TIKA, derived from the root tik, a loan word from the aboriginal languages, meaning `to mark` or `to explain`, signifies commentary, exegesis or explanation, especially of a scriptural text. Originally meant to provide a simple paraphrase of the spiritual and mystical revelations, a tika may now embrace an exhaustive analysis

VANDAR, named after the Jatt clan who inhabits it, is a village 22 km southeast of Kot Kapura (30°35`N, 74°49`E) in Moga district of the Punjab. It has a historical gurdwara dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh, who made a brief halt here on his way from Dina to Kot

AGAUL, village 10 km from Nabha (30°22\'N, 76°9\'E) in Patiala district, has a historical shrine called Gurudwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. In the course of a journey through this area, Guru Tegh Bahadur came and sat here under a pipal tree on the bank of a pond. The

The Gurdwara Aaduporh is a historical shrine commemorating the visit of Guru Hargobind Ji. Guru Ji came to the site while riding his horse, where now the present Gurdwara Sahib stands. At this place Guru Ji met a holyman whose name was Aadu and asked him about the well being

BAISAKHI, a seasonal festival popular in the Punjab which takes place on the First day of the solar month of Baisakh (Sanskrit Vaisakha, so called because according to astrological calculations, the moon at this time passes through visakha naksatra or constellation) of the Indian calendar. Traditionally, the festival was celebrated

BECHINT SINGH, BHAI (1872-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was the son of Bhai Sundar Singh and Mat Sahib Kaur, a peasant couple of the village of Pharala in Jalandhar district. The family migrated to Chakk No. 258 Pharala in the newly colonized district of Lyallpur in 1892.

BUNGA, 5 km south of Kiratpur Sahib (31 °10`N, 76t)35`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine Gurdwara Bunga Sahib, also called Chubachcha Sahib, dedicated to Guru Har Rai. Guru Har Rai, Nanak VII, complying with his predecessor`s instruction, continued to maintain at Kiratpura body of

CHARAN SINGH. BHAI (d. 1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was the son of Bhai Gokal Singh and Mai Lachhman Kaur of Diriga village, in Gujrat district. He lost his mother during infancy. His old grandmother looked after him for about five years and was then sent to

CENTRAL MAJHA KHALSA DiWAN, also known as the Shiromani Panth Milauni Jatha, was one of the several regional organizations that came into being on the eve of the Gurdwara reform movement of the 1920\'s. A Khalsa Diwan in the Majha area had in fact been established as early as

DERA, a word of Persian extraction, has several connotations. The original Persian word derah or dirah means a tent, camp, abode, house or habitation. In current usage in rural Punjab, a farmhouse or a group of farmhouses built away from the village proper is called dera. Even after such an

DUMELI, village 18 km north of Phagwara (31° 14`N. 75° 46`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind who, according to local tradition, visited here on 11 Chet 1695 Bk / 9 March 1638. The shrine raised in his honour is named Gurdwara Thamm Sahib Patshahi VI after

GHAVINDI, village in Lahore dislrict of Pakistan, only one kilometre from the IndoPak border opposite Khaira, had a historical shrine commemorating Guru Nanak`s visit. Upon his arrival in the village, the Guru is said to have put up under a lahurd tree (Cordia latifolia). On this site was built Gurdwara