Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar · Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sikhism

Tradition·Founded 1499 CE·est. ~26 million worldwide

Sikhism → 1 branch

Branch
Precept of Sikhism

The four kurahits.

Cutting the hair, eating kutha meat, adultery, and tobacco or intoxicants — the four cardinal breaches that void the amrit vow outright. Everything else in the rehat is a fault to be corrected; these four send you back to the Panj Piare to be initiated again.

What it asksDo not cut the hair, do not eat kutha meat, do not commit adultery, do not touch tobacco or intoxicants
Who it bindsThe amritdhari — a Sikh who has taken amrit and accepted the rehat
Where it bitesBreaking one voids the vow and requires re-initiation before the Panj Piare, which is a public act in front of people you know
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

The four bajjar kurahits are the sharp edge of the amrit vow and they are narrower than outsiders expect. Cutting or removing hair from anywhere on the body; eating kutha, meaning meat from an animal killed by slow ritual bleeding; sexual relations outside marriage; and using tobacco or any intoxicant. Breaking one does not make a person a bad Sikh in some general sense — it voids the initiation, and restoration requires appearing before five Sikhs, admitting it, accepting a tankhah of service, and taking amrit again. The kutha rule is frequently misreported as a ban on meat and is not; it is a refusal of another religion's ritual slaughter, and Sikh orders differ sharply about what follows from that. The tobacco prohibition is absolute and includes vaping in modern rulings, while the intoxicant clause is where Nihang cannabis use collides with the mainstream. Amritdhari Sikhs are a minority of Sikhs, so most of the community lives with these as ideals rather than as vows.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas
The Manusmriti. Hinduism · scripture Open the book →
The kosher kitchen. Judaism · rite Go deeper →
Marriage, and what the churches ask of it. Christianity Go deeper →
Kegare, and staying away. Shinto Go deeper →
Do not defile the elements. Zoroastrianism Go deeper →

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