HUKAM, Arabic hukm for command, order, decree, law, has acquired in Sikh usage a metaphysical shade connoting the Divine Law or Order, regulating the entire universe. Its importance in Sikh theology is indicated by its occurrence at the very beginning of the Adi Granth (Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh

JAHANGIR, NUR LJDDIN MUHAMMAD (1569-1627), fourth Mughal emperor of Delhi. Born SalTm, he assumed at his accession the title of Jahangir, Conqueror of the World. During his father`s Dcc^an campaign of 1598-99, he had planned a rebellion, but in 1604 the father and son were reconciled, and the latter was

NIHAL SINGH SODHI (d. 1859), son of Megh Singh, entered Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army in 1819, and was, five years later, made commandant of 100 horsemen in the Charyari corps. He fought for Maharaja Sher Singh during the siege of Lahore in January 1841. Under Sher Singh`s successor, Nihal

PANJAB SINGH, RISALDAR MAJOR (d. 1869), soldier in the Sikh army and, upon the occupation of the Punjab in 1849, in the army of the British, was the grandson of Jodh Singh (d. 1837), a jdgirddr or feudatory of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the grandfather of Sardar Sir Jogendra

PHERU, BHAI (1640-1706), an Udasi Sikh preacher, was born the son of Bhai Binna Uppal of Amb Man in parganah Mien ki Maur in Lahore district (now in Pakistan). His original name was Sarigat. As he grew up, he adopted peddling as a profession and earned the nickname of

RAVANA Rama has gone and Ravana has gone, who had a big family; the world is a dream and nothing is stable, saith Nanak. (Shalok M. 9, p. 1428) Ravana, who had one lakh sons and lakh and a quarter grandsons; there is not even a lamp and a

SRI GURU GRANTH PRAYAY, a glossary of the Guru Granth Sahib, is an anonymous and undated manuscript preserved in the Khalsa College at Amritsar under catalogue No. 1473. It comprises 147 folios, 24 cms x 16 cms, with 21 lines to a page, and is possibly a late eighteenth century

AHMAD, SHAIKH (1564-1624), celebrated Muslim thinker and theologian of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, was born on 26 May 1564 at Sirhind in present day Patiala district of the Punjab. He received his early education at the hands of his father. Shaikh `Abd al-Ahad, and later studied at Siaiko, now in

SUTHRASHAHIS, a mendicant order which owes its origin to Suthra Shah (1625-82), a disciple of Guru Hargobind. Not much is known about the life of Suthra Shah. The legend goes diat he was born in a Nanda Khatri family of Bahrampur, now in Gurdasur district, with a black mark

ALLARD, BENJAMIN (1796-1877), step-brother of General Allard, born at Saint Tropez in 1796, was sent to Lahore in 1829 in order to replace his brother as the military adviser of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, but the two brothers failed to win the confidence of the Maharaja, who would not release General

YOGA, derived from Sanskrit root yuj having its equivalent in Latin as jugum, in Gothic as juk, in German as jock, is the equivalent of yoke in English. Yoga refers to yoking or harnessing of mind in order to cultivate paravidya or higher knowledge, the result of those psychical

AVITABILE, PAOLO CRESCENZO MARTINO (1791-1850), a Neapolitan soldier of fortune who, starting life as a private gunner, succeeded in obtaining high ranks in two widely separated Asiatic armies of Persia and Punjab, was born at Agerola, Naples, Italy, on 25 October 1791. From 1807 onwards he successively served in the