ARUR SINGH, Maharaja Duleep Singh`s personal attendant and confidant, belonged to the village of Kohali, in Amritsar district. He was one of the five Sikhs who administered pahul or Sikh initiatory rites to Maharaja Duleep Singh at Aden on 25 May 1886. From Aden, Arur Singh accompanied the Maharaja

ARUR SINGH, SARDAR BAHADUR SIR (1865-1926), sarbarah (manager) of the principal Sikh shrines at Amritsar and Tarn Taran from 1907 to 1920, much maligned for his role during the popular movement for reform in the managment of Sikh shrines, came of a well known Shergil family of Naushahra in

ARZ ULALFAZ, lit. breadth or scope (arz) of words (aJfaz) or petition, request or address (arz) in words (alfaz), is a versified composition in Persian by Bhai Nand Lal Goya, a noted poet and devout follower of Guru Gobind Singh. Bhai Nand Lal in between his periods of service at

ASA KI VAR, as recorded in the index to the Guru Granth Sahib, but commonly designated Asa di Var, lit. an ode (var) in the musical measure Asa, is a composition by Guru Nanak sung by musicians at Sikh congregations as part of the early morning service. Asa is

ASAVARI See ASA ASCETICISM, derived from the Greek word askesis, connotes the `training` or `exercise` of the body and the mind. Asceticism or ascetic practices belong to the domain of religious culture, and fasts, pilgrimages, ablutions, purificatory rituals, vigils, abstinence from certain foods and drinks, primitive and strange dress, nudity,

AS KAUR, daughter of Gurdas Singh, was married to Raja Sahib Singh (1773-1813) of Patiala in 1792 and, in 1798, she bore him a son and heir who was named Karam Singh. She was a woman of great ability and her wise administration of the Patiala state during part

ASRARISAMADI, a Persian chronicle by an anonymous writer who is now identified as Munshi Jot Prakash attached to the court of Nawab Abd us Samad Khan, the governor of Lahore from 1713 to 1726. Written around 1728, the work. which the author claims to be an eyewitness account of

ASTPADI, from Sanskrit astapada, astapad or astapadf, is a poetic composition comprising ast or eight padas or stanzas. No specific rhyme scheme, measure or burden is prescribed for it, but all the eight stanzas must be in the same metre and measure. Lines in each stanza are generally rhymed.

ASMAN KHAN or ASMAN KHAN (d. 1635), a Pathan who sacrilegiously appropriated the robe of honour, a sword and a horse bestowed by Guru Hargobind on his father in law, Painda Khan, and poached a hawk belonging to the Guru`s eldest son, Baba Gurditta. When questioned, Painda Khan defended

ATAL RAI, BABA (1619-1628), son of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), was born to Mata Nanaki at Amritsar on 23 October 1619. He died at the tender age of nine years. The circumstances of his death, as narrated in Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi, were most extraordinary. Atal Rai had a playmate, Mohan,

ATA MUHAMMAD KHAN BARAKZAI, son of Painda Khan Barakzai, became the governor of Kashmir in 1809. When Shah Shuja`, the king of Afghanistan, was dethroned, he fled towards the Punjab. At Attock he was captured by the governor, Jaharidad Khan. who sent him to Kashmir to be handed over

ATAR SINGH ATLEVALE, SANT (d. 1937), Sikh holy man and preacher, born in early fifties of the nineteenth century, was the eldest son of Bhai Kishan Singh and Mai Naraini, a devoted couple of Mirpur, in Jammu and Kashmir state. Atar Singh, originally known as Hari Singh, was adopted by