OANKARU is a composition of Guru Nanak`s in the measure Ramkali in the Guru Granth Sahib. The full title of the barn is Rdmkali Mahala 1 Dakhani Oankaru. The title is explained differently by different scholars. According to one tradition, dakham is the adjective for the noun Oarikaru which

GOSHTI, from Sanskrit gostha (go = cow + stha = place, i.e. cowpen) means, secondarily, an assembly of people engaged in a discourse or debate on some metaphysical, theological or ethical point, thereby seeking to expound their respective views or tenets and revealing in the process their dialectical prowess

PARCHI (plural parchtdn), Punjabized form of the Sanskrit noun parichaya which means introduction, evidence or an anecdote bearing witness to the miraculous powers of a prophet or seer. The term was applied to the form of Punjabi writing developed in the seventeenth century to present the life stories of the

PAURIAN GURU GOBIND SINGH KIAN is a poetic composition in Punjabi, in praise of Guru Gobind Singh, with a brief description of the battle of Bharigani (1688). Pauri is the name given to each stanza of a vdr (ballad), paundn being the plural form. The text totally consists of

HIRANYAKSHA (pronounced as Harnakhash) (Killed by boar incarnation of Vishnu. He may not be mistaken as father of Prahlada). Which ones were not ferried across by the remembrance of the Lord? Those of the flying birds like Hansa Avstår, those of the fish form like fish incarnation, those of

JAITSAIILMAHALA 5 VARSLOKANNALI, by GuruArjan, is one of the twenty-two Vdrs, i.e. compositions in this folk form but moulded to a spiritual theme, included in the Guru Granth Sahib. It has been named Jaitsari because of the musical measure it belongs to. While the philosophical standpoint in the entire

RAMDAS, BAVA, a nineteenth century Punjabi poet, was born at the village of Harganari, in Fatehgarh Sahib district of the Punjab. He belonged to the Divana sect, a mendicant order established during the seventeenth century by Haria and Bala, two Jatt disciples of Sodhi Miharban, the son of Guru

JANAM SAKHI, i.e. life story, is the term used to designate traditional narratives of the life of Guru Nanak. Although the compound is occasionally applied to narratives concerning later Gurus or other religious teachers too, it is normally confined to those which relate in anecdotal prose the life and

SANSRAM, son of Baba Mohan and a grandson of Guru Amar Das. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, he lost his mother in infancy. His father being indifferent to worldly affairs, Guru Amar Das took him under his care. Sarisram grew up to be a gifted young man.