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Summary of Question:	Surname Is Not Kaur
Category:	Other
Date Posted:	Monday, 9/03/2001 9:24 AM MDT

waheguruji ka khalsa

waheguruji ki fateh
i was looking through one of your answers and i noticed that it was written we are all "kaur's and singh's" after seeing this i thought to my self my surname is not kaur does this mean anything?

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REPLY
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Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

If you are a Sikh and female, you are Kaur. Most Indian Sikh women might have their full name written [first name] Kaur [family name]

Your surname that I see on your post may or may not represent: your father's family village, your sub/caste, your father's lineage or something else. I do not know.

What Guruji meant by taking the name Kaur or Singh is to drop the caste references so common in India via surnames. This is because the way many Indians know each other's caste is through the surnames they use. Since Guru told his Sikhs NOT to observe caste, this was one way of dealing with it.

PS: A lot of Sikhs in the West use the surname "Khalsa" after Kaur or Singh. This makes it easier legally (so that a woman who marries doesn't become, for example, Manjeet Kaur Singh, which can be confusing) and it also identifies us with Guru's family of Khalsa.

Hope this helps.

Guru ang sang, ---- DKK