CHAMKAUR SAHIB (30° 53\'N, 76° 25\'E) in Ropar district of the Punjab was the scene of two engagements which took place here between Guru Gobind Singh and the imperial troops in the opening years of the eighteenth century. There exist six shrines in the town commemorating the events of

DHARAM SINGH, BHAI (1666-1708), one of the Pan] Piare or the Five Beloved, the forerunners of Khalsa, came of farming stock. He was the son of Bhai Sant Ram and Mai Sabho, of Hastinapur, an ancient town on the right bank of the Ganges, 35 km northeast of Meerut

GANGA RAM was one of the five sons of Bhai Sadhu and Bibi Viro, the daughter of Guru Hargobind, who formed part of Guru Gobind Singh`s retinue at Paonta, in present day Himachal Pradesh, when he was attacked by a combined force of some of the hill chiefs headed

GURMAT SUDHAKAR (lit. Sikh principles explained and illustrated : Sudhdkar= the moon, i.e. the illuminator) is an anthology by Bhai Kahn Singh, of Nabha, of excerpts from old Sikh historical texts and manuals of stipulated conduct. The work, first published in 1899, is divided into sixteen chapters. The opening chapter

HUKAMNAMA, a compound of two Persian words hukm, meaning command or order, and ndmah, meaning letter, refers in the Sikh tradition to letters sent by the Gurus to their Sikhs or sangats in different parts of the country. Currently, the word applies to edicts issued from time to time from

JOTI BIGAS is the joint title of two poetic compositions, one in Persian and the other in Punjabi, by Bhai Nand Lal Goya, a devoted Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh, much revered in Sikh piety and in letters. Bhai Nand Lal`s verse is classed as approved Sikh canon and can

KHALSA, from Arabic khalis (lit. pure, unsullied) and Perso Arabic khalisah (lit. pure; office of revenue department; lands directly under government management), is used collectively for the community of baptized Sikhs. The term khalisah was used during the Muslim rule in India for crown lands administered directly by the

LANGAR SINGH, BABA, an eighteenth century Nirmala saint, was the son of Bhai Parshada Sihgh and Mai Valtohl, a devout Sikh couple contemporary with Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) and living at Kot Kapura (30"35`N. 74°49`E) now in Faridkot district of the Punjab. The names Prasada (lit. bread or meal),

NADAUN, BATTLE OF, fought on 20 March 1691 between an imperial expeditionary force aided by Raja Kirpal Chand of Kangra and Raja Dyal of Bijharval in the Sivalik hills on the one hand and several other neighbouring chieftains who enjoyed the support of Guru Gobind Singh on the other. The

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