ਕ੍ਰੋਧ

Krodh (ਕ੍ਰੋਧ) is the Punjabi word for anger or rage: the blinding fury that makes people say and do things they later regret. In Sikh teaching it is counted as one of the five thieves (panj chor) that steal a person's peace, alongside kaam (lust), lobh (greed), moh (attachment) and ahankar (pride).

What does krodh mean?

Krodh is not everyday irritation. It is the heavier, hotter kind of anger: red-eyed, unreasoning, the state in which a person stops thinking. Punjabi has the lighter word gussa for ordinary anger; krodh is what gussa becomes when it takes over completely. To say someone is 'krodh vich' is to say they are beyond reasoning with for the moment.

Why is krodh called one of the five thieves?

Sikh teaching names five vices that steal the mind's peace: kaam (lust), krodh (anger), lobh (greed), moh (attachment) and ahankar (pride). They are called thieves because they rob a person of clear judgment. Krodh earns its place because anger makes people harm the ones they love and wreck what took years to build, often in minutes. Elders put it plainly: anger burns the one who carries it first.

How do Punjabis talk about krodh?

You hear 'krodh auna', anger rising in a person, and 'krodh vich aake', done in a fit of rage, usually about something said or broken that cannot be unsaid. The opposite motion is 'krodh thanda karna', cooling one's anger, which Punjabis praise as real strength. Controlling krodh, not never feeling it, is the mark of a steady person.