AMAVAS (AMAVASYA), massia in Punjabi, lit. a combination of ama, i.e. together, and vasya, i.e. stationing, signifying coming of the sun and the moon together in one line, is the last day of the dark half of the lunar month when the moon remains entirely hidden from our view. The

APOCRYPHAL COMPOSITIONS, known in Sikh vocabulary as kachchi bani (unripe, rejected texts) or vadhu bani (superfluous texts) are those writings, mostly in verse but prose not excluded,which have been attributed to the Gurus, but which were not incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib at the time of its compilation in

ARJAN DEV, GURU (1563-1606), fifth in the line of ten Gurus or prophet teachers of the Sikh faith, was born on Baisakh vadi 7, 1620 Bk/15 April 1563 at Goindval, in present day Amritsar district, to Bhai Jetha who later occupied the seat of Guruship as Guru Ram Das, fourth

ARIF, KISHAN SINGH Arif, Kishan Singh(1836 - 1904) was a popular Punjabi poet. His father Narain Singh was a publisher and bookseller in Bazar Mai Sewan, Amritsar. He began studying books and Kissas at an early age. After the death of his father, he adopted the same profession. From

BHAGAT (BHAKTA) BANI The Sikh Holy Book, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, comprises writings coming from two sources the sayings of the Gurus and those of the Bhagats (Bhaktas). The term Bhagat here broadly covers, besides some of the saints of medieval India whose compositions occur in the Guru Granth

CHARAN SINGH, DR (1853-1908), poet and musicologist, was born at Amritsar in 1853 (father: Kahn Singh ; mother Rup Kaur) and was seventh in descent from Diwan Kaura Mail, an influential eighteenth century Sahajdhari Sikh. Kahn Singh (1788-1878) who was of a retiring disposition had spent some years in the

Guru Nanak (1469-1539) represents the highest point of Punjabi literature, it has reached so far. Not because he is the first preceptor of the; religion of the Sikhs who are to this day staunch champions of Punjabi literature, the excellence in its own right, though it is available to us

KABITTSAVAIYYE, by Bhai Gurdas who had worked with Guru Arjan on the preparation of the original volume of Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, and who is remembered in the Sikh tradition as the first consistent interpreter of the Gurus` word, is a collection of 675 kabitts and savaiyyds

KHUSHAL CHAND, RAJA, or Khushal Rai (d. 1752), an official under the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (1719-48) and a writer and poet of some merit, described himself as a NanakpanthI, i.e. a follower of Guru Nanak, his father Jivan Ram, and grandfather, Anand Ram Kayastha, had also served in the

KUCHAJI, lit. an awkward, illmannered woman, is the title of one of Guru Nanak`s compositions, in measure Suhi in the Guru Granth Sahib. Antithetically it is followed by another of his compositions called Suchaji (lit. a woman of good manner and accomplishment). KuchaJi verses are said to have been

PRAN SANGLI, lit. the chain of breath or vital air, is a collection of compositions, attributed to Guru Nanak but in reality apocryphal, dealing with yogic practices, particularly prdndydma or control of vital air. The original Prdn Sangli, was, in all probability, a small composition, though the now available recension,

VAR BHERE Kl PATSHAHl 10 is an anonymous poem in Punjabi describing the battle of Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh`s engagement with the pursuing host after he had evacuated Anandpur, and finally die battle of Chamkaur. The view has been expressed that dlis Varis the original version of another poem entitled