CHATAR SINGH COLLECTION, comprising correspondence, papers, treaties, etc., particularly relating to transactions among the Dogra chiefs of Jammu (Dhian Singh, Gulab Singh and Suchet Singh) and between them and the Lahore Darbar, was put together by Thakur Chatar Singh of Dharamsala and is now preserved in the Punjab State Archives,

PARYAI, Sanskrit parydya, meaning a synonym or convertible term, is used in Sikh literature spelt variously as priydi, pridy and praydya. It was a popular title for glossaries explaining terms and difficult words used in Guru Granth Sahib which were the forerunners of full scale translations or exegeses of the

TWARIKH GURU KHALSA, a voluminous prose narrative delineating the history of the Sikhs from their origin to the time when they lost the Punjab to the British. The author, Giani Gian Sihgh (1822-1921), claimed descent from the brother of Bhai Mani Singh, the martyr, who was a contemporary of Guru

BANI BIRDH PRATAP is a collection of religious and devotional poetry in a mixture of Braj and Punjabi, written in Gurmukhi script by Baba Ram Das, a Divana sadhu. The volume is preserved with reverence due to a religious scripture in the dera or monastery of the Divana sect established

JANGNAMA SIU GURU GOBIND SINGHJIKA, a vdr or stanzas by Am Rai describing Guru Gobind Singh`s battle with a Mughal force at Anandpur. Am Rai was one of the fifty-two poets who enjoyed the Guru`s patronage. The welcome he received on his arrival in Anandpur and the conferment through

PARCHIAN SEVA DAS, variously titled as Sdkhidn Sevd Dds Udasi, Mahaldn Dasdn kidn Sdkhidn, Sdkhidn Dasdn Pdtshdhidn Kidn or Parchidn Pdtshdhi 10, is an eighteenth century collection of 50 sdkhis or anecdotes from the lives of the Ten Gurus. Only one sakhl each relates to the first eight Gurus;

SRI FATEH SINGH PRATAP PRABHAKAR, an undated manuscript preserved in the Punjab State Archives, Patiala, under accession No. M/ 774, is an account of the life and achievements ol`Sardar Fateh Singh Ahluvalia (1784-1836). The manuscript since published, by Joginder Kaur (1981), comprises 401 folios, size 23x17 cm, each containing 16

UMDAT UTTWARIKH, lit. the choicest of histories, by Sohan Lal Suri, is a chronicle, in Persian, primarily of the reigns of Ranjit Singh and his successors. The original manuscript, in five volumes in shikastah hand, consisted of some 7,000 pages. A lithographed edition of the work was brought out, in

RANA SURAT SINGH, an epiclike poem by Bhai Vir Singh published in 1905. This poem of more than fourteen thousand lines is written in blank verse, tried for the first time in Punjabi. With all its protracted search and pang, it is ultimately a poem of complete spiritual certitude, of

Nankayan (Life of Nanak) by Mohan Singh \'Mahir\' is commissioned work written at the behest of Punjabi University to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. Professor \'Mahir\' earned this distinction after he wrote Nankayan (Nankayan). He has yet another distinction of ushering in what has come to be

BAVAN AKHARI, a poem constructed upon 52 (bavan) letters (akhar) of the alphabet. In this form of poetry each verse begins serially with a letter of the alphabet. The origin of the genre is traced to ancient Sanskrit literature. Since the Devanagari alphabet, employed in Sanskrit, comprises fifty-two (bavan, in

DINRAIN, lit. (din + rain) day and night, is the title (dinraini) of a single 4stanza hymn by Guru Arjan Dev in the Majh measure (GG, 13637). The composition evidently follows the prosodic vogue of inscribing verses to kalkrama (process of time) embracing forms such as baramaha (twelve months