chand, Nanu Rai of Diwali, and Hazari, Bhandari and Darbari ofSirhind.[12] As many as 80,000 men are said to have been baptized in a few days after Vaisakhi 1699.[12]
In 1903, it was reported that a commonly-understood, general practice was that initiates undergoing the ceremony must have reached the "age of reason", usually meaning they had reached the age of at least 10 years old.[13] Around 1,200 persons were being baptized into the Khalsa at the Akal Bunga on an annual basis at that time in the very early 20th century.[13]
Kirpan-di-Pahul is a ceremony distinguishable from the Khande-di-Pahul in many ways. These include: the use of akirpan sword to stir the amrit rather than akhanda sword, the recitation of less prayers during the ceremony and the practice of only one initiated Sikh administering the Amrit as opposed to the traditional Panj Pyaare[citation needed].[14][6] This form of the baptism ceremony was held for women.[14] The practice is common in Dakhni Sikhs, with those being administered amrit through the kirpan being held to more lax standards when compared to those administered amrit through the khanda, which is known askhande-baate da amrit.[6] Those who receive baptism through the kirpan often do not observe the Khalsa rules as stringently, with some not wearing a kirpan at all times.[6] According to Birinder Pal Singh, the Kirpan-di-Pahul ceremony likely evolved to co-opt women from Hindu backgrounds of various caste and communal origins into the Sikh fold in the Deccan region.[6] In 1903, a guide to the Golden Temple stated that women undergoing the ceremony at the Akal Bunga did not have the elixir for their baptism stirred with a double-edged, iron sword (khanda) like the male initiates, but rather with a single-edged, miniature, iron sword called akard.[13]
However, there is a significant difference between the practices of "Kirpan-di-Pahul" and merely using a Kirpan during the full Amrit Sanskar. Although very rare, somePanj Pyare will conduct the full Khande-di-Pahul ceremony by using a Kirpan to stir the Amrit if they cannot access a Khanda. This is usually done in impromptu Amrit Ceremonies. Despite the use of a Kirpan, this is considered a full Khande-di-Pahul Amrit Sanskar (not Kirpan-di-Pahul) as all other elements of the ceremony remain the same - as such, candidates are told and expected to follow the full Rehat Maryada as they are new Amritdhari Sikhs. However, using a Kirpan to stir Khande-di-Pahul is exceptionally rare and usually only done in Amrit Sanchars which were planned at extremely short notice.[original research?]
Choola is the practice of giving the children of Amritdhari Sikhs a handful of amrit, in-order to prepare them for undergoing the actual Amrit Sanchar initiation once they are older.[15] It is also given during punishment of an Amritdhari Sikh who has committed a minor transgression against therehat.[15]
Rules of the ceremony include
The person being initiated must chant"Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh" (essentially meaning "Almighty Lord, the pure; Almighty Lord, the victorious").[citation needed] The salutation is repeated and the holy water is sprinkled on their eyes and hair, five times. The remainder of the nectar is shared by all receiving the initiation, all drinking from the same bowl.[16] Sometimes portions of theAkal Ustat and33 Savaiye compositions of Guru Gobind Singh found within theDasam Granth is used during the ceremony.[17]
After this, all those taking part in the ceremony recite theMool Mantra and they are inducted into theKhalsa.
After successfully undergoing the ceremony, a new Amritdhari is expected to have the following traits:[18]
Amrit literally means water of immortality, which is used in the Sikh initiation ceremony; it is known as khande di pahul (literally, water of the double-edged sword). Let us go back to the fateful day of Baisakhi in 1699. After the selection of panj pyarey, the guru prepared amrit for the initiation ceremony. He discarded the centuries-old tradition of charan pahul. Before the founding of the Khalsa, the initiation used to be conducted with water touched by a guru's toe, thus the term charan pahul (charan means foot, pahul denotes water). The new-style initiation ceremony was fundamentally different from the traditional mode of initiation. Preparation of amrit is one of the defining factors of the new rite. The guru poured water into a steel bowl and stirred it with a double-edged sword while reciting hymns from the Adi Granth, including some of his own compositions. It is said that the guru's wife added some sugar into the bowl during the preparation of amrit.
CHARAN AMRIT: Literally charan amrit is water in which the Guru's feet have been bathed. It was used as a part of the Sikh initiation ceremony called charan pahul during the days of the first nine Gurus and till the time Guru Gobind Singh changed it to khande-di-pahul. For more details see Baptism.
Ever since Guru Nanak's time it had been a custom among Sikhs to partake of 'charan pahul', whenever they visited the guru: By drinking the water which had washed the feet of the guru, the Sikhs showed their humility which was the ultimate virtue that would take them through the portals of heaven.
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