AKHAND PATH (akhand = uninterrupted, without break; path = reading) is nonstop, continuous recital of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end. Such a recital must be completed within 48 hours. The entire Holy Volume, 1430 large pages, is read through in a continuous ceremony. This reading must

DASVANDH or Dasaundh, lit. a tenth part, refers to the practice among Sikhs of contributing in the name of the Guru one-tenth of their earnings towards the common resources of the community. This is their religious obligation a form of seva or humble service so highly valued in the Sikh

NITNEM (nit: daily; nem; practice, rule or regimen) is the name given to the set prayers which every Sikh is commanded to say daily, alone or in company. These prayers or texts are five in number for early morning Guru Nanak`sJa/w and Guru Gobind Singh`s Jdpu and Savaiyye, for the

SIKH CALENDAR or system of reckoning chronology or dates of events in Sikh history is generally based on the Vikrami Samvat (Bikrami Sammat, in Punjabi), a system mostly in vogue in northern India, although other systems the Hijri during the Muslim period and Christian since the advent of the

AMRITDHARI (amrit, lit. nectar, commonly Sikh sanctified initiatory water + dhan= practitioner) is one who has received baptismal vows of the Khalsa initiated by Guru Gobind Singh (30 March 1699) and abides by them and by the panj kakari rahit, distinctive insignia introduced by the Guru on that day

FIVE EVILS or pancadokh or panj vikar as they are referred to in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, are, according to Sikhism, the five major weaknesses of the human personality at variance with its spiritual essence. The common evils far exceed in number, but a group of five

PAHUL or amrit sanskdr, the name given in the Sikh tradition to the ceremony of initiation. The word pdhulor pahulis a derivative from a substantive, pahumeaning an agent which brightens, accelerates or sharpens the potentialities of a given object. In the history of the Sikh faith, the initiation ceremony has

SINGH, from Sanskrit sinha for lion, is an essential component of the name for a Sikh male. Every Sikh male name must end with `Singh`. Historically, this was so ordained by Guru Gobind Singh on the Baisakhi day, 30 March 1699, when he inaugurated the Khalsa. introducing a new

FIVE SYMBOLS, a set of five distinctive features or elements of personal appearance or apparel that set off Sikhs from the followers of any other religious faith. Any study of religious symbols involves a dual task: first, to explain the meaning of symbols not only in terms of their

PANGAT, from Sanskrit pankti (lit. a row, line, series, or a group, assembly, company), stands in Sikh terminology for commensality or sitting together on the ground in a row to partake of food from a common kitchen regardless of caste, creed, sex, age or social status. Pangat is thus a

TANKHAH, from Persian tankhwah, generally meaning pay or salary, has an additional, ironical connotation in Sikh vocabulary. The word in this sense means expiatory penalty levied upon a Sikh from breach of rahit, i.e. the prescribed code of conduct or of a vow religiously made. This use of the