Kesh (Sikhism)

Avatar Singh Vahiria's Khalsa Dharam Shastar (1914), agrees with this stating, "Kesh means the hair on the head and also the beard and mustache.

Bhai Nand Lal, who was a poet in the court of the 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, wrote in Persian:[3] Nishān-e-Sikhī ast īn Panj harf-e kāf, Hargiz na bāshad azīn panj muāf, Kara, Karad, Kacha, Kanga bidān, Bina kesh hēch ast jumla nishān.

Bhai Desa Singh, a Sikh from the mid 18th century, writes that: Just like a bird without wings, or like a sheep without wool Or like a woman without clothes, such is a man without kesh.

[6] Kesh was such an important symbol of identity that during the persecution of Sikhs under the Mughal Empire, followers were willing to face death rather than shave or cut their hair to disguise themselves.

Reasons include simple convenience (avoiding the daily combing and tying), following their parents' lead, and social pressure from the mainstream culture to adjust their appearance to fit the norm.

[12] In 2010, Basant Singh, a Sikh youth in Penang, Malaysia, woke up discovering his hair was cut by 50 cm when he was asleep in his dormitory while serving the Malaysian National Service Training Programme.