Amrit Sanskar

[1] The Amrit Sanskar is the initiation rite introduced by Guru Gobind Singh when he founded the Khalsa in 1699.

Those who undergo initiation are expected to dedicate themselves to Waheguru (Almighty God) and work toward the establishment of the Khalsa Raj.

[11] Amrit Sanchar was formally initiated in 1699 when Gobind Singh established the order of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib.

[12][13] Guru Gobind Singh addressed the congregation from the entryway of a tent pitched on a hill (now called Kesgarh Sahib).

Guru Gobind Singh took the volunteer inside the tent, and emerged shortly, with blood dripping from his sword.

He then repeated over it the sacred verses which he appointed for the ceremony, namely, the Japji, the Jaap, Guru Amar Das's Anand, Chopai Sahib and Twe Parsad Swaiyas or quatrains of his own composition.The ceremony involves stirring water in an iron bowl with a double-edged sword whilst reciting religious hymns, along with an admixture of sugar.

[16] 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.

[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 a kard.

[citation needed] The salutation is repeated and the holy water is sprinkled on their eyes and hair, five times.

[18] Sometimes portions of the Akal Ustat and 33 Savaiye compositions of Guru Gobind Singh found within the Dasam Granth is used during the ceremony.

Sikh fresco from the original Akal Takht, Amritsar, of Guru Gobind Singh preparing Amrit, circa 19th century.
Detail of Guru Gobind Singh's feet, from a contemporary painting of Guru Gobind Singh kept in the Bhai Rupa Collection, circa late 17th century
1698 hukamnama of Guru Gobind Singh with signature. The scribe is Bhai Saihna Singh. It orders all Sikhs to take Khande Ki Pahul and become Khalsa , avoid Minas , and recognize the Khalsa as the Guru's form. This hukamnama alludes to the idea of the ceremony and Khalsa predating its formalization as part of Sikh orthodoxy and orthopraxy in Anandpur in 1699
Illustration titled 'Baptising Sikhs on Admission to the Khalsa Brotherhood of Singhs' from The Sikhs (1904) by John James Hood Gordon