NIHAL SINGH THAKUR (1808-1895), Sikh theologian and musician, was born at Amritsar on 7 Phagun 1864 Bk/17 February 1808 to Bhai Mahal Singh and Mata Basi. Bhai Mahal Singh lived in the village of Sayyid ki Sarai in Gujjarkhan tahsil of Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan, and had come to

CHAUNKI or Chauki, lit. quarter, a four footed wooden platform upon which sat the holy choir to recite the sacred hymns in a gurdwara or at a gathering of the devotees. The term chaunki also refers to a session of kirtan or hymn singing, the number of singers at such

DIVALI, festival of lights (from Sanskrit dipamala or dipavali meaning row of lamps or nocturnal illumination), is observed all over India on amavasya, the last day of the dark half of the lunar month of Kartika (October-November). Like other seasonal festivals, Divali has been celebrated since time immemorial. In its

HIRA SINGH RAGI, BHAI (1879-1926), eminent exponent of Sikh devotional music, was born in 1879 at Faruka, in Shahpur district, now in Pakistan. His father`s name was Bhai Bhag Singh and mother`s Satbharai. Bhag Singh was well versed in classical music and played string instruments such as sdraizgi and

KHUSHAL SINGH, BHAI (1862-1945), holy man with mastery of Sikh music, was the son of Bhai Gurmukh Singh, a Jatt Sikh of Daudhar, a village 22 km southeast of Moga (30°48`N, 75°10`E), in Faridkot district of the Punjab. Blind from birth, Khushal Singh received instruction in

KIRTAN (from Skt. kirii, i.e. to praise, celebrate or glorify), a commonly accepted mode of rendering devotion to God by singing His praises, is a necessary part of Sikh worship. Music plays a significant role in most religious traditions. In Sikhism it is valued as the highest form of expression

PHUMMAN SINGH, BHAI, famous as a ragi or musician reciting Sikh hymns, was born in a Jatt Sikh family of Daudhar in present day Moga district of the Punjab in the sixties of the nineteenth century. He learnt to read Scripture and recite kirtan at the Dera or seminary established

RARA, village 16 km from Doraha (30° 48`N, 76° 2`E) in Ludhiana district, is sacred to Guru Hargobind. According to local tradition, the Guru, when out for the chase during his stay at Ghurani in 1631, would sometimes halt for rest under a banyan tree here. The tree withered

SAMUND SINGH, BHAI (1901-1972), a leading Sikh musicologist of the twentieth century, trained in music under leading maestros of the art, Sikhs as well as Muslims, was born on 3 March 1901, at the village of Mulla Hamza, in Montgomery district, now in Pakistan. He started his training so young

SOHILA or KIRTAN SOHILA is, in sequence, the fourth barn or composition entered in the Guru Granth Sahib. Sohila is the caption given in the scripture, though it is popularly known as Kntan Sohila, and is also sometimes so captioned in the gutkas or breviaries. The Sohila comprises five

TAPA, a small market town 19 km southwest of Barnala (30022`N, 75032`E) in Sangrur district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Tibba Sahib Patshahi IX, dedicated to Guru Tegh Bahadur. The old building constructed by Maharaja Karam Singh (1798-1845) of Patiala has since been replaced by a more