MAHALA, traditionally pronounced mahalla, appears in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, as a special term to credit the authorship of the compositions of the Gurus recorded in it. Mahala here refers to the person of the Guru specified by a numeral following it which signifies his position in the

GANGA, MATA (d. 1621), consort of Guru Arjan (1563-1606), Nanak V, was the daughter of Bhai Krishan Chand of the village of Mau, 10 km west of Phillaur in the Punjab. The nuptial ceremonies took place at her village on 19 June 1589. She was the mother of Guru

MAN or mana, from Skt. manas (mind or psyche), is one of the major operational con cepts in Indian thought involved in the process of apprehending facts and reacting to situations and stimuli, as also the cause of bandh (bondage/attachment). `Mind` is the nearest English rendering of `man`, though

GIAN SINGH RAREVALA (1901-1979), administrator and politician, was born on 16 December 1901 at his mother`s village Bhari in Ludhiana district. His own ancestral village was Rara, also in Ludhiana district, where his father Ratan Singh was a bisveddr (fiefholder) of the former princely state of Patiala. Gian Singh

MARDANA, BHAI (1459-1534), Guru Nanak`s longtime Muslim companion throughout his extensive journeys across the country and abroad, was born the son of a Mirasi (a caste of hereditary minstrels and genealogists) couple, Badra and Lakkho, of Talvandi Rai Bhoe, now Nankana Sahib, in Shcikhupura district of Pakistan. Guru Nanak

GURMAT SANGIT or sacred music of the Sikhs. The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), composed his religious verse to settings of Indian ragas mostly from the classical tradition. Successive Gurus followed his example and considered divine worship through music the best means of attaining that state which

PANTH, from Sanskrit patha, pathin, or pantham, means literally a way, passage or path and, figuratively, away of life, religious creed or cult. In Sikh terminology, the word panth stands for the Sikh faith as well as for the Sikh people as a whole. It represents the invisible mystic body

GURU, a spiritual guide or preceptor. The term, long used in the Indian religious tradition, has a special connotation in the Sikh system. The Sikh faith itself signifies discipleship, the word sikh (sisya in Sanskrit and sissa or sekha in Pali) meaning pupil or learner. The concept of Guru,

SIKH COSMOLOGY. From the very beginning man has been curious to know about the structure and constitution of the Universe and its origin. To locate the stable base of this universe and to fix his own place in it have been the subjects of his constant search and speculation for

GANA The Ganas, Gandharvas, Siddhas and saints...are engaged in uttering the infinite Praises of the Unapproachable and Unfathomab\'" Lord. (Devgandhari M. 5, p. 535) The Ganas and Gandharvas were emancipated through the remembrance of the Name of the Lord..... (Malar M. 3, p. 1259) Ganas or Gana-Devatas are the

SLOKAS OF SHAIKH FARID. Baba Shaikh Farid GanjiShakar (1173-1264), the famous Sufi saint born in the Punjab, some of whose compositions are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, was a poet whose Punjabi verses form the first recorded poetry in the Punjabi language. Guru Nanak himself seems to have

HEMA, BHAI, a devout Sikh of Guru Tegh Bahadur, along with his brother (Nagahia) and father (Lakkhi Shah) and another person by the name of Naik, son of Kahna, brought the headless body of Guru Tegh Bahadur, after he was executed at Delhi`s Chandni Chowk under imperial orders, to