AKAL MURATI, a composite term comprising akal (non temporal) and murati (image or form), occurring in the Mul Mantra, the root formula or fundamental creed of the Sikh faith as recorded at the beginning of the Japu, composition with which the Guru Granth Sahib opens, literally means `timeless image`. Elsewhere,

AKALPURAKH stands in Sikh religious literature for the Divine Being, i.e. God. Like Akal, Murati, it is composed of two units, viz. akal (non temporal) and purakh (person). The latter figures in Mul Mantra, the preamble to Guru Nanak`s Japu, in conjunction with Xarta (Creator), the whole expression implying

AKAL, BHAI, a carpenter resident of Vadda Ghar in present day Fandkot district of the Punjab and, according to Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi, maternal grandfather of the celebrated Bhai Rup Chand, became a devotee of Guru Ram Das. He also served Guru Arjan and Guru Hargobind. He was a man

AKAL, lit. timeless, immortal, non temporal, is a term integral to Sikh tradition and philosophy. It is extensively used in the Dasam Granth hymns by Guru Gobind Singh, who titled one of his poetic compositions Akal Ustati, i.e. In Praise (ustati) of the Timeless One (akal). However, the concept of

AJlT SINGH (1881-1947), patriot and revolutionary, was born in February 1881 at Khatkar Kalari, in Jalandhar district of the Punjab, the son of Arjan Singh and Jai Kaur. He had his early education in his village and then at Sain Dass Anglo Sanskrit High School, Jalandhar, and D.A.V. College,

AJIT SINGH PALIT (d. 1725), adopted son of Mata Sundari, the mother of Sahibzada Ajit Singh . Little is known about the family he came of except that Mata Sundari took him over from a goldsmith of Delhi and adopted him because of his striking resemblance with her son, Ajit

AJIT SINGH, SAHIBZADA (1687-1705), the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh, was born to Mata Sundari at Paonta on 26 January 1687. The following year, Guru Gobind Singh returned with the family to Anandpur where Ajit Singh was brought up in the approved Sikh style. He was taught the

AJIT SINGH SANDHANVALIA (d. 1843), son of Basava Singh Sandharivalia, was a leading actor in the gruesome drama of intrigue and murder enacted in the Sikh kingdom following the passing away of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. One of the younger generation of the Sandharivalias, he outstripped his uncles, Atar Singh

AJITTA, BHAI, a Randhava Jatt, whose name occurs in Bhai Gurdas`s roster of prominent Sikhs of Guru Nanak, Varan, XI. 14, was a resident of the village of Pakkhoke Randhave, close to the present town of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. It was at Pakkhoke

AJMER CHAND, ruler of Kahlur (Bilaspur), one of the princely states in the Sivaliks. He succeeded his father. Raja Bhim Chand, who had retired in his favour. Bhim Chand had led battles against Guru Gobind Singh, and his son, Ajmer Chand, continued the hostility. He formed a league of

AJMER SINGH was the name given a seventeenth century Muslim recluse of Chhatteana, a village in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab, as he received the initiatory rites of the Khalsa. His original name was Ibrahim, popularly shortened to Brahmi or Bahmi. According to an old chronicle, Malva

AJUDHIA PARSHAD, DIWAN (1799-1870), soldier and civil administrator in Sikh times, was the adopted son of Diwan Ganga Ram. Maharaja Ranjit Singh first employed Ajudhia Parshad in 1819 to serve in the military office in Kashmir. Three years later, he was recalled to Lahore and appointed paymaster of the