PARCHIBHAI KANHAIYA, i.e. parchi (from Sanskrit prichaya or introduction here used in the sense of a life or biography) of Bhai Kanhaiya, a Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) and founder of the Sevapanthi sect. Written in Bhakha sometimes between 1728 and 1740 when its author

SRIJASSA SINGH BINOD, manuscript dealing with the career of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluvalia (1718-83), a prominent Sikh warrior of the eighteenth century and founder of the erstwhile state of Kapurthala in the Punjab, was written by Ram Sukh Rao at the instance of Sardar Fateh Singh, ruler of Kapurthala from

VAR AMAR SINGH KI is a versified account of a battle fought in AD 1774 between Raja Amar Singh, the ruler of Patiala and the neighbouring Bhatti Rajput chiefs. The writer is Kavi (poet) Kesho Das, a Brahman bard at the court of the Raja of Patiala. He was

SATVANT KAUR, whose full title is Snmatf Satvant Kaur di Jivan Vithia, is a historical romance by Bhai Vir Singh. Its first part was published in 1900 and the second in 1927. In later editions, both parts were combined in a single volume. The plot has been set against the

PUNJAB IN 1839-40, THE, edited by Ganda Singh and published by the Sikh History Society, Amritsar/Patiala, 1952, is a compilation of selections from the Punjab Akhbdrs, Punjab intelligence reports, etc., reproducing stray newsletters of interest from Lahore, Peshawar, Kabul, Kashmir, etc., and extracts from the Punjab intelligence reports pertaining to

BHAGAT (BHAKTA) BANI The Sikh Holy Book, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, comprises writings coming from two sources the sayings of the Gurus and those of the Bhagats (Bhaktas). The term Bhagat here broadly covers, besides some of the saints of medieval India whose compositions occur in the Guru Granth

FARIDKOT TIKA, the earliest full scale exegesis or annotated version of the Guru Granth Sahib, was prepared under the patronage of the princely rulers of the state of Faridkot. Hence its popular name Faridkot Vala Tika or, for short, FaridkotTika. Its full title is Adi Sn Guru Granth Sahib

LAVAN is the title traditionally given a short fourslan/a composition by Guru Ram Das included under rdga Suhi (p. 773) in the Guru Granth Sahib. The word Idvdn, in the Indian tradition, also stands for the marriage ceremony: in Hindu society the couple reverentially circumambulates the holy fire to

SARABLOH GRANTH, a poem narrating the mythological story of the gods and the demons, in ascribed to Guru Gobind Singh, and is therefore treated as a sacred scripture among certain sections of the Sikhs, particularly the Nihang Sikhs. The authorship is however questioned by researchers and scholars of Sikhism on

VADAHANS KI VAR, in the Guru Granth Sahib, is by Guru Ram Das. He has composed the largest number of Vars, eight out of the twenty-two included in the Guru Granth Sahib. The poetic stanza used is the usual paun. There are 21 pauns in all, interspersed with slokas

HUKAMNAMA, a compound of two Persian words hukm, meaning command or order, and ndmah, meaning letter, refers in the Sikh tradition to letters sent by the Gurus to their Sikhs or sangats in different parts of the country. Currently, the word applies to edicts issued from time to time from

VARAN BHAI GURDAS is the title given to the collection of forty vars or "ballads" written in`Punjabi by Bhai Gurdas (d. 1636) much honoured in Sikh piety and learning. These forty vars comprise 913 pauris or stanzas, with a total of 6,444 lines. There is no internal or external evidence