Nankayan (Life of Nanak) by Mohan Singh \'Mahir\' is commissioned work written at the behest of Punjabi University to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. Professor \'Mahir\' earned this distinction after he wrote Nankayan (Nankayan). He has yet another distinction of ushering in what has come to be

SITA The ten-headed Ravana has tåken away Sita, therefore Rama grieves..... (Shalok Våran te Vadhik, M. l, p. 1412) The false Gurus sing about the episode of Rama and Sita. (Var Asa M. l, p. 465) Rama had lost his wife and had to wage a war with Ravana.

DHALEO, locally called Dhalevari, village 6 km southeast of Bhikhi (30° 3`N, 75° 33`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur who arrived here travelling from Bhikhi during his sojourn in the Malva region. It is said that as Guru Tegh Bahadur was riding towards

PAHAFUE,, usually pronounced pahire, is the title shared by four of the Sikh hymns two by Guru Nanak and one each by Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjanrecorded consecutively in the Siri Rag portion of the Guru Granth Sahib. The term pahareis the plural of pahard, meaning a guard

SHIVA Shiva, the sage, remains absorbed within himself, but he is full of wrath and ire. (Wadhans M. 3, p. 559) Shiva, the Yogi, though tired of smearing his body, could not know Thy end, O Lord! (Suhi M. 5, p. 747) Shiva does not know the secret of

BHURIA, BHAI, a resident of Chunian now in Pakistan, was a pious Sikh contemporary of Guru Arjan (1563-1606). As the Guru was once touring the Nakka country, southwest of Lahore, succouring people then living through a severe famine, he according to Giani Gian Singh, Twarikh Guru Khalsa, came to

DHARAMSALA or dharamsala from Sanskrit dharmasala, lit. court of justice, tribunal, charitable asylum, religious asylum, stands in Punjabi for a place of worship or the village hospice. Dharamsala as a Sikh institution is the precursor of gurdwara (q.v.). According to janam sakhis, accounts of the life of Guru Nanak (1469-1539).

KAMAL, also wrinen as kanvalm Punjabi, is a flower, lotus, bearing the richest symbolic and philosophical significance in Indian lore. Its use in Indian romantic and spiritual literature goes back to ancient times. It carries, in Sanskrit, a multiplicity of names such as saroj, jalaj, vdrij, mraj (grown in

PANJOKHARA,   a village about 10 km from Ambala city (30° 23`N, 76° 47`E), is sacred to Guru Har Krishan. Gurdwara Sri Guru Har Krishan Sahib Ji, about 150 metres east of the village and commonly called Gurdwara Parijokhara Sahib, commemorates his stay here in early 1664. Summoned by Emperor Aurarigzib,

TALVARA, locally known as RampurTalvara because of its close proximity to a village called Rampur, lies near Sri Hargobindpur (31041`N, 75029`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. It claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Damdama Sahib, dedicated to Guru Hargobind, who is said to have preached here after the batttle

BIR, a term used for a recension or copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, is derived from Skt. verb vid meaning "to make strong or firm, strengthen, fasten, or to be strong, firm or hard." The Punjabi verb birana which means "to fix, bind or fasten (something) firmly, or to

Aris Daya Singh (1894 - 1946) was popular writer of devotional and didactic verses. He belonged to a backard rural family of farm labourers called Mazhabi Sikhs. Having been thrased by his poor father, Santa Singh, because of his pursuit of learning, left home and started living as a