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Kaur Doesn't mean princess????


heyyo

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Found this on a site:

"The names of baptised male Sikhs have to end with the suffix 'Singh' and those of women with 'Kaur.' Perhaps because of its association with a female name the word 'Kaur' has become confused to mean Princess. In reality the word 'Kaur' is the Punjabi derivative of the word 'Kunwar' which stands for Prince and not Princess.

Women in those days were regarded much inferior to men in every ways within the Indian society. Even in a family sons were accorded preferential treatment over daughters. It was a psychological master stroke of the Guru that by investing their names with a word which meant Prince (in a way a son) their status in society as well as within the family was brought to a par with men.

In military terms it also signified their being equal to men even as soldiers. It may be remembered that right from the time of the first Guru, Guru Nanak, women's position as equal partners was fully recognised, and accepted and exhorted."

This true? Cuz i always thought it was princess......

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Guest Javanmard

not really

Singh and Kaur are grammatically masculine. a good example is the name of the famous leader: Akali Kaur SIngh.

mind you there are cases were masculine nouns are used for feminines though this is very rare. There are still some doubts about the use of Kaur by SIkh women... but that's another issue

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ok this kinda came to me yesterday.

we've essentially come to the conclusion that homosexuality in sikhi is not allowed, correct?

if singh and kaur both mean prince, and if we are in fact supposed to merge with our husband lord, and quite provocatively, may i add, according to some lines of baani.... this doesn't make sense to me...

someone help please

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ok this kinda came to me yesterday.

we've essentially come to the conclusion that homosexuality in sikhi is not allowed, correct?

It depends on if the homosexuality is there when the child is born or if it developed after the child is born. Most Homosexuals feel that they have always felt this way. So if it is there with the child when he/she was born then all are the creation of God. it cannot be wrong, but just another leela of waheguru.

A Theory which i've thought of is that a man has so much desire for the female and day and night he thinks of nothing else but the female. Now you are reborn to fullfill your desires. God being the giver of all givers gave you a female body because of your desire for the female body. Now since the mind is still the same thru out your journey, that attraction to the female was so strong that it is still present in your mind. Being in a Female body being attracted to the Female are because of your previous attractions to the female in the previous lifetime.

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Gur Fateh!

This is an interesting topic, as I have yet to find/see/hear a comprehensive answer to the question "Who was the first Sikh 'Kaur', that is the first woman to have been given the surname Kaur?"

According to most scholars, the use of the word Kaur became predominant in the 18th Century and certainly in terms of historical texts, it is only in Khan Singh Nabha's Mahan Kosh that we find references to even "Mai Bhag Kaur" (Mai Bhago), "Mata Sunder Kaur" (Mata Sundri)..etc...

...please correct the foregoing where I am mistaken in addition to offering your thoughts on where the usage of the surname 'Kaur' began...just interesting to note as it is nowadays a big part of the Khalsa Identity compared to the past...

Forgive any foolish comments in the foregoing,

GUR BAR AKAAAAAL!

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niranjana

i agree. no one has answered this question for me either.

although its been semi-implied that women take amrit in rehatnamas hukamnamas, etc ive never heard it blatantly been said, or that the word kaur is used. im not against women taking amrit or being called kaur, but ive never really seen any puratan accounts.

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  • 9 months later...

Hi, I'm new to this forum. But I thought that I would add something that someone told me about the Names Kaur and Singh. OK, so I didn't know that Kaur was a masculine noun, but i suppose it doesn't really matter, it was given to women to mark their equality with men. Added to that, the names surely imply the greatness of the gift that they are. Both Lion and a Prince would have a reign. I'm not that good at retelling other people's explanations, but it was that last line which they made a point of emphasising.

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Guest Sardar Moderator Singh

sand_no1, welcome on board.

As per "Kaur", puratan rehitnamas do refer to the use of giving a female aspirant for Amrit the name "devi" once she has received Amrit, but no where is "Kaur" found until recent accounts, hence the queries above, but your analysis insofar as what you state is valid.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

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