KUKAS or NAMDHARIS, the name given to the members of a sectarian group that arose among the Sikhs towards the close of the nineteenth century. Kuk, in Punjabi, means a scream or shout. While chanting the sacred hymns at their religious congregations, the adherents of the new order broke into

SIKLIGAR SIKHS constitute that section of lohars or ironsmiths who once specialized in the craft of making and polishing weapons. Sikligar is derived from Persian saqi, lit. polishing, furnishing, making bright (a sword), the term saqlgar meaning a polisher of swords. In medieval India, Sikligars were in great demand for

MAHIMASHAHIAS, followers of Mohar Singh (AD 1758-1815), a holy Sikh who earned the honoured nickname of Mahima Shah for his constant muttering of a phrase (\'infinite is Thy praise\') in God\'s mahima or adoration. Mahima Shah claimed spiritual descent from Bhai Daya Singh, one of the Panj Piare or

SODHl, a subdivision of Sarin group of, Khatris, has acquired an aura of exceptional! honour among the Sikhs because seven of (lie ten Sikh Gurus from Guru Rain Das onwards were from among them. Guru Ram Das` descendants are reverently called Sodhi Sahibzade. Guru Ram Das appointed his younger

MAI-POTRE, meaning grandsons of an old woman, is the name given to a group of families residing in Goindval. These families were the descendants of a goldsmith couple blessed by Guru Amar Das. It is said that the couple, advancing in years, had no offspring. Despaired of the gift of

SUTHRASHAHIS, a mendicant order which owes its origin to Suthra Shah (1625-82), a disciple of Guru Hargobind. Not much is known about the life of Suthra Shah. The legend goes diat he was born in a Nanda Khatri family of Bahrampur, now in Gurdasur district, with a black mark

MASANDS were, in early Sikhism, local community leaders who looked after the ^an^a^in their diocese and linked them to their spiritual mentor, the Guru. They led Sikhs, preached the word of the Guru and transmitted to him their offerings, escorting occasionally batches of them to his presence. The first such

TATT KHALSA, lit. the Real or Pure Khalsa, as against the followers of Banda Singh Bahadur who came to be called Bandai Khalsa, was one of the factions in the schism which arose among the Sikhs after the passing away of Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Go bind Singh, while sending

MAZHABI SIKHS, commonly pronounced as Mazhbi Sikhs, is the name given to Sikh converts from the Chuhra community, among the lowest in the Hindu caste order. Chuhras in medieval Punjab, corresponding to Bharigis of the Hindi speaking regions, were the village menials who received customary payment in kind at

TREHAN, a sub caste of Khatris. It belongs to the Sarin group, one of the four subgroups into which the Khatris are divided. They are categorized in two main divisions the higher and the lower. The Trehans belong to the higher group. The etymology of the word trehan is

MIHTAR SIKHS, like Mazhabi Sikhs, their Punjabi counterpart, belong to the so called scheduled castes. Mihtar, a Persian term, meaning elder, chief, or governor, is the name given to the members of the community of scavengers which stands at the lowest rung of Indian society. Scattered in different villages

TURK, a word standing in Sikh tradition usually for a Muslim, is really the name of a race of people which orginating probably in Central Asia established itself in Asia Minor and southeastern Europe in the west and in India in the east. The earliest references to Turks connect them