guru

NIHANGS or Nihang Singhs, originally known as Akalis or Akah Niharigs, are endearingly designated the Guru`s Knights or the Guru`s beloved, for the military ambience they still carry about them and the heroic style they continue to cultivate. They constitute a distinctive order among the Sikhs and are readily recognized by their dark blue loose apparel and their ample, peaked turbans festooned with quoits, insignia of the Khalsa and rosaries, all made of steel. They are always armed, and are usually seen mounted heavily laden with weapons such as swords, daggers, spears, rifles, shotguns and pistols.

Nandram, one of the poets who kept Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) company, was the son of a well-known Sufi poet, Vali Ram. He had been in the service of Dara Shukoh, who, having lost the struggle for succession to his father\'s throne, was executed by his brother, Emperor Aurangzib, in 1659. When he came under the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh is not known. Two of his poems, Nand Pachisi and Karkha Guru Gobind Singh Ka, both in Gurmukhl script, have survived. The former describing Kaliyuga, the on temporary Age of Darkness, was written in 1687 and the latter an ode on the life of Guru Gobind Singh, sometime after the battle of Chamkaur (1705).

PAIRA, BHAI (d. 1634), a Chandalia Banjara, took initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. Bhai Paira served with diligence and devotion at the time of the digging of the sacred pool at Amritsar. He was one of the five Sikhs who accompanied Guru Arjan during his last journey to Lahore. According to Gurbilds Chhevin Pdtshdhi, he displayed soldierly skills in the time of Guru Hargobind and had command of 100 horsemen. Bhai Paira was in Guru Hargobind`s train when he visited Kashmir in 1620. He fell fighting in the battle of Amritsar fought, according to the Bhatt Vahis, in 1634.

PANTH, from Sanskrit patha, pathin, or pantham, means literally a way, passage or path and, figuratively, away of life, religious creed or cult. In Sikh terminology, the word panth stands for the Sikh faith as well as for the Sikh people as a whole. It represents the invisible mystic body comprising all those who profess Sikhism as their faith and encompassing lesser bodies, religious as well as political, claiming to represent the whole of the Sikh population or any section of it.

PATNA (25° 37`N, 85°10`E), ancient Pataliputra, now capital of Bihar state, is one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for Sikhs. It is the birthplace of their Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, and one of their seats of high religious authority. For this reason it is designated a takht, i.e. throne. It is called Patna Sahib, with sahib suffixed to the name as a title of dignity and honour. The old Patna city railway station has now been officially renamed Patna Sahib. Several historical shrines are located in the city.

PHIRNA, BHAI, a KhahiraJatt, named, along with Bhai Jodh, among Guru Nanak`s Sikhs in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. Both Bhai Phirna and Bhai Jodh had received instruction at the hands of Guru Nanak. Together they had presented themselves before the Guru and prayed that they be endowed with faith. The Guru said, "Ye should learn humility to achieve truth. Serve with thy hands brother Sikhs as best ye can. Be an early riser, wash and sit in remembrance of God.

PREM SUMARAG, lit. the true way to love (/w?w=love; 5M=good or true; warag^path) is an anonymous work in old Punjabi evoking a model of Sikh way of life and of Sikh society. Written probably in the eighteenth century, it is a kind of rahitndmd attempting to prescribe norms of behaviour, religious as well as social, private as well as public, for members of the Khalsa Panth. It also provides a comprehensive model of Sikh polity with details concerning civil and military administration.

PEHLI PATSHAHI GURUDWARA, LAHORE : This historical place is situated just inside Delhi Darwaza near old Kotwali Chowk in Sirianwala Bazaar (Lahore). All the gates of the city lead to this historic place. In 1510 A.D. (1567 B.K.), Guru Nanak, while redeeming the world from sins, reached the house of Duni Chand, an ardent follower of the Guru. The severed heads of goats were sold near Bhai Duni Chand\'s house. That is why this is known as Sirianwala Bazaar. The day Guru Nanak reached there, Duni Chand was performing Shradha of his father.

RAHRASI is the name given to the main evening prayer of the Sikhs. The word itself implies supplication, though some traditionalist scholars have interpreted it as rahirdst which, in Persian, means the straight path, the path of faith and devotion as against that. of mere ritual practices or yogic austerities. The title `Rahrasi` however does not occur anywhere in the Guru Granth Sahib itself, nor is the text, as it is recited today, recorded as a single whole. 

RAM KUNVAR, BHAI (1672-1761), also referred to as Ram Kaur in some Sikh chronicles, was a prominent Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh`s time. He was a direct descendant of Baba Buddha, blessed by Guru Nanak himself. He was only three years old when his father, Bhai Gurditta, died in Delhi in 1675, following the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur. In conformity with the long established custom, he as the scion of Baba Buddha`s celebrated house, put the saffron mark on the forehead of the nine year old Gobind Rai anointing him Guru.