NAINA SINGH, AKALI, eighteenth century Nihang warrior esteemed as much for his piety as for his valour. His special title to fame rests on the fact that he was the guardian of the celebrated Akali Phula Singh (1761-1823) whom he trained in the martial arts. Little is known about his

HOLA MAHALLA or simply Hola, a Sikh festival, takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chef which usually falls in March. This follows the Hindu festival of Holi. The name Hola is the masculine form of the feminine sounding Holi. Mahalla, derived from the

ASA, one of the thirty one ragas or musical measures into which compositions comprising the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, except the Japu, are cast and in which they are meant to be recited and sung. This raga is important in the Sikh system of music, and is said

MAHALA, traditionally pronounced mahalla, appears in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, as a special term to credit the authorship of the compositions of the Gurus recorded in it. Mahala here refers to the person of the Guru specified by a numeral following it which signifies his position in the

AKAL BUNGA, lit. the abode of the Timeless One, is the building that houses the Akal Takht in the precincts of the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar. The term is also used sometimes synonymously with Akal Takht. Strictly speaking, while Akal Takht is the institution possessing and exercising

KINNARA There are millions of Yakshas, Kinnaras and Pishachas. (Gauri Sukhmani M. 5, p. 276) A Kinnara is a mythical being with the form of a man and the head of a horse. Kinnaras are said to have sprung from the toe of Brahma along with the Yakshas. They

MONGHYR. pronounced Mungher (25°22`N, 86°30`E), a district town in Bihar, 170 km east of Patna Sahib, has an historical shrine dedicated to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who stayed here during his tour of the eastern districts in 1666. It is called Gurdwara Pakki Sangat and is located in Bazar area

NAND SINGH. BHAI (1888-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born on 15 Savan 1945 Bk/29July 1888, the son of Bhai Bhagvan Singh and Mai Nihal Kaur of Thothian village in Amritsar district. He learnt Urdu at school. After the death of his father in 1902, he as the

OANKARU is a composition of Guru Nanak`s in the measure Ramkali in the Guru Granth Sahib. The full title of the barn is Rdmkali Mahala 1 Dakhani Oankaru. The title is explained differently by different scholars. According to one tradition, dakham is the adjective for the noun Oarikaru which

PARYAI ADI SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB JI DE is a lexicon of the Guru Granth Sahib prepared by Sant Sute Prakash. The year of its completion as recorded in the colophon is 429 Nanakshahi (AD 1898). The work comprises 1440 pages of which 110 are devoted to a commentary on

PUSHKAR, a famous Hindu centre of pilgimage, 13 km from Ajmer (26°27`N, 74°42`E) in Rajasthan is also sacred to the Sikhs for the gurudwaras dedicated to the First and Tenth Gurus. Gurdwara Guru Singh Sabha, situated in the eastern part of Pushkar is dedicated to the first Guru and

RANDHIR SINGH. BHAI (1878-1961). a revolutionary as well as a saintly personage much revered among the Sikhs, was born on 7 July 1878 at the village of Narangval in Ludhiana district of the Punjab, to Nattha Singh and Panjab Kaur. Nattha Singh was at first the district inspector of