SHIROMANI KHALSA DlWAN, NORTHWEST FRONTIER PROVINCE, a sociopolitical organization of the Sikhs of the frontier province (now in Pakistan), was founded in the 1920`s by Sardar Jagat Singh Narag of Peshawar, a businessman, later a member of the provincial legislative assembly. The Sikh population of the North-West Frontier Province was

KHALSA UPDESHAK MAHAVIDYALA, GHARJAKH, a training institution for Sikh preachers, was established in 1901 by Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Gujrariwala, now in Pakistan. The Gujrariwala Singh Sabha, formed in 1888 and affiliated to the Khalsa Diwan Lahore, played an important role in the educational and social awakening of Punjabi

CHIEF KHALSA DIWAN. Until the emergence of more radical platforms such as the Sikh League (1919), Shiromam Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (1920) and Shiromani Akali Dal (1920), the Chief Khalsa Diwan, established on 30 October 1902, was the main council of the Sikhs, controlling their religious and educational affairs and raising

GIANI SAMPRADAI is one of three major schools of Sikhs theologians and expositors of the Sikh scripture, the other two being the Udasis and the Nirmalas. Giani, the Punjabi form of Sanskrit jndni from the rootjnd (to know), originally meant a scholar of high learning. In Sikh tradition, a gidmis

GURU KA BAGH MORCHA, one of the major compaigns in the Sikhs` agitation in the early 1920`s for the reformation of their holy places. Guru ka Bagh in Ghukkevali village, about 20 km from Amritsar, has two historic gurudwaras close to each other, commemorating the visits respectively of Guru Arjan

BHASAUR SINGH SABHA, or to give its full name Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Bhasaur, was established in 1893 twenty years after the first Singh Sabha came into existence in Amritsar at the village of Bhasaur in the then princely state of Patiala. The Singh Sabha, a powerful

ABCHAL NAGAR, more correctly spelt Abichalnagar (abichal, lit. firmly fixed, unshakably rooted), i.e. City Everlasting, is the name Sikh tradition lias given Nanded, a district town in Maharashtra. The place is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who passed away here on 7 October 1708. The shrine honouring his memory is

KIRTI KISAN SABHA, a sabha, i.e. society or party, of the kirtis (workers) and kisans (peasants), fostered and, to some extent, funded by the Ghadr Party, was established on 12 April 1928 with a view to organizing small agriculturists and industrial workers and other lowpaid urban labour, for revolutionary

GURMAT GRANTH PRACHARAK SABHA, an association aiming at propagating Sikh religion through publications, was established at Amritsar on 8 April 1885 by Giani Sardul Singh to continue the work started by his father, Giani Gian Singh (d. 30 March 1884), the first secretary of Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Amritsar, established

JAGIASI, also Jagiasu orJijnasu is a religious sect cognate with the UdasT section of the NanakpanthTs of Sindh. The word jagidsd is derived from Sanskrit jijndsd (desire to know), jagidsi denoting one desirous of knowledge, of spiritual insight. T`.ic members of the Jagiasi sect are mostly sahajdhdns i.e. gradualists, believing

KHALSA DIWAN, afterwards renamed Central Malva Khalsa Pritinidhi Diwan, Nabha, was formed on 1 January 1906 at a large conclave of the Sikhs held in the princely town. The inspiration came from Tikka Ripudaman Singh (1883-1943), henapparent to the Nabha throne, who was a staunch advocate of the Singh

CENTRAL SIKH LEAGUE, political organization of the Sikhs which guided their affairs until the Shiromani Akali Dal emerged as a mass force. The inaugural session of the Central Sikh League was held at Amritsar on 29 December 1919, coinciding with the annual sessions of the Indian National Congress and the