Sikha
The sikha or shikha means flame, powerful, ray of light, peak of a mountain. It is a name of Hindu / Indian origin, and is commonly used for females. It also means long tuft, or lock of hair, left on top or on the back of the shaven head of a male Orthodox Hindu. Though traditionally all Hindus were required to wear a śikhā, today it is seen mainly among Brahmins and temple priests. In West Bengal it is called Tiki.
Procedure
Traditionally, Hindu men shave off all their hair as a child in a samskāra or ritual known as the chudakarama. A lock of hair is left at the crown. Unlike most other eastern cultures where a coming-of-age ceremony removed childhood locks of hair similar to the śikhā in India this prepubescent hairstyle is left to grow throughout the man's life, though usually only the most orthodox religious men will continue this hairstyle.The śikhā is tied back or knotted to perform religious rites. Only funerals and death anniversaries are performed with the śikhā untied or with dishevelled hair. Dishevelled hair is considered inauspicious, and represents times of great sorrow or calamity. In Hindu scripture, Draupadi took an oath in the assembly of the Kurus after she was molested by Dushasana that she would remain with dishevelled hair until the enemies were properly revenged. Similarly, Chanakya is said to have taken an oath to leave his śikhā untied until he humbles the Nanda kings who insulted him.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala
The Tamil word for śikhā is kudumi and traditionally it is represented in two styles. The most common kudumi is identical to the śikhā, with a knotted lock of hair on the crown of the head and the rest of the hair shaved off.Mun-Kudumi is a style where the hair is grown long in the front and knotted to the forehead. This hairstyle was popular among some Brahmin groups of South India, such as the Chozhiya, Dikshitar, and the Namboothiris of Kerala. The prominent communities in Kerala including the Nairs and temple servants, though not Brahmins, also sported this style.
The technique used to tie the hair into a Kudumi is as follows: The lengthy hair can be tied with the help of left thumb and index fingers. You roll up the lock of hair over the left thumb and index fingers put together by your right hand till you reach the tail end. Then hold the tail end of hair by the left thumb and index fingers and pull out the fingers with the tail end of the hair. You get the knot. After some little practice you will get a tight and neat knot.
Maharashtra
The Marathi word for śikhā is shendi.Hinduism
The śikhā reportedly signifies one-pointed focus on a spiritual goal, and devotion to God. It is also an indication of cleanliness, as well as personal sacrifice to God. According to Smriti Shastras, it is mandatory for all Hindus to keep śikhā and the first three twice-born or dvija castes to wear yajnopavita, also called janeu, punool, or paita.It has been said that the śikhā allows God to pull one to heaven, or at least from this material world of maya.
In his autobiography, Mohandas K. Gandhi writes about his encounter with an orthodox Hindu:
The śikhā was one of the few symbols of Hindus that transcended caste, language or regional barriers. Although there were variations of the style of sikha amongst communities, it was obligatory for all males.
Similar hairstyles
Hindus have a common belief that the śikhā "allows God to easily pull one to his abode". While the śikhā has been known to exist in India for from as far back as Chanakya, some scholars have argued that this be an Islamic, or at least an Arabian superstition, as the following passages may illustrate:Sir Thomas Herbert, 1st Baronet described a similar hairstyle worn by Persians in his book Travels in Persia:
In "Passages of Eastern Travel", Harper's Magazine, 1856, p. 197, an American traveller wrote:
Riffian men of Morocco had the custom of shaving the head but leaving a single lock of hair on either the crown, left, or right side of the head, so that the angel Azrael is able "...to pull them up to heaven on the Last Day."
High-born Chamorri men of the indigenous Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands also wore a hairstyle similar to the śikhā.
Later, particularly on the island of Guam, this śikhā-like top-knot hairstyle became somewhat of a political statement for young men:
Another śikhā-like hairstyle existed in eastern Europe. Sviatoslav I of Kiev reportedly wore a scalplock, similar to the śikhā, to signify his 'noble birth'.
The oseledets, or khokhol hairstyle of the Ukrainian Cossacks, or Zaporozhians, was quite similar to the śikhā, although it may sometimes have been situated not at the crown, but towards the front of the head. Indeed, another Ukrainian word for this particular hairstyle is чуприна, chupryna meaning 'forelock'. According to legend, Zaporozhians would grow their scalplocks to provide "...a handle by which the enemy could carry a Cossack's head, should he succeed in severing it."
A stone head discovered at the Neolithic site of Nevalı Çori in Anatolia features what some have interpreted as an early example of a śikhā, perhaps the mark of a priest or shaman.
The scalplock of many Native American tribes is very similar in appearance to the śikhā, although like the Cossack oseledets, a much different meaning was applied to this hairstyle compared to the Hindu śikhā.
The śikhā may also be referred to as 'choti', 'kudumi' or 'chuda'. It should not be confused with the rattail nor the mullet hairstyle, both popularized in the 1980s in the West.
In Hinduism though, the Sikha has been worn by the temple priests of Jagannath Puri and Tirumala Balaji temples for 2000 years and therefore predate Islam. It is more believable that this belief of the sikha was taken from India along the silk road by Mohammedan followers. Muslims now do not wear a sikha but a Mohammedan beard instead.