sikh

NIRANKARIS, a sect of the Sikhs born of a reform movement which arose in northwest Punjab in the middle of the nineteenth century aiming to restore the purity of Sikh belief and custom. Its founder, Baba Dayal (1783-1855), was a contemporary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A man of humble origin, he cavilled at the shortcomings of the mighty and assailed the rites and observances which had perverted the Sikh way of life. His main target was the worship of images against which he preached vigorously.

PANDHER, village 25 km south of Barnala (30° 22`N, 75° 32`E) in Sangrur district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine commemorating the visit of Guru Tegh Bahadur. It is said that as Guru Tegh Bahadur arrived here late in the afternoon and asked for a site for his camp, one of the villagers pointed in jest to the potter`s house saying, "That is the place where travellers stay." The Guru`s followers remarked, These are thick headed people." The Guru immediately turned his horse and proceeded towards `All Sher village. Khumari, the headman of Pandher, said, "This is a very proud man." Later, when they learnt who he was, they repented their impudence.

PATIALA (30°20`N, 76° 26`E), a district town of the Punjab, was formerly the capital of a princely Sikh state until it lapsed in 1948. Though only the fourth largest town of the Punjab with a modest population, 268, 521 (1991), Patiala boasts a wellmarked cultural tradition. Historically, the city is not very old. It was founded only in 1752 by Baba Ala Singh (1691-1765), the founder of the Phulkian house of Patiala. The site was the ruined mound, PatanvalaTheh, of an earlier habitation, from which the name `Patiala` is said to be derived.

POTTINGER, SIR HENRY (1789-1856), soldier and diplomat, son of Eldred Curwen Pottinger, was born on 3 Ocober 1789. He obtained a cadetship in the Indian army in 1804. During 1809-11, he explored the country between Persia and India travelling incognito. He reported the results of his journey which were published in 1816 in book form in London under the title, Travels in Beluchistan and Sinde. In 1825, he was appointed resident in Cutch. In October 1831, Lord William Bentinck sent Henry Pottinger to Sindh on a "commercial" mission to persuade the Amirs to participate in the Indus navigation scheme.

RAGHBIR SINGH DUGAL (1897-1957), a medical practitioner and leader of the Sikh community in Burma, was born in 1897, the son of Sobha Singh, at the village of Sayyid Kasrari, in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. He had his early education at his village and in Rawalpindi, and in 1911 accompanied his elder brother to Rangoon where he qualified as a physician. Along with his medical practice, Raghbir Singh took a great deal of interest in social work and became president of the Sikh temple at Rangoon and secretary of the Sikh Educational Committee of Burma. In December 1927, he was elected president of the Khalsa Diwan, Burma.

RAMGARHIA MISL. See MISLS RAMKALI KI VAR, also known as Tikke di Var, lit. Coronation Ode, is the joint composition of the bards Balvand and Satta. In the caption given it by Guru Arjan in the Guru Granth Sahib, the former is particularized as a Rai, or panegyrist, and the latter as a Dum, or minstrel, both words being interchangeable here. The Vdr comprises eight pauns or stanzas, of unequal length, varying from seven to twenty-one lines with no slokas added. 

SADHARAN PATH is the reading of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end, with no time limit for completion. Even where the limit is fixed and it exceeds a week, it will be called a sadharan path, two other terms synonymously used being khulla path (khulla = unrestricted, not fixed) and sahaj path (slow reading). A sadharan path may be undertaken by any individual Sikh, man or woman, or jointly with other members of the family as part of personal piety or in observance of a special occasion or family, event. A pathi or reader could be engaged from outside as well.

SALURI, a village 16 km north of Una along the Una Ambala road in Himachal Pradesh, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who stayed here on his way to Nadaun early in 1691 AD. Gurdwara Patshahi Dasvin commemorating the Guru`s visit is situated on the left bank of the Suari, a tributary of the river Sutlej. The 2 metre square domed sanctum was built by the Sikh sovereign Ranjit Singh in 1829 through mason Naudh Singh. The Guru Granth Sahib is displayed on a 1.25metre square dais said to be built on the spot whereon Guru Gobind Singh alighted for rest. The Gurdwara is administered by Sevavale sanfs in the line of Sant Seva Singh of Qila Anandgarh.

SARDAR, in Persian amalgam of sar (head) and dar (a suffix derived from the verb dash tan, i.e. to hold) meaning holder of headship, is an honorific signifying an officer of rank, a general or chief of a tribe or organization. Sikhs among whom, during the time of the Guru and for half a century thereafter, no words indicative of high rank were current other than the common appellation bhaior, rarely, baba to express reverence due to age or descent from the Gurus, adopted sardar for the leaders of their Jathas or bands fighting against Afghan invaders under Ahmad Shah Durrani.

SHAM SINGH ATARlVALA (d. 1846), a general in the Sikh army, was the grandson of Sardar Gauhar Singh, who had embraced Sikhism in the early days of Sikh political ascendancy and joined the Jatha or band of Gurbakhsh Singh of Roranvala. He soon established his rakhior protection over an area around Atari, a village he had founded some 16 miles from Amritsar. His son, Nihal Singh, was known for his martial prowess and for his personal loyalty to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Nihal Singh`s son, Sham Singh, entered the service of the Maharaja in 1817 and, in 1818, took part in the military campaigns of Peshawar, Attock and Multan. He also fought in Kashmir in 1819.