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

PHIRNA, BHAI, a Bahil Khatii, was a pious Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He once waited upon the Guru to receive his blessing. The Guru, as says Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth, instructed him always to remember God and repeat Vahiguru, the name revealed

RAM DATT, a Brahman resident of Kurukshetra, who became a devotee of Guru Gobind Singh during the latter\'s visit to the town on the occasion of the solar eclipse in 1702. According to tradition preserved in Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Crur Praldp Suraj Granth, while other Brahmans sought alms

SADDHU, BHAI, resident of Lahore, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, the Guru was putting up with him at his residence in Lahore when Chandu Shah, who had had a hand in the martyrdom of

SALOP SAHASKRITI, title of a composition comprising seventy-one verses incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib. The term `Sahaskriti` denotes the language form, a mixture of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, in which these slokas have been written. `Gatha` is another word used for `Sahaskriti`. Of the seventy-one verses collected under

SHABAD (Sanskrit sabda, of obscure etymology) is generally rendered as sound, voice or tone. Another series of meanings includes word, utterance, speech. In distinctive Sikli usage shabad means a hymn or sacred work from the Guru Granth Sahib. In the theological sense, it stands for the `Word` revealed by

SUNDAR DAS, BHAI, a Vadhavan Khatri of Burhanpur, is mentioned in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 30. A very pious and devoted person, he was among a batch of Sikh devotees who travelled from Burhanpur to Amritsar to see Guru Hargobind and receive instruction from him.

TILOK SINGH, (d. 1710), Tiloka or Tilok Chand before receiving the Sikh initiatory rites, was an ancestor of the Phulkian families of Nabha and Jind, Badrukkhan and Dialpura. He was the eldest son of Chaudhari Phul. His wife, Bakhto, bore him two sons, Gurdit Singh and Sukhchain Singh. From

VAR MALAR Kl MAHALLA I, composition of the first Guru (i.e. Guru Nanak), is one of the twenty-two vars appearing in the Guru Grandi Sahib under different ragas. A var is a folk poem of war and chivalry, celebrating a hero and his gallantry. In the Guru Granth Sahib

AMIR SINGH, GIANI (1870-1954), a widely revered Sikh school man, was born in 1870 at the village of Dargahi Shah in Jhang district, now in Pakistan. His parents, Prem Singh and Thakari Devi, a religious minded couple of modest means, admitted him at the age of 15 to Mahant

AMRIT VELA: Amrit Vela means hour before the dawn of the day. In Sikhism, there is no concept of auspicious hour or moment . A Sikh, however, is supposed to get up before the dawn of the day and have shower before his daily worship and prayer. It does

BASANT, a musical measure used in the Guru Granth Sahib. It is a raga of the season of Basant (Skt. vasant) or spring, and during that season can be sung any time of day or night. Otherwise, it is reserved for the night between 9 p.m. and midnight. It