The karah prasad is a warm sweet pudding blessed and given to everyone present at the close of Sikh worship, and the manner of its distribution carries a central Sikh principle.
Made and blessed
The pudding is made of wholemeal flour, clarified butter and sugar in roughly equal measure, cooked in an iron dish, and it is blessed during the service, prepared and offered with prayer, so that what is shared is consecrated food. At the end of worship it is distributed to all who are present, received in cupped hands, and the warmth and richness of it make it a substantial and welcome offering rather than a token, a gift of the sacred meal to the whole assembly.
Given without distinction
The defining feature of the karah prasad is that it is given to everyone, without distinction of caste, standing, wealth or faith, all receiving the same portion in the same way, and this equal sharing enacts the Sikh rejection of caste and hierarchy that runs through the tradition, the same principle expressed in the common kitchen, the langar, where all eat together. To refuse none and to give all the same is the point of the distribution, so the blessed sweet is not merely a devotional food but a small performance of the equality the Gurus taught. Received at the close of worship, it sends the worshipper away having shared in a consecrated gift offered to all alike.