SAHIB SINGH BEDl, BABA (1756-1834), tenth in direct descent from Guru Nanak, was much revered in Sikh times for his piety as well as for his martial prowess. He was born at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur district on Chet. Sudi 5,1813 Bk/5 April 1756. Around 1770, his parents Baba

SHIVNABH, RAJA, was, according to the Janam Sakhi tradition, a Ceylonese king who became a devotee of Guru Nanak. It was a merchant of Lahore, Bhai Mansukh, who during a visit to Ceylon, then known as Sinhaldvip, had impressed the king with his conduct as well as with the

SULTANPUR LODHI (3P13N, 7512E), old town in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, where Guru Nanak put up for several years before setting out on his travels to deliver his message. In this town lived his sister, Bibi Nanaki, and her husband, Jai Ram, an official in the service of

VAHIGURU, also spelt and pronounced Vahguru, is the distinctive name of the Supreme Being in the Sikh dispensation, like Yahweh in Judaism and Allah in Islam. In Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, the term does not figure in the compositions of the Gurus, though it occurs therein, both as

AHANKAR (hankar as it is commonly pronounced in Punjabi) is a compound of Sanskrit aham (I) and kar (\'maker\') and means I-maker, i.e. what individuates the person as I. It stands for egotism, egoism, self conceit, self centredness, vanity or simply pride. Other synonyms used in the sacred texts of

ASAVARI See ASA ASCETICISM, derived from the Greek word askesis, connotes the `training` or `exercise` of the body and the mind. Asceticism or ascetic practices belong to the domain of religious culture, and fasts, pilgrimages, ablutions, purificatory rituals, vigils, abstinence from certain foods and drinks, primitive and strange dress, nudity,

BATHU, village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh and 15 km west of Nangal along the Nangal Garhshankar road, has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Gurplah Patshahi Dasmi, commemorating the visit of Guru Gobind Singh in 1700. Guru Gobind Singh arrived here from Bibhaur and reposed for some time under a

BOLE SO NIHAL, SATI SRI ARAL is the Sikh slogan or jaikara (lit. shout of victory.triumph or exultation). It is divided in two parts or phrases. The first, bole so nihal orjo bole so nihal, is a statement meaning "whoever utters (the phrase following) shall be happy, shall be fulfilled,"

DALLA. BHAI, a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. Once he, accompanied by Bhai Bhagirath, BhaiJapu and Bhai Nivala, waited upon Guru Arjan and begged to be enlightened whether Guru Nanak worshipped God in the nirguna, the unattributed, or saguna, the attributed form. The Guru, as says

DHARAM CHAND, son of Lakhmi Chand and grandson of Guru Nanak. According to Gurbilas Patshahi Chhevin, he received Guru Hargobind when the latter, along with Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Bhana, went to Kartarpur which Guru Nanak had made his dwelling place during the last years of his life. Dharam

GURU NANAK BANS PRAKASH, by Sukhbasi Ram Bedi (c. 1758C.1848), an Udasi saint and a descendant of Guru Nanak, is a versified biography of Guru Nanak with considerable detail about his descendants as well. Two manuscript copies of the work are extant one at the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,

JAPU, with the Punjabi complimentary ji commonly suffixed to it as ah honorific, is the opening composition of Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. At the head of the table of contents of the volume, this composition is recorded as Japu Nisdnu, meaning the `flag composition Japu` or, according