ADDAN SHAH, BHAI (1688-1757), third in succession to Bhai Kanhaiya, founder of the Sevapanthi sect, was born in 1688 in the village of Lau in Jhang district, now in Pakistan. His parents were of a devout temperament and he inherited from them a deeply religious bent of mind. He

DHARAMSALA or dharamsala from Sanskrit dharmasala, lit. court of justice, tribunal, charitable asylum, religious asylum, stands in Punjabi for a place of worship or the village hospice. Dharamsala as a Sikh institution is the precursor of gurdwara (q.v.). According to janam sakhis, accounts of the life of Guru Nanak (1469-1539).

KIRPAL SINGH, SINGH SAHIB GIANI (1918-1993), theologian and writer, was born on 10 June 1918, the son of Bhai Mall Singh and Bibi Rani Kaur, a Brar Jatt family of the village of Vairoke in Moga tufis`il of Firozpur district (now in district Faridkot). He passed his middle school

SARHALA (popularly known as Sarhala Rannuan), village 12 km west of Bahga (31`1 I`M, 76"E) in Jalandhar district of the Punjab, has within its revenue limits a historical shrine, Gurdwara Gurplah Panj Tahli, dedicated to Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-75), who stayed here once during a journey through the Doaba

AKALI MOVEMENT, variously known as Gurdwara Reform Movement or Gurdwara Agitation is how Sikh\'s long drawn campaign in the early twenties of the twentieth century for the liberation of their gurdwaras or holy shrines is described. The campaign which elicited enthusiastic support, especially, from the rural masses, took the

DASVANDH or Dasaundh, lit. a tenth part, refers to the practice among Sikhs of contributing in the name of the Guru one-tenth of their earnings towards the common resources of the community. This is their religious obligation a form of seva or humble service so highly valued in the Sikh

KIRPAN MORCHA, campaign started by the Sikhs to assert their right to keep and carry kirpan, i.e. sword, religiously obligatory for them, which was denied to them under the Indian Arms Act (XI) of 1878. Under this Act, no person could go armed or carry arms, except under special exemption

AMAR SINGH (1888-1948), of the Sheri Punjab, journalist, scholar and a prominent figure in Sikh politics, was born on 27 May 1888 at Pindi Gheb in Attock district of the Punjab, now in Pakistan. His grandfather, Gauhar Singh, had held a civil appointment under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He spent

DAYAL, BABA (1783-1855), founder of the Nirankari sect of the Sikhs, was born at Peshawar on Baisakh sudi 15, 1840 Bk / 17 May 1783. He was the only son of Ram Sahai, a banker, and his wife Ladikki, daughter of Bhai Vasakha Singh of Rohtas. He lost his

KIRTAN (from Skt. kirii, i.e. to praise, celebrate or glorify), a commonly accepted mode of rendering devotion to God by singing His praises, is a necessary part of Sikh worship. Music plays a significant role in most religious traditions. In Sikhism it is valued as the highest form of expression

SAT SABHA, a religious and social reform society founded at Lahore in 1866 by a group of Bengalis and Punjabis. Babu Novin Chandra Rai and S.P. Bhattacharjee of the Bengali Community along with two Punjabis, Pandit Bhanu Datta Basant Ram and Lala Behari Lal Puri, established this new society.

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, uncut hair, tonsure.