Dignity in Identity - A Background

"Sabat Soorat Dastar Sira"

Till about a century ago, most of the people in India and the Middle East countries wore turban in different styles. One could, generally, make out the religious denomination and nationality of the wearer by the way his turban was tied. Even now some Rajputs, Jats, and Brahmins of India, apart from the Sikhs and some Muslims, wear turbans.
Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Nanak, in one of his hymns (SGGS Page 1084), addressed to a Muslim priest and advised him about the physical appearance and spiritual conduct required of the religious person. The Persian term "Sabat Soorat Dastar Sira" is a part of this hymn.
"Sabat" means that which is whole, complete and unaltered, in its original form;
"Soorat" is face or appearance;
"Dastar" is turban;
"Sira" is head.
Collectively, it means a person replete with full physical features, inclusive of hair as granted to him by God, with a turban to adorn his head.
Every part of the human frame, including the hair, has a vital role in the efficient functioning of the body. If it were not so, God or nature would not have provided these.
Although the Sikhs were enjoined to maintain their hair from Guru Nanak’s time, it was left to Guru Gobind Singh to give it a final seal. On the Baisakhi day in 1699, he ordained that keeping of unshorn hair is obligatory for a Sikh for a dual purpose:
it is to abide by the altruist Will of God, and
to give the Sikhs a distinctive personality to distinguish them from others
(The site from where this declaration was made was thereafter called "Keshgarh" - Citadel of Hair" situated at Anandpur Sahib)
The Guru at this time also gave out code of conduct (Rahit Maryada) for the Sikhs to follow which he stated as more endearing to him than the person :-
(a) "Rehit piyari mujh ko, sikh piyara nahen"
(b) "Rehni rahe soi sikh mera......." (Dasam Granth)
Bhai Nand Lal Goya, the devotee and poet of Guru Gobind Singh court has said in his Rehat-Nama that a person without long hair cannot call himself a Sikh and his identity cannot be divorced from his personal appearance. Bhai Nand Lal’s composition has been blessed by the Guru and enjoys the status of gurbani. In eulogizing Guru Gobind Singh’s personality, he has said that the value of one tress of his beloved hair is priceless compared to the splendor of both the worlds:
Bhai Daya Singh, the first Piara to be baptised, Bhai Chaupa Singh and poet Sainapati, all contemporaries of the Guru categorically state that unshorn hair symbolise Sikhism.
The numerous martyrs whose deeds are narrated in the daily Sikh Ardas lived true to their tenets of faith of retaining unshorn hair till their last breath. Bhai Taru Singh’s plea to his executioner to remove his scalp rather than his hair bears testimony to this conviction. The foremost prayer of a Sikh is to live with his hair intact till his end:
"Sikhi kesan swasan naal nibhai" and "Sikhi daan, kesh daan".
Summarizing, Sikhism is a path of discipleship. Hair are gift of God and grown by His Will. In abiding by His Will, our relationship with Him and the Guru is strengthened. Let us not try to be wise ourselves but do what the Guru commands.
"Gursikh meet chalo har chali, Jo gur kahe soi bhal, mano...." (SGGS 667)
"The turbaned Sikh looks like a lion, the rest of us look like sheep and goats, afraid to be identified".