ਈਰਖਾ

Irkha (ਈਰਖਾ) is the Punjabi word for jealousy and envy: the uneasy, burning feeling that rises when another person gets the success, praise, wealth or happiness you wanted for yourself. It is not simple wanting. Irkha hurts at someone else's good fortune, and wishes it smaller.

What does irkha mean in Punjabi?

Irkha means jealousy and envy. Rekhta's dictionary traces the word to Sanskrit and gives its meanings as hasad, jalan and daah: envy, a burning feeling, and spiteful resentment. In Punjabi it is spoken of as a fire inside, because it burns the person who carries it long before it harms anyone else.

English keeps envy, wanting what another has, slightly apart from jealousy, fearing you will lose what you have to a rival. Punjabi irkha covers the ground where the two meet, and everyday speech does not split them finely. What matters is the direction of the feeling: it looks outward at another person's lot, compares it with your own, and turns sour.

How is irkha seen in Sikh teaching?

Gurbani treats irkha as one of the inner faults that steal a person's peace. A verse in Guru Granth Sahib, at Ang 741, names eerakh alongside quarrels and the intoxication of Maya, warning that clinging to them wastes a precious life. Writers on Gurbani describe the jealous person as resentful at the wealth, success and prosperity of others, and happy only when trouble reaches them, which is why the teaching answer is contentment and wishing others well.

How do you say jealous in Punjabi?

Jealousy in Punjabi is simply irkha. The feeling rising on its own is irkha hona, and the act of nursing it is irkha karna: us nu irkha ho gayi, he felt jealous. To say do not be jealous, say irkha na karo. The everyday opposite is not one word but an attitude Punjabis praise: being happy in another's happiness, and sarbat da bhala, wishing good for all.