Jhatka Information & Jhatka Links at HealthHaven.com

Jhatka or Chatka meat (Hindi झटका, Punjabi: ਝਟਕਾ jhaṭkā, from Sanskrit ghātaka "killing") is meat from an animal which has been killed by a single strike of a sword or axe to sever the head, as opposed to Jewish kosher or Islamic halal in which the animal is killed by ritually slicing the throat.

This kills the animal immediately because the spinal cord is severed, and the blood flow to the brain is stopped almost instantly, causing brain death within seconds. Therefore the method is adopted as being the less painful to the animal than other methods.

[edit] Hindus and Jhatka

Historically and currently, those Hindus who eat meat prescribe jhatka meat. This is the a common method of slaughter if animal sacrifices are made to some Hindu deities, however Vedic rituals such as Agnicayana involved the strangulation of sacrificial goats. Shaivite Hindus engage in jhatka methods as part of religious dietary laws, as influenced by the Shakti doctrines, which permit the consumption of meat (except beef, which is universally proscribed in Hinduism). The Vaishnavite denomination of Hinduism disallows the consumption of meat, and their relative demographic predominance over the Shaivites leads to the stereotype that all Hindus are vegetarian. During Durga Puja and Kali Puja among Shaivite Hindus in Punjab, Bengal and Kashmir, Jhatka meat is the required meat for practising Shaivite Hindus.

[edit] Jhatka Meat and Sikhs

Sikhs are recommended to eat Jhatka meat,^[1] as they do not believe any ritual gives meat a spiritual virtue (ennobles the flesh).^[2]^[3] Another reason Sikhs do not eat halal meat is due to determining to change to it being a prerequisite for conversion to Islam.

[edit] Availability of Jhatka Meat

In India, there are many Jhatka shops, with various bylaws^[4] requiring shops to display clearly, that they sell Jhatka meat.

In the past, there has been little availability of Jhatka meat in the United Kingdom, so people have found themselves eating other types of meat.^[5] Jhatka has become more widely available in the United Kingdom nowadays.^[6].

[edit] References

^ 10 Misconception Regarding Sikhs
^ Singh, I. J., Sikhs and Sikhism ISBN 8173040583 And one semitic practice clearly rejected in the Sikh code of conduct is eating flesh of an animal cooked in ritualistic manner; this would mean kosher and halal meat. The reason again does not lie in religious tenet but in the view that killing an animal with a prayer is not going to enoble the flesh. No ritual, whoever conducts it, is going to do any good either to the animal or to the diner. Let man do what he must to assuage his hunger. If what he gets, he puts to good use and shares with the needy, then it is well used and well spent, otherwise not.
^ Mini Encyclopaedia of Sikhism by H.S. Singha, Hemkunt Press, Delhi.ISBN 8170102006 The practice of the Gurus is uncertain. Guru Nanak seems to have eaten venison or goat, depending upon different janamsakhi versions of a meal which he cooked at Kurukshetra which evoked the criticism of Brahmins. Guru Amardas ate only rice and lentils but this abstention cannot be regarded as evidence of vegetarianism, only of simple living. Guru Gobind Singh also permitted the eating of meat but he prescribed that it should be Jhatka meat and not Halal meat that is jagged in the Muslim fashion.
^ http://www.ajmermc.org/PDF/MeatByelaws1963.pdf
^ [1] Sikh Women in England
^ Food safety and quality assurance: foods of animal origin By William T. Hubbert Page 254

[edit] See also

Ritual slaughter
Decapitation
Vegetarianism in Sikhism
Dhabiha Muslim method of ritual slaughter.
Shechita Jewish method of ritual slaughter.
Legal aspects of ritual slaughter
Kutha meat

[edit] External links

Nihang Teja Singh. "Sanatan Sikh Shastar Vidiya - Chatka". Shastarvidiya.org. http://www.shastarvidiya.org/chatka.jsp. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
Goat Meat The Truth
"What is Jhatka?". Indiacurry.com. http://www.indiacurry.com/faqterms/whatisjhatka.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-09.

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[0] 10 Misconception Regarding Sikhs

[1] Singh, I. J., Sikhs and Sikhism ISBN 8173040583 And one semitic practice clearly rejected in the Sikh code of conduct is eating flesh of an animal cooked in ritualistic manner; this would mean kosher and halal meat. The reason again does not lie in religious tenet but in the view that killing an animal with a prayer is not going to enoble the flesh. No ritual, whoever conducts it, is going to do any good either to the animal or to the diner. Let man do what he must to assuage his hunger. If what he gets, he puts to good use and shares with the needy, then it is well used and well spent, otherwise not.

[2] Mini Encyclopaedia of Sikhism by H.S. Singha, Hemkunt Press, Delhi.ISBN 8170102006 The practice of the Gurus is uncertain. Guru Nanak seems to have eaten venison or goat, depending upon different janamsakhi versions of a meal which he cooked at Kurukshetra which evoked the criticism of Brahmins. Guru Amardas ate only rice and lentils but this abstention cannot be regarded as evidence of vegetarianism, only of simple living. Guru Gobind Singh also permitted the eating of meat but he prescribed that it should be Jhatka meat and not Halal meat that is jagged in the Muslim fashion.

[3] ttp://www.ajmermc.org/PDF/MeatByelaws1963.pdf

[4] [1] Sikh Women in England

[5] Food safety and quality assurance: foods of animal origin By William T. Hubbert Page 254

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