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.

JAVALA SINGH, BHAI SAHIB (1872-1952), a renowned exponent of the Sikh devotional music, was born in 1872 at the village of  Saidpur in Kapurthala district of the Punjab. His father, Bhai Deva Singh and grandfather, Parijab Singh were in their day celebrated rdgis or musicians who recited Sikh kirtan

VAR, a verse form in Punjabi popular in folklore as well as in refined poetry. In the old bardic tradition of the Punjab, var meant the poem itself with its typical theme as also the form in which it was cast. The earliest vars were ballads of battles and

BEDI, a subcaste of the Khatris, Prakritized form of the Sanskrit kstriya which is one of the four caste groups into which the Hindu society is divided. The Khatris are mainly Hindus though there is among them a Sikh element which is small in number but important historically.There are no

BUNGAS The word bunga is derived from the Persian bungah meaning a hospice, or a dwelling place. In the Sikh tradition, the word specifically refers to the dwelling places and mansions which grew up around the Harimandar at Amritsar and at other centres of Sikh pilgrimage. These were primarily the

ALAHUNI,(mournful song by women) When a person dies. women cry and often sing songs in chorus in praise Of the deceased. There is a lot of pessimism in, such songs. Generally professional women used to lead in the singing of mourning songs. Guru Nanak used this form of poetry

KAFI (Arabic Qafi), literally stands for the leader, the enlightener, one who fulfils the need. In poetics it denotes the refrain in a song or hymn, and is also the title given to a poetic form in Arabic as well as in Indian literature. Guru Nanak was the first to

AGHORl or AGHORPANTHI. one of the several Kapalika sects, connected with the Tantrik cult of Saivism, notorious for its cannibalism and other abominable practices. Aghora literally means "not terrible," "not evil," otherwise, "pleasant" or "handsome," and is one of the euphemistic titles of the Hindu god, Siva. Aughar or

BHALLA, a subdivision of Khatri (Prakrit form kstriya) caste, one of the four castes into which the Hindu society is divided. Khatris are further divided into four subgroups. i.e. Bahri, Khukhrain, Bunjahi and Sarin; the Bhallas belong to the Sarin subgroup. According to a legend, once `Ala udDin Khiiji, the

CASTLE HILL, an 182acre estate in Mussoorie, a hill city in the Himalayas, which was the summer residence for a short period of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab who after the annexation of his dominions was exiled by the British to Fatehgarh, in present day

ALANKAR,is the singing of notes (seams) in the melodic phrase of a raga. It can be done in different laya (tempo) which may be slow, medium or fast. A lankar literally means an ornament or decoration. It is the repetition of the musical notes of a raga in a

KHUSHAL SINGH, BHAI (1862-1945), holy man with mastery of Sikh music, was the son of Bhai Gurmukh Singh, a Jatt Sikh of Daudhar, a village 22 km southeast of Moga (30°48`N, 75°10`E), in Faridkot district of the Punjab. Blind from birth, Khushal Singh received instruction in