# Jhatka

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Jhatka (Punjabi: ਝਟਕਾ, romanized: jhaṭkā) is a method of slaughtering an animal for meat by a single strike of a sword or axe to sever its head within the Sikh religion. This kills the animal almost instantly as opposed to other forms of slaughter. This type of slaughter is preferred by most meat-consuming Sikhs. Also within this method of butchering, the animal must not be scared or shaken before the slaughter but given a dignified, painless death.

## Etymology

The Punjabi word ਝਟਕਾ, jhaṭkā is derived from the Sanskrit term झटिति, jhaṭiti which means "instantly" or "at once".

## Importance in Sikhism

Although not all Sikhs maintain the practice of eating meat butchered in this style, it is well known by most Sikhs to have been mandated by the ten Sikh Gurus:
   According to the Sikh tradition, only such meat as is obtained from an animal which is killed with one stroke of the weapon causing instant death is fit for human consumption. Guru Gobind Singh took a rather serious view of this aspect of the whole matter. He, therefore, while permitting flesh to be taken as food repudiated the whole theory of this expiatory sacrifice. Accordingly, he made jhatka meat obligatory for those Sikhs who may be interested in taking meat as a part of their food.
As stated in the official Khalsa Code of Conduct as well as the Sikh Rehat Maryada, Kutha meat is forbidden, and Sikhs are recommended to eat the jhatka form of meat.
Jhatka karna or jhatkaund refers to the instant severing of the head of an animal with a single stroke of any weapon, with the underlying intention of killing the animal whilst causing it minimal suffering.
During the British Raj, the Sikhs began to assert their right to slaughter through Jhatka. When jhatka meat was not allowed in jails, and Sikhs detained for their part in the Akali movement resorted to violence and agitations to secure this right. Among the terms in the settlement between the Akalis and the Muslim Unionist government in Punjab in 1942 was that jhatka meat be continued by Sikhs.
On religious Sikh festivals, including Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, at the Hazur Sahib Nanded, and many other Sikh Gurdwaras, jhatka meat is offered as "mahaprasad" to all visitors in a Gurdwara. This practice is considered to be unacceptable by modern Sikh sects who believe only lacto-vegetarian langar is supposed to be served inside gurudwaras after the introduction of Colonial-era "Mahants" and "Udasis" into Sikh Gurdwaras.

### Opposition

Some Sikh organizations, such as the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, have their own codes of conduct regarding meat consumption. These organizations define kutha meat as any type of slaughtered meat, and eating meat of any type is forbidden aside from that which is slaughtered on religious festivals and individual "Akhand paht" three-day prayers.
In early 1987 Kharkus issued a moral code banning the sale and consumption of meat and for jhatka shops to be closed. The ban led to much of Punjab being without meat and the closing of jhatka shops. Those who continued to sell or eat meat risked death and commonly would have their businesses destroyed and be killed. One survey found that there were no meat or tobacco shops between Amritsar and Phagwara. In the peak of the militancy, most of Punjab was meatless. Famous restaurants that served meat had removed it from their menu and denied ever serving it. The ban was popular among rural Sikhs. Kharkus justified the ban by saying, "No avatars, Hindu or Sikh, ever did these things. To eat meat is the job of rakshasas (demons) and we don't want people to become rakshasas."

## Comparison with Kosher and Halal methods

Both methods use sharp knives. In the kosher and halal methods, Shechita and Dhabihah respectively, the animal is slaughtered by one swift, uninterrupted cut severing the trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins, and vagus nerves, leaving the spinal cord intact, followed by a period where the blood of the animal is drained out. In the Jhatka method, a swift uninterrupted cut severs the head and the spine. In both Shechita and Dhabihah, a prayer to God is required at the start of the slaughtering process. In Shechita one prayer is sufficient for the slaughter of multiple animals, so long as there is no interruption between them; in Dhabihah a separate prayer is required before each animal is slaughtered. This prayer, however, prevents the meat from meeting the requirement of jhatka.

### Terminology for non-jhatka products

Slaughter by means such as kosher, halal and bali does not meet the requirements of jhatka and the products of it are referred to as kutha meat – abstention from which is one of the requirements for a Sikh to be an initiated Khalsa or sahajdhari according to the Rehat Maryada (Sikh code of conduct).
In Sikhism, there are three objections to non-jhatka or kutha products: the first being the belief that sacrificing an animal in the name of God is ritualism and something to be avoided; the second being the belief that killing an animal with a slow bleeding method is inhumane; and the third being historic opposition of the right of ruling Muslims to impose its practices on non-Muslims. However, kutha meat doesn't include just Halal or Kosher meat but any meat produced by slow bleeding or the perceived religious sacrifice of animals, including meat from animals slaughtered ritualistically in Hinduism, for instance.

## Availability

In Ajmer (Rajasthan, India), there are many jhatka shops, with various bylaws requiring shops to display clearly that they sell jhatka meat.
By contrast there is no rule requiring shops to affix a board marking those shops as selling Halal meat.
In the past, there has been little availability of jhatka meat in the United Kingdom, so people have found themselves eating other types of meat, although jhatka has become more widely available.