
Sikh 'Khanda' on Stamp designed by ''Stacey Zabolotney'' Issued By
Canada Post in November 2000 .
The 'Khanda' (, '') is one of most important symbols of
Sikhism (a religion founded in the fifteenth century by
Guru Nanak Dev Ji with over 23 million followers). Its importance is emphasized by the fact that many Sikh flags, including the
Nishan Sahib have the Khanda on them. It is a collection of four weapons commonly used by Sikhs at the time of
Guru Gobind Singh Ji .
The weapons are
★ A double-edged sword called a
Khanda sits in the middle.
★ A
Chakkar is a circular weapon that surrounds the Khanda
★ Two single-edged swords, or
kirpans, are crossed at the bottom and sit on either side of the Khanda and Chakkar. They represent the dual nature/duties of the
Gurus, Miri and Piri.
The weapons have symbolic meanings. The Khanda symbolises knowledge of
God, the Chakkar symbolizes the oneness of God, Miri means
political sovereignty and Piri means
spiritual sovereignty.
The Khanda is an important emblem in Sikhism and can be compared to the symbol of
Om in Hinduism and symbols from other
Dharmic religions. The Chakar is the circle that indicates that God and eternal life is without end and perfect.
The current
flag of Iran bears an emblem which is visually similar to a Khanda, but is not supposed to be referential to Sikhism. This has given credence to long standing rumors that
Ayatollah Khomeni (who personally authorized this flag) explicitly borrowed this from Sikhism. There is a very established family in the Majha region of
Punjab that has always claimed that the Ayatollah spent part of his childhood there.
The symbol is encoded in
Unicode, in the
Miscellaneous Symbols range, at codepoint U+262C ().
External link
★
Khanda