JHATKA, the Sikh mode of killing an animal for food, also stands for the meal of an animal or bird so killed. Derived, etymologically, from jhat, an adverb meaning instantly, immediately or at once, jhatka signifies a Jerk, snap, jolt or a swift blow. For Sikhs jhatka karna or jhatkaund

PAL SINGH ARIF, SANT (1873-1958), mystic and poet, was born on Maghar sudi 15, 1930 Bk/4 December 1873, the son of Gurdit Singh Sandhu and Sahib Kaur of the village of Paddhari, now in Amritsar district of the Punjab. He learnt to read and write Punjabi from the village granthi

CHATTHIAN DI VAR is a Punjabi ballad describing the battle between Mahan Singh, father of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and Ghulam Muhammad Chattha, a Muslim chieftain of the Chattha clan of the Jatts. The poet is some Pir Muhammad, whose name appears in some verses of the poem. The Var was

SIKHS AND THE TRANSFER OF POWER. The Sikhs, after the two Anglo Sikh wars, lost their kingdom and the Punjab came under the British rule in 1849. The British, by the construction of railways, roads and canals, brought the province stability. The Sikhs, along with other Punjab is, became the

COMMUNAL AWARD was an official statement of British government policy in respect of the composition of provincial legislatures as a further step in the transfer of responsibility to the Indian people. The Secretary of State for India presented the terms of the Award to Parliament as command paper 4147, and

SIRSA, pronounced Sarsa (29"33`N, 75°04 E), in Haryana, once famous as a seat of Muslim Sufis and anchorites has two historical Sikh shrines : GURDWARA CHILHA SAHIB PATSHAHI 1. Guru Nanak once visited Sirsa and held discourse with the holy men, stressing the futility of withdrawal from the world

GHANI KHAN and his brother Nabi Khan, Pathan horse dealers of Machhivara in present day Ludhiana district of the Punjab, were admirers of Guru Gobind Singh whom they had visited at Anandpur and to whom they had sold many good animals. When they learnt that, travelling in a lonely state

TURK, a word standing in Sikh tradition usually for a Muslim, is really the name of a race of people which orginating probably in Central Asia established itself in Asia Minor and southeastern Europe in the west and in India in the east. The earliest references to Turks connect them

GURU GOBINDA, by Harnath Bose, first published in 1908, is a play written in colloquial Bengali literary tradition, with Guru Gobind Singh as the hero. There are altogether twenty-two major characters, out of whom at least nine come from the pages of history, i.e. Guru Tegh Bahadur, Guru Gobind Singh

UNITY CONFERENCE, convened on 3 November 1932 at Allahabad by a small group of Hindu and Muslim leaders led by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and Maulana Shaukat `All, to which were invited delegates representing a broad spectrum of Indian religious communities, interest groups, and political organizations, aimed at drafting agreements

HOURI Let Grace of the Lord be your Mecca and becoming the dust of the feet be your fast. Let the practice of Pir\'s (Guru\'s) instruction as required be your Bhista (Paradise). The devotion of the Lord-God in suitable cloister by your Hourt, light and fragrance. (Maru M. 5,

URI, an old town 54 km southwest of Baramula (S^ia`N, 74<)23`E) at the western end of the Kashmir valley, was visited by Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) on his way from Baramula to Naluchhi (now in Pakistan occupied territory). Gurdwara Patshahi Chhevin Param Pillan commemorating the visit is situated 6 km east