page_title: Panj Pyare
section_title: Guru Sahib emerges
hierarchical_section_title: Panj Pyare / Guru Sahib emerges
caption_attribution_description: The Original Khalsa at Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, birthplace of the Khalsa.
context_page_description: Panj Pyare, is the collective name given to five Sikh men −
  Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharam Singh, Bhai Himmat Singh, Bhai Mohkam Singh, Bhai Sahib Singh − by Guru Gobind Singh during the historic and monumental divan at Anandpur Sahib on March 30, 1699..
  They formed the nucleus of the Khalsa: the first five persons to receive Khanda di Pahul initiation and rites of the two-edged sword.
  In Sikh theology, as in the Indian classical tradition generally, panj, the number five in Punjabi, has a special significance. Guru Nanak in Japji Sahib refers to five khands, i.e. stages or steps in spiritual development, and calls a spiritually awakened person a panch. The ancient Indian socio-political institution panchayat meant a council of five elders. Something like an inner council of five existed even in the time of earlier Gurus. Five Sikhs accompanied Guru Arjan on his last journey to Lahore, each given 100 armed Sikhs to command by his successor, Guru Hargobind. Guru Tegh Bahadur set out on his journey to Delhi to court execution attended by five Sikhs.
  Until the Vaisakhi of AD 1699, the Sikh initiation ceremony was known as Charan Pahul.
context_section_description: Guru Gobind Singh emerged from the tent “hand in hand with the five”,  writes Kuir Singh, Gurbilas Patshahi 10.  The disciples wore saffron-coloured raiment topped over with neatly tied turbans of the same colour. Guru Gobind Singh, similarly dressed, introduced his chosen Sikhs to the audience as Panj Pyare, the five devoted spirits beloved of the Guru.  He then proceeded to perform the ceremony.  Filling an iron bowl with clean water, he kept churning it with a khanda, double-edged sword, while reciting the sacred verses.  Guru Gobind Singh's wife Mata Sahib Kaur ji brought sugar crystals which were put into the vessel at the Guru's bidding.  Sweetness was thus mingled with the alchemy of iron.  Amrit, the Nectar of Immortality, was now ready and Guru Gobind Singh gave each of the five Sikhs a palmsful of it to drink.  At the end, all five of them drank the remaining elixir from the same steel bowl, binding themselves in new fraternal spiritual ties. Their rebirth into this brotherhood meant the cancellation of their previous family ties, status, caste, occupations which had hitherto determined their place in society, their beliefs and creeds and of the rituals they had so far observed.
  The five Sikhs formed the nucleus of the self-abnegating, martial and casteless fellowship of the Khalsa which Guru Gobind Singh had brought into being that day.  They were given the surname of Singh, meaning lion, and were ever to wear the five emblems of the Khalsa:  kesh or unshorn hair and beard; kangha, a comb in the kesh to keep it tidy as opposed to the ascetics/yogis/recluses who kept it matted in token of their having renounced the world; kara, an iron bracelet; kaccha, short breeches worn by soldiers; and kirpan, a sword.  They were enjoined to succour the helpless and fight the oppressor, to have faith in One God and to consider all human beings equal, irrespective of caste and creed.
caption: An inscription naming the five members of the Khalsa Panth, at Takht Keshgarh Sahib, the birthplace of Khalsa on Baisakh 1, 1756 Vikram Samvat.
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