Before getting a sikh tattoo ask yourself these three questions:
What will you think of this tattoo when you are 50?
What is the purpose of you getting this tattoo?
Does this tattoo go against my religion or will it help me express how proud I am of my religion?
We asked our Sikh friend:
“I think its probably wrong because its altering the body that god had given you and also I think in order to get a tattoo, hair has to be removed, so that would be a kurahit. If u got a ek onkaar on your hand what about when you are eating, going to the toilet and touching something that might be dirty it would be disrespectful.”
Our second friend was quoted as saying:
“I think it would be insulting to Sikhism to get a tattoo of any form, this is because Sikhism teaches acceptance of God’s will which is why Sikhs are not supposed to remove hair from any part of the body because hair grows, that is the way it is meant to be. To permanently ink one’s skin would be to edit God’s original form of the person. Sikhism is about growing inner faith for God, so wearing necklaces with the khanda or getting a tattoo is just showy which is what Guru Nanak teaches against. This is the same reason why Sikhs do not have malas and tilaks like the hindus.”
Recently an Indian actress mandira tidetan got in alot of trouble for displaying her omkar tattoo on her back by the media, which later she had to apologize for.
We feel as if tattoos are relatively new idea. If it passes the test of time and society, maybe in few years or decades it will be common and everyone will accept it as natura lly as we have accepted ear piercing. But once again, we should respect symbols of any religion as you respect your parents. Think long and hard before getting a tattoo especially of a religious kind.
Some of the more popular Punjabi tattoo’s are ofcourse, the khanda tattoo which comes in many designs, khanda with lion or tiger, khanda with omkar and even waheguru tattoo’s.
Check out some of the Sikh religous tattoo’s that we have found:
Sikh Tattoo Designs (Sher with khanda, Waheguru je ka khalsa, Khanda):
p.s. feel free to email us more of your tattoos!
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Comment by gopi — February 27, 2008 @ 7:27 pm