AMRITDHARI (amrit, lit. nectar, commonly Sikh sanctified initiatory water + dhan= practitioner) is one who has received baptismal vows of the Khalsa initiated by Guru Gobind Singh (30 March 1699) and abides by them and by the panj kakari rahit, distinctive insignia introduced by the Guru on that day

FIVE SYMBOLS, a set of five distinctive features or elements of personal appearance or apparel that set off Sikhs from the followers of any other religious faith. Any study of religious symbols involves a dual task: first, to explain the meaning of symbols not only in terms of their

KESADHARI, a term defining a Sikli as one who carries on his head ihc full growth of his kes (hair) whicli he never trims or cuts for any reason. Anyone, Sikh or non Sikh, may keep the hair unshorn, but for a Sikh kes, unshorn hair, is an article

NAUNIDH, Bhandari Khatri of Agra, waited upon Guru Gobind Singh during his visit to the city in AD 1707. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth, he enquired about the reason for prescribing unshorn hair for the Sikhs. The Guru explained that keeping long hair was no

PRARTHANATITADAN, poem in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore on the Sikh martyr Bhai Taru Singh. Written on 2 Agrahayan, 1306 BS/1819 November 1899 and included in Kathd, a collection of Tagore`s poems published in October-November 1899, the poem refers to Bhai Taru Singh`s arrest along with some other Sikhs "who had

TURBAN, derived from the ancient Persian word dulband through the Turkish tarbush, is a long scarf wrapped around the head. It is a common headdress for men in Middle Eastern and South Asian countries. As a form of headdress, it is of Semitic origin and was an essential part