KUKA. The founder of this Puritan sect of Sikhs was Ram Singh, a carpenter, native of the small village of Bhaini, about 7 miles S.E. of Ludhiana. In 1845 he served as a soldier in the Sikh army, which he left after the overturn of the Sikh rule, and endeavoured to restore the Sikh faith in its purity. By the year 1867 he had gathered round him a numerous following, and he had about 100,000 disciples, and their objects seemed to assume a political form.
The Sikhs have ten commandments, so have the Kuka,—five affirmative, and five negative. The former are known as the five K's, and are Bard, Kachh, Kerpal, Kanghi, Kes, iron ornaments, short drawers, iron quoits or weapons, the comb, and hair. The negative commandments are Nari mar, Kuri-mar, Sri Katta, Sunnat-katta, Dhir Malia ; no smoking, no murder ; daughters not to marry the shaven crowns, the circumcised, nor the disciples of the guru of Kartarpur.
Sherring says they are like the Nanak Shahi, only more rigid. They wear a peculiar uniform. The term is derived from the loud tone in which they utter their mantra, or sacred text, compared to the kuk or loud note of the kaku or kokila.
The Kukapanthis intensely detest all other sects. They care little about the body after death. They hold that after the soul has left the body, the remains require no more attention, and may be put out of sight in any way convenient. They feast, give sweetmeats, and read the Granth incessantly when one of their sect is about to die, and after he is dead they read the Granth day and night, relieving each other at the task, for thirteen days, after which they give a feast. Bishn Singh, a fanatic leader, was executed in 1872, but his Granth, which was to be sent to the guru, was left in the Kuka temple in Lahore, and read by the men of his sect, who performed his obsequies. His ashes were given up on condition that there should be no demonstration by the relatives, and they were committed to the Ravi by his son, who took the remaining bones to Hardwar, according to the Hindu and not Kuka custom.---Indian Public Opinion.