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

NANAKPANTHI, lit. the follower of the panth or way of Guru Nanak. The term Ndnakpantht was perhaps used for the first time for Sikhs in Mobid Zulfiqar Ardistani`s Dabistdni Mazdhib, a seventeenth century work on comparative religion, which has a chapter entitled Nanak Panthidn describing the Sikhs, their Gurus

VANJARA SIKHS or Banjaras, akin to Labana Sikhs of the Punjab, are found scattered throughout Central and South India as well as in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Although vanjara, from Sanskrit vanij (a merchant, trader), is now used as a generic term for peddlers in the Punjab, the Vanjaras during

NIHANGS or Nihang Singhs, originally known as Akalis or Akah Niharigs, are endearingly designated the Guru`s Knights or the Guru`s beloved, for the military ambience they still carry about them and the heroic style they continue to cultivate. They constitute a distinctive order among the Sikhs and are readily recognized

NIRANJANIE, also called Handalie, was an heretic cult rounded by Handal (1573-1646) of Jandiala in Amritsar district, a former follower of Sultan SakhT Sarwar, who became a Sikh in the time of GuruAmar Das. He served in the Guru ka Larigar. Pleased with his devotion, the Guru appointed him

NIRANKARIS, a sect of the Sikhs born of a reform movement which arose in northwest Punjab in the middle of the nineteenth century aiming to restore the purity of Sikh belief and custom. Its founder, Baba Dayal (1783-1855), was a contemporary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A man of humble

RADCLIFFE AWARD, under which the dividing line between the West (Pakistan) Punjab and the East (Indian) Punjab was drawn, is so called after the name of the Chairman of the Punjab Boundary Commission, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, an eminent British jurist especially invited to fix the boundaries between the newly created