PAHUL or amrit sanskdr, the name given in the Sikh tradition to the ceremony of initiation. The word pdhulor pahulis a derivative from a substantive, pahumeaning an agent which brightens, accelerates or sharpens the potentialities of a given object. In the history of the Sikh faith, the initiation ceremony has

RAHITNAME, plural of rahitndmd (rahit = conduct, stipulated conduct or way of life: name = letters, writings, manuals) is a term used in Punjabi in reference to a genre of writings specifying approved way of life for a Sikh. These writings, enunciating conduct and behaviour in accordance with the principles

SAID BEG (d. 1703), a Mughal general, in company with another general, Alif Khan, was marching at the head of an army on his way from Lahore to Delhi when the Rajput hill rulers led by Raja Ajmer Chand of Bilaspur persuaded him to join them in an attack

SIRSA, pronounced Sarsa (29"33`N, 75°04 E), in Haryana, once famous as a seat of Muslim Sufis and anchorites has two historical Sikh shrines : GURDWARA CHILHA SAHIB PATSHAHI 1. Guru Nanak once visited Sirsa and held discourse with the holy men, stressing the futility of withdrawal from the world

THAKAR SINGH, GIANI (1838-1943). learned in Sikh sacred texts which he expounded with exceptional virtuosity, was born on 10 November 1838 at the village of`Jandiala in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab, the son of Bhai Mahan Singh, a soldier in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army. Mahan Singh was a follower

WAJAB UL-ARZ, lit. a properly petition, is a section of Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, also known as Gursikkhan di Bhagatmal, a manuscript in Punjabi, Gurmukhi script, attributed to Bhai Mani Singh (d. 1737) the martyr, who had received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh himself.

AMRIK SINGH, a Jambar Jatt of Maghiana in Lahore district, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh. Bhai Santokh Singh, 5n GurPratap Suraj Granth, lists him among those who received baptismal rites on the day the Khalsawas initiated (30 March 1699). Amrik Singh, according to

BANSAVALINAMA DASAN PATSHAHIAN KA is a poeticized account of the lives of the Gurus by Kesar Singh Chhibbar. The term bansavalinama means a genealogy. Another term used in the text is "kursinama" which is Persian for "genealogy." But, strictly speaking, this work is not a genealogical table. It is

BHIKHAN SHAH OR SHAH BHIKH, PIR, a seventeenth century Sufi saint, was born the son of Sayyid Muhammad Yusaf of Siana Sayyidari, a village 5 km from Pehova, now in Kurukshetra district of Haryana. For a time, he lived at Ghuram in present day Patiala district of the Punjab and

CHANDI CHARITRA, title of two compositions by Guru Gobind Singh in his Dasam Granth, the Book of the Tenth Master, describing in Braj verse the exploits of goddess Chandi or Durga. One of these compositions is known as Chandi Charitra Ukti Bilas whereas the second has no qualifying extension

DHIAN SINGH (d. 1705), a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh. He was one of the warriors who took part in the battle against Said Khan. He fell a martyr in the battle of Chamkaur (7 December 1705). M.G.S. DHIAN SINGH, resident of the village of

GANJ NAMAH (Treasure Book), by Bhai Nand Lal Goya, is a panegyric in Persian, partly verse and partly prose, in honour of the Ten Gurus. Bhai Nand Lal was a revered Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh and a distinguished poet. The Ganj Namah renders homage to the