guru

THITI with the variation THITTIN, is a title shared by three different compositions, one each by Guru Nanak, Guru Arjan and Kabir, in the Guru Granth Sahib. According to traditional Indian calendar, thitt (Skt. tithi) denotes a day or a date of the lunar cycle of the month. In Brahmanical ritualism, certain lunar days acquired sanctity for being associated with some deity or incarnation of god or goddess and began to be observed as especially auspicious. The Thiti hymns discountenanced the notion of one day being more propitious than the others. All days, they reiterate, are auspicious if devoted to God`s remembrance and to good deeds.

TRUMPP S TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF THE GURU GRANTH SAHIB, first published in 1877 under the title The Adi Granth, was the earliest attempt at rendering the Scripture of the Sikhs into another language. The translator, Dr Ernest Trumpp (1828-85), an eminent linguist proficient in several languages, western as well as eastern, was born on 13 March 1828 at Ilsfeldt, a village in Wurtemberg province of Germany. In 1849, owing to political disturbances in his country, he migrated to London where he was employed as assistant librarian at the East India House, later known as India Office.

UGARU, BHAI, a native of Dalla, a village in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He was among those who waited upon the Guru when he visited Dalla and received initiation at his hands.

VAR, a verse form in Punjabi popular in folklore as well as in refined poetry. In the old bardic tradition of the Punjab, var meant the poem itself with its typical theme as also the form in which it was cast. The earliest vars were ballads of battles and dynastic feuds, of issues of honour fought at the point of the sword and of romantic love. The Gurus employed this form for spiritual themes. The var in Punjabi has since acquired a predominantly Sikh character, though the content subsequently changed from spiritual to heroic.

VISAKHA SINGH, SANT (1905-1968), holy preacher of the Sikh faith, was born at the village of Janetpura, in Ludhiana district, on 13 April 1903, the son of Karam Singh and Kahn Kaur, though most of his adult life was spent at Kishanpura, in Firozpur district. He had his early education at the village gurdwara where he learnt to read the Guru Granth Sahib and recite kirtan. The massacre of reformist Sikhs in the shrine at Nankana Sahib on 20 February 1921 proved a turning point in his life. He received the rites of Khalsa initiation at the Akal Takht at Amritsar and plunged into the Akali movement for the reform of Sikh shrines.

ADI SAKHIAN (adi = first; sakhian, plural of sakhi = anecdotes, stories, discourses, parables) is one of the early compilations but not the first of the extant janam sakhi traditions to evolve. The manuscript, dated 1758 Bk/ AD 1701, and copied by Shambhu Nath Brahman was first located by Dr Mohan Singh Diwana. While teaching at Panjab University, Lahore, prior to the partition of India in 1947, Mohan Singh Diwana discovered in the University`s library a janam sakhi manuscript which differed from other extant Janam sakhis and bore an earlier date. Dr Diwana believed it to be a version of the earliest of all janam sakhi traditions and bestowed on it the name Adi Sakhian.

AJIT SINGH, SAHIBZADA (1687-1705), the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh, was born to Mata Sundari at Paonta on 26 January 1687. The following year, Guru Gobind Singh returned with the family to Anandpur where Ajit Singh was brought up in the approved Sikh style. He was taught the religious texts, philosophy and history, and had training in the manly arts such as riding, swordsmanship and archery. He grew up lato a handsome young man, strong, intelligent and a natural leader of men. Soon after the creation of the Khalsa on 30 March 1699, he had his first test of skill.

ALMAST, BHAI (1553-1643), Sikh preacher and head of a dhuari or branch of the Udasi sect, was born in a Gaur Brahman family of Srinagar (Kashmir) on 26 August 1553. He was the son of Bhai Hardatt and Mai Prabha, and was the elder brother of Balu Hasna, another equally prominent preacher of the sect. Almast\'s original name was Alu; he came to be called Almast (lit. intoxicated, in a state of ecstasy, in different) because of his mystical proclivities and indifference towards worldly affairs. He was also called Kambalia or Godaria because he would normally be dressed only in a ragged blanket (kambal, in Punjabi) or godari, a light quilt or padded sheet.

ANAHATASABDA figures variously in the Guru Granth Sahib as anahadasabad, anahadatura, anahadajhunkara, anahadabain, anahatanada, anahadabani and anahadadhumand in the Dasam Granth as anahadabani and anahadabaja. The word anahata is from the Sanskrit language. It occurs in Pali and Prakrit texts as well. In the Sanskrit original, it implies unstruck; it stands for pure or immaculate in Pali and for eternal in the Prakrit. The suffix words like sabad or sabda, tura, jhunkara, bani and dhuni stand for word, rhythm, sound or speech. Thus, anahatasabda would mean the unstruck or pure or eternal sound. In a theistic system, anahatasabda would signify an eternal voice symbolizing the reality of God.

APOCRYPHAL COMPOSITIONS, known in Sikh vocabulary as kachchi bani (unripe, rejected texts) or vadhu bani (superfluous texts) are those writings, mostly in verse but prose not excluded,which have been attributed to the Gurus, but which were not incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib at the time of its compilation in 1603-04. Since the Sikh Scripture was compiled by one of the Gurus and the text as approved by him has come down to us intact, compositions not included therein must be reckoned as extratextual and spurious. Moreover, the contents of the Guru Granth Sahib have been so arranged and numbered as to leave absolutely no scope for any extraction or interpolation.