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

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

KARAM SINGH DULLU, an eighteenth century Bhangi sarddr, was the chief of Jhang district, along the River Chcnab. He commanded about 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 infantry as a permanent force, and could on occasions muster 6,000 horse and 3,000 foot. He had eight strong forts in his territory. Karam

If you pray fraudulently in your mind, what is the need of going to Ka\'bah .for a Å«^/ ? (Prabhali Kabir, p. 1350) The Sheikh (Muslim divine) without the quality of sabar (patience)—why should he go to Ka\'bab for a hajj, says Kabir ? The one who has no

AJMER SINGH was the name given a seventeenth century Muslim recluse of Chhatteana, a village in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab, as he received the initiatory rites of the Khalsa. His original name was Ibrahim, popularly shortened to Brahmi or Bahmi. According to an old chronicle, Malva

MULTAN (SO012`N, 71°31`E), ancient city which had been a prominent centre of Muslim piety, was where according to Bhai Gurdas, Varan I. 4445, Guru Nanak met with some local Sufi saints. Travelling from Kartarpur, on the River Ravi, Guru Nanak first went to Achal Batala and thence to Multan. As

AZAD PUNJAB scheme, signifying a major shift in the kinds of political strategies to be pursued by Sikh political leadership in their efforts to enhance the political influence of their community, was a crucial turning point in the development of modern Sikh politics. With the introduction of the Montagu Chelmsford

BABAK (d. 1642), a Muslim rababi or musician, kept Guru Hargobind company and recited the sacred hymns at divans morning and evening. The word babak, from Persian, means faithful. As says the Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi, Babak was, at the death of Satta and Balvand, who used to recite sacred

PARDAH SYSTEM, the custom in certain societies of secluding women from men, is of ancient origin. Pardah is a Persian word meaning veil, curtain or screen. Pardah system involves the covering of the bodies or at least faces by grownup women from the gaze of males other than the closest

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