PANGAT, from Sanskrit pankti (lit. a row, line, series, or a group, assembly, company), stands in Sikh terminology for commensality or sitting together on the ground in a row to partake of food from a common kitchen regardless of caste, creed, sex, age or social status. Pangat is thus a

RANI MAJRA, a village in Patiala district, 16 km northeast of Ambala city (30°23`N, 76° 47`E), claims a historical shrine dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh who, according to local tradition, came here as a child from Lakhnaur. A simple platform, constructed where the Guru had halted about 200 metres

BAZIDPUR, village 7 km southeast of Firozpur Cantonment (31° 55`N, 74° 36`E) along the FirozpurLudhiana highway, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), who passed through here in 1706 after the battle of Muktsar. Gurdwara Gurusar, formerly known as Tittarsar after a legendary partridge (tittar, in Punjabi), marks the

BHANDARA from bhandar (Skt. bhandara = bhanda, vessel, implement, + agara, house, meaning storehouse, depository, treasure house) has been used in this literal sense in Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs. In extended connotation the term stands for a feast given especially for yogis and sannyasins, or

BHUP SINGH, SARDAR, remembered as Raja Bhup Singh in local lore, was the chief of the Sikh principality of Ropar, during the earlier half of the nineteenth century. Little is known about his life except that in 1808-09 he, along with Deva Singh, was in possession of Ropar and

DIKKH, village 12 km to the north of Maur Kalan (30° 4`N, 75° 14`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited it during his travels in these parts. According to Sakhi Pothi, an humble Sikh entreated the Guru to come and put

GOLAK or GURU KI GOLAK (the Guru`s own till). Golak (Sanskrit golak; Persian gholak) means, in Punjabi, a till, cash box or any other container used for keeping money especially one used for receiving contributions for charitable purposes. It is a time honoured Indian custom to carry an offering

GONDPUR, village 22 km south of Hoshiarpur (31°32`N, 75°55`E), in the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Tahli Sahib, dedicated to Guru Hargobind, who came here from Pur Hi ran on his way to Kiratpur and stayed in a grove of tdhfi trees. A platform was raised on the site

GURU KA LANGAR (lit., langar or refectory of the Guru) is a community kitchen run in the name of the Guru. It is usually attached to a gurdwara. Langar, a Persian word, means \'an ahnshouse\', \'an asylum for the poor and the destitute\', \'a public kitchen kept by a