SARANG Kl VAR, in the Guru Granth Sahib, is of the composition of Guru Ram Das. It is set to be sung in Sarang raga and hence the tide Sarang ki Var. Nine of the 22 vars included in the Guru Granth Sahib are composed in the musical mode of some of the current folk vars of those days, and Guru Arjan who compiled the Holy Book, recorded instructions as to the tune in which a particular varwas to be recited. Sarang ki Var is composed to the tune of the secular var of Rai Mahima and Hasna, which depicts the rivalry and combat of these two feudal chiefs. It consists of 36 pauns, 35 by Guru Ram Das and one 35th by Guru Arjan.
SAU SAKHI (lit. a book of one hundred anecdotes) is the popular name of Gur Ratan Mal (lit. a string of the Guru`s gems), a work esoteric and prophetic in nature : also problematic as regards the authenticity of its text. Its writer, one Sahib Singh, describes himself only as a scribe who wrote to the dictation of Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh, better known as Bhai Ram Kunvar (1672-1761) and a knowledgeable and honoured member of the retinue of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). The book is meant to be a narrative pertaining to the life of Guru Gobind Singh, supposedly based on the personal knowledge of Bhai Ram Kunvar, although later interpolations and corruption of the text are clearly decipherable.
SHER MUHAMMAD KHAN, NAWAB (d. 1710), an Afghan feudatory of the Mughals, was the chief of Malerkotia and held a high military position in the sarkar or division of Sirhind. He had participated in the batde of Chamkaur and was present in the court at Sirhind when Nawab Wazir Khan, the faujdar, pronounced death for Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh, the younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh, who were 9 and 7 years of age, respectively. Sher Muhammad Khan pleaded against the death sentence on the ground that the boys were too young to be given such a harsh penalty and could not in any case be held responsible for the actions of their father. Wazir Khan, however, overruled the objection and the Sahibzadas were brutally executed.
SIKH. The word sikh goes back to Sanskrit sisya, meaning a learner or disciple. In Pali, sisya became sissa. The Pali word sekha (also sekkha) means a pupil or one under training in a religious doctrine (sikkha, siksa). The Punjabi form of the word was sikh. The term Sikh in the Punjab and elsewhere came to be used for the disciples of Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and his nine spiritual successors.
SIROPA, a term adopted from Persian saropa (head and foot) or sarapa (head to foot) meaning an honorary dress, is used in Sikh vocabulary for a garment, scarf or a length of cloth bestowed on someone as a mark of honour. It is the equivalent of khill`at or robe of honour with the difference that while a khill`at is awarded by a political superior and comprises a whole set of garments with or without arms, a siropa is bestowed by a religious or social figure or institution and may comprise a whole dress or, as is usually the case, a single garment or a length of cloth as a mark of recognition of piety or as an acknowledgement of unswerving devotion to a moral or philanthropic purpose.
SRI GURU DASAM PANCHASIKA, by Sahib Singh Mrigind (c. 18041876), is a long panegyric in Braj verse in...
SUKKHU, sadhu of the Divana (lit. madmen) sect, was incited by his mentor, Ghudda, to attack Guru Gobind Singh to avenge the death of one of his followers at the hands of a Sikh. The deceased had been mortally wounded while attempting to force his entry into Guru Gobind Singh`s tent near Maluka village, in present day Faridkot district, where the Guru was then camping. Now, while Guru Gobind Singh was staying at Bajak, in Bathinda district, Ghudda collected 50 Divana sadhus to attack him, but all but two of them, Sukkhu and Buddhu, deserted him on the way.
SURI, BHAI, a village headman, received initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. Once, as he was on a visit to Amritsar, the Guru impressed upon him the sanctity and significance of the holy place for the Sikhs. His name appears in the list of Guru Arjan`s Sikhs in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 23.
TAKHT MALL, a masand or preacher and the collector in the Nakka region (western part of Lahore district) during the time of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), was so scared when he heard of the Guru sending for some masands and punishing those found guilty of misappropriation of sangat`s offerings that he went to the Guru`s mother and importuned her to intercede with the Guru on his behalf. Guru Gobind Singh finding him repentant and remorseful pardoned him.
TARN TARAN (31°27`N, 74°56`E), important centre of Sikh pilgrimage 24 km south of Amritsar, was founded by Guru Arjan in 1596. Six years earlier, on 13 April 1590, he had inaugurated the conversion of a natural pond lying along the DelhiLahore highway into a quadrangular tank. Digging operations on full scale commenced on the last day of the dark half of the month, Bhadon, falling on 19 August 1590. With the completion of digging, on Chet vaA`Amavas 1653 Bk/19 March 1596, began the construction of the main shrine, the Darbar Sahib, and ancillary buildings.
