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

BASAWAN, SHAIKH, a ranked Muslim officer at Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s court, started his career as an assistant to Misr Beli Ram, who had entered the Maharaja`s service in 1809 and who in 1816 had become superintendent of the to shakhana or treasury. Basawan by dint of hard work gradually rose

PARTITION OF THE PUNJAB (1947) was the result of the overwhelming support the Muslim demand for the creation of Pakistan, an independent and sovereign Muslim State, had gathered in India. When the word Pakistan was first mentioned, the idea had been laughed out of court, even by the Muslims themselves.

BATHINDA (30° 14`N, 74° 59`E), an old town in the Punjab, was called Vikramgarh during the preMuhammadan period. Tradition ascribes its foundation to Bhati Rao, a Rajput chief who also founded Bhatner, present Hanumangarh, in Rajasthan. The two towns together commanding the area between Hissar and Bikaner known as

PUNJAB BOUNDARY COMMISSION was one of the two high powered panels set up under Governor General Lord Mountbatten`s partition plan of 3 June 1947 (the other one being the Bengal Boundary Commission) to divide the Punjab between India and Pakistan, the two new states that were being carved out. The

BHALLA, a subdivision of Khatri (Prakrit form kstriya) caste, one of the four castes into which the Hindu society is divided. Khatris are further divided into four subgroups. i.e. Bahri, Khukhrain, Bunjahi and Sarin; the Bhallas belong to the Sarin subgroup. According to a legend, once `Ala udDin Khiiji, the

RATTRAY alias LESLIE, an English soldier of fortune who served in Lahore during 1834-36 as one of the commandants of a battalion of the Sikh army. In 1836, he deserted the Sikh army to join the forces of Dost Muhammad Khan, Amir of Kabul. He fought on the side

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