PATH, from the Sanskrit pdtha which means reading or recitation, is, in the religious context, reading or recitation of the holy texts. In Sikhism, it implies daily repetition of scriptural texts from the Guru Granth Sahib. Reading of certain bdnis is part of a Sikh`s nitnem or daily religious regimen. Path of these prescribed texts is performed from a handy collection, called gutkd (missal or breviary) or from memory.
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, edited by Sant Sampuran Singh and published in 1898 in the Devanagri script, in three volumes by Bhai Mohan Singh Vaid, Tarn Taran, runs into more than 700 pages and contains as many as 80 chapter which, with the exception of the first few, are not closely related or coordinated.Each of these chapters is presented as an exposition by Guru Nanak of a question raised by Raja Shivnabh of Sarigladip (Sri Lanka) where Prdn Sangli is said to have been composed.
RAGMAIA, lit. a rosary of ragas or musical measures, is the title of a composition of twelve verses, running into sixty lines, appended to the Guru Granth Sahib after the Munddvam, i.e. the epilogue, as a table or index of ragas. In the course of the evolution of Indian music, many systems came into effect, prominent among them being the Saiva Mata, said to have been imparted by Lord Siva, who is accepted as the innovator of music; the Kalinatha Mata, also called the Krsna Mata, which has its predominance in Braj and Punjab and is said to have been introduced by Kalinatha, a revered dehdrya of music; the Bharata Mata which has its vogue in Western India and was propounded by Bharata Muni; the Hanumana Mata; the Siddha Sarsut Mata; and the Ragaranava Mata.
RALIA, village 14 km north of Mansa (29° 59`N, 75° 23`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited it during his travels across southeastern Punjab. The shrine established to commemorate the visit was for along time controlled by anchorites of the Nath cult. It was only after 1947 that the local Sikh sangat assumed possession and converted it into a gurudwara named Gurdwara Sahib Patshahi IX. The present building, completed on 7 September 1953, consists of a flat roofed hall, with a verandah on three sides and a few ancillary rooms across a brickpaved compound. The shrine is administered by a local committee under the auspices of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
RISALAINANAK SHAH, a Persian manuscript by Buddh Singh Arora of Lahore, who was employed in the court of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II (1759-1806) at Delhi, written in 1783 in collaboration with Lala Ajaib Singh Suri of Malerkotla. The work deals with the history of the Sikhs from the time of Guru Nanak up to the establishment of Sikh rule in Punjab under the Sardars, and was written, as the author himself tells us, at the request of James Browne, British agent in Delhi who translated it into English and published it under the title History of the Origin and Progress of the Sicks (sic).
