CHUHAR, BHAI, a Chaujhar Khatri of Lucknow, once travelled to Amritsar to see Guru Hargobind (1595-1644). He, according to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat MaJa, one day implored the Guru: "Pray, instruct me, Lord, in what constitutes the root of the Sikh faith." "Humility is its root," spoke

LAVAN is the title traditionally given a short fourslan/a composition by Guru Ram Das included under rdga Suhi (p. 773) in the Guru Granth Sahib. The word Idvdn, in the Indian tradition, also stands for the marriage ceremony: in Hindu society the couple reverentially circumambulates the holy fire to

SAN GAT, Punjabi form of the Sanskrit term sarigti, means company, fellowship, association. In Sikh vocabulary, the word has a special connotation. It stands for the body of men and women met religiously, especially in (lie presence of the Guru Granth Sahib. Two other expressions carrying the same connotation

AKHAND PATH (akhand = uninterrupted, without break; path = reading) is nonstop, continuous recital of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end. Such a recital must be completed within 48 hours. The entire Holy Volume, 1430 large pages, is read through in a continuous ceremony. This reading must

DAN (Skt. dana from the root da `to give`) means the act of giving or that which is given either as charity or alms or as offering, fee or reward for spiritual instruction received or for religious rite or ritual performed. The latter, however, is more appropriately called daksina.

MAIA, BHAI, a Lamb Khatri of Suhand, identified as Sirhind by Bhai Kahn Singh, Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh, was a devotee of Guru Hargobind. He regularly participated in the sangat and sang the holy hymns. According to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, he once asked the Guru,

SAN GRAND, sankranti in Sanskrit, is the first day of each month of the Indian solar calendar, based on the shifting of the sun from one house (rasi) to another. From quite early in human history, the sun, and its satellites, the planets, came to be regarded as objects endowed

ARDAS, supplication and recollection, is the ritual prayer which Sikhs, individually or in congregation, recite morning and evening and in fact whenever they perform a religious service and at the beginning and conclusion of family, public or religious functions. The word ardas seems to have been derived from Persian

DARBAR, a Perisan word meaning "a house, dwelling; court, area; court or levee of a prince; audience chamber," is commonly used in Punjabi to signify a royal, princely or any high ranking officer`s court (as distinguished from courts of justice) where dignitaries granted audience to the common people, listened to

MAKKHAN SHAH, son of Naik Dase Shah, was a wealthy trader of the Lubana clan. He hailed from the village of Tanda, in present day Muzaffarabad district of Jammu and Kashmir. He was a devout Sikh and had received Guru Har Rai in his home during the latter\'s visit

SANTA SINGH, BHAI (1886-1921), one of the martyrs of Nankana Sahib, came of a poor barber family of Fatehgarh Sukkarchakkian, a village near Amritsar. His father Bhai Mohra however had become through thrift and hard work a small shopkeeper and moneylender. Santa Singh learnt Gurmukhi from the village granthi, Bhai